Mack Hastings and Ian Jacoby, the stars of Jaywalking, a feature film directed by Peter Eaton.

Filmmaker and Eau Claire native Peter Eaton spent the better part of the last few years working and making movies on the West Coast. Now back in the area, he’s teaming up local actors, and a local crew to bring his screenplay Jaywalking to life on the silver screen with his production company Del Re Films (of course named after famed EC pizza joint, Pizza Del Re). Eaton’s 2012 short film Sugar Mountain was a 20-minute love letter to growing up in Eau Claire, with shots and scenes taking place all over the city. The same goes for Jaywalking, the story of a directionless 30-year-old son (Jacoby) of a insurance agent who forms an unlikely friendship with a burger-flippin’ 18-year-old (Hastings) who lives in a seedy motel and has a freshly broken heart. The cool thing about Jaywalking is that all of the effort is coming from locals. Eaton wrote and is directing the film, while pulling his resources from local businesses, friends, family, and past collaborators. For an extra funding push, the film launched a recent IndieGoGo campaign, which at the time of this writing had amassed more than $3,000. The film is shooting in various locations around the Valley currently, and most likely won’t be released until 2017. Keep up with Del Re Pictures on its Facebook page, and to check out the IndieGoGo campaign and make a donation, go to www.indiegogo.com/projects/jaywalking-independent. This should be an outstanding work by some incredibly talented people.