New Film 'Silo' Highlights The Deadly Dangers Of Grain Entrapment

Sam detailed how a grain entrapment occurs in an effort to make the problem more understandable to the public. "A grain entrapment's meaning sounds a lot like the term itself: it means that someone has been trapped in grain. This happens in a variety of confined spaces that store grain on a farm, but our film is particular to an entrapment when corn gets congealed inside of a large grain storage bin, which creates a clutter of grain that won’t come out of the auger. This is often why farmers have to climb up and enter their bins/silos, because they have to break up that clumped together corn, or soybeans (using pipes, shovels, or other tools), so that they can ensure fluid access to the crop they are selling," he explained.

The idea for the movie came from a radio story about an infamous grain entrapment in Mount Carroll, Illinois in 2010.

"In that case three boys became trapped in grain when an unknowing co-worker activated the auger, which then sucked them underneath the corn. Two of those boys — aged 14 and 19 — died on that day. A third, 18, was rescued after a grueling overnight rescue operation. That sad story sparked an idea in our director's head, which led to us researching other entrapments; after which we created a fictionalized drama/thriller about an entrapment and rescue," Sam said.

Although Sam had no personal connection to the subject matter when he was first pitched the project, he quickly became intrigued by the film's ability to unite different types of people.

"I was approached by the film's director Marshall Burnette in 2014, because a mutual friend recommended he pitch me his idea about a thriller that takes place on a farm. That thriller was Silo, and it chronicled a day in the life of a small American farm town where a grain entrapment happens, and the whole community has to unite to save the life of one of their own. I was intrigued by the drama of this circumstance, but even more so by what Marshall said was his reason for making this film —  he wanted to authentically depict the lives of the people he grew up around in Tennessee," he recalled.