This week in the Dojo, Nate Harper joins us from Strange Giant Pictures Inc. We explore his progressive career path, focusing on the moment, and the challenges (and luck) to staying ahead of the curve in a difficult industry.
With credits spanning multiple roles within the industry, genres of filmmaking, and award-winning works that have been featured around the world, Nate has a unique perspective on the industry. Not only that - but he's eaten some pretty interesting meals in those travels. We'll find out his top 3 on The Podium.
The Biz Dojo - Podcast, Production & Professional Coaching
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This week in the Dojo, Nate Harper joins us from Strange Giant Pictures Inc. We explore his progressive career path, focusing on the moment, and the challenges (and luck) to staying ahead of the curve in a difficult industry.
With credits spanning multiple roles within the industry, genres of filmmaking, and award-winning works that have been featured around the world, Nate has a unique perspective on the industry. Not only that - but he's eaten some pretty interesting meals in those travels. We'll find out his top 3 on The Podium.
The Biz Dojo - Podcast, Production & Professional Coaching
Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter
Welcome to Episode Four of The Biz Dojo with Seth and JP. This week we chatted with Nate Harper, filmmaker and director owner. All of the above with strange diet pictures Inc, based out of Calgary, Alberta.
JP Gaston:Here we got a lot of behind the scenes information from someone who works on some interesting shows he he has a little bit of a little bit of everything, but a lot of thoughtful documentaries that really explore some interesting people.
Seth Anderson:Yeah, I think there's a few ways that we can win with this interview. And, you know, the first couple shows that we've done, we've really focused in on sort of the leadership lessons, specifically, you know, different mentors, people have had different philosophies people have used, you know, really how they, they measure success in the roles that they're in to jump around. He's done everything from helping film NFL related commercials, WWE, he's done animal National Geographics type stuff, all the way to, you know, being a part of filming the Maryland man or not Marilyn Manson, Charles Manson, final documentary, Bob Probert story, the Kimball art Chuck documentary, and most recently working on some reality TV projects like rest Valley restore, so quite a quite a diverse portfolio, I guess he would say, and it was quite interesting to get some behind the scenes on on what that's all about? Well, I
JP Gaston:think you see that a business right, like, Well, you know, necessarily as as an end user, but as someone in the industry, like, there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. And I think the interesting perspective that Nate brought, was, how you deal with all of these different people and all of these different situations as a filmmaker, like you're not gonna have, you know, the same person that you're dealing with every day like you, like you might have in business, and you have to adjust your approach. And I think we, we broach that topic a little bit throughout our interview and how when you're interviewing Charles Manson's family, you have a little bit of a different approach than when you're, you know, working with an another filmmaker and trying to do some of your nature type filming. I thought that that was an interesting perspective, and not one you, you always get.
Seth Anderson:Yeah, and I think what's interesting, too, about Nate's story is it's probably the most linear of all the conversations we've had thus far, you know, with within the first handful of episodes that we've done. But you know, even though it's been, you know, had a dream went to college got a job sort of progression in the in the same field of filmmaking, unlike some of the other stories we've heard that have sort of diverged and kind of gone here. And there doesn't necessarily mean that what he's done in the film industry has been what he thought it would be, or linear in any sort of way, I think he's kind of hopped all around, and he said, a tremendous amount of experiences with a bunch of different stuff. And so I think it's an interesting story to kind of see that, yeah, you can follow your dreams, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna end up doing exactly what you think you're going to be doing. And it's still like, going to be very hard. Like, he's had to put in a lot of work, a lot of travel away from his family, make a lot of sacrifices to get where he is, but you know, at least has some pretty cool stories along the way, and has had good career progression and able to get to the point now where he can, you know, work for himself, run his own company, do the freelance approach and still, you know, be able to provide for his family, which I think it's pretty cool. 15 year old Nate was not dreaming about Charles Manson interviews.
JP Gaston:I don't think that was the thing for him at the time.
Seth Anderson:I would be surprised if that was I don't recall that being his dream. Growing up.
JP Gaston:We did. Oh, we did talk a little bit about how he used to be Leonardo, which led to you having to be rafaelle?
Seth Anderson:We Yeah, we we had some interesting times growing up. Now a lot of people don't know this. I mean, if you're in my immediate family, you may know this. But when we were about I want to say like three or four years old, we were young, we lived in this northern town called cassiar, which is now I don't know what you call it. The town was shut down. It was a it was an asbestos mining town back in that I don't know, it was a long time ago. Anyway, my grandma had run into the store and left Nate and I in I believe it was like a suburban truck of some kind, like it was a big vehicle. And we managed to get out of our car seats. And I think I think Nate actually was the one who got into the driver's seat. And so it was parked running on the street and Nate put it into drive. And we actually like drove this vehicle. Down the road, it was on a bit of a slant. So we just like sailed, raped through like the main intersection in town and hit a telephone pole. So I don't know, like, if that's like a story I should share. But anyway, my grandma comes running and, you know, obviously very frightened and, you know, not an ideal situation. And I was in the back crying and as the story goes, I was upset because I told Nate that I wasn't going to get a turn. As it turns out, I did not get a turn to drive the large suburban truck down the road at three years old. So
JP Gaston:gramma, if you're listening, Seth is still waiting for his turn, right?
Seth Anderson:I'm still waiting for my turn. And you know, Nate, you know, he's the leader, I guess of the group.
JP Gaston:I'm surprised he didn't have you work in the pedals. Like, here, I'll let hook you you come up and work. If he was a real ninja turtle, you guys want to work together,
Seth Anderson:we would have but you know, there that's that's sort of Nate steel. He just leads the way. And I'm in the background. So anyway, let's get into it with Nate Harper from strange, giant pictures.
Voiceover:week on the pod, we talked to meet Harper from strange giant pictures of a focusing on the moment, staying ahead of the curve, and a little bit of a behind the scenes look at the film industry. So welcome to Episode Four.
Seth Anderson:Welcome Nate to the dojo with JP and Seth or Seth and JP, if you will, either way excited to have you. So tell us a little bit about strange, giant pictures. And you know how to how that kind of came about and a little bit of your background? How did you kind of get to where you are today?
Nate Harper:Well, let's, how long do we have here? Change that pictures is just my company I incorporated this year as I went back freelancing. And I've worked on and off as a freelancer or as an employee for production companies for 11 years now. And the reason I incorporated my freelance, again, is just the opportunity to work on various different projects, you know, be your own boss, choose your own path. But my whole journey into this, this production space started 1112 years ago, I went to school for film and television, in Australia. And then I moved to New York City, where I spent six years living there. And that's where I started in the industry. And I started as an unpaid intern. And then I became a production assistant, which is like the bottom of the totem pole. Where you pay your dues, you get your coffees, you get the lunch orders, you do all the jobs that nobody wants to do, you pick up the rental van at three o'clock in the morning, you return it, you know, well then o'clock at night, and then end up taking the subway home, but you build your connections in you, you pay your dues, and eventually I started getting asked to shoot or film, B roll, little sizzle tapes. And I kind of just snowballed and here I am today, you know shooting feature documentaries or television shows or you know corporate branded content, all of it. So Been a long, fun 1112 years now.
Seth Anderson:So really started from the bottom work your way up had an opportunity, I mean, to see the underbelly, if you will, of filmmaking and how these things come together. At what point did you know that you wanted to do your own thing, have your own company sort of freelance tap into that entrepreneurial side of yourself versus working for maybe a larger company or something
Unknown:like that? Yeah, I think working for a company, you're kind of limited to what they want to do, or the path that they're taking. And not to say that the projects weren't fun, or aren't fun with those companies. But as a freelancer and starting your own thing, you can really just like I said, choose your own path, you can work for any production company you want any project that you can get yourself hired on. And this is a very open space, if you will, I mean, from film to television shows and documentaries to if I wanted to shoot wedding videos for a living, that's an option too. And so it's kind of just the freedom of being able to do what I want, and say no to things that don't want to do as well, which is a big thing. And then also I find if you're stuck in one company, or at least my story, if I was with one company for too long, I feel like I kind of plateau, or maybe I stopped growing. Because you get in certain rhythms routines, like you do in all aspects of life, with the same people everyday doing the same thing. So it's good to get out of those and, and go into some scenarios where you don't know everybody, you don't know what you're doing as much and learn and grow from that
Seth Anderson:you touched on growth. And I think we've we've talked about that a lot in interviews we've done on the pod so far, consistently great leaders, entrepreneurs, people who are really, you know, pushing themselves to get to the next level of whatever they're doing. Talk about growth. For you personally, where have you been focusing in terms of growth, you know, over the last year, and especially with COVID, and all the kind of craziness that's happening in the world? What areas of growth Have you seen in yourself and where you kind of headed in that direction?
Unknown:Ah, well, I mean, for mine, technical aspect of growth. I mean, I always have to kind of to learn, whether there's lighting or camera moves or camera placement. I mean, these are all very technical specific things for my profession, but it's constantly learning and growing in the craft of being a cinematographer. Also just learning to you know, growth as a entrepreneur. enclosure a freelancer now is you know, I have to, I was a staff employee for 16 years previous to this, and now I have to get out there and network. And that's a growth, you know, you have to really hit the pavement and make phone calls and send emails and kind of just reach out and make yourself a little vulnerable to try and make those connections to get your next gig. And so that's kind of like, you know, that's, it's growing as well because it can be really easy to just hunker down and not want to do that. But I mean, to get the jobs that I want, you have to really go out there and try and meet these new people. So those are kind of two aspects. I'm really focusing on as you know, always trying to learn how to better my craft, but also how to be a better networker.
Seth Anderson:So like, going on your podcast and getting outside of your comfort zone and trying new things.
Unknown:Exactly going on my nephew's podcast and hearing myself, which I repeatedly told you I did not want to hear myself.
Seth Anderson:But here I am in the man behind the camera, but we're we're pulling you right out front for this one.
JP Gaston:We can change your voice. I'll put a couple filters on for you. You won't even know it's you. Yeah, couple octaves higher. Yeah, perfect.
Seth Anderson:Having a look at your just your your director credits. And, you know, I think it's always interesting to maybe hear a little bit behind the scenes on some of these things like you've been a part of filming some pretty cool stuff. And I know one of the first projects he worked on was that show oddities? I don't know if you ever saw that one gap. I did not. I saw that show. I think of all the things you've filmed made. That's probably I don't want to say the only one that I've seen on like actual TV, but it's it's right up there. What what how is how is shooting that one? Like That was a pretty fair, that's probably your most famous or earliest in terms of the early part of your career that you were involved in? What
Unknown:was that? Like? Yeah, out of these would have been my first actual like camera operator credit. So once I got out of being a production assistant and kind of got my feet in the door to be a camera operator. That was the first show I got on and I spent I was four seasons of that in New York and two seasons on a spinoff in San Francisco. And that was like a reality based show is kind of on the heels of Pawn Stars, which is pretty much the same production company, which is huge or still is I guess it was a shop in New York where they would buy and sell oddities. Whether it would be mummified human remains or two headed taxidermied animals are just the weirdest things. And often, the guests on the show were some sort of sideshow performer. So I mean, I've filmed guys eating light bombs full on swallowing them, putting drills in their nose, putting blow torches out on their tongues, you know, every weird thing you could see, I like to film on that show, which was Oh, it's pretty fun. Or even like, you know, actual mummified remains there. 4000 years old that people have in their collection, you know, even some weird things he didn't want to see, these are things that people are collecting in their houses on their mantle, like you and I would have photos of our family. They have these things. So it's definitely interesting. And it was it was a fun time. Not only was the show interesting, but you know, that was me learning how to be a camera operator. And it was this tiny store in New York, too. So we're all on top of each other myself, the director who's also the other camera, or audio guy used to sit in the bathroom because I was only spot where you can be out of the shop. So he'd be like in the bathroom sitting on the toilet with his audio pack on his lap, mixing the audio while we're filming the scenes. So it was good tags. It was it was fun.
JP Gaston:How much of that? Did you shoot with your eyes closed? Because you just didn't want to see what they were doing?
Unknown:Yeah, well, none of it. Actually, none of that grossed me out. I'm not I don't get queasy. That easy. And, you know, you want to see this, like, is this guy really gonna swallow a light bulb right now and, you know, not be bleeding profusely, we have to call 911. But, you know, it was it was it was fun. I had a good time. And you know, it was always a good story. At the end of the day. He never came home with like, you know, Rick was boring. You know, coming home, you guys smash the cinderblock on his head.
JP Gaston:That's never a good thing in my job. There's never there's never a moment where guys smash cinderblock passing.
Seth Anderson:Exactly. But I guess in any of the shows that you've ever felt, I think you've, you know, probably filled a couple other ones, not necessarily oddities. But Has there ever been anything that you've come across where you've been like, well, this is like, too much? I can't even or? I don't know, do you just always kind of find your way through it? Yeah, never,
Unknown:never anything that I can't. You know, I felt for the last five years doing a lot of true crime too. Yeah. So I was speaking to a lot of detectives, or family members or friends and people that have been murdered. And I've seen crime scene photos from the detectives, like in person and the glorious things and if for some reason, it just it's easy to separate yourself. I don't know why. Maybe it's just because of the industry I'm in and I know, you know, we're making your show and it's you can kind of just separate yourself, but there's never been anything I had to look away from. There's definitely the documentary aspect is what I love about this industry is I get to go in To these nice parts of society and witness them that most people don't get to, like, I spent a summer with the Carolinas, North and South Carolina, with a Pentecostal preacher who, who was a quote unquote, faith healer. So I watched him laying hands on people and then withering on the ground speaking in tongues thinking that he's curing their cerebral palsy, or their cancer or their alcoholism, or whatever it is that they're asking God to cure them off. And you're just saying they're helping them while they're on the ground flapping around like they've been electrocuted. So it's always fun just to get to go in these little pockets of society that most people don't get to do it, what's going through your mind,
Seth Anderson:when you're in that situation? You've got a grown man who is flopping around on the ground and, you know, believes that he's helping this person with whatever ailment they have. And you're just kind of thrust into this situation, like what's going through your mind as you're watching that? Or do you just kind of like, sort of remove yourself from the situation and let the camera roll?
Unknown:Yeah, I'm more apt to be focused on composition and making sure my shots in focus and it's exposed, right. So there's a lot of going through my brain and following the story as well. So there's so much going through my brain at the time that you know, witnessing these weird things. And then once I'm removed from it, you know, decompressing in my hotel room later, I can think about it and laugh or shake my head. But in the moment, there's so much I'm trying to do technically that I'm just you know, very focused on my job. So it's kind of like it's happening. But you know, I'm looking at it through the camera through a technical aspects, almost. So I don't think you get to experience it as much as one would if you're just sitting there not holding a camera, looking through
JP Gaston:your credits. Like, there's definitely a bit of a theme. And I think you alluded to it to you like a lot of documentaries, a lot of true crime stuff. Is that, is that a passion play? Or is that something that you just you found yourself getting better and better at as you started out through the oddities and you know, kind of got that experience and found that it was transferable into these types of stories as well?
Unknown:No, it was definitely just a product of the my my career trajectory, like getting I we became a staff director of photography for a production company in Calgary. And so I was kind of, you know, going where they went wherever the wind blew of them. And so when I first got there, we were doing, we did a huge show, and we did a lot of wildlife stuff, and that was a blast. And then they got into doing some shoe crime. And it really took off, we did a documentary about Charles Manson, the director of that documentary, he was the last one to speak to Charles Manson before he died. So like we released it right after his death. And that gained a lot of traction. So it was it was in Rolling Stone magazine, variety, all those publications were talking about it. And he was doing the rounds on the NBC morning show and all that kind of stuff. So once he started getting traction in the true crime space, because that documentary, you know, the doors is open there. And so we ended up just filming a lot of a lot of free crime. So it's not that it was really, you know, a path I chose to go down. It's just, it's what happened, but it's definitely I enjoy it like I would I would go back for sure. Keep watching crime. It's they're talking sad stories. But
JP Gaston:yeah, there's not a lot of happy true crime stories out there is there. There's no, there's no, there's no happy
Unknown:ending, but you get to you get to talk to, you know, the family members and friends and all that and you get to, you know, bring some some light to the people that were victims of these tragedies
Seth Anderson:on the the Charles Manson one, I remember when that was kind of all percolating up and it's on TMZ. And just kind of all over the place. And then you guys came up with that documentary. And like you said, it kind of got picked up everywhere. And quite a bit of I don't know if popularity is the right word. But you know, obviously, it kind of hit the hit the front page, what was that experience like to be like? Yeah, I filmed that. And, you know, start fielding questions from people and just sort of being a part of that kind of whirlwind.
Unknown:Yeah, it's definitely cool. I mean, that's you want to make any project here on you want people to watch it. I mean, at the end of the day, that's why we're doing this. It's creating something. It's an art of some sort, right? If you're a painter, you want people looking at paintings, if you make TV shows documentaries, you hope that people watch them. So when they gain traction in the press and become kind of bigger than what you thought they were going to be, then it's definitely cool.
Seth Anderson:Was there anything out of that whole experience, you know, obviously, being a part of making that and you know, get to film some of the families and whatnot. What did you take from that whole thing with Charles Manson?
Unknown:What did I take from that? Well, I have spoke to every living member of the Manson family now that's not currently incarcerated. And they all still drink the Kool Aid Really? I've done to other Manson projects after that dog. So we've done a lot of maps. And yeah, they all they all moved so that they're close to Oregon State Penitentiary, where Charles Manson was in jail until he died. They all it was like 10 miles away from there and they would visit they rights and they kind of try and spread his word still. So yeah, they definitely after 70 years, 6070 years, they still drink the Kool Aid. So
Seth Anderson:that's crazy. I don't even know what to say to that and I wasn't expecting that answer. I guess all the years later, they're still on that same train. That's, that's unbelievable. Yeah,
Unknown:they still just Charles Manson is a savior. You know, he's not the devil incarnate. He's not this bad guy. He was just
Seth Anderson:misunderstood that
Unknown:he was misunderstood. Yeah, he's just a victim of bad press back then.
Seth Anderson:So looking, you know, across the rest of your, your, your, your credits here? And is there anything? You know, there's a couple I wouldn't mind talking about in a minute here. But is there anything that you're particularly proud of? Any anything that, you know, when you look back on it, you're like, man, I really had my a game going when I was when we were filming this or that.
Unknown:I mean, I'm proud of all of my projects, I think I try and bring my a game to every time and I've learned I've gotten better. ones that stand out just from personal experiences, or the wildlife stuff was definitely a treat, just because, you know, it's not often that you get to stand six feet from the polar bear, you know, on the ice, and on the Hudson Bay, or six feet from a grizzly bear or get to go underwater with great white sharks, like that kind of stuff is really fun, just because animals are animals. And there's, people can say what they want or lie, or you know, skew the narrative. But if you're filming animals, you're just you're in their environment, watching them do them. So that was definitely highlights of my career. And I would love to do more of that documentary work. You know, we went down to South America and filmed this, this organization that does open heart surgeries on infants. So you know, there's this cardiac surgeon from Nashville, and he does six, seven surgeries a day, every day for two weeks on all these from five month olds to two year olds trying to save their lives in a country in Ghana. So a country that's poor health care, and it's just crazy watching this guy's you get maybe one two hours sleep at night, and he go back, and he's you know, operating on these hearts, sides of acorns, saving all these kids. And that was really neat. You know, we
Seth Anderson:were in the operating room with him. So that was really cool experience as well. That's gonna be a pretty fulfilling or meaningful career to get up every morning and save kids lives. That's Yeah, and they do it.
Unknown:This is he does this on his holidays, too, like he has he practices at a hospital normally, and then he goes and does this when he can. So I mean, you're talking about somebody who's given it their all to to make a change.
JP Gaston:There's not many people who are that dedicated to their profession. That like, I can't imagine a an accountant. Like, you know, I'm about to take my two weeks holiday. I'm gonna fly out to this other country and help with a financial crisis here.
Unknown:Yeah, exactly. No, I think you know, doctors are a special breed. Obviously, they get into it to help people some some ticket the next step like this gentleman did
JP Gaston:like some of that stuff, like some of the stuff on your, on your credits, I would say it was a pretty ahead of the curve, right? Like the Manson stuff. It's older stuff, but the timing of the filming and the release quite ahead of the curve. And in the business world, you're always trying to push that curve as best you can. And be ready for it when new things hit. How hard is it in your industry to stay ahead of the curve or to see what curve is coming so that you can plan because obviously, filming animals in the wild takes a long time to get enough solid footage and story to put together a show?
Unknown:Yeah, exactly. I mean, funny animals can is kind of this up, you're praying that they show up in and perform like they're doing the sharks, no sharks arrived for four days on that show. It was only seven days ago actually filming that. And there was no sharks for the first four. So we were quite worried because you sell it based on you know, we're selling this great white shark show and then you can't come back to the network. And guess what, there's, there's no sharks in this great white shark.
JP Gaston:That's when you stab a cameraman and put them in the water and just
Unknown:think ahead of the curve. That's a good question. And there's industry I mean, it's such a fast changing industry like what are the trends? When it comes to like reality TV, they all have their trends, whether it was the swamp shows, you know, everyone had a swamp show or everyone had an Amish show or you know, housewives show or you know, it's impossible to know what the next the next thing is gonna be I think he just go out there you try and find good characters and kind of cool stories and then hope that a network like that, and often it's like a copycat kind of industry and one that work by the show. And it's popular then the next networks like oh, you need our own, you know, the show whether it be swamp people or whatever it is. So it's just it's just finding like good characters and then making that and making that work and then after that, the rest of will just copy you documentaries a little bit different obviously, you can make a documentary about anything. Have any than others
Seth Anderson:sort of million dollar ideas for you know, your version of swap people or whatever, whatever that might be.
Unknown:I don't have my own version of Swan people in my in my brain yet. No, I do have ideas. I come up with more like documentary ideas and I jot them down. I will Notepad, they carry my In my camera backpack, I'm always jotting down ideas that you know, what could work and what can be a cool story. You know, I guess the next the next step though, is I have to execute more. But yeah, I mean, I'm always, like I said, I carry this notepad around, I'm always just trying to think of, you know, something that could be nice and new that we haven't seen on TV, or even just taking something you see on TV and just changing it a little bit. You know, that's, that's what a lot of shows are just taking, you know, one, one show and just changing, you know, one part of the formula around and that's the new show, so, constantly thinking, but I don't have my own swamp people yet.
JP Gaston:I look forward to two guys in a podcast on CBS.
Seth Anderson:I do think there was probably a missed opportunity. Unfortunately, you were not a cinematographer at the time, but I feel like in the late 90s my family and the I guess we'll call it a hobby farm that we had the I feel like that would have got some views. I don't know how deep to go on that. But you know, my I just an intro episode of my dad and mom going to the auction and purchasing a potbelly pig and a full horn. Are they called horns? What are those? They're not antlers. I guess they're a horn, a ram with a full curled horn thing on its head. And bringing it home in a van with five kids and no real plan or reason to own a ram or a papalii pig. I feel like, you know, there would have been some solid storylines there for you.
Unknown:For sure. I mean, I just I could picture like a roadtrip movie right now. We could do with those characters. Yeah, sure. Yeah, just like,
Seth Anderson:anyway, I don't know. I don't know if we want to build off this offline. And maybe we bring it back. But I mean, I feel like there's at least like a six run episode just with those characters. Yeah, limited series. Sure. We can desperate for some ideas. I think, you know, obviously, like JP said, a lot of if you had a lot of the animal stuff, you've done quite a bit of the true crime. I think the two two that I wanted to touch on again, there's somewhat in that. Not quite true crime. But you know, that documentary bucket, I guess, the bob Probert story. Obviously, that one did not have a particularly happy ending. And did you guys, did you guys film that before? after he passed?
Unknown:No. It was after? After his passing.
Seth Anderson:It was after? Okay. Yeah. So you did that one. And then also the Clint Miller Chuck. The was that one called? Definitely crease actually had a chance to meet Clint, very interesting character. You know, obviously, those ones were pretty, pretty popular as well. And I think very viewed, especially up here in Canada. What was it like filming those projects?
Unknown:Yeah, it was definitely fun. goalie life was really fun. Because, you know, we spent weeks with Clint, personally came up to Calgary and we did a bunch of stuff filming up here with him. And then we went down to his ranch in Nevada, just outside of Reno. And he's a really sweetheart of a gentleman. He's nice guy. He's got a crazy story. You know, he's almost out a few times. And you know, that that incident in the net really scarred him for life. And he's trying to, he's focusing now on speaking public speaking right now about you know, mental health. And Kelly Rudy's in that doc and know him as well. And he's, you know, doing a fantastic job with that as well. So, it's interesting to hear these these grown men who spent their whole time in this this macho masculine world, which was the NHL, and now they're trying to you know, shine a light on you know, how men can can be depressed and get sad and you know, things can be wrong, chemically in our brains as well. And he was a sweetheart plants and I gotta tell you, he's like, I don't know what six years old and that man still, you would never want to get a bar fight with him like a fist fight with him. He's got hands. Like, you know, I'm probably three inches taller than Clinton large. Second, His hands are bigger than mine. Like he's got bear paws. This dude so he boxes every morning too. So I know just watch out for Clint. You know if he's, he's ever looking for a fistfight. Don't be the guy on the other end of those. Those right hand hooks. And the province sorry, we, you know, got to speak to his whole family and a lot of the guys he played against and grew up with and again, that's not There's no sorry, no, he's, there's this dude who goes out there and he's the protector, he's the ultimate masculine, he's the enforcer, like the most popular enforcer of all time in the NHL. And really, he's just a sweetheart of the do too. And he got some, he had some problems off the eyes. And ears often probably send though, from, you know, not being treated mentally. Whether it's CTE or you know, other things that are causing him to be hard on, you know, substance abuse. And he, you know, that the past because he was just taking too many painkillers and his heart gave way, but both these guys have incredible stories, and there's a lot to learn from it. And I think, you know, just working on those projects alone and seeing where the sports world is going, it's, it's, it's pretty cool to see, you know, that more people are shining light on, you know, men in this in these masculine professions, and, you know, how they need help to, with Clint,
Seth Anderson:I, when I was on a board of directors for the local Junior, a hockey team, he came to one of our banquets, I had an opportunity to hear him speak on one of our previous podcasts, we had a guest, and we talked a little bit about trauma, and how that can impact the body and the mind and, and all that kind of stuff. And I think, you know, Clint had a very powerful speech, obviously, if you've, if anyone's had a chance to hear him speak or watch the doc, he's been through some tough times. And, you know, like you said, Nate, it's, he's bringing a lot of awareness to mental health, especially with men and, you know, in a macho sport, like, you know, he played in the NHL, he did all these things, and maybe didn't take his mental health as seriously or, as he as he could have, should have, whatever the case might be when he was playing, but that incident where, you know, he got his neck cut by escape, and, you know, very nearly bled out and died on the ice. You know, I think the culture and still to this day, I think there's elements of this culture, certainly in professional sports, or just in the world, you know, with what is it like, within five days, or some crazy 11 days, it was not very many days, he was literally went from almost dying on the ice to being back in net playing a professional hockey game. 10 days sorry. And, and like, his whole thing was, he didn't take time to really even process what happened, he just, you know, hop right back out there. And, you know, it was years later, when, you know, the, the effects of that manifested in some pretty serious situations. So, you know, I think what he's doing right now, you know, in terms of bringing that awareness and having those conversations and really just talking about it, and there's some other guys that are, you know, sort of following his lead, in that space, Corey Hirsch comes to mind, I know, he's been doing a lot on that front. But, you know, I think sometimes we underestimate the impact of trauma, and it doesn't always have to be, you know, getting your neck cut on the ice in front of 1000s of people. You know, we all have different traumas that we deal with in our life. And I think the key string that I pulled from, from his experience, and just having a chance to hear him talk is, we do have these traumas happen, we, we got to deal with them at some point, because if you just hold on to them and let them fester years later, they can come out in a lot worse, of a way, then, you know, if you kind of take care of it in the here in our in the more immediate term.
Unknown:Yeah, 100%. I mean, I think if he would have dealt with that, then, you know, he wanted to put a bullet in his head 20 years later, trying to you know, try to end all the pain. And now he has to deal with the, with that trauma to you know, try to commit suicide. And he deals with that daily with his wife, you know, who's the one who found him and he still has that bullet bullet lodged in his head up in the septum. And, you know, this is a constant reminder of, you know, trying to take care of yourself, and it's also surrounding yourself with the right people. I mean, his wife is, you know, he says it himself and you can see it, you know, he wouldn't be here for her. So, you got to surround yourself with the right people to get through, get through the bad days for sure. And I think
Seth Anderson:it's it's not a reach at all to suggest that his story could have very much been the ball probate story, you know, he, he's very lucky, blessed, whatever, whatever word you want to use it like he should not be alive right now to tell his story. And, you know, I think it's courageous that he goes out and he does tell it because I'm sure that conjures up all kinds of trauma or, you know, experiences every time that he does it, but you know, the other side of that you kind of got to see What happens when they don't make it through that? On the bob probate side? And I guess what was the feeling? You know, just talking to so many people who were, I assume still fairly fresh that, you know, he had passed away, you know, within a few years? How did the family seem when you were interviewing them and just kind of going through what their life is like now missing him?
Unknown:Yeah, they were, you know, obviously, their, their family that misses their, their husband and their father, but, you know, their their main messages was trying to just talk about how, you know, although he was this dude out on the ice who go out there and, you know, beat up everybody. He was really a teddy bear. And he was just again, he was a guy who probably needed to surround himself with some better people. And, you know, there was a lot of people that tried to help him. But he was doing a lot of drugs, hard drugs, and into the booze pretty deep a couple times in his life, and he did get sober, like a scene from Chicago, he was sober. And when he died, he is, you know, taking some painkillers and stuff. So he wasn't doing the hard stuff anymore. But, you know, ultimately, addictive personalities will, you know, go from one, one thing to another, but the main message with him is he was he was a sweetheart, and really, he, some people, and I know, if my father, if I mentioned Bob Probert, my dad would be like, oh, that guy was an asshole, because all he did was fight. But really, everyone you talked to, you know, he went out there, and he didn't just pick, even pick fights just to fight. I mean, if he had to, you know, get the energy going, he would do it. But you know, he always picked on the biggest guy on the other team. And most of his fights are always he was the protector, right? Like, if you did anything to see why he was gonna come after you. He was out there just to protect this team. And that's what they said it was actually very, you know, courageous of him. And all the guys looked up to him, because they knew that he was there to protect them. And you know, to put your body on the line night after night, you know, getting punched in the face, for these 20 other 20 other guys, you know, he was like, he was the ultimate soldier putting his putting his life on the line for them. So, you know, he's very admired by, you know, fellow fighters and other players, like, even even coaches, managers, you know, he was the guy that you wanted in your corner, because he was the guy that would stick up for you. And I
Seth Anderson:think the thing that, you know, sometimes gets forgotten about, you know, Mr. Probert was he was actually a really good hockey player, you know, lay in later years, sort of the goon And make no mistake, anybody who plays in the NHL is a really good hockey player, like, you know, they may not get to exhibit their skills on a day to day basis. But I mean, you got it, you gotta have some talent to make it that far. Even in the peak goon era, those those guys could still, you know, they could still play hockey, they just their role, I think, in a lot of ways, limited them from being able to do that. But you know, he was an all star and like a real legitimate player, Claire. And I think some of that gets lied, and I don't have the numbers in front of me, but he was like, it's not a 50 Gold score, like he had a couple years there, where he put a lot of points on the board and was like a major part of some really good redwings teams. And that gets forgotten I think a lot because he just kind of got typecast as goon. And I don't know if that you know what that all means in the grand scheme of things. But, you know, he was he was, to your point, like his family sort of putting it out there that he was actually a really great guy deep down and maybe misunderstood to some degree or, you know, labeled as something that was maybe not totally who he was. and deep down. He was a really good guy and actually a really good hockey player.
Unknown:Yeah, of course, yeah. He said he was an all star. I think he was like 29 or 30 Gold season. He, he was and they talked about it in the doc, you know, like, he sold more wrestling jerseys. And as Herman did, like, you know, he was Mr. Detroit, he was blue color. You know, the tough man, the working man. And he went out there every night and laid his body on the line. And he could Yeah, he could beat you up and then score gold the next shift, right? And so, and when all the other all the other fighters that we talked to, from like, you know, Sue Grimm saying on, they always said that, you know, they were nervous going into a game against Detroit, but he had instilled that fear in them. Like, oh, man, I might have to fight probie tonight, like they had butterflies can eat their pregame meal like these guys were like, he mentally was just playing mind tricks on these guys. And so, you know, as a sports team, that's what you want. I mean, he he instilled this like the fear of God and these guys, and you know, and they also said, I remember I don't know if it was Superman or not, but I remember someone saying the thing about prober that made him the best fighter is he got stronger as the fight went on? Like this guy was in a multiple, you know, couple minute long fights like not like today's fights, a couple punches around the rest, break it after they fall down. Usually punching each other in the head for two minutes straight back then. And they're saying like, you know, probably would just get stronger and stronger as the fight went on. And that's what, as they're getting gassed, he's like, he's becoming some sort of animal and just pounded on them. And they hated that. And they feared that. So, you know, as a sports player, he's a guy, you want it on your team, for sure. Because you know, if you're making guys think about it the night before you do the job.
JP Gaston:When you're doing these interviews, how tough is it for you to like, we talked a little bit about the oddities earlier and you know, the animal, the animal, planet type stuff, like, How hard is it as you're going through the different types to stay focused on the task at hand? I know for Audi, she said it was probably pretty easy. But when you've got a Stevie why in front of you, telling you stories about the good old days? How hard is it to, to remember that you're recording something and not just listening to some amazing story from a legend?
Unknown:Oh, well, I think that's what makes a good. A good documentary or TV show is you have to listen to the story. Because you always go in with a plan, right? Of You know, these are the questions I like to ask and get through, because this is the story arc of our narrative that we're telling. But you know, often if you're listening to these people, whether it be sports stars, and these are true crime, you know, Detective and a true crime job, you have to be able to listen and then go down, you know, these roads, he didn't think you're gonna go down, because you'll find real honesty, and having these conversations with them. If you stick to just your list of questions that you have typed up or thought up, you'll get what you need. But often you won't get like, you know, deep honesty from all these people. So I think you just try and sit there and have a open, honest conversation for as long as you can. You'll often get the best product for your storytelling.
Seth Anderson:Just looking at we talked quite a bit about some of the stuff you've done. And looking forward in terms of what you're working on right now. I know you're you've been off in Odin bc quite a bit working on rust Valley restores. And also I know you're up in the Northwest Territories, Yukon that area in over the winter doing backroad truckers. I think both of those are available on the History Channel. Pretty exciting projects. How are those going and what's sort of next for you in the immediate future?
Unknown:Yeah, those are my 2020. My are what years are now 2020 after doesn't do any. That was this year, my year, the COVID was those shows. So backward truckers was a unique experience because we were kind of isolated already in these remote parts of BC all the way up to Yellowknife and beyond. So that was a cold winter filming, you know, trucks in these remote places. And then Russ Valley restores has been my summer. This is the third season of that show. And it's definitely a fun show to work on. Because those guys, Mike and Avery the two main stars of that show are as crazy as they are on TV. They're they're not acting at all. That's exactly how they are in real life. Which can be a handful at times but I'm coming up is it's it's busy. I think I have a lot of things either books or potentially books. Going back into that true crime space actually in November, December we're gonna shoot the recreate portion. So that's called the, the kind of short film as parts of a doc called Fall River. And that's a co production with pyramid productions here in Calgary, and blumhouse which is a big company out of LA. They do a lot this is their kind of first foray into the documentary space like their films or get out or paranormal activity or the Invisible Man like these, these horror thrillers is what they're known for. And they're kind of getting into the dark space. So we'll be doing that. And then in the new year, there is potential second seasons of the History Channel shows and also I'm in talks with these gentlemen, NBC and here the to do documentary that they're doing in Everest, which would be quite an experience, you know, living at Basecamp for maybe two months that that goes through so lots on the plates, lots of different things and I guess that's why I love this this industry is from Mount Everest to to crime, and everything in between. So it's a play and nowadays, the same half camera will travel. Exactly.
Seth Anderson:is Mount Everest, the bucket list item for you or is it you know, you've been all over the world you've seen? I don't know we could probably just do a podcast on all the places you've been. But is that something personally that means something to you or just be cool to do the show there.
Unknown:I don't know if it's ever been on my bucket. But I've definitely thought about, you know how it'd be cool to go to Mount Everest who doesn't want to go to the highest mountain in the world. So I think it would be a really fun experience. I'm not gonna say it'd be easy because you know, to be hiked up there and then living in a tent and using a porta potti for however many weeks and eating food that comes in a bag, all the while trying to work well, plus hours a day, if not more in the freezing cold. Sounds like it would be not fun in the moment, but definitely a good experience after and I love that kind of stuff. I like to go to those parts of the world and see those kind of things. I always look for those opportunities. It's
Seth Anderson:funny JP, I think we've recorded four episodes, and that's the second time a porta potty has come up is like a reference to how well something is going to go. That's good. Nate, I know you. Obviously you're you're doing some of the you got some bigger stuff on your plate at the local level? Is there anything that that you any services that you offer, you know, on the smaller videos, commercials, anything like that you'd like to share with the listeners that they might get in touch with you for?
Unknown:I mean, certainly I'm always open to working with anybody on any level, whether it be in Calgary, or wherever it is. So I like to just film things and work on projects, whether they are bread or whatever they are, I just like to meet new creative people. So I'm always open to meeting new people and working on new things, no matter the scale of it. I'm not really a snob when it comes to what the project has to be. I just like to meet cool creative people who, who want to try new things and create something fun.
Seth Anderson:I think that could be a new catchphrase for you. I'm not a snob about things. I think about things because I'm not a snob about things.
JP Gaston:He'll even stoop so low as to do a podcast. wakley
Seth Anderson:so it's strange giant.com you're on all the social media platforms? I do believe are you on the tick tock? Have you ventured into that space yet?
Unknown:No. I'm too old for Tick Tock. You know, I used to think I was current and hit with all the new apps, but they've tiktoks lost me, you know, I mean, Instagram, Twitter, post photos on Facebook so that my mom can see them kind of guy.
Seth Anderson:I think I think that's it. Thanks. It was a pleasure having you on The Biz Dojo this week on the podium.
Voiceover:The podium of the things we've eaten - with Nick Harper, not that we've eaten them with Nate. But he's with us, while we... yeah... Here it is.
JP Gaston:we're gonna get into our top three places we've eaten or our things or crazy things that we've managed to put in our bodies in our travels that were either good or maybe not so good. In some cases, the the top three for me, it's a little bit hard to pick mostly because I'm a bit of a foodie. Montreal shorts is daily. I think there's just something so nostalgic about that place and pretty amazing food as well. And nothing like a Montreal smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz's deli and, and a real protein like, I know people out here talk about it. They talk about you know, fries with gravy and some form of cheese on it. But it's not the real thing unless it comes in a pie plate and the cheese is sticking to the top of the cover. My second favorite would be we spend some time in Japan and they have a dish called and I'm going to butcher the crap out of this but akoto Yaki, it's like a Japanese pizza. It has lettuce in it. It sounds really weird, but it is delicious. And then the number one thing, I'm sure I'll insert some sort of drum roll and post here, but the number one thing that I've had to eat was when we went to Africa, and we had wart hog. It was like the most delicious bacon wrapped pork chop you could imagine is what every single bite of that word hug tasted like.
Unknown:Yeah, what hug word hug doesn't seem like a thing you'd want to eat. And he just looked at the animal itself.
JP Gaston:Well, and of course you tell people and they say, Oh, you ate boomba I would make that trip again, just to have the word hug. It'd be expensive, but it'd be worth every penny.
Seth Anderson:I'm going to take a bit of a different spin not so much in what I ate, but where I ate Mexican food and in Houston, Texas. And the place was called the L 10. Pina Cantina. It was I don't know pretty standard Mexican fare. But the taco shells they were like burrito or I don't know if he does whatever you want to call it. And I just will never forget like packed full burrito fajita whatever it was the the shell did not fray or crack like it was like bendy like it was it was next level in terms of how delicious it was. And then the burrito just stayed together even though it was like really full. So that was my first recommendation and that's in North Houston if you're ever down there. Number two for me would be the jinya ramen bar in Vancouver. It's right downtown, and just amazing. I don't know, they have all the types of ramen, and they have those little pork buns I think they are with like, and they're like super soft and delicious. I go there every time I'm in Vancouver and the ramen is unreal. And just a short walk down the street. There's this ice cream place that I usually go to, and they have this peanut butter chocolate ice cream. That's really good. So if you ever downtown Vancouver, and then my number one sort of eating experience, and this was, you know, not so much of food because I don't even remember what we got. But we went to this place called Ignazio rose in Brooklyn. Caitlin and I went to New York earlier this year, and we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge from, I guess Manhattan is on the other side of that and we went to this place and the owner was there and he greeted us and he asked me if I knew a lady named Sarah from Calgary. I didn't I did not know Sarah from Calgary. She works at
JP Gaston:you don't know any Sarah's.
Seth Anderson:There's so many series. I know. Like, he said that she worked at a seafood restaurant. So I don't know. I know. He honestly seemed annoyed that I didn't know Sarah. I was like, dude, there's like a million people in Calgary and me that didn't seem to faze him. So anyway, I digress. It's in that what is that area called Nate Dumbo, I think? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So it's like just right when you kind of get across the bridge, just kind of come down and walk over and, and it's right. Like he looked at the Brooklyn Bridge while you're eating. And it was a pretty, pretty cool experience. So that's why top three Mexican and Texas ramen in Vancouver and pizza in Brooklyn.
JP Gaston:What about you, Nate?
Unknown:Okay, number three. I guess I've eaten Scorpion on a stick in Bangkok, Thailand. That is weird. I can't say I enjoyed it either. I was like crickets there.
JP Gaston:Were they like were they like walking around with it? And trying to sell it on the street? Because that's that was my experience in Spain. They were actually had some people trying to sell some insects on
Unknown:the street food industry food. I don't think they were walking out a golf cart set up. But um, yeah, there was a little cricket stand and a little Scorpion on a stick stand. So how do you do that? Not very good. I wouldn't, I wouldn't do it again. But I mean, if you're feeling adventurous, go for it. I've eaten alligator in the Everglades of Florida. Straight from their swamp. That's actually not that bad. It's a white meat. So you could say that the old classic tastes like chicken comparison. And then I'm gonna go the best meal all of a sudden from my number one and that was a restaurant revolution in New Orleans was from this food show. And it was the gumbo episode. And the chef ministers gumbo, obviously, but then he invited us to stay and eat a five course meal and his chef suite which overlooks the kitchen. And it was fully catered. And I mean like caviar prosciutto flowing from Italy. Like I mean the best meal I've ever had in my entire life, this thing with our own Somalia. He gave us the full treatment because we filmed him on the show. So that was by far the best meal I've ever had. Because everything was just top notch and perfectly complementing each other and all the flavors so two weird things and then my best. Awesome. Well,
Seth Anderson:thanks for coming on, mate. I really enjoyed having you. Maybe we'll if we ever get around to making a commercial or something we will use your talents.
JP Gaston:Sounds good. Thanks.
Voiceover:Thanks to me heartburn from strange giant pictures for joining us today. Don't forget to click subscribe. And Tune in again next week when we speak with Carolyn Vandenberg about growth and gratitude. Thanks for listening The Biz Dojo