MIDDLEBURG – There are small snippets drawn from Kenny White’s awkward past in some of the memories of bullying, peer pressure, suicide, nonconformity and an unstable homelife and his new release, “The Kool Kids.”
White is a writer, director and producer who’s lived in Middleburg since 2019. “The Kool Kids” is his 13th film, and it’s his third as the director, which includes the 2020 horror film “Homecoming Massacre” and the 2008 comedy/romance “Maybe Tomorrow.”
In “The Kool Kids,” he knows adolescents often struggle to find their comfort zone – some more than others. His movie focuses on three who feel especially ostracized. According to White, their coming-of-age story goes terribly wrong after they bond over their tortured pasts to teach others what it feels like “not to have the upper hand.”
According to White, 42, “a lesson in morals quickly turns deadly.”
A teenage skateboarder named Casey (Dante Bravo) befriended two fellow outcasts (Jessica Norman as Gwen and Austin as Vinnie) in a high school full of bullies. They shared a love of underground music – and the thirst to get even against the cool crowd. But the storyline turns dark when it leads to murder and kidnapping.
White’s movie also provided a platform for several new music artists. The soundtrack, TheKoolKidsMovie.com, featured Zanias, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Chrome Waves, Johnny Dynamite and the Bloodsuckers, Terror Forms, Joey Sadass, Mr. Bella and Tye Talley. It’s available on Spotify and YouTube.
“The Kool Kids” will be released for rental or purchase on Friday, Oct. 24, on Apple TV, Google TV and YouTube. The DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD copies will be exclusively available from the production company’s website (whitehairproductions.com).
“A lot of it is really kind of based on my childhood, my growing up with the challenges you face,” White said. “People give you a hard time and mess with you. I saw it as a kid. I saw a lot of other people face it. There are actually a couple of my childhood bullying incidents that come to life on the screen.”
Although he’s from Indianapolis, much of the movie was shot in Middleburg, including Omega and Foxmeadow parks. Other locations included his house, the Prime Stop Convenience Store on Peoria Road in Orange Park and Air-Max Heating and Cooling on College Drive in Middleburg.
The Archetype, a music venue in Jacksonville, and the Amelia Island Museum were also utilized.
“I wanted to tell a story that really captures the struggles of teenagers today while celebrating the creativity and talent in our community,” White said.
“I would say the entire production team is from Clay County, except for one of our co-producers. He is from the Palm Bay area. He’s a community leader down there.”
White’s story travels. Whether it’s in Indianapolis or Clay County, young people too often feel tormented as they try to find their way through emotional development.
“If you watch the movie, anytime you see someone being bullied, it’s retelling a fictionalized version of something that happened to me or someone that I knew,” White said.
But unlike his characters in “The Kool Kids,” he said he didn’t get even.