After seeing the indie horror film "It Follows" (2015), writer/director Mike J. Marin went home and wrote the first 30 pages of "The Smudging" script that night.
The film was shot over a six month period (May - November 2015). The building staff gave the film crew permission to use the facility after business hours on Friday nights and all day/night Saturday.
The building was the former site of the American Indian Center of Chicago and has a reputation in the community as being one of the most haunted buildings in the Uptown neighborhood.
To prepare the actors for the film, director Mike J. Marin had them each spend a minute alone in a pitch dark room on the building's fourth floor, where staff have reported several incidents of paranormal activity. The longest anyone stayed was 25 seconds.
The overall budget for the film was $3,500, half of which was donated on Gofundme. On a few occasions, the American Indian Center kitchen staff and community fed the cast and crew.