Special Report: Detention (2026)

What if detention were group therapy? Detention (2026), a quirky teen comedy from Washington State's Bainbridge Island, swaps the usual punishment for something harder: a room of kids made to talk about what is really happening behind closed doors. Writer-director Emma Cameron, who co-directed with her husband Mark Cameron and also plays the sleep-deprived Dr. Messerschmitt, joins Mike after the film's Pasadena International Film Festival screening and a summer theatrical run, just as it arrives on Amazon Prime and Apple TV. She traces the idea to The Breakfast Club (1985) and a job on a school mental-health commercial, explains why she cast 90 percent of the film in Washington, how she recast a major role two weeks before shooting, and how two nights of magic-hour light captured the final scene at the water's edge. Follow Detention on Instagram (  / detentionthemovie  ) and visit the film's official website (https://detentionthemovie.com) . Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-... (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-...) . Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at   / projectionbooth