Cast and Crew of Final Decision (photo by Cathy Brody)
“If you have less than six months to live and a doctor can attest to that, then you can actually take yourself out via a prescription from the doctor,” Cambria clinical psychologist and writer Steve Brody says. It’s legal in California and 11 other U.S. jurisdictions, and it’s exactly what Brody’s father did.
What’s remarkable is that Brody, who has written screenplays and both fiction and nonfiction books, wrote a film script about his father’s death following his battle with pancreatic cancer, and watched as the movie, starring 86-year-old Hollywood veteran Mike Farrell, was filmed on the Central Coast in March of this year.
“He [Farrell] just did an outstanding job as my dad, essentially playing my father,” Brody says. “He’s a veteran actor, so I’m not surprised.”
The name of the film, originally Final Decision, is being reviewed and will be finalized with post-production in November, according to one of the film’s two producers, Julian Mercado Avila.
“It’s been a great experience,” Mercado Avila says. “I think this has been the most educational experience, at least in my career so far, because I’ve had to work with people who are veterans of Hollywood, like Mike Farrell and Doug Jones.”
Raised in Cambria, Mercado Avila has spent the last five years in Burbank pursuing his passion for filmmaking through Slabtown Studios, which along with his producing partner Darien Jewell, produces commercial and narrative films.
Farrell is best known for his portrayal of Captain B.J. Hunnicutt in the television series M*A*S*H*. Jones has acted in more than 25 films (most notably in Hellboy, Hellboy II and The Shape of Water) and in several television series, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Suanne Spoke, known for playing Aunt Emma in the 2014 film Whiplash, also has a prominent supporting role.
Mercado Avila says that when it came to selecting cast and crew, the producing team talked to locals Kyle and Carlos Plummer, who were recruited as directors of the project. “They were thinking, ‘We’re trying to grow the film community in SLO County,’“ Mercado Avila says. So most of the cast and crew came from the Central Coast.
“Everybody worked well together,” Brody says. “I’d say the only challenge was there were a couple of days when it was raining, and so you have to adapt to the weather. That was a little challenging.”
Mercado Avila says the film will be submitted to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and San Luis Obispo International Film Festival before being available digitally in summer of 2026.
Brody also is writing a book based on the script.
“I already had the script, so I figured I might as well see if I can expand it into a novel, and I was able to do so and felt pretty good about it,” Brody says.