Filmed in Avondale: Christmas with Jerks
Christmas with Jerks was filmed in Avondale Estates. Photo via Leanna Adams.
Story by Isadora Pennington
Photos provided by Leanna Adams
Actor, writer, director, and all-around film maven Leanna Adams is no stranger to Avondale Estates.
Originally from Spartanburg, North Carolina, Adams first came to Atlanta where she attended Emory University, before relocating to pursue acting in New York City in 2002. By way of a period spent living in China, she landed stateside again in 2011.
Looking to be close to her sister, she bought a home in Avondale Estates and soon thereafter fell in love with the community. “I really love this neighborhood,” she told me.
For a time, Adams worked at Creative Loafing, handling marketing and PR alongside some writing. She also joined a local acting class after venturing into a sketch comedy center and seeing the Sketchworks Comedy group, which set off the next phase of her creative career.
This connection with Sketchworks later led to the development of “Vape: The Grease Parody” for which Adams recently traveled to New York City to attend a reading.
“Going to that show changed my life,” explained Adams.
“I thought, I just can’t not do that. I started writing, producing for them, and it really changed my life. It invigorated me. I wrote and performed sketch comedy for a long time, then I started writing features and that’s a whole thing.”
As time went on, Adams was successful in getting a pilot backed by a major studio but it didn’t come together at the last minute. She almost sold one of her scripts, but that also fell through.
And then, in the wake of these disappointments, Adams decided to stop waiting for permission. “I said, ‘I’m just going to shoot something that I can afford, and I’ll just make it happen.’”
Fast forward to 2022, and a frustrated Adams was inspired to develop a little holiday romcom idea. She talked about it with her writing crew, a group that meets every Tuesday to share current projects and encourage each other. They instantly thought this was a winning idea and encouraged Adams to go for it, so she did.
Adams enlisted a crew of 12 people on the crew, calling in every favor she had, to film the feature at her sister’s Frank Lloyd Wright-style home next to the lake in Avondale. “We shot Christmas With Jerks in eight days,” she recalled. “It’s a sweet little romcom but it has a harder edge.”
In the film, Adams plays a character called Eve Carter; a former child star who plans to spend the holiday season alone and holed up at her sister’s home.
When she discovers that the house is occupied by a professional stuntman played by Tyler Buckingham who is dog-sitting while recovering from an injury, initially she’s disappointed and frustrated. But it isn’t long before the two start to feel an undeniable chemistry.
She shared that the community of Avondale Estates really rallied around her and her crew during the filming and production of their film. Some shots were filmed at Garage Door Studio with co-owner Rachel Herzog, and many of the scenes were fueled by coffee supplied by the folks at Banjo Coffee.
“Avondale really showed up for me, which was just so cool,” said Adams.
The crew participated in the 48-Hour Film Festival in 2014 and won the city, which encouraged them to pursue distribution and further screenings and bring the project to Los Angeles. “I didn’t even know how to make a feature film prior to March 2023,” admitted Adams. “I just knew how to hustle and act. I’m just learning as I go.”
Christmas With Jerks has since debuted at the Tara Theatre last fall, and is now available to stream on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Tubi. For more information about Adams’ current and upcoming projects, check out Leanna’s Instagram page.
This story was written for The Verge Zine winter 2024 edition.