Tiny Fugitives puts 12-year-olds on run from camp counsellor
Twelve-year-olds take charge of the chase in Tiny Fugitives, a summer camp comedy with Johnny Knoxville that is scheduled for release on 18 Sept via Inaugural Entertainment, according to Variety. Inaugural Entertainment is acting as distributor, the company that places a film into cinemas and oversees its release. The arrangement gives a young ensemble the lead roles, with Knoxville alongside them.
Benjamin Pajak plays Jacob Udell, a camper convinced he and his friends can stay at camp for ever if they evade a 50-year-old counsellor hunting them, Variety reported. Knoxville stars with the 12-year-old cast. Writer Jacob Kaplan also steps in front of the camera for a cameo, a brief appearance, as a guitar-strumming counsellor.
The project began in 2021, when Kaplan was working as a writers' assistant at Saturday Night Live and started writing a TV pilot about summer camp, according to Variety. A writers' assistant supports the writing room, taking notes and handling scripts. A pilot is a test episode used to sell a television series. Kaplan later collaborated with filmmaker Michael Lewen to reshape the idea as a feature, a full-length film made for cinemas, written specifically for Lewen to direct.
The writers then brought Tiny Fugitives to Point Grey, the production company run by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, Variety reported. Point Grey develops and produces films for cinema and streaming buyers. Casting director Jess Kelly led the search for the young ensemble. Casting directors run auditions and advise on final choices.
For chemistry reads, sessions that test how actors perform together, the team took child actors to a park in Los Angeles for camp activities including an egg toss and face painting, according to Variety. The park became a trial camp for a day. The games became the audition, with friendships forming in real time.
Kaplan and Lewen drew on their own childhoods for the story, according to Forward. What makes this stand out is the path from a writers' room desk to a full production built around children. A television idea first drafted in 2021 is now a cinema release carried by 12-year-olds. The counsellor remains the pursuer, while the campers drive the action.
