Now high school seniors, Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) are facing the prospect of being separated from each other as they go off in different directions when graduating from East High. Joined by the rest of the Wildcats, including Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale), Ryan Evans (Lucas Grabeel), Chad Danforth (Corbin Bleu), Taylor McKessie (Monique Coleman), they stage an elaborate spring musical reflecting their experiences, hopes and fears about the future.
An international casting call went out to find three new sophomore "Wildcats". This resulted in the casting of Matt Prokop, Justin Martin, and Jemma McKenzie-Brown. Commenting on the announcement, Ortega said, "Peter Barsocchini's exciting script for 'High School Musical 3' called for the addition
of three sophomore characters, so we set out on a massive casting search across North America and England to find just the right young actors to play the parts. We think these talented performers will bring lots of humor, new twists, and musical fun to the film. Jemma was one of the many young actr
esses that we met in London, and she impressed us with her singing and dancing, in addition to being very exciting and effervescent. Matt has a terrific personality, and a great sense of comedy and fun. And Justin had a great presence and charisma, besides being a wonderful comedic actor who could r
eally dance. I am confident that the three new actors joining our original cast will help to bring great musical thrills, surprises and a lot of fun to Senior Year and the halls of East High." In February 2007, Disney announced plans for a 2008 feature film sequel with a Halloween theme dubbed "Hau
nted High School Musical." In September 2007, Disney announced that they had scrapped plans for the Halloween theme and instead will focus on the senior year of key characters at East High. According to Yahoo news, the original writer from the first two films, Peter Barsocchini, is writing the scrip
t for the third part in the High School Musical series. The original producers and director/choreographer Kenny Ortega are also on board, which Ortega confirmed in an interview with Access Hollywood. Zac Efron was quoted in People Magazine as saying, "I can tell you that if the script is good and if
we all agree on a final script, then there's nothing that is going to hold us back from doing it. We have fun making these movies and that's very rare in this business." Rumors persisted of ongoing salary disputes between Disney and the lead performers, particularly Efron. According to Rachel Abra
mowitz, as reported online by the Chicago Tribune, "an eclectic cross-section of Hollywood insiders think Efron should get a cool $5 million for High School Musical 3, the theatrical version of the franchise, which Disney hoped to make before the Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild strike shut dow
n Hollywood for several months. Efron declined to comment for the article, and although contract negotiations still are ongoing, sources say Efron is being offered a salary closer to $3 million, not $5 million, for the follow-up, which focuses on senior year at East High. Whatever the price, he's st
ill perceived as a steal." Ortega stated that pre-production would most likely start in January 2008. Filming began May 3, 2008, at East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. He stated that the script had been submitted before the Writers strike started and that they were developing music. He added
that filming will happen in Salt Lake City, Utah (as the first two films), hinted that the plot will be something of the nature of the Wildcat's final year in High School and stated "it looks like we've rounded up the cast." Before filming began, the HSM3 board and cast held a press conference at E
ast High School announcing the start of filming. The movie will be released in theaters (in the USA) on October 24 of that year, though several countries like Great Britain will get to see the movie at least one week earlier. The film has a $13.3 million dollar budget and a 40-day shooting period. T
his film is said to be the final installment with the current cast. On July 13, 2008, the official trailer premiered on Disney Channel and ABC Family. It also premiered on Disney Channel Latin America the same day, and on internationals Disney Channels on July 14, 2008.

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