Social Media Influencers Filming Independent Movie in Bellaire
Joshua Heatherington, left, and social media celebrity Flyy Soulja of the Island Boys appear on the set of Heatherington’s upcoming movie in Bellaire starring Flyy Soulja. (Photo Provided)
BELLAIRE — Social media celebrity Flyy Soulja of the Island Boys recently made his way to the village of Bellaire to star in an independent movie called “The Bellaire House: The Heatherington Family.”
Ohio Valley native Joshua Heatherington, professionally known as Josh from YNC is the brain behind the movie. He said it is based on a true story exploring the locally famous Bellaire House that is said to be haunted.
“It’s a horror film, but it’s based on the true story of the Heatherington family, which is my family’s connection to the house,” Heatherington said. “It’s my ancestor’s house, so I wanted to do a movie based upon that.”
He added that his goal when casting the movie was to cast social media celebrities in the film. Due to Heatherington networking and working on major network television reality shows he was able to secure a stacked line up of influencers.
Johnny Blaze from “Love and Hip Hop,” Flyy Soulja of the Island Boys, Mayor of DMV, Izzy Drake and several other actors, influencers, and reality television personalities are involved in the making of the movie.
Bellaire House owner Kristen Lee not only allowed Heatherington to use the house to shoot the movie but acted in it as well. Corley White is the cinematographer and co-director of the film alongside Heatherington.
The release date of the film has yet to be set by streaming service Tubi.
“It’ll come out around Halloween, but it usually takes Tubi three to four months to upload it and set a date,” Heatherington said.
Eight years ago Heatherington appeared on the national hip-hop scene with his song “I’m About It,” which featured hip-hop legend Mike Jones. The music video, which was shot in Wheeling, was featured on BET and MTV.
“After that I crossed over to acting and also started being on ‘Growing Up Hip Hop,’ a reality TV show with Flavor Flav, Fat Joe, and a whole bunch of hip hop legends,” he said.
Heatherington added that through his relationships made in music and reality TV, he then began hosting his own events in New York City.
“A whole bunch of people came to my event which led to us filming ‘Growing Up Hip-Hop,'” he said. “I just recently was on ‘Love and Hip Hop,’ so I’ve been doing a lot of things, and I throw my own events and bring tons of celebrities to the valley. I just had the Baddies there from the Zeus Network for my birthday bash.”
Heatherington said that he made the film because he wanted to showcase the Ohio Valley to a national audience.
“I feel like the valley has so much talent, not only just music, but film and directing. And I wanted to try something different,” Heatherington said. “I’m the type of person where I’m so diverse. One day I’ll do a show, the next day I’ll do a movie, and then the next day I’ll be filming for ‘Love and Hip Hop’ or whatever.”
He added that trying to put a spotlight on the Ohio Valley is extremely important to him.
Heatherington said that the best place to receive updates about the film is to follow him on Instagram at @joshfromync.




