The challenge for all independent filmmakers is getting their work seen.

The makers of “Grimy,” which is set in the Mahoning Valley and was shot here, have their low-budget crime drama in front of viewers through Amazon Prime and other streaming services.

“It’s got a lot of views on all the different platforms,” director David L. Walker of Warren said. “It’s great. At the end of the day, artists want their work to be shown and seen.

“This is the best time to be a filmmaker. Ten, 15 years ago, the big media houses had it on lockdown. They were the gatekeepers. If you didn’t go through them, you couldn’t get it to the people.”

“Grimy” is the story of Rogers, am undercover cop, played by Maurandis Berger, who is assigned to infiltrate the organization of a local crime boss named Vega (Anthony Maldonado) by befriending Heaven, the woman Vega treats like a daughter. Vega goes in search of the rat, while Rogers begins to question where his allegiances belong.

Walker, who has directed several features and short films, credited Berger and Sterling M. Carter with developing the project.

“Maurandis came up with the idea for ‘Grimy.’ Sterling Carter, he’s also a writer and had a lot of ideas,” Walker said. “They called me to set up a meeting and, of course, I had my ideas too. Maurandis gave me everything he wrote, Sterling gave me everything he wrote, and I tried to rewrite the whole thing and make it work.”

Walker called “Grimy” a departure from his own movies, which are more psychological thrillers and Christian films and he avoids profanity and graphic scenes in his work. “Grimy” still is a crime story, but it is less explicit than these kinds of movies usually are.

“Grimy” was shot at various locations in Mahoning and Trumbull counties during 2020.

“It was pretty tough because of the pandemic, like getting locations,” Walker said. “Some people were afraid, some not afraid. We were trying to adhere to all the protocols possible. It normally only takes four to six months (to make a movie). This took a year. When we actually wrapped, that was a good thing. At some points in the journey, I never thought we’d get there.”

Local audiences will recognize scenes set in downtown Youngstown, downtown Warren’s Courthouse Square and other familiar locations. There also are favorite spots that Walker goes back to time and time again, like the tiny alley that runs alongside the Best Western on North Park Avenue in Warren.

“I don’t know why I love that alley so much, but I do,” he said.

Walker already is at work on his next film, called “Prayer.” Berger is working on other projects as well. Walker hopes the exposure they’re getting with “Grimy” will make it easier to finance and make future projects.

“With each success, people believe in you just a little bit more,” he said. “Just getting certain locations — ‘Oh, you’ve been around. You’ve done this before. We know you’re serious’ … I want to be a filmmaker. I want to keep making movies.”