Gregg Steele Heppner
Impacting the Arts on a Local Level
story by JENNIFER BROWN-CARPENTER photos by CHARLOTTE BERKELEY
Gregg Steele Heppner was born and raised in the midwest and spent most of his childhood in Montana. Gregg has a theater background and has performed in movies and plays for years. When he went to college, he decided to study broadcasting. This career led him all over the country from Montana to North Dakota to Los Angeles. He worked in the music industry in artist management (including working as part of the management team for the Godfather of Soul, Barnwell’s own James Brown). After decades of managing radio groups in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Miami with companies like iHeartRadio, Gregg joined SiriusXM and eventually became VP/GM of Programming & Operations.
In 2016, Gregg was looking for a place to retire. He was in Charleston, SC, for a music conference. While he was at the conference, his girlfriend, Kris, started looking at properties in the area. She found something in Walterboro, and it had everything they were looking for. So they uprooted and moved. After living there for a while, Gregg found a venue undergoing some renovations. They were looking for someone to handle their programming and production. The venue was the Colleton Civic Center. It was a way for him to help the community and engage in the arts. He was hired and helped create a schedule of events and put together a new theater company. He led the theater’s reopening with legendary R&B Soul performers, The Spinners headlining, and our very own Candice Glover, 2013 American Idol Winner, as the first person to ever perform at the venue.
While working at the theater, Gregg frequently visited and fell in love with Beaufort. Eventually, he and Kris found a house and moved to Lady’s Island. He got involved with a theater company in Ridgeland and did some shows with them, acting and directing. But he was most excited about finding the Beaufort International Film Festival (BIFF) and Beaufort Film Society. He was impressed with the founders Ron and Rebecca Tucker, their work quality, and the importance they placed on creativity.
As the pandemic became a reality, making films and live theater became difficult. Gregg decided to put himself to the test and wrote a screenplay, which he plans to film in the spring. He credits this to his involvement with the BIFF and the impression made on him by Ron and Rebecca.
Gregg has only been in Beaufort for two seasons of the BIFF. He has been a patron, sponsor, and donor. He is interested in doing what he can to further the notion that “we can all participate in art, art is everywhere, and everything can be art.” He hopes to contribute the most to complete his movie as the screenwriter, director, and producer. He is inspired by what Ron and Rebecca have done to bring film back to our area. Some great movies have been filmed in our town, and film attention can create a significant impact. Gregg wants to help carry this idea forward.
South Carolina has not been reaping the same benefits as Georgia has by incentivizing the film industry. Gregg has worked on six films since moving here. Five of those films were in Georgia. One of Gregg’s goals is to bring more films back to South Carolina. Stars Fell on Alabama, filmed in Beaufort in 2019, was a great success. Gregg appears in the movie as an extra. Having these movies filmed in our area is an excellent boost to the economy. He reflects on how warm and professional his experience was on set. “There was great management and direction of the people involved. It was a top-notch production.” Gregg has also worked on films that have not been released yet. While he can’t reveal the films’ names, he has been busy.
As Gregg has developed as an actor, he has become more focused on the craft and less on the attention of being an actor. He has also become more fascinated with how everything comes together. He loves the logistics of all the different pieces involved in creating a film. “There is so much more to it all than what you can see. There are entire industries that you would never know coming together for the success of the movie,” says Gregg. That is one of the main things he loves about the BIFF: “They make you aware of all the industry’s different contributions. It doesn’t feel like they are educating you, but they are very thorough, and it is an entirely immersive experience.”
Gregg is grateful that our community has the gift of the BIFF. “When you enter a film in a film festival in other cities, you might see five or ten people show up to a screening. Here in Beaufort, hundreds of people attend each screening. The amount of feedback and respect shown to the filmmakers is massive.”
Gregg’s screenplay will be filmed in Beaufort with local businesses and local actors. He will utilize local crews as well. There will be specific nods in the film to recognize the history of movies filmed in Beaufort. These little Easter eggs will be buried throughout. “I’m excited, but I’m waiting for the weather to warm up and for the marsh scenery to turn green before we begin filming.”
One of Gregg’s biggest goals is to complete his upcoming screenplay, but more importantly, he wants to see the continued development of film opportunities within South Carolina. “Everyone has a phone, so everyone has a camera. This gives them access to all types of video-centric platforms. It would be great if there were a way to encourage young people to be more involved in film. We need to make it more accessible for them as a way to hone their creativity.” Gregg hopes to be a part of this growth in the arts and is looking forward to doing just that with his new role as the Executive Director at the Beaufort Arts Council. “The arts have become an elective, and they really shouldn’t be. There is an artist inside of every person. There is art everywhere you look.”
Gregg is continuously impressed with the people’s quality and diversity, and opportunities within this community. It is perfectly sized for people to have a significant impact. That is one thing that makes Beaufort a very unusual and unique place. There are opportunities for everyone to find their niche and develop themselves and the community. Any chance that Gregg has to impact the arts, especially on the local level, he will show up and be all in.
