Sunday, December 05, 2004- LANCASTER-- A year ago, seven college and high school students gathered at Primo Burgers with a mission: create a film that would inspire people to believe in Jesus Christ.

Filmed with borrowed equipment and financed through carwashes, fudge sales and personal funds, the 55-minute "My Best Friend," about an atheistic Secret Service agent, has been shown since summer at churches and in homes as far away as Australia and Massachusetts.

"When you're just busing tables, you've got a lot of time to think and pray. I was doing that a lot, and I was just in this moment of awe about what Christ had done for me," said Cody Urban, the co-director and lead actor, who had been working at Greenhouse Cafe when he came up with the idea.

The movie started as a six-page short story that Urban wrote and passed to friends through e-mail. Readers told him it would make a good play.

Urban thought the story would be too difficult to stage, so instead he and friend Matt Waltz developed it into a 69-page film script.

"We were just a little group of college and high school kids with a dream but no money," said Urban, 19, of Lancaster.

Using a digital camera and other equipment borrowed from Lancaster High School, the students filmed at Desert Oasis Community Church, Antelope Valley College, in front of Greenhouse Cafe, and at both the Lancaster and Rosamond libraries.

"I suppose the big challenge was making it look like it was in Washington D.C., when we're filming it in the desert town of Lancaster, CA," said Urban.

Using donated garage doors, the moviemakers built the inside of a hallway.

"We didn't know a good place that we could run around in a hallway with guns, ... so we cheaply built it," said Urban.

The actors -- none with previous acting experience -- included not only students, but also the pastor, the pastor's wife and their daughter from the church Urban attends.

The inexperience and the need to work around college students' jobs and class schedules led to some difficulties.

"Every single shot we did, we were limited in time, no matter what or where it was," said Waltz, 19, of Lancaster.

While Urban handled the character scenes, Waltz focused on the action scenes and played the role of the terrorist. He had one line: the word "yes."

"We always tease him: Matt, have you rehearsed your lines?" Urban said with a laugh. "It was actually weird saying there is no God when I love to talk about him. The fun part was playing someone that was not me."

The movie was edited down from 14 digital tapes of 60 minutes each to the 55-minute goal with the help of a professional film editor. Some of the music in the film was composed by Dan Kale.

"He hadn't even seen any of the footage before," said Urban. "We went up to him with a script and said, Would you be willing to just compose songs to the feel of this scene?"

So far the movie has been seen in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Australia, Florida and Georgia, as well as most of California. Spread by relatives and fellow church members, it will soon be seen in Ireland also.

Waltz and Urban, who are studying film at Antelope Valley College, submitted the movie for a class.

Urban and Waltz want to attend California State University, Northridge, after graduating from AVC in 2005. They want to start their own studio and call it 7D Studios and Associates -- because seven "disciples" developed their first film.

Urban has plans for a second movie, titled "Forecast," a fictitious news broadcast about the Apocalypse.

"When he told me about it the first time, I was, like, uh, any other ideas you've got? And then I read the script, and I was, like, oh, we've got to film this movie. It's, like, a completely unique style of filming that I've never seen done before," said Waltz.

The filmmakers are hoping for financial support so they can buy their own equipment for their second film.

"It told the story in a way that people are used to hearing things that are real. This will bring the whole idea into reality," said Urban. "I mean you're used to sitting down and watching television. You're used to seeing news broadcasts and stuff like that, and if we can make it ... like that, but it's describing all these events that are told about in the Bible, that's so cool. The ending gives people chills."

Urban said the script was inspired by Orson Welles' famous 1938 "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast.

"My Best Friend" features Urban as John Madison; Ken Mitchell, Urban's pastor, and Mitchell's wife, Joanna, as the U.S. president and first lady; the Mitchells' daughter, Heather, as Agent Mitchell; Lewis Parrish as Agent Shoeman; Jonathan Tremblay as "Brick"; Robert Brandelli as Agent Blake; and Eric Shaw as Adam Clark. Susie Day plays a newscaster.