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Star BJ Whimpey, left, and writer-director Ryan McDonald, right, are photographed during the production of a teaser for the upcoming feature, "Left for Dead."

Photo supplied, New Ogden Cinema

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A still image from the teaser for Ryan McDonald's upcoming feature, "Left for Dead."

Photo supplied, New Ogden Cinema

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A movie poster teaser for Ryan McDonald's upcoming feature, "Left for Dead."

Photo supplied, New Ogden Cinema

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OGDEN — From an early age, some small part of Ogden native Ryan McDonald knew he wanted to be a filmmaker. However, actually conceptualizing that desire required a level of introspection.

“It was something that happened in like the ninth grade,” McDonald said. “You’re entering the high school years and the counselors are starting to sit down and say, ‘Hey, what do you want to do for your future?’ and ‘If the career path is this, then we should navigate classes that will match that future path.'”

Ultimately, it dawned on McDonald that his wide-ranging career interests were mostly inspired by what he had seen in various movies growing up.

“After really sitting on it and thinking about, well, I wanted to be a cop because of ‘Dick Tracy’ or ‘Die Hard,’ or I want to be a lawyer because of this or a spy because of that, I was just like, the thing I’m really interested in is just movies,” he told the Standard-Examiner.

McDonald went on to get his degree in film from the University of Central Florida and later helped launch New Ogden Cinema, a group of local artists, actors and filmmakers banding together in a collaborative effort to get their art out into the world. Fast-forward and McDonald has credits on several short films and has already written and directed his first full-length feature, 2020’s “Married and Loving It!”

Now, McDonald and his New Ogden Cinema cohorts are in pre-production on his second feature, “Left for Dead,” a post-apocalyptic western set to begin shooting later this month at locations throughout the Beehive State. A crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly $9,000 for the project, which stars local actor BJ Whimpey and is produced by Danielle Bendinelli and Brandie Lee McDonald.

The film represents a seismic stylistic shift from McDonald’s first feature.

“My first feature film — it was more of a dialogue film. So, when you’re looking at a script, dialogue can just go by so quickly. There was one day where we shot like 17 pages just in one day. But again, it’s just a husband and wife arguing inside of one house,” McDonald said. “For ‘Left for Dead,’ it’s a lot different because now we’re not in a house anymore. Now, we’re using the entire state of Utah and there’s no dialogue.

“It’s really a character who’s by himself, out in the wilderness and then eventually being hunted.”

While westerns have made use of Utah’s unique scenery since the earliest days of stories being committed to celluloid — particularly in the state’s lower half — McDonald believes that there’s breathtaking beauty to be found even closer to home, something he intends to use to his full advantage in “Left for Dead.”

“One of the great things about living in Utah — and you can see this even in Weber County — is that you can be in a neighborhood and then, all of a sudden, you’re in a rural area within like 10 minutes, just because of the different landscape that we have,” he said.

Operating on a microbudget, McDonald says he’ll lean once again on the “run, gun and fun” philosophy that he and the rest of the New Ogden Cinema team have cultivated across their myriad productions. “Married and Loving It!” was filmed completely on an iPhone, and while the visual fidelity will be improved for his second feature, that indie spirit remains at the core of the group’s latest effort.

So, too, does the desire to produce something that stands apart thematically from the franchise films that currently dominate megaplex screens.

“Right now, there’s a need from audiences to have new and original material,” McDonald said. “Oftentimes, as much as people love to consume Disney, ‘Star Wars,’ there’s also like a complaint for it. Like, it’s not new; it’s not original. This is completely new and an original concept.”

For more information about “Left for Dead,” go to https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/left-for-dead-feature-film#/ or check out New Ogden Cinema’s socials @newogdencinema.