Emperium Studios Kicks Off Production on Every Mile Home

Columbus, Ohio — May 13, 2026

Some stories wait years to be told. Not because they are not ready, but because the person who lived them needed to become the filmmaker capable of doing them justice. HaHa!

Every Mile Home is that story for writer, director, and producer Dom Campbell.

Production officially began this month in Columbus, Ohio, marking a significant new chapter for Campbell and his production company, Emperium Studios LLC. The project represents a deliberate pivot toward prestige storytelling; an intimate, personal short film built on a true foundation and brought to life by a cast and crew whose commitment to the material is evident from the first day on set.

The Film

Every Mile Home is a drama set in 1997. It follows a young mother navigating one of the most defining moments of her life — fighting for her child in a world that seems determined to work against her. Alone. Without the support she deserves. With everything on the line. The film unfolds across three emotional movements, a long drive, a quiet night, and a courtroom that holds the weight of years. It is a story about love as action. About what it costs to fight for someone when the odds say you should stop. About what it means to be a mother when the system does not see you as one.

It is not a comfortable film. It is an honest one.

The Cast

Emperium Studios has assembled a focused ensemble for this production; each actor bringing depth and specificity to characters that demand nothing less.

• Nicole Stubbs leads the film as Diane, the mother at the center of everything. Diane is not a victim. She is not a symbol. She is a woman — complicated, determined, and fully human — and Stubbs brings every layer of that to the role. Hers is a performance built on restraint, the kind that asks more of an audience because it trusts them to feel what is not said.

• Tia Santamaria plays Carol, a role that could easily read as an obstacle but in Santamaria's hands becomes something far more interesting — a woman who loves deeply and is wrong in ways she genuinely cannot see. The moral complexity of Carol is the film's quiet backbone and Santamaria navigates it with honesty and care.

• Patrick Mona steps into the role of Joshua, the attorney who stands beside Diane in the courtroom. Joshua is not a hero in the traditional sense. He is a professional who believes in his client and in the law, and Mona brings an intelligence and steadiness to the character that anchors the film's most procedurally demanding scenes.

• Marilyn Price plays Judge Simmons — the 60-year-old presiding judge whose presence transforms the room the moment she enters it. Price brings gravity and nuance to a role that requires communicating everything through what is withheld rather than what is expressed. Her Judge Simmons is not warm and she is not cold. She is precise. And that precision carries the film's most quietly devastating moments.

• Rae Campbell rounds out the central cast as Marcus, the child at the heart of the story. Young, unguarded, and entirely unaware of what is being fought for in his name — Marcus is the reason every scene in that courtroom matters, and Campbell's natural presence makes him impossible not to love on sight.

The Director

Dom Campbell has been building his filmmaking career from the ground up for over a decade — writing, directing, producing, and executive producing across multiple independent features. His credits include The Female Hustler franchise, for which he served as writer, director, and producer, and Affliction: Toxic Misery, on which he served as executive producer.

But Every Mile Home is different. This one is personal.

"There are stories that belong to you before you know what to do with them," Campbell says. "This is one of mine. I carried it for years — not because I was waiting for permission, but because I needed to become the filmmaker this story deserved."

The film draws from a chapter of Campbell's own life — a period of separation, of family fracture, and ultimately of a love that refused to quit. Without revealing the specifics that belong to the film itself, what can be said is this: the emotional truth at the center of Every Mile Home is not invented. It is remembered. And that distinction changes everything about how it will be felt on screen.

Campbell approaches the material with the visual discipline of a filmmaker who has studied his craft deeply and the emotional authority of someone who has lived his subject. The result is a short film that carries the weight of a feature — intimate in scale, expansive in feeling.

The Production

Filming is underway in Columbus, Ohio — the city that shaped Campbell and that serves as the starting point for a story that ultimately unfolds across state lines. The production team assembled for Every Mile Home reflects Emperium Studios' commitment to surrounding important material with people who take it seriously.

Every creative decision on this project has been made in service of one goal — to honor the truth of the story without softening it, and to deliver that truth to an audience with the craft and care it deserves.

What Comes Next

Every Mile Home is the first in what Emperium Studios envisions as a body of work that operates at the intersection of personal truth and cinematic ambition. It is a statement of intent — not just for this film, but for the kind of storytelling this company is committed to bringing into the world.

More details on the film's release and upcoming projects from Emperium Studios will be announced in the months ahead.

Follow Emperium Studios for updates on Every Mile Home and future productions.

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