MIDDLESEX TWP — A California film producer is working on a project that documents a parent group and its efforts to prevent unconventional gas wells from being drilled near the five schools in the Mars School District.

Western Pennsylvania native Holly Million knows a parent in the group, which has been trying for several months to prevent five wells from being drilled on the Bob and Kim Geyer farm on Denny Road.

“When he told me what the issue was and how the group came together, I said ‘I want to make a film about that because it’s a great story,’” Million said.

The parents think pollution from the well operations, plus the potential for the wells to explode, pose health and safety risks to the 3,200 students in the district.

Their attempts to have a two-mile nonindustrial overlay around the schools have failed at the township level, but two Philadelphia-area environmental organizations contacted by the parent group are now appealing an amendment to the Middlesex zoning ordinance that would allow shale gas operations in much of the township.

The appeal has stopped the development of the Rex Energy wells at the Geyer farm, and work will not continue until the issue is resolved.

Million in October interviewed several of the parents in the group while she was in Pittsburgh promoting her last documentary, a tale of Agent Orange entitled “A Permanent Mark.”

Parent group leader Amy Nassif said Million asked the parents to discuss their experiences with legislators, the state Department of Environmental Protection, local public officials, the Mars School Board, and their neighbors in Adams and Middlesex townships, among others.

Nassif said much of the footage to be used in the documentary will come from recordings the parents make at municipal meetings and hearings on the matter.

The parent group members upload their footage onto a website, where Million can access it.

Nassif said participation in the documentary made her recall the group’s beginnings in the spring.

“I never thought in March that this would be a documentary,” Nassif said. “Unfortunately, the oil and gas industry has created this divide in the community, and so we’re just trying to tell our side of the story.”

Million said that exact aspect of the group is what she is trying to capture in the documentary, which is tentatively entitled “Frackture.”

“This story is bigger than fracking,” Million said. “It’s a story about ordinary people having to overcome their own fears and beliefs that they’re not powerful.”

Million also talked to Jordan Yeager, the Philadelphia environmental attorney who is representing the Clean Air Council, the Delaware Riverkeeper Association, and four Middlesex residents who are challenging the ordinance amendment there.

“They’re very modest, but they are a very powerful presence on camera,” Million said of the parents and Yeager.

Million will return to Pittsburgh by late December to shoot more footage of the parent group members with their families.

She does not know when the film will be finished.

“This film is about something that is still unfolding,” Million said.

She appreciates the cooperation of the parents, who are busy attending meetings and hearings as well as caring for their families.

“I’m grateful to the parents,” Million said. “I feel they are sharing something important with me. They are an incredible inspiration.”

Million said the documentary is intended for national broadcast on television. She is now working on the film’s trailer, which will feature the tagline “What would you do to protect your children?”

“I think this is going to be the film in my career that I’m most proud of,” Million said.

More information on Million’s work can be viewed at www.hollymillion.com.