let me be the thing you need: Filming Summer 2026
Local Cinema Studios is excited to announce the Summer 2026 production of let me be the thing you need, the debut feature from South Carolina filmmaker Cole Stamm.
Set on a rural family farm in South Carolina, the film is an intimate character study exploring longing, dependency, and the complicated ways people attempt to care for one another. The story follows a recovering addict living with his older AA sponsor. When the sponsor’s health begins to decline and a third presence enters their isolated world, emotional boundaries change to reveal the fragile dynamics beneath devotion and duty.
For Stamm, returning to South Carolina was both personal and intentional.
After studying film in Singapore at NYU Tisch and working in Los Angeles for the past 10 years, Stamm made the deliberate choice to create his first feature in the state where he grew up.
“The film is set on my parents’ farm, which has always been a place of openness and safety for me,” Stamm says. “That environment made it possible to explore complicated intimacy without judgment. Returning allowed me to tell a story grounded in a specific social environment shaped by tradition, limited opportunity, and close-knit relationships, while also reflecting a side of the region that’s often overlooked.”
At its core, the film is interested in relationships that appear stable or virtuous on the surface but contain deeper imbalances.
“I’m interested in why people stay in, or even seek out, relationships that cause them harm, and how that harm isn’t always obvious,” Stamm says. “Sometimes it shows up through things we’re taught to value: service, duty, devotion, even desire. I’m drawn to relationships that appear one way on the surface but are much more complicated underneath.”
Stamm was first drawn to filmmaking because of its ability to access private, authentic moments.
“Over time, it became about connection for me,” he says. “How stories reveal how similar we are, even when the worlds look unfamiliar.”
Filming will take place in Fountain Inn, SC, further contributing to the state’s growing film production landscape.
“I love very Americana type stories,” says “let me” producer Stephanie Franklin. “Stories about blue collar life. It’s messy and not always a happy ending, but speaks to real life situations.”
Franklin also notes the significance of producing the film locally. “I am so excited that more and more productions are coming to SC. We as a film community are showing the world that SC has so much to offer and is a great place to bring your film projects. We have such an amazingly talented pool of filmmakers, film crew, and actors. The benefits are endless.”
Director Cole Stamm