Since the opening of Steinbrenner High School in 2009, the administration and faculty have always been supportive of students and their passions. Steinbrenner focuses on offering clubs and classes to students so they can unlock their potential and creative minds.
Steinbrenner alumni, Joshua Bailey, was a student the first year the school opened and grew up in the Lutz area. Growing up, Bailey always enjoyed the art of filmmaking and exercising his creative thoughts and ideas. Fast forward to early 2025, Bailey premiered his first documentary film that he wrote, directed, and produced himself, Stolen Kingdom.
“I’ve always loved films as long as I can remember, and I’ve also always been like artistic,” said Bailey. Attending Steinbrenner, he had numerous teachers who helped guide and encourage him down the road. Following his passion, Bailey and other students petitioned to get a film class started at Steinbrenner. They were so determined that they got all the necessary signatures which resulted in success. The former Steinbrenner theater teacher, Lindsey Painter Warfield, taught the class and ended up introducing Bailey to his favorite Twin Peaks director, David Lynch. A lot of Bailey’s beginnings have an origin at Steinbrenner.
“We did this little project where we read a book and had to make a trailer for it…I think that was the first film project I ever made,” said Bailey. His high school english class served as a pathway where he got a chance to experiment with filming at a small scale for a simple assignment. What started as a grade to graduate high school turned into something bigger.
Stolen Kingdom premiered on the opening night of the Florida Film Festival at Enzian Theater in Orlando. Bailey continued to tour around the United States for numerous screenings that sold out of tickets. Stolen Kingdom is a documentary showcasing urban exploring at Walt Disney World. Characters go behind the scenes where they’re not supposed to be and uncover a black market of stolen Disney props that were being sold to people like celebrities. The film dives into a lot of history of Disney World, adding mischief, scandal, and drama.
“The film is like a non-stop rollercoaster for 90 minutes…I promise you won’t be able to take your eyes off the screen,” said senior Peyton Brisley. In order to turn his idea into a successful project, Bailey and the production crew put endless time and effort into making a project they were proud of.
“It was simultaneously the most fun and most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my life,” said Bailey. For the production of the film, they raised no money despite the massive expenses that come with filmmaking. The crew got creative by getting into DIY and borrowing equipment from people. With bumps in the road, they filmed in just a few months, and post-production is where the majority of the time was spent. Perfecting the sound mixing, color correcting, and editing of the documentary served as lessons Bailey learned, mimicking his own film school.
Since the premiere, the film has had extreme success, and the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. In January, Bailey announced his partnership with the distribution company, Antenna Releasing. Through this company, Stolen Kingdom, will be having a roadshow release coming up in Spring of 2026.
“The fact that we did it…feels like a miracle. I’m still processing it and I’m excited…,” said Bailey. He expressed how he was worried the film wouldn’t get distribution, especially with how competitive the film industry is. Through a licensing agreement, the film is able to be shown outside of screenings and is an opportunity for it to get more views and coverage. It also sets up success for any future films and projects Bailey proposes and begins to create.
“I just want to keep making films hopefully for the rest of my life,” Bailey said. At the moment there hasn’t been any announcements of future films but that doesn’t mean he has stopped working. Bailey hopes to make filmmaking his full-time career as it’s not right now. As the success of Stolen Kingdom continues, he hopes to achieve this within the next couple of years.
