When he graduated from Bridgeport High School in 2009, Morgan Miller didn’t fathom that he would one day aspire to make a movie - let alone a vegetarian horror film.

 

Miller, who obtained a degree in filmmaking from Montana State University’s School of Film and Photography, has a number of projects in the works. Behind it all is an active imagination and drive to succeed.

 

Projects to his credit include a film titled “Free Hand,” based on the album and title track of the 1970s British progressive rock band “Gentle Giant.” His final project while attending MSU, Miller ran into copyright issues, but took care of that efficiently and in a straightforward manner.

 

“He wrote to the guys in the band, who happened to be in Canada and they told him to come on up and bring his work,” said his mother, Twila Jeffries Miller. “So he took it up there and the guys liked it so much, they showed it at a music festival – and it got a standing ovation.”

 

Miller thereafter traveled to England, spent some time with the band and was granted rights for the song to be used in the movie.

 

The BHS alum is also working with a documentary about the making of soap nut shampoos, to be filmed in Peruvian Amazon.

 

“He was supposed to do that last month, but roads were washed out,” his mom said. “He’s going to be filming with his drone, so he took it out on our property to practice and hone his skills.”

 

Miller is approaching his career in the entertainment industry with an open mind and doing some thinking outside the box – implementing one project which also showcases his home state of West Virginia. Miller has opened the Trailhead Coffee Shop in Canaan Valley, catering to outdoor enthusiasts. In addition to coffee and treats, patrons can enjoy shows on the Outdoor Channel, movies and other pertinent broadcasts on a big screen.

 

Jeffries Miller said her son has always shown interest in films and filmmaking.

 

“When he was only four years old, he would repeat lines from movies and it blew me away,” she said.

 

He also loved movie soundtracks and memorized the film according to the music.

 

“He would listen to the soundtrack to ‘Indiana Jones’ and tell us (at what point in the music) the ball was rolling down the hill, etc.,” she said.

She said at that time, she predicted she might be the mother of a future Steven Spielberg.

 

But, like many kids, Miller went through various phases that temporarily took him away from that passion. He biked, snowboarded – and even aspired to be a dentist and an astronaut before returning to his first love: Filmmaking.

 

“After he had been accepted at the University of Colorado’s astronomy department, I got this really long letter and he said his heart wasn’t in it,” Jeffries Miller said. “He wanted to make movies. He applied to Montana State University and got accepted.”

 

His passion project, “Things of That Nature” follows a 20-something female who grows up on a West Virginia farm. A chicken beheading incident traumatizes her into becoming a vegetarian and her new lifestyle and beliefs, plants prove their existence, coming alive – in the film – through the use of puppetry.

 

“Our goal is to make the audience walk away feeling the same about their houseplant as they do toward the rainforest,” Miller said.