John Jeffcoat, a 1994 Denison alumnus whose first feature film effort as a director grew out of his student experience studying abroad and his current life in Seattle, will return to campus to screen “Outsourced” at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 24, in Slayter Hall Auditorium (200 Ridge Road). The film is a cross-cultural comedy about a customer service call center manager who loses his job and must travel to India to train his own replacement. The screening is free and open to the public.

Jeffcoat spent 10 years championing Seattle’s independent film scene and found it ironic that his debut feature film was shot mostly on location in Bombay. But it was in Seattle, hearing stories of local companies shipping jobs to India and asking their soon-to-be-unemployed American workers to train their Indian replacements, that Jeffcoat got his inspiration.

Screenwriter George Wing, who wrote the script for the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore comedy “50 First Dates,” joined Jeffcoat on the project and pitched the script in Hollywood, where studios balked at the idea of Jeffcoat as director. Not willing to give up, the pair found Seattle-based Shadowcatcher Entertainment prepared to fund the film with Jeffcoat as director.

“Outsourced” was named Best of the Fest at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and recently won the Audience Award for Best Feature at both the Indian Film Festival of L.A. and the Cinequest Film Festival in Silicon Valley.

Link here to read more in the Newark Advocate about Jeffcoat's film and his visit to Denison.

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