Girls camp, an annual tradition for young women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, can be an experience filled with arts and crafts, scripture scavenger hunts, hikes and a diverse group of girls building a unique bond of friendship and unity.
It’s not unlike the experience that the cast and crew of the new film “Once I Was a Beehive” had while filming the movie.
The film, said by promotional materials to be “based on thousands of true stories” about girls camp, opens Friday, Aug. 14, in theaters across Utah.
“We have a lot of girls. Some are Mormon and some are not. Some have been to girls camp and some haven’t,” said Lisa Valentine Clark, one of the co-producers, writers and actresses in the film. “There was a whole spectrum of different belief systems, backgrounds and acting training. And yet at that moment, we all just loved each other and felt this great bond of love and connection. So that’s a special thing that doesn’t happen on a lot of sets, so we were really lucky to have that on our set.”
“Once I was a Beehive” follows the story of Lane Speer, a teenager who spends the first weekend of every month camping with her parents. When her father dies of cancer, she realizes how much she took those weekends for granted.
Lane isn’t happy when her mother remarries a “Mormon guy” whom she barely knows a year later. During the honeymoon, Lane stays with her new Mormon step-aunt’s family. She ends up going with them to girls camp, where the culture is unlike anything she has ever experienced.
Despite the quirky activities and the even quirkier young women, Lane’s camp experience helps her discover peace and faith while making new friends.
A primary theme of the film, as taught by a camp leader named Nedra (played by Barta Heiner), is: “It doesn’t matter what religion you are. If you’re with us, you’re family.”
Kaley McCormack plays the role of Mindy, one of the Mormon girls at the camp. McCormack is not LDS, but she said she felt like she was really experiencing girls camp on the set.
“When we weren't filming, we were sitting around being girls, talking about crushes, most embarrassing moments, playing ‘Would You Rather’ and divulging secrets,” McCormack said. “It was the safest group of people I've ever worked with. We quickly became more than castmates. We became family. The support and love from everyone was genuine.”
Maclain Nelson, who wrote and directed "Once I Was a Beehive," said the inspiration for a movie about girls camp came from his mother, who is “probably the No. 1 camp supporter.”
“She went as a girl and as a leader for years and years,” Nelson said. “I see the preparation that goes into it and I just can’t believe it. She will have honestly been working on planning the camp for a year. The elation on her face when she gets home — and also the exhaustion — made it seem that girls camp is something that is magical. I’ve always been curious about what happens there because I’ve never been.”
Nelson starred in "The Saratov Approach," the well-regarded 2013 film about the kidnapping of two LDS missionaries in Russia. Nelson said he learned from "The Saratov Approach" that people like movies that tell about specific characters in a light that is relatable to anybody regardless of whether they are members of the LDS Church.
“I felt that girls camp could do that same thing because so many people have experiences with camp and with religious camps specifically,” Nelson said. “How great would it be to take this mystery to me and really try to figure it out and put it on the screen so people can relate to it?”
Nelson’s mother originally did not want him to make the movie because she was worried he would make light of girls camp. He told her to trust him because he would “do it the way she would want it done.”
Mila Smith, an LDS actress who plays the role of Phoebe Valentine, said she enjoyed the process of creating the film because she felt girls camp “can be a great spiritual experience.”
“A lot of my best learning moments happened while I was at girls camp,” Smith said. “It’s also a chance to get to know your friends a lot better. Filming the movie was a really cool experience because I got to meet so many great people, and it was like going to actual girls camp, except I went and slept in a bed at the end of the day.”
Nelson recognized girls camp as an “important and sacred thing.” He was impressed that the cast shared that vision.
“We wanted this to be something that championed girls camp and put it in the right light,” Nelson said. “We treated it with the reverence, the fun, the exuberance and the magic that girls camp is. Once they saw that, everyone was on board 100 percent, giving 110 percent. I was just blown away by the effort from these filmmakers. Some of them are first-time producers and first-time actors for film. It was incredible.”
Both Clark and Nelson are proud that the film is focused on a predominantly female cast and crew.
“I’m annoyed with the fact that if you go to most movies, you look at a poster of the cast and it’s made up of like 10 guys and one or two girls,” Nelson said. “There just aren’t the opportunities in Hollywood for female actresses like there should be. I’m so proud to be a part of a project where all of the lead speaking roles are women. I’m super proud and humbled to be trusted to use my storytelling to bring that out.”
Clark said casting the right girls was important in achieving authenticity. By the time they filmed the testimony meeting scene, the girls were so close to each other in real life that the moment felt real.
“They became like a Young Women group,” Nelson said. “I couldn’t get them to be quiet half of the time because they were just chatting. The last day of shooting was especially like girls camp because they were crying because it was over and they had so much fun. It was really a camp experience. I feel like I know now what it's like to be at girls camp even though I’ve never been. Every one of them said that was what it’s like. You become a family, even though you didn’t know each other before.”
Audrey Nelson, who plays Hannah in the film, said the experience provided deep friendships and new perspectives.
“A lot of times in life we tend to pick at the differences and compare ourselves and our lives to everyone else around us,” Nelson said. “This movie brings out how similar we all are, which is what I love about it. It's a reminder that we are all just trying to live life the best we know how, and that's what really matters.”
More information about where the film will be shown can be found online at girlscampmovie.com.
Email: kschwab@deseretnews.com