SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Utah Film Commission announced that the Utah Board of Tourism Development has approved four new productions for state film incentives, which are expected to generate an estimated economic impact of $17.5 million and over 420 new jobs.

Among the productions is a new series from local filmmakers Jason Faller and Kynan Griffin, titled “The Wayfinders,” for a Rural Utah Film Incentive. Faller and Griffin are also known for “The Outpost” and “Mythica: Stormbound.”

 “We are excited to film ‘The Wayfinders’ series in the remarkable state of Utah, where its awe-inspiring landscapes and distinctive rural charm will serve as the perfect backdrop for our story,“ said Faller. “From the vivid colors of the changing seasons to the rugged beauty of its countryside, and the small-town Americana setting that is central to the series, Utah offers the right setting that will enhance the immersive world we’re creating.”

In addition, a new thriller “The Edge of Normal,” based on Carla Norton’s novel, was approved for the Utah Motion Picture Incentive.

Producer Matt Miller, who is also known for “The Wolf of Snow Hollow” and “California King,” which were filmed in Utah, shared that the state’s landscapes, talented local crew, and unwavering support for filmmakers make it the perfect place to create “The Edge of Normal.”

“We are incredibly grateful to the Utah Film Commission for awarding us the tax credit for ‘The Edge of Normal,’” said Miller. “We’re excited to return in the spring to begin production and further showcase all that Utah has to offer as a premier filmmaking destination.”

Season two of the Hallmark series “Finding Mr. Christmas,” starring host Jonathan Bennett, was also approved for a Rural Utah Film Incentive.

Producer Cara Tapper, who is known for “Halloween Wars” and “Holiday Wars,” shared that there was little doubt about returning to Utah for season two, adding that its views make for a Hallmark dream location.

“As a production company, the ability to source a lot of local crew, ease of production in Utah and help from the community in finding the perfect locations makes this a no-brainer,” Tapper said. “It’s been a pleasure for us working in Utah over the years with Food Network productions, and our comfort level in the state made it an easy decision to bring the Hallmark production to Utah. Not to mention the very easy parking…we don’t have that at home.”

A new feature from local filmmaker Dustin Ward, who is also behind “Princess for a Day,” was approved for a Utah Community Film Incentive. Named “The Genesis Project,” the film is a thriller that follows five psychology students who are studying serial killers in an attempt to capture a killer who is stalking their town.

Kim White lived only 32 years, but she knew a movie about her life couldn’t be short.

“When I met with her, she said, ‘I want to do my story big,’” said Dan Davis, the director of “Breaking Into Beautiful,” a documentary about the Utah influencer who shared every step of her six-year battle with cancer on Instagram, up until her death on Feb. 14, 2020.

“I don’t think she knew what that meant, entirely. And I don’t think I knew what that meant, entirely, until I started to dig into her story,” Davis said from the Farmington offices of his production company, Stiry. “Then she started to uncover parts of her story with us, and what that meant was a feature film.”

“Breaking Into Beautiful” made its debut Jan. 3 on the streaming service of the Provo-based distributor Angel Studios, known for promoting family-friendly and faith-based content.

White was diagnosed with adrenocortical carcinoma, a rare and aggressive cancer, in March 2014 — when the cancer caused a premature end to a pregnancy at 18 weeks. Kim and her husband, Treagan, were planning for a little boy to join them and their daughter, Hensleigh, in their Kaysville home.

When she was diagnosed, Kim was told she would have two or three months to live. The movie shows how she decided to fight back hard, with aggressive treatments — including a liver operation in 2017 that she and her doctor referred to as “the Hail Mary,” as well as four infusions of the anti-cancer drug Keytruda.

White started documenting her cancer fight on Instagram. In the documentary, she says she did it in part because it was easier than sending texts and emails to all of her friends and relatives. At her death, she had gained some 124,000 Instagram followers.

Davis called White “a pioneer” for the way she shared her cancer fight. Before her, he said, “nobody was putting their health journeys on Instagram and social media” that way.

Davis said his production crew watched hundreds of hours of footage that White and her family shot at practically every stage of her treatment.

“There are just these beautiful and heartbreaking pieces of footage, and photos, that she had,” Davis said. “A lot of it was hard to watch, and hard to see because of how much pain and turmoil and trauma that she had been through. But it was beautiful because it existed.”

Davis had heard about White’s story — an employee pointed him to the Instagram account — but he connected with her through a mutual acquaintance: Dan Reynolds, the frontman for the rock band Imagine Dragons.

Davis’ company had worked with Reynolds on a short film to promote his nonprofit, the Tyler Robinson Foundation. Kim and Treagan White had attended one of the foundation’s galas in Las Vegas in 2019 — about a year before she died. She saw the short film and approached Davis.

“I always felt like hers was a story that I needed to tell, but I had never met her and never talked to her,” Davis said. “So it was pretty amazing to meet in that fashion, and have her just watch one of our films and then say, ‘I’ve been looking for someone to tell my story.’”

Reynolds was an early champion of White, and performed a solo acoustic concert in July 2014 to raise money to pay her medical bills. In February 2015, White was backstage at Ellen Degeneres’ talk show when Imagine Dragons performed.

Another celebrity who befriended White was Chris Harrison, the former host of ABC’s “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” franchises. White met Harrison on the same trip to Hollywood when she was backstage at Ellen Degeneres’ show. She was a fan of “The Bachelor,” and he made it a point to invite her to that season’s “After the Rose” post-finale show — and got her a front-row seat every time she could attend.

Reynolds and Harrison are seen briefly in Davis’ documentary. Both attended White’s funeral and the “celebration of life” dance held the night before. Harrison is shown speaking on camera briefly outside her funeral.

Davis conducted the movie’s main interview with Kim White in October 2019. A few hours later, she was rushed to the emergency room because a tumor was closing off the airway to her lungs.

“It was a little scary, to be honest,” Davis said of that interview. “She was coughing a lot, and we were really worried about her. … She decided, ‘I’m getting up, I’m getting ready, I’m going to do this.’ … As a documentarian, you want those raw moments, but you don’t want to have anything that scary.”

Davis said getting the movie finished hit many hurdles. The lockdowns from the COVID-19 pandemic began just a month after White’s death. Also, many of her Instagram posts featured popular songs, and getting the music licenses took time. (One song in the film, “Disappear,” was recorded by musician Aja Volkman, Reynolds’ now-ex-wife, who wrote the song specifically for White.)

One question that “Breaking Into Beautiful” explores is why, out of thousands of stories of cancer diagnoses and fights, Kim White’s battle resonated with so many people. Davis said the answer is White herself.

“Kim just had these kind eyes, welcoming eyes,” Davis said. “She was a fierce, competitive, driven person, and you just could see that, even through her social media.”

With her cancer diagnosis, Davis said, “people want to know what that’s like, because they have loved ones or friends or acquaintances that are going through a cancer battle, but they have no idea, really, what it’s like. And Kim told you exactly what it was like … and she didn’t hold anything back.”

The Utah Jazz have played in a ton of close games lately, something that has made head coach Will Hardy really happy, despite the fact that they’ve lost most of them.

That the team is fighting, proving to themselves they are able to meet the level of their competition and stick to a game plan, and that every player whose number is called is giving it their all is making Hardy optimistic about the trajectory of the team and how the players are developing. But more than anything, even when the team falls short, Hardy is glad they’re learning what it takes to grind out NBA wins.

“It’s the value of each possession and the value of every minute you’re on the court,” Hardy said. “But that you always look back at a game that’s close, and these are the ones where it’s easy for your brain to go crazy, because it’s, ‘what if this, what if that. if I’d made that shot, or if I’d made that free throw, or we’d have been in a different situation.’ I think the guys being in these situations, it continues to hammer home the sentiment that we try to have every day, which is to give value to every minute you’re on the floor and you can’t take it for granted.”

In six of the last 10 Jazz games, they’ve played clutch minutes — where the score is within five points in the final five minutes — including on Thursday night when they narrowly lost to the Miami Heat, 97-92.

“We’re fighting the very end,” center Walker Kessler said. “Obviously, got some things we’ve got to straighten out, but we’re competing, and it’s fun. It’s fun to be in these kind of games. Obviously not fun to lose. But we’re in those games. So it’s a lot of fun.”

That’s exactly the chord that Hardy is hoping strikes for each of his players. He wants for the losses to sting, especially the close ones. He wants the players thinking about what more they could have done, what small and subtle action they could have given more effort to in order to impact the game.

It’s not that he wants them to feel bad. He’s really happy with how they’ve been playing and wants them to see that they are making strides. But he does want them to be hungry and to search for ways to be even better.

“I don’t want them to wallow for long periods of time,” Hardy said. “But if you lose a game and you’re not driving home a little bit pissed off, then this probably isn’t for you. It can’t be just, ‘okay, well, we lost.’ It should bother you. We’re competitive, but there’s a line … I would expect that everybody on our team, staff, players, we all drive home a little frustrated with things we wish we’d done differently or better. And then tomorrow we come in, we regroup, and get back to work.”

For Collin Sexton, who had a game-high tying 23 points and five assists, he said he’ll be thinking about boxing out, failing to get a hand up on a late shot clock attempt, allowing second-chance points.

For Isaiah Collier, he’ll be thinking about things on the defensive end that he let slip, like not going over on screens and failing to recognize personnel in clutch minutes.

Every Jazz player is thinking about small things. Every one of them is upset about missing an opportunity to win. But they can also be proud of how far they’ve come as a group since the start of the season.