SODA: SC Based Pilot Shooting Summer 2026
After reviewing a wide range of submissions, Local Cinema Studios is excited to announce the Summer 2026 production of SODA, a homegrown pilot created by South Carolina filmmaker Pat Rutledge and co-written with James Neely.
Set within the local arts ecosystem of Columbia, SODA is a satirical comedy/drama that explores what it means to support creativity inside systems built to measure, market, and monetize it. The pilot follows a young intern working for an arts funding organization as he navigates a city full of artists, administrators, and blurred intentions, where optimism and bureaucracy often coexist uneasily.
For Rutledge, the series grew directly out of his experience growing up in South Carolina.
“Growing up in small towns and cities across the state, I was always fascinated by how interconnected everyone is,” Rutledge says. “The person you know for one reason is known by someone else for a totally different reason. Or every person you don’t know is only one or two people removed from someone you do.”
That interconnectedness shapes the structure of the series, with each episode following new characters whose lives overlap and intertwine across Columbia’s creative landscape. The city is not just a backdrop, it is the engine of the story.
The project is also inspired by Rutledge’s firsthand navigation of grants, residencies, and funding opportunities within the arts.
“It’s incredible that those systems exist,” he says. “But like anything else, they’re not free from criticism. A lot of an artist’s experience, figuring out what’s real opportunity and what’s bogus, isn’t visible to the audience. A satirical dramedy about that felt fitting.”
Rutledge’s writing partner, James Neely, came to the project through years of their creative collaboration. The two originally connected through music, Neely is a Columbia-based lyricist and artist.
“I told him I was writing this series and invited him to co-write it with me,” Rutledge says. “He’s a storyteller at heart. Film just became the next medium.”
True to its subject matter, SODA is committed to deep local involvement at every level of production.
“In every way I can,” Rutledge says when asked how he hopes to involve the community. “This series pays a lot of homage to Columbia…it’s in the title. I intend for the cast to be local, the crew to be local, the catering to be local, the music to be local. I’m just a kid from the sticks who’s been blessed with an opportunity to make something special. The more growth I experience, the more opportunity I’m able to provide to the people around me.”
Director Pat Rutledge