'West Bottoms' is both backdrop and character for a film set in Kansas City

The father-daughter story is set amid the red brick architecture of the city area once known for its stockyards.
The focus of the 20-minute short film "West Bottoms" is a father trying to reconnect with his college-age daughter with historic Kansas City buildings as its backdrop.

Kansas City screenwriter and director Greg Sheffer finds the city's West Bottoms "incredible ... just because it's kind of been left untouched." Sheffer wrote the story and then felt that the old warehouses in need of rehabilitation matched the life of the lead character and decided to shoot the film there.

Sheffer and the film's producer Jen Lytle discuss the movie's plot, shooting in Kansas City and the purpose of making the short film.