New film shot around the island a modern-day ‘Breakfast Club’
Published 1:30 am Friday, May 8, 2026
Did you know that a movie was recently filmed on Bainbridge Island? That’s right, Detention, written by local Emma Cameron, opens with scenes of the island. However, the illusion of the peaceful shots of Bainbridge is quickly shattered when four high school ‘delinquents’ are assigned to serve Saturday detention, a modern-day Breakfast Club, if you will.
“Detention is a love letter to Bainbridge Island, but not a glossy one. It captures the island’s beauty while putting front and center a real look at the struggles teens face, and the juxtaposition between that natural beauty and family drama concealed behind closed doors. Real place. Real problems,” Cameron said.
The film takes place entirely on the island, with half the film living inside the library of Bainbridge High School, which Cameron rechristened ‘Agate Point High School’ for the movie. Other scenes on the island include Pegasus Coffee House, Pleasant Beach Village, the courtyard of Madrone Lane tucked between Island Cool and Blackbird Bakery, and residential homes of Bainbridge Island that look picture-perfect from the outside. Other shots of Bainbridge Island can be seen in the film, with sweeping drone shots of the coastline.
“It’s no secret that Bainbridge Island is drop-dead gorgeous — the stunning scenery, the ferry views, the kind of beauty that makes you want to put it on film,” said Cameron, who is originally from England. “So when we packed up our family and moved to the island seven years ago, that’s exactly what I thought: I need to shoot a movie here. Then I drove past the high school and it hit me.”
During the pandemic, Cameron’s production company, Illuminare Productions, spent some time making commercials for a Social Emotional Learning Program (SEL) called Conscious Classroom, where Cameron spent time working with teenagers. “I’d taught acting to teens back in my Hollywood days, and getting back into their world, their real lives, their messy home situations, their very unfiltered struggles, lit a fire under me,” she said. “The result? A modern-day Breakfast Club. Set right here.”
Detention has a field day with SEL culture taken to its most absurd extreme, but underneath the eyerolls and the satire beats something genuinely human: love, friendship, and the inconvenient truth that behind every Bainbridge Island home lives an actual family with all the good, the bad, and sometimes the spectacularly ugly that comes with it, Cameron shared.
Making the film local was of importance to Cameron, as around 90% of the cast and crew are from Bainbridge Island or Seattle. “We spent six months casting and I feel like we saw everyone in Washington State,” she said. “Watch the movie and you may recognize people you see in the aisles of Safeway or Town & Country.”
This April, the movie was shown at the Pasadena International Film Festival and was nominated for three different awards: Best Feature, Best Actress (Anna Mulia), and Best Director. “The news hit right after the festival screened our movie to a sold-out world premiere at the Laemmle 7 in North Hollywood: 220 seats, a lot of laughter, and some tears,” said Cameron. “The energy was unforgettable.”
Cameron said the film will be shown at festivals through August and hopefully hit theaters by September, before being available on a streaming service shortly after that.
Through the creation of Detention, Cameron ran a youth mentorship program that gave kids without the economic means to attend film school a real seat at the table. There, they learned filmmaking hands-on, side-by-side with industry professionals. Some of those teens have since gone on to pursue film careers, shared Cameron. The youngest crew member on set was 17, and the oldest was 77. “I found myself simultaneously mentoring young people and being mentored by retired Bainbridge residents with decades of Hollywood experience and a lot left to give,” said Cameron. “Watching the two generations work together was honestly a dream. Young energy meeting hard-won wisdom. A genuinely symbiotic relationship.”
Local sponsors included Pegasus Coffee House, Bene Pizza, Conscious Classroom Yoga, Bainbridge Community Foundation, Pleasant Beach Village, and Abnormals Anonymous. Pegasus donated $10,000 in coffee and pastries across every single day of production, Bene Pizza kept the cast and crew fed, and Fairbanks Construction donated vehicles and housing. 90% of filming locations were also donated, Cameron shared.
“None of it would have existed without the community itself,” said Cameron. “Nearly 100 people are listed in our special thanks credits, and every single one gave something real. That kind of generosity doesn’t just make a movie; it becomes part of it. We need each other, this movie proved it.”
Detention was produced by Holly Woodward Mavar, Emma Cameron, and Mark Cameron. The film was made possible with executive producer Tom Ingram, consulting producer Kelly Van Horn, and cinematographer Pete Soto. Lead actors in the film included Elizabeth Mitchell, Anna Mulia, Ian S. Peterson, Ricky Spaulding, and Bianca Mariani.
