WILBRAHAM – “There is probably no greater thing for a screenwriter to be able to say than ‘my movie is having a premiere in Los Angeles,’” Wilbraham resident Layla O’Shea said of her film “Just Say Goodbye,” a drama in which a teen learns her best friend plans to attempt suicide. The premiere was at the Regency Theater, Valley Plaza 6 in North Hollywood and was followed by a week-long Los Angeles screening.

The film was released in May and, while O’Shea doesn’t know how many people have seen the movie, she did say that the 106-minute film had been streamed for 90,000 minutes in the first month.

Aside from the excitement around the premiere and early success of the movie, the sensitive topic has inspired strong reactions. O’Shea said people have come up to her in tears after seeing the movie and shared their own stories around suicide. If nothing else, she said, she wants the movie to “make people realize they have to talk to their kids.”

“Just Say Goodbye” has also received critical acclaim. It was nominated for the Stanley Kubrick Best U.S. Feature Film at the Blow-Up International Arthouse Film Festival in Chicago. Director Matt Walting won the Indie Spirit Best Director award at the 2018 Boston International Film Festival and was the recipient of the first annual Unify Against Bullying Grant.

“He’s so technically savvy,” O’Shea said of Walting, a friend of her daughter, who was only 16 when they began filming. “He knows his stuff.”

The film was O’Shea’s first screenplay. She was completely new to the process of making a movie and had to do a lot of research. She and Walting felt out the process as they went.

The movie was filmed in Wilbraham, Ludlow, Springfield, East Longmeadow, and Holyoke. As a truly independent film, the funding was amassed almost exclusively through donations and crowdfunding via Indiegogo and Go Fund Me.

“We first raised $15,000 for production and pre–production,” O’Shea said. Another $9,000 was raised for post–production costs.

O’Shea said that the professional production quality of the film is thanks to Jeff Simons, a two-time Emmy Award-winning cinematographer. She said on Reddit that when he heard what a small budget they had, “he joined our team for only a bed to sleep in, food, and gas money to drive from NJ to Mass for 8 weekends.”

Much has happened in the few years since O’Shea and Walting began making the film. In addition to the film festivals and work letting people know about the movie, O’Shea wrote a suspense novel that she is currently shopping to literary agents. She is also in the process of creating a TV drama series, “Split Decisions.”

Walting is studying film at Emerson College and has created a video announcing the candidacy of Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, who ran for Congressman Richard Neal’s seat in 2018. He also directed three episodes of the webseries The Next Generation for Guided Magazine.

Meanwhile, the star of the movie, Max MacKenzie, who O’Shea said had never acted in front of the camera, has since appeared in an episode of “Law & Order: SVU” and is currently working on Jordan Peele's upcoming series for Amazon titled, “The Hunt,” starring Al Pacino & Logan Lerman.

“It’s been a fun ride, for sure,” O’Shea said.

“Just say Goodbye” is now available on DVD from Walmart, Target, and Best Buy, and for streaming on Amazon Prime, Fandango, and at www.justsaygoodbyefilm.com.