The Maine Lobster Festival Connection to The Ghost Trap

K. Stephens will be at the press conference Aug. 3, (and signing books afterward at the Marine Tent) and again on live TV at the crate races Aug. 6 talking about the book/film connection.

Festival organizer Shannon Kinney with author K. Stephens in 2022. Photos by K. Stephens

When I wrote the book back in 2002, I included the Maine Lobster Festival calling it "Lobster Weekend" in several pivotal scenes. Little did I know that in the summer of 2022, we'd be filming scenes for this book, adapted into a feature film with..you guessed it..the Maine Lobster Festival as a third character in the background.

Last August, we began pre-production with cinematographer Michael Tedford, director/producer James Khanlarian and myself front and center at the Festival filming b roll and the Great International Crate Races...that is..until a thunderboomer came out of nowhere and began to douse the crate races. We were working with a $100,000 camera and had to get out of there...fast! Still, we managed to gather enough behind the scenes footage along with the crate races that appears about 10 seconds in the film.
Fun fact: we had to de-age some of the signs at the festival as the book/film is set in 1993.
Fun fact: Shannon Kinney appears in two seconds of the film as she welcomes a crate racer to the end.

Later in the summer, we blocked off an entire day of shooting in Rockland and our set designers had to "re-create" a section of the Maine Lobster Festival for one scene in Gilbert and Adams Central Park (next to police station). Here's a blog post with more photos from that day.

Alec Wirth, nephew of actor/writer Billy Wirth (The Lost Boys). Alec plays the son of antagonist lobsterman, Dale Fogerty.
Fun fact: the giant inflatable lobster behind them was a last minute addition. Since I'm a journalist and did a story on the food truck Mac Attack who had the lobster, I walked down to the harbor and asked if we could borrow it for our scenes for a few hours.

Billy Wirth with co-producer and lobsterman Cheri Savage (who appears in the background in these scenes.)

Although The Ghost Trap deals with scenes depicting the struggles and unseen wars between rival lobstering families, it is, at heart, a tragic love story.

In rehearsal, going over lines. Here, Zak Steiner, who plays the lead character lobsterman Jamie Eugley, has an animated conversation with his girlfriend Anja, (Greer Grammer) who lives with a traumatic brain injury.

A laugh between scenes. Zak jokes with Sarah Catherine Hook (First Kill), who plays Happy Klein, a free-wheeling schooner boat First Mate. Sarah Catherine is a new friend and a welcome distraction for Jamie, but he worries, will it go too far?

Stay tuned I will be attending the Festival for three events this year:

1. August 3. To support the #SaveMaineLobstermen campaign, on Thursday, Aug. 3 at 11am in the North Tent on the Festival grounds at Harbor Park in Rockland, Maine, a panel will discuss the plans to support the Maine lobster industry and the families who make their living on the water. I'll be there as we screen the trailer for the first time in front of the press and to talk a little bit about how real Maine lobstermen (not actors) were integral to making the movie.

2. August 3. Following that, (around noon, I'll be in the Marine Tent, signing limited edition copies of The Ghost Trap ($16.95 credit/$17 cash) til around 4 p.m.

3. August 6. The International Great Crate Race is a crowd favorite at the Maine Lobster Festival! This year's event, held Sunday, Aug. 6 at 2pm will be announced by the hilarious Emily Dillon and covered live by FOX ABC Maine. I'll be there talking about the book & film. Watch the livestream starting at 1:30pm Aug. 6: https://bit.ly/3O7IGqW

Stay tuned to our New page because we will have more announcements to come!