Photo credit: Mike McKenzie
(Director/Writer George Ellzey Jr. during rehearsals for short film “Human Noise” with cast and crew)
A Chicago film team is bringing together a collective of filmmakers, turning years of collaboration, creativity, and shared purpose into one powerful story.
Now in post-production, Human Noise is the latest project from Cottage Grove Productions and reflects what can happen when a team unites around a common vision.
George Ellzey Jr., a screenwriter, director, and producer, is the founder of Cottage Grove Productions, a Chicago-based production company focused on developing original stories and creating opportunities for creatives.
The company also partners with TJ Harris (InstinctǐVision Films), bringing additional producing, financial, and operational resources.
Human Noise is the team’s largest project to date and serves as a proof of concept, with hopes of becoming a future feature film. The story explores friendship, identity, relationships, and the pressures of adulthood.
“It’s such a blessing to work with creatives in the city who are also passionate about film,” Ellzey said. “Each of our connections was sort of serendipitous.”
The “Core 4” Team
The production’s “Core 4” team includes George Ellzey Jr., Jordan Rivers, TJ Harris and Keiph Oliver. The four first worked together as producers on Ellzey’s MFA thesis film, Cottage Grove, in 2022.
Ellzey met Rivers while visiting DePaul University and later learned that she was widely considered one of the school’s strongest producers.
“Literally, I went up to her and told her, ‘You’re going to produce for me,’” Ellzey recalled.
He met Harris through Instagram and mutual acting friends, while Oliver was connected to him through a DePaul professor. Over time, those individual relationships developed into a trusted creative partnership.
“It’s so comforting to have people who started with me when I was just building and getting to know who I was as a creative. Now I have security and trust with them because I can relinquish a lot of control regarding production because they do their jobs so well,” said Ellzey
Rivers, who serves as producer and head of production, said the team’s roles have evolved alongside their individual strengths and experience.
“Over the past four years, our roles have evolved and become increasingly specific to our individual strengths, interests, and goals as producers,” Rivers said.
For Harris, who serves as the producing partner and head of finance and operations, Human Noise represents an opportunity to build a production environment where creatives can thrive.
“Ambitious filmmaking isn’t only about what appears on screen; it’s also about building environments where artists and crew feel supported, prepared, respected, and empowered to do their best work,” Harris said.
Oliver, who serves as producer and head of marketing and distribution, focuses on connecting the project with audiences while helping develop the partnerships and structure needed to sustain the team’s work.
“I’m deeply interested in the intersection of storytelling, audience discovery, and institution building,” Oliver said.
Over the next three years, Oliver hopes Human Noise leads to the feature film while continuing to shape him as a producer and creative leader.
“Great creative work needs strong beds to grow from. Three years from now, I’d love to be helping build those beds in Chicago while bringing the full-length version of Human Noise to audiences.”
Harris also sees Human Noise as a bridge between where the team is today and the larger productions they hope to create over the next three years.
“Ultimately, I want us to build infrastructure that can grow with the filmmaker. I hope we can look back at Human Noise as one of the moments when the films, relationships, and infrastructure we’ve been building began opening bigger doors—not only for ourselves, but for other storytellers as well,” said Harris.
From Cottage Grove to Human Noise
Cottage Grove Productions traces its roots to Ellzey’s short film, Cottage Grove, which earned a regional Emmy nomination and two Telly Awards and screened at film festivals around the country.
The company has also produced projects including Switching, which NBC 5 showcased during Black History Month.
But Human Noise represents a major step forward.
“It really is in terms of money, in terms of resources, staffing that’s behind this project, and just the notoriety with the project. It was a large undertaking, and I think it is the best step to launch us into a feature film,” said Ellzey
The idea for Human Noise began years ago. After Ellzey submitted the script to a TDE (Top Dawg Entertainment)short film grant with help from filmmaker Troy Pryor of Creative Cypher, the project became a finalist, which encouraged him to keep developing the story.
In his mid-30s, as friendships shifted and he grew, Ellzey wanted to tell a story about a Black friend group confronting who they really are.
“I miss Black ensemble movies,” Ellzey said. “I wanted to create something like that for my age group, for millennials who are wrestling with friendships, identity and what to do next in life.”
Inspired by The Best Man, Waiting to Exhale and Soul Food, Ellzey hopes Human Noise creates that same sense of recognition for a new generation.
“Human Noise is about silencing all the noise that we have in our life from expectations, from careers, from families, from pressures, and all that, and listening to our own voice again,” he said.
Bringing the Characters to Life
For actor Andrae Bicy, who plays Matthew, Human Noise offered a chance to explore his passion for acting while joining a collaborative project.
Bicy describes Matthew as more complicated than a traditional villain. The character navigates politics, ambition, marriage, and the pressure that comes with pursuing his goals.
“I feel like Matthew could easily be written off as just a villain. I think in Matthew’s mind, he is someone who is dealing with the weight of doing what he feels like he has to do,” Bicy said.
Actress Deveon Bromby, who plays Matthew’s wife, Janelle, also sees her character as someone navigating multiple layers. Janelle works to maintain the image of the perfect politician’s wife while confronting her own identity and relationships.
“Janelle contains multitudes,” Bromby said. “She is balancing her outward appearance with her internal world.”
Building a Midwest Film Ecosystem
Human Noise has received support from Cinespace Chicago, DePaul University, O’Connor Casting and Keslow Camera, along with Black-owned beauty and haircare brands Black Opal and Jamaican Mango and Lime.
The team is now seeking additional investment and community support as it works toward the feature-length version of Human Noise.
“We are looking for investments, and we are prepared with the business plan and all the things the investor needs to get a return on investment,” Ellzey said. “But what’s more important to me is people believing in the story.”
For Ellzey, the larger goal is to establish Cottage Grove Productions as a major production force in the Midwest while creating opportunities for young filmmakers to build careers in Chicago.
“What I want for Cottage Grove Productions is to be like the A24 or Neon production company in the Midwest,” Ellzey said. “I want to provide not only more Chicago stories but also more support so students and young people who want to stay in film can not only see an example here in the Midwest, but they can stay in the Midwest. We can build a stronger ecosystem here. That’s our mission.”
A public screening of Human Noise is expected later, with an online premiere planned to reach audiences beyond Chicago.
For more information about Human Noise, upcoming screenings, and ways to support the project, visit https://www.cottagegroveproductions.com/
Follow @cottagegroveproductions and @instinctivisionfilms on Instagram.
