Convicted felon Randall Miller is planning on returning to a film set, and this time, the state of California may be helping him.
After pleading guilty to criminal trespassing and involuntary manslaughter in the on-set death of camera assistant Sarah Jones while shooting the film “Midnight Rider” in Georgia, Miller served a year in prison and is still currently under probation. Despite this, as reported by Variety, California has granted Miller $1.5 million in tax incentives to shoot in the state for an upcoming independent feature for which he and his team are currently seeking financing. Per the terms of his probation, Miller is unable to direct this project but has written the script and will serve as a producer.
The tax credits granted were for a production called “Supercrip,” which, according to a description, tells the story of a quadriplegic Uber driver whose life changes after meeting “a self-centered movie star.” No director has been hired for the project as of yet, but Miller is aiming to begin shooting in March. That’s also when Miller’s probation is set to expire — March 9 — removing any court-appointed limits on his filmmaking activities and potentially allowing him to step behind the camera again.
This would not be the first time he bucked the rules of his probation, as following his prison sentence, he went on to direct a film (originally called “Higher Ground,” but retitled “Coffee Wars”) that shot outside of the U.S. in Serbia, London, and Colombia. As a result, Miller was brought back to court, where his lawyers argued he was unaware he’d broken his probation and that he thought he was allowed to direct, so long as someone else was responsible for set safety. The judge in this matter understood the confusion and didn’t send Miller back to prison. But the judge did clarify that from that point forward, he could not serve as a director on any set until his probation was finished.
The inciting event occurred in 2014 on the first day of production of “Midnight Rider,” a biographical film that was set to tell the story of Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers Band. While setting up a shot on an active train bridge, which production did not get permission to shoot on, a freight train came speeding along the track, giving crew only a minute to flee. A few were not fortunate enough to make it out of the way in time, with six getting injured and Jones being killed. In order to avoid his wife and producer on the film, Jody Savin, from facing prison time, Miller took full responsibility in a plea agreement with the State of Georgia.
