Despite his background and training in engineering and business, U-M grad (’06) Adrian Walker’s true passion lies in the world of film.

So when celebrated filmmaker Spike Lee visited U-M’s campus two years ago, Walker “snuck in. I was the first person to see him come into the building, so I approached him and had a quick, 5-10 minute conversation with him about what I wanted to do, and I asked him for his thoughts. He echoed what other filmmakers were telling me at the time — that it’s really tough to break in, especially if your storylines are different than what the mainstream is used to; and that if you can, it’s best to just raise the money you need, start your own production company, and do the movie yourself.”

That’s precisely what Walker did, basing his production company, First Element Entertainment, in Farmington Hills; and raising the money needed to shoot his feature film, “The Art of Power” (having its local premiere at the Michigan Theater on Saturday night). And while Walker’s project wasn’t approved for Michigan’s film tax rebate, he found his business training set him apart from other aspiring filmmakers.

“I came up with a business plan and really thought about who my potential investors were, and how they think about things,” said Walker. “I drafted pitches and investment guides for people, drew up investment plans, and called up several different people, and slowly but surely, I raised the money. … The state's film tax incentives did have something to do with that. People thought, ‘Man, this is great. I want to be a part of (the film industry in Michigan), and the numbers look good.’ So people were excited about it as a different kind of investment.”

“Power” — which was shot in three Ann Arbor locations (Eve, The Blue Nile, and 10,000 Villages) as well as Royal Oak, Taylor, Detroit, Southland, Farmington Hills, Northville, Novi, and Washington, D.C. — tells the story of a loner young man living in Washington, D.C., and the two young women who become entwined in his plan to right the world’s wrongs.

Here's the trailer:

Filming took place from mid-July to mid-August, 2009, and Walker wrote the script relatively quickly (in three months), after spending time in Washington, D.C. earlier that year. Obama had just been inaugurated, and “the political environment was very charged,” said Walker. “For the first time ever in my writing, I wrote with the budget completely in mind, constantly thinking about how I was setting up scenes and the characters, and what they were doing in each scene.”

Walker is a self-taught screenwriter, having borrowed texts from a screenwriter friend and sought advice from professors along the way. His first attempt at a screenplay took two years, but as he got more practice at it, he developed them more quickly.

When it came time to make “Power,” though, Walker handed the reins to director Nathaneal Sherfield.

Initially, a D.C.-based director was on board, but when Walker felt the director’s excitement about the project didn’t match his own, the two parted ways, and Walker sought a meeting with Sherfield.

The two men’s paths had previously crossed, since Walker had previously managed a local band, and Sherfield had done graphic design for press kits. And while you might expect that a first-time screenwriter/producer would have trouble handing over “his baby,” Walker said he had very little trouble doing just that.

“Maybe it’s because I come from a different background,” Walker said. “Engineering is a very collaborative field, … and I came into film knowing that it’s a collaborative process, too. Yes, (the movie) is my baby, and I saw the scenes in my head and knew exactly how I wanted them, but I wasn’t deterred by someone coming in and offering their vision, as long as we were basically on the same page.”

Walker, who works at Ford, had to use up all his vacation time to be present during most of "Power"'s filming last summer, which involved lots of location-hopping.

“In order for the production quality of the film to be high, and to not look like just another low-budget indie, I knew we needed to use several locations,” said Walker. “We shot in 50 locations in 29 days. It was a highly intense project, and (the cast and crew) all became really, really close.”

“Power” employs a nonlinear timeline, which Walker sites as a personal style, influenced by filmmakers like Chris Nolan.

“When you don’t have the budget to blow things up, or have these really involved chase scenes, you have to figure out other ways to keep the audience guessing, and a nonlinear story is one way to do that,” said Walker. “It makes the audience ask, ‘Why is this happening? Why is this puzzle piece here?’”

“Power” earned a screening at the Detroit Windsor Film Festival, and while Walker also submitted it to several big-name festivals, he’s now focusing on other ways to have it be seen.

“For me, as an independent, I didn’t want to play the game everyone was used to playing,” said Walker. “As long as we got into one or two festivals, and got some peer recognition, I knew we’d be able to take it where want to take it. We don’t need 5 or 6 festivals to give us their approval.”