"There was a lot of trust," Thibodeau said, adding that the College "trusted us not to burn the place down and we didn't."
The currently untitled story centers on a bartender who works at a wedding reception in the Tower Room, said Michaels, who wrote the script with Edlin. Lacking in funds for art and production design, which they received mostly through friends and family, the team looked for a character-driven story and a central location that was "already glamorous," said Thibodeau, who directed.
If anything had gone wrong if the library decided they were too loud or if the heat of the lights caused the sprinklers to activate, for example the entire production would have been compromised.
"The only major problem was the bells," Michaels said. "Every hour, on the hour, we'd have to stop."
The trio hope that the film will launch their careers in filmmaking. Edlin and Thibodeau met during their sophomore spring in a film production class, and Edlin, who stars as the main character, then approached Michaels.
"We met and hashed out the vague story at the beginning of last fall," Edlin said.
Thibodeau described Michaels as well-spoken and an asset for the project.
"I ramble all the time, and I think 70 percent of what I say is worth listening to and 30 percent is too much," he said. "For Henry, 100 percent of what he says is worth listening to."
The writing pair continued to work through the script during their winter off-terms.
"We'd correspond over Skype and alternate drafts," Michaels said. "At that time, Jeremy was leading the production side, getting people together, figuring out casting and financing and pitching it to people."
Thibodeau was also pushing the College to obtain permission to use the library for filming, pitching his project for months.
The idea for the story came from their young experiences in the filmmaking world.
"We're 21. We don't know anything that's real," Thibodeau said. "You can only become a successful storyteller once you're older and have walked a thousand miles. So we thought, what do we know about? Well, we know about family, we've had one for 21 years. So let's make a story about family."
He called it a complex story, one that is "about the grays, not the blacks and whites."
Edlin described the film as a dramedy that will appeal to fans of "Good Will Hunting" (1997) and "Little Miss Sunshine" (2006).
While the film primarily takes place in the Tower Room, some scenes were shot outside. The team hired a casting agent in New York to find a supporting cast, for which over 200 people submitted.
"One actor in the film is a General Hospital' star, another has a recurring role on House of Cards,' another is doing Cinderella' on Broadway," Thibodeau said.
Despite working with seasoned actors, Edlin said he was not intimidated.
"I'd spent so much time with the story and with the character that I was pretty confident," he said. "And the other actors were all very warm, they knew it was my first time and they were very understanding."
The team will soon begin a Kickstarter campaign to raise financial backing for the editing and post-production. They expect post-production to be completed within a year, and will submit it to "any and every festival," Michaels said.
