46 | DECEMBER 1 • 2022 

ARTS&LIFE
ON THE COVER

Filming took place in 
January 2022 over five 
days at the Holly Hotel 
— three during a full 
shutdown and two days 
while the hotel was open 
to the public. Holly Hotel 
kitchen and waitstaff were 
extras in the film along 
with local actors. Reisig 
even used George and 
Chrissy Kutlenios’ names 
for the Holly Hotel owners 
featured in the script.
“George and Chrissy’s 
entire staff was very nice 
and easy to work with. The 
most amazing part was 
the food — they actually 
cooked their four-star 
meals for my cast and crew 
every day. Nobody around 
here has ever been on a 
film set that serves roast 
duck with twice-baked 
potatoes and all the sides. 
The biggest problem I’ll 
have in the future is telling 
my crew that we’re not 
filming at the Holly Hotel 
and that we’ll all have to 
go back to eating normal 
food,” Reisig laughed. 

The remaining two days 
of the seven-day shoot 
were ambience shots 
around Holly and in Royal 
Oak at the ImaginATE 
restaurant, which serves 
as a posh Manhattan 
restaurant in the film. 
The Holly Hotel, Holly 
Police Department, Holly 
House Inn, Battle Alley 
Coffee and Battle Alley 
Arcade Antiques Mall 
were all supporters of the 
production of Christmas at 
the Holly Hotel. 
The charming town 
kept up its Christmas 
decorations for a few extra 
weeks in January to add to 
the magic backdrop of the 
film.
“If you watch a Hallmark 
holiday movie, they 
spend a lot of time on set 
decorating. But for us, 
Christmas had already 
exploded at the Holly 
Hotel. We were able to 
walk right in and have 
it decorated at the level 
of a large budget movie,” 
Reising said.

Just six months after 
filming wrapped, the Battle 
Alley Arcade Antiques Mall 
burned to the ground on 
June 21, 2022. The adjacent 
Holly Hotel had significant 
fire damage as well. As 
co-producers on the film 
with Reisig, George and 
Chrissy Kutlenios plan 
to use the proceeds from 
the movie to help rebuild 
their historic landmark and 
support their staff retention 
fund.

WORLD TRAVELER
“Writing was my first 
creative outlet,” says 
Reisig, the author of 
four published comedic 
adventure travel books. 
“I started writing long 
before I ever thought about 
acting, standup comedy, 
directing or producing.
“I’m a pretty solitary, 
introverted guy who has 
learned to be extroverted. 
As writers, we possess 
a lens where we can 
look at the world in a 
slightly different way than 

CAMP FOREVER FUN 

And if Reisig doesn’t already have a 
jam-packed schedule, he established 
Camp Forever Fun six years ago. 
Camp Forever Fun is a weekend 
summer camp experience for adults 
in Bloomingdale, Michigan, about 2.5 
hours from Detroit. 
“In my opinion, anything that you 
did when you were 14 can still be 
fun today, given the right attitude 
and group of friends. It’s everything 
you loved as a kid — plus craft beer,” 
said Reisig, who set out to recreate 
his camp experiences growing up at 
Camp Algonquin, run out of the Ann 
Arbor YMCA. 
Reisig’s camp, horseback riding and 
wrangling experiences growing up 
led to him producing, writing, directing 
and acting in his four-part Horse Camp 
film series. Horse Camp: A Treasure 
Tail just wrapped filming in September 
at the Black River Farm and Ranch 
in Croswell, Michigan, and should be 
released in 2023.
“It’s an epic weekend of fun,” he 
adds. “We sleep on bunk beds, eat in 
the dining hall and have activity peri-
ods during the day and bonfires and 
ghost stories at night. Best of all, we 
never have to worry about counselors 
telling us to go to bed,” he said.
The next Camp Forever Fun will be 
held Aug. 25-27, 2023. $399/person 
for the weekend session, ages 21 and 
over. Horseback riding, arts and crafts, 
swimming, sports, zip line, canoeing, 
archery, ropes course, yoga, climbing 
walls, bonfires, s’mores and all meals.
www.CampForeverFun.com. 

Joel Paul Reisig’s Camp Forever Fun, 
a summer camp for adults ages 21+ in 
Bloomingdale, Michigan, will be held 
Aug. 25-27, 2023. Reisig started the adult 
summer camp in 2016. 

The premiere of the first Horse Camp movie, produced, 
written and directed by Joel Paul Reisig, was held at 
the historic Redford Theatre in 2016. 

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