Hollywood heyday for Beverly native?

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Actor Frank Vincent (left) and Kevin Moss attend the wrap party for "Chicago Overcoat." | Supplied photo

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Updated: March 7, 2012 8:01AM

Even though cinematographer Kevin Moss splits his time between Chicago and Los Angeles these days, the Beverly community native’s work still is firmly rooted in the Windy City.

His recent nomination for an American Society of Cinematographers award exemplifies as much: It was his work on “Chicago Overcoat,” a Showtime feature film, that earned him a 2012 nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in the Television Movie and Miniseries category.

The 26th Annual ASC awards will be presented Feb. 12 at the Hollywood and Highland Grand Ballroom in Los Angeles. It’s the cinematography equivalent to the Golden Globe awards.

The other finalists in the category are from HBO’s “Mildred Pierce,” ReelzChannel’s “The Kennedys,” and PBS’s “Page Eight” and “Any Human Heart.”

“We were surprised to be nominated,” Moss said.

It’s not that he’s unfamiliar with awards. Moss, 29, has been winning them since college: the 2007 Student ASC Award for his short film “The Small Assassin,” a 2007 ASC Heritage Award, a 2010 Bronze Award for the commercial “Chrome: The Race,” and an Outstanding Achievement in Public Service Campaign for 2010’s “Click It Or Ticket.”

“But this one is by far the most prestigious,” Moss said.

The nomination means even more because the feature film was the first by Beverly Ridge Pictures, the South Side independent production company Moss co-founded with John W. Bosher and Kevin’s mother, JoAnne Moss, right after Kevin’s graduation from Columbia College in Chicago in 2005.

It was their first ambitious project.

“We came right out of college and wanted to make a feature film,” Moss said.

Bosher, the producer and co-writer, and director Brian Caunter “wanted to make a modern-day Chicago gangster film,” Moss said. “They had always enjoyed (actor) Frank Vincent’s work (such as in HBO’s “The Sopranos”) and thought he never got the limelight he deserved.”

They got Vincent to read the script, and he liked it enough to commit to starring in the aspiring project.

“It was great to have him behind us right away and to get other actors on board,” Moss said.

Casting director Chris Charles also landed Kathrine Narducci, Mike Starr and Stacy Keach as co-stars.

They started production in 2007 and shot for six months. After editing and the securing of a distribution deal, the film was shown at the Chicago International Film Festival and made its broadcast debut on Showtime in 2010.

The movie won critical acclaim on the fest circuit, winning “Best of the Fest” at the Chicago festival, “Best Dramatic Feature” at the Garden State Film Festival, and “Best Cinematography” at the Midwest Independent Film Festival.

“It took a long time to do it, and we knew we were going to make mistakes along the way,” Moss said, “but everything paid off.”

Moss said he’s always been inspired by film and visuals.

“When I was young, I was always drawn to movies, and I really enjoyed the storytelling aspect of them,” he said.

Cinematography allows him to fully pursue it. Lighting, camera angles, lenses and myriad other image manipulation techniques change how a story is told.

“I help the director accomplish his vision,” Moss said.

Moss plans to attend the awards with his fiancee, Kathryn Comkowycz, a camera assistant in Los Angeles. He said he’d be both surprised and ecstatic to win, but the acknowledgement of his peers is exciting on its own.

“Everyone has been really supportive and happy for me,” he said. “The ASC is an organization I’ve looked up to and followed closely since I was a very young student. To be acknowledged by a society of my peers is really the best to me, more so than actually winning.”