Exploring Authenticity with Lunar Door: Inside Indie Films "The Fall," "Ice Cross," & "Tracing the Divide"

Experience the heart and soul of independent filmmaking as we bring you behind the scenes at the Mammoth Film Festival for THREE Lunar Door films!

Join us as we delve into authentic storytelling and the tight-knit bonds formed on set of “The Fall” with the team including director Sean Hart, producer Michael Schilf, and actors Jeremy Sumter and Cassie Scarbo.

Then, strap on your skates and glide into the thrilling world of "Ice Cross," where we share the production adventures and personal triumphs of four athletes.

Finally, embark on a two-wheeled journey with “Tracing the Divide,” discovering the profound narrative that unfolds from Canada to Mexico. This episode captures the essence of filmmaking, showcasing the magic of storytelling against the backdrop of epic journeys.

For our listeners, CFA’s teamed up with We Make Movies to get you a discount on production management services, including access to comprehensive production insurance and workers' comp for your next shoot. 

Visit wemakemovies.org/insurance and use code CFA23 on your intake form for 10% off your quote.

Calling all actors! Take 25% off your membership at WeAudition with code: CFA25

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Cinematography for Actors is a community aimed at bridging the gap between talent & crew through our weekly podcast & community events. Our weekly show supports the filmmaking community through transparent, honest & technically focused interviews with the goal of elevating the art of effective storytelling.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:02

This is the Cinematography for Actors podcast.

Speaker 2 0:05

More than a podcast. Cinematography for Actors is a vibrant community devoted to bridging the gap between talent and crew. Each week, our show offers transparent, insightful conversations with industry leaders. We unveil the magic behind the scenes, from candid discussions about unique filmmaking processes to in-depth technical exploration. Join us in unraveling the intricacies of filmmaking, one episode at a time. It's more than just cameras and lenses we aim to inspire, educate and empower as we peel back the curtain on the art of effective storytelling. Now on to the episode. Hi everybody, this is me, Haley, from Cinematography for Actors podcast. Welcome to another episode. Next to me I have Indiana, also from Cinematography for Actors podcast. Hi Haley, how you?

Speaker 2 0:52

doing you know what we're from, because that's what you're listening to. Hell, yeah, hey. What have we got for everybody today?

Speaker 1 0:59

Well, first of all I want to say hi, because it's been a while since we've been on this podcast. It's been a really long time and we've just been busy prepping for you some very cool things, so please stay tuned. We made some stuff for you. We sure did, and this is an intro for three podcast episodes, shorter ones that have been kind of compiled together for our time at Mammoth Film Festival and we met with the production company Lunar Door, who had three films there in both the dramatic categories dramatic feature as well as action sports.

Speaker 1 1:30

So please enjoy we obviously interviewed the teams and cast on both couches there about all the technical, practical and creative questions we had. So we hope you enjoy. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another Cinematography for Actors podcast episode. Here at Mammoth Film Festival, I am joined by a wonderful and large-filled couch of talented artists that are coming together to do a quick interview with us for the fall. Is this the North American premiere of the fall or world World premiere? Right, world premiere, and we're on the couch here talking about it? Okay, so let me introduce everybody here while we have them. So Sean Hart is our director and writer, michael Schilf, producer. We have Jeremy Sumter, one of the actors. Cassie Scarbo Scarbo, yeah, thank you. Matt Fahey. And Thomas Cockerell hey, great.

Speaker 1 2:23

Awesome, Well, welcome everyone, I'm so happy to have you here. Thank you for joining us today.

Speaker 5 2:27

Thank, you for having us, thank you.

Speaker 1 2:29

Let's dive into the fall. We have 10 minutes, so the fall. Can I get from Sean a one-liner about the fall for everybody who's listening? Oh, one-liner.

Speaker 6 2:45

It does not have to be too succinct, it can be two, it can be three. I'll save him here. Okay, the Fall is about an inspiring photographer who is reeling after her mother's suicide and she's trying to rectify her self-destruction. But she can only do that and find redemption if she accepts her past.

Speaker 1 3:00

Fantastic, that was great. That's a good producer right.

Speaker 7 3:02

My one letter would be it's a twisted, emotionally driven love triangle.

Speaker 2 3:09

There we go. This is good there you go there, it is Fantastic.

Speaker 1 3:15

Now, we always love at Cinematography for Actors talking about collaboration and how teams come together, and so how did this kind of team form have you two worked together before, and then the cast kind of became a part of it.

Speaker 5 3:28

Yeah, I got lucky. I was asked to DP shoot Michael Schultz's first short film for their company that they formed together, lunador, and it was amazing. It was one of the smoothest short films I've ever been a part of. Everything was like well rehearsed Nothing. Danny Trejo was in it. We shot multiple locations in like two days and it was fantastic. We won so many awards. It's ridiculous. And that was, I think, 2020?.

Speaker 6 4:01

It was September of 2019. 2019.

Speaker 5 4:04

2019. And then later, after the COVID pandemic and all this stuff, I had the script and I approached Chase and Natalie and they gave you know to read, and Michael Schilf, being a very seasoned writer as well as a producer, gave his best finest red ink and we really worked on it. It was a. It was a very raw and emotional script, something that I wrote um after reeling from losing the the two people um in the film the, the characters, but it was based on my real grandparents.

Speaker 11 4:48

Yeah, it was a dream.

Speaker 5 4:51

They have. Fortunately, chase and other people have so many talented actor friends like Cassie and Thomas and Jeremy that they've been friends with for all these years, and so it was a little bit unconventional where we just we had a casting director but, most importantly, we just had really good producers who had really great relationships, and so they brought me this kind of dream team of cast and, uh, I was, it was just an honor, because this is not my first feature film although it's my first feature film because this this is the first one that actually had support and producers and a budget and it was just, it was a dream come true. We spent three and a half weeks in this little beach town making a movie in the real locations with actors who were embodying like the very essence of these real people that I based the story on and they just brought so much truth and life to it and you all became a family.

Speaker 1 5:54

Yeah, straight up now let's, let's dive into that a bit, so for for the wonderful cast that have joined us. Um, what was it like as actors, knowing it's based off of someone close to your director, your writer and director? What is that process like, coming on board hearing about it and then also checking in kind of constantly with yourself and the director on set during production? Like what is that process?

Speaker 12 6:19

like it's a huge responsibility. I was going to say on that you know, you know that it's a personal story to Sean, but it wasn't until I really got to set that I got to meet him and the responsibility really kicks in. We're shooting in these real locations that he grew up in. He knows that beach, he knows that town. His family were also on set helping. I mean, it was a very personal project for him and so, as an actor coming on you, you realize how important that is and how respectful you need to be to to bring someone's work of art, but also true life story based on true life story, to to life wow, and what is it like to have?

Speaker 1 6:56

we're talking about, you know, these triangles and these squares of like, the dynamics between characters. Um, how did how does that? How is that built on set? Is that something that you're kind of exploring during prep, or is it something that's happening in almost like an improvisational way on set?

Speaker 7 7:13

The good thing about this movie is like what Sean was saying. Is that me, cass? When I met Tom, when we did the table reading the first day I met Tom, it was like boom, it was so fast Wow.

Speaker 7 7:24

Like we became.

Speaker 7 7:25

You thought we'd known each other for life right, brothers for life and um.

Speaker 7 7:28

But but I guess the, the crew, a lot of the crew, a lot of the producers, a lot of the and a lot of the talent, we all knew we've all known each other for like at least 10 to 15 years.

Speaker 7 7:36

I mean, I've known cassie for 17 years. She plays my fiance and um, I should ask her to marry me in real life a long time ago and I should have asked her to marry me in real life a long time ago, but no, it just really helped. It's like we were all well acquainted with each other and the thing is, the story is involved. It's like there's a lot of history between some of the characters and these people you know in this small town, and so having that, you know, having that background already, just really helped us to move forward really quickly and just tap right into it right away amazing and and, michael, you seem to always pick stories, because we were talking yesterday about tracing the divide and you're here with three films, um, that have this heart and the soul and without even you know, um, talking too much yet about it.

Speaker 1 8:19

It feels like that is already something that is a huge part of the fall. What is it like for you, as a producer, choosing stories that are always integral to humanity as a whole?

Speaker 6 8:29

It's actually pretty easy. When we built our company, it was important that we had foundational pillars, and the reason why it's called Lunar Door is when you look at the logo, you see a little man on a lunar surface and a door Chase, and I we're the little man. The door is the decision to make the project, for us to step through that threshold. It's going to take a lot of time, a lot of sweat equity, a lot of work, and we're not going to step through that threshold unless we believe that that story is worth putting on that little blue marble out in space. And it's the only thing we have. That's it. So we only want to produce stories that we believe are a gift to Earth, to the people, and if we believe that it can change lives, then we're going to put the work in to do it.

Speaker 1 9:23

Fantastic. I love that. I think it's so wonderful because you know all of the stories that you know you're choosing to bring into your company and then also talking about the personal story you're talking about, like you know, let's put it on the blue marble, let's put it on Earth and as a whole, and how individual stories can relate to us as a whole. And I think that's so wonderful, wonderful, especially when you can see that you've had that collaboration for years and you, you know, work together.

Speaker 8 9:46

I'm sure it comes through on the film yeah, no, I just wanted to say a quick little.

Speaker 1 9:49

Oh look at this which one do I choose?

Speaker 8 9:58

no, I just wanted to add you know it was a very obviously it is a personal story and that's what makes it so special. But I think what also made filming just such an incredible experience was there was just such a safety and comfort because we all know each other. We have great chemistry already as friends, and even you know the people that we had just came on to meet. We just all clicked instantly and I'm just so grateful to have had a director and producers that made it so safe and comfortable to play, to be vulnerable, especially when it's something that's so close to home. You made me emotional.

Speaker 1 10:31

I cry for everything.

Speaker 8 10:32

But it's someone's real-life story so that made it that much more special.

Speaker 1 10:36

Yeah, and vulnerability is just such a key part of the process, I think so that's so wonderful. It's like a safe space that we're creating to build that world in. Now I know we have to wrap things up, but what are you hoping? I know this is the world premiere, so congratulations once again. What?

Speaker 5 10:54

are you hoping?

Speaker 7 10:56

the audience's biggest takeaways are for this project. I know this when people are going to take away from this movie, there's going to be a lot of tears, because the thing is this it's real life. It's about love and love. Lost love found, and like loss of family. Yeah, it's. It's like it's everything that's real life that we go through, that we're unprepared for, and that it will make you think about how to prepare for it, which is something you can't really prepare for.

Speaker 12 11:17

Yeah, and this really, this movie really shows that it's a story about healing and about what you need to do to heal, and that's accepting your past and accepting where you've come from to be able to move forward into whatever part of life you want to move into.

Speaker 1 11:30

Incredible. I feel like my word this year and I've said this from January my word this year I'm focusing on is surrendering more into things, and so I feel like this film is probably perfect for anyone who is looking to heal or to surrender, to connect. Really Huge shout-out to also Jocelyn.

Speaker 7 11:45

Yeah, my gosh.

Speaker 5 11:47

She booked something huge, so if she can't be here, we aren't allowed to talk about her. Maybe we are, I don't know, but she's so brilliant in the film and her chemistry with Thomas is amazing and her chemistry with Jeremy is phenomenal. They bring in that history of this toxic relationship and Jeremy his relationship with Cassie, so it is very much a love square.

Speaker 5 12:11

Yeah, there's four sides to it. But then the family dynamic is, I think, what makes it a little different, because it's not just a love story. It's really like an adult coming of age story. It it's about a girl you know, who lost her.

Speaker 1 12:28

Well, thank you all so much for joining me here on the couch for like 10 minutes in the cold. I am very excited for everyone to see the fall, including myself and our whole team. So thank you so much for taking the time and we'll see you at the next one, Thank you.

Speaker 7 12:39

Thanks for having us Thanks everybody.

Speaker 2 12:41

Thanks, guys. Hello, welcome back to another special episode of the Cinematography for Actors podcast. I'm your host, Ailey Royal. We're at Mammoth Film Festival. We are back again with EP Michael Schilf, EP Jace Cougar. We're really excited to have you guys back today. Yeah, good to be here, and we're extra excited to have Britton Lawrence and.

Speaker 2 13:02

DJ Kilpatrick, who are both athletes, writers, directors, producers and the lead talent for Ice Cross Life on the Edge. I just learned that this is a sport and they all tried to explain it to me and I actually loved the way you did it. So please try again to tell me what this is, because it sounds dangerous and it sounds scary, and I know that you're in hockey gear. You have to be fully protected to do this, and it's on a hill. Is it icy or is it snowy?

Speaker 4 13:36

Oh, it's icy, it is, it is. Well, some of the races are icy, some of them are. Depending on weather, can be a little snowy, but for the most part it's a track made of ice and it's downhill and there's different features and jumps and things like that, and you're wearing hockey gear. To an extent, a lot of people modify and stuff and right and yeah, you just race against three other athletes down the hill, four guys going to war, and there's a lot of carnage so this is dangerous for just for you guys who are choosing to do this.

Ice Cross Documentary Filmmaking Process

Speaker 2 14:02

But then how are you shooting this so that now we can watch it in ice cross?

Speaker 3 14:08

life on the edge well, we had uh, four guys running all over the track at all times, running all over in skates on the icy track.

Speaker 3 14:18

No, no, no running running down the ski hill and up the ski hill to to get different shots. Um, we didn't have a huge crew with this as a bare-bones crew. Okay, so our guys were doing the best they could do and cover as many sections of the track as they could, but it was. It was a challenge, no doubt about it, but we're right next to the track and sometimes standing on the track where it is not recommended sometimes, sometimes in the middle of the track, yeah, middle of the finish line.

Speaker 4 14:45

Do you just stand there with the camera? And people were just ripping by him. I'm like are you supposed to be standing? There right now you're supposed to be standing in the middle of the track while we're racing but uh, you just get kind of yeah anything for the shot.

Speaker 2 14:57

That's right. Yeah, okay. So what were you shooting on? Do you guys know? Do you guys know?

Speaker 4 15:02

we had a.

Speaker 3 15:03

Uh, we had a red, we had uh two sonys and I don't know a bunch of gopros, a whole lot of gopros and some drones.

Speaker 2 15:11

Yeah, honestly, sometimes gopros is the way to go.

Speaker 4 15:13

I think we had some insta 360 shots or gopro 360 shots some beautiful drone shots.

Speaker 13 15:17

Yeah, yes, yeah, the drone shots are incredible.

Speaker 4 15:20

This guy right here was the proponent for all the drone shots. We would be like so cold and miserable and he would be like, all right, we got to get outside and get another drone shot and our, our videographers were like we've already gotten this drone shot and he's like, nope, this sets the scene, sets the mood here. We got to do it again and it turned out to be one of the most important shots throughout the entire film. It just it sets the scene for it yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 15:41

So and then, dj, you are doing voiceover, narrating, you're telling the story. When does this process happen? Is it after everything's shot or you're doing it during? When are you finding time for?

Speaker 3 15:54

this. Yeah, yeah, that's a good question. Time was not on our side.

Speaker 3 16:08

So when the editor was editing the doc and we were writing out the script on what you was going to be said and what I was going to say, I basically just filmed myself on a cell phone, sent it to him and I was like, do what you can with this, okay. And then he, we, we got it down to like a final version, a locked version of what I was actually going to say, and then we got myself in a studio and and recorded it there, okay.

Speaker 4 16:25

So yeah, because we didn't know what the story was going to be, because it's all real, so we filmed the entire thing. And then we're like, okay, we have to find the storyline in this, and then everything that he talks about is like connecting the storyline together.

Speaker 13 16:36

And that's kind of how we came in, because you know, I met Britton through DJ and DJ. I brought him on as a producer on one short we did and he, like DJ, I brought him on as a producer on one short we did and he caught the bug and was like I want to do this. And so what we did in the beginning was help kind of shape a narrative with these guys and make sure to be aware of this. All these things are going to be happening. You're out there shooting a doc, You're meeting people, You're getting these interviews. So just to be aware of these things and make sure to get it to find an opportunity for this story these things to make sure to get it, to find an opportunity for this story.

Speaker 2 17:09

Yeah, what are you looking for when you see all of this footage and you have, what are you looking for to be able?

Speaker 13 17:12

to shape the narrative. I mean, we're looking for heart, we're looking for something that grabs your emotions in a real way, that you can connect to when you're watching it. So it's not just about a sport. You're actually seeing these individuals and what their story is, and so that was a main thing was following four racers and following their personal journey and what this sport does to them, what it inspires them to be and how that inspires other people. And that's kind of why this movie is very special is because you get to know these four guys and then you get to know of him, as he's narrating too, and it's just it's really cool yeah, yeah, it's, I think, uh, everybody has a story and it's the the interviewer's job to to pull that story out.

Speaker 3 17:59

So be very curious, ask all the questions that you can, and then how can you relate that story to the audience? How can you relate that story to everybody else?

Speaker 4 18:09

so that's what we tried to do. Yeah, and he found his calling as an interviewer. I mean, I think one of our athletes referred to him as Barbara Walters after it was. It was. It was very impressive. I mean, I didn't expect anything less, but it was.

Speaker 2 18:21

It's truly found his calling with this do you think you're going to move forward with the career in interviewing?

Speaker 3 18:27

Yeah, yeah, I think. Ice Cross the doors for Ice Cross are just beginning to open, so the sky's the limit with this sport. Not just the documentary. This documentary was just the beginning.

Speaker 2 18:43

You guys think you're going to try any Ice Cross?

Speaker 13 18:49

I mean, yeah, I want to go do it it I'm not that great

Speaker 6 18:52

about a skater, but uh, I'm afraid, no, I'm afraid that I'm gonna beat all these guys.

Speaker 13 18:57

So he's my business partner.

Speaker 4 19:01

I don't want him to go do it because I don't want to be embarrassed the confidence that mich Michael has is something and Chase as well that at the very beginning we had never actually met Michael, and one of the first meetings that we had we jumped on a Zoom call and they were basically like there's going to be a whole lot of times when you do not know what the fuck you're doing. But if you have the confidence and you believe that you're doing something with purpose, then it's going to turn out how you want it and we kept that the whole way and I mean they were crucial in this. I mean we were the ones that were traveling and they're the whole shit.

Speaker 13 19:34

Yeah, they were doing it all.

Speaker 6 19:35

Yeah, I mean, they did 99% of the work Really Okay, but we were instrumental because what we did we came on as EPs but also as story consultants, so it was our job to help them build a really solid foundation. But they had to build the house, they had to do the rough carpentry and the electrical and the drywall and the Spanish tiles and everything, and the Spanish tiles and everything. But it's a wonderful thing that they built because of starting with something solid.

Speaker 4 20:13

Yeah, without that foundation, the whole thing would have crumbled, for sure.

Speaker 3 20:15

Because we didn't know what we were doing. This was our first film, a passion project to help a sport survive. It was kind of on the brink of extinction, and so we took the reins there and said you know what? It's more than a film. If we can make something great, let's do it, but let's do our best.

Speaker 2 20:34

Keep this sport alive, or were you just getting footage because it was cool and you were hoping, or did you know from the beginning you wanted to build a documentary with a story, with a heart that would influence people.

Speaker 4 20:48

Yes, yeah, from the beginning of when we came, actually it was DJ living with Chase for a bit and they were actually working on Tracing the Divide and we had shot some things around Ice Cross and done some like vlog-style stuff and we had done some like episodic YouTube-type stuff and just anything to promote the sport and things like that. And and yeah, chase was working on tracing divide with with Michael and DJ saw it and he was like, well, I got something for you.

Speaker 13 21:15

Well, wait, we can do this for that. And he told me about it and I was like, sweet, let's set you guys up Like with just an outline of how to approach this. And they're probably looking back at it like that sounded easy.

Filmmaking Team Discusses Tracing the Divide

Speaker 4 21:30

I don't think at any point. We thought it sounded easy, I think it was a lot of uh, of blind confidence, of like, like, we can do this which you have to have.

Speaker 13 21:39

Yeah, that's the only way to be a filmmaker is like to have that blind confidence. But, yeah, your team.

Speaker 4 21:44

And and really uh, just confidence. But, yeah, your team and and really uh, just just being a part, like being involved and being present in the journey and not so much worrying about, like the moment we're at. Now. We're like, okay, the film's done. It still doesn't even feel real to me that it's done, so it's like we're just taking it day by day and enjoying the process and, um, and that's the way to live life, that's the way to to do something like this they got to experience what the process of post is.

Speaker 4 22:05

Right, yeah, that part maybe we underestimated a little bit.

Speaker 3 22:10

Just a little bit.

Speaker 4 22:11

Our editor was unbelievable. He's one of the geographers as well, Lucas, and he's in the Czech Republic, so the times were a little bit weird for us, so we weren't getting a ton of sleep during it.

Speaker 2 22:21

But he was incredible.

Speaker 4 22:22

I mean, everyone involved with the film was incredible and everyone in the sport helped out so much and people outside of the sport and the support that we got was.

Speaker 4 22:31

I think that was one of the most surprising things when we our first uh, our first weekend on, uh, traveling and filming for for the first race. People were like, what the hell y'all doing? We have cameras everywhere, we're filming everything. And some of the other athletes are like, what is this? And then, like two or three days in, they were like, oh, here we go, like you guys are doing something cool here. And then they all wanted to be a part of it and by the end, people were like, how can I be in the film, how can I support? And they were letting me. We're heroes now.

Speaker 2 22:59

Congratulations, guys, we have to wrap this up Sadly. We'd love to do this for an hour. Thank you so much for sitting with us. Ice cross Keep the very dangerous sport alive.

Speaker 3 23:17

Yeah.

Speaker 6 23:17

Very much, guys, thanks for having us. Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 23:20

Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of the Cinematography for Actors podcast here not live, even though I always want to say live at the Mammoth Film Festival. I am joined by this wonderful filmmaking team, who are all present for their screening of Tracing the Divide, which is a story about two lifelong friends who cycle from Canada to Mexico. Is that correct?

Speaker 14 23:41

Correct, yes.

Speaker 1 23:42

Fantastic and this is a feature, documentary action, sports feature, I think is what it's under and I'm really excited to dive in. So let me introduce our wonderful talented crew and cast. We have Michael Schilf, producer and writer. We have Jack Zakrajak, chris not Chrissy, your wife, but Chris Hebert, actor. We have Chris Schmidt, actor, chase Cougar, ep, and Maya Smith, co-producer.

Speaker 7 24:10

Welcome.

Speaker 10 24:10

How's everyone doing Excellent.

Speaker 6 24:11

Doing the press run today.

Speaker 1 24:13

Yeah, first, when does the film screen?

Speaker 6 24:16

Sunday evening at 8.30 pm.

Speaker 1 24:18

Fantastic. Our entire team is around for it, so we're going to go watch it for sure.

Speaker 1 24:22

I'm excited about it Now um, now, this is definitely so. Two lifelong friends, we, we went through the log line. This is definitely like a bucket list item for a lot of people in the world. I imagine, um, or like a journey, some type of kind of journey that a lot of people want to take. How, how did this come together? How did you guys start to collaborate? Um, who was the first on board and and kind of how, how did you form this team?

Speaker 6 24:49

it's a very long story, I'll I'll let it begin with the three of them great, I guess.

Speaker 11 24:54

Uh, I was sitting in a bar story starts. I was sitting in a bar a friend of mine showed me this race called the tour divide, which is a bike race that goes from canada, mexico down the great divide mountain bike route, showed it to me and I was hooked. I just said I have to do that, I just have to do it.

Speaker 11 25:10

So I sent it to him and he said no no, and then the next day he's like yeah, we're doing this great, and then we're gonna do it over a few years, um, and basically we thought jack is into making movies. So I called him and said, hey, would you like to follow us? And he kind of just laughed and said no. And then, maybe a month later, he called me back and he said were you guys serious? I said yeah, I mean we'd get a great video.

Speaker 9 25:36

Home movie.

Speaker 11 25:37

Home movie to show our family like what kind of, you know, adventure this is that people aren't going to appreciate, um, unless they can see it. Um, and a lot of people have done this route. A lot of people have done hard things, um, but this was our journey and want to at least share with our family. So that's when we brought jack in yeah, yeah.

Speaker 9 25:57

So he had reached out and said, hey, would you want to follow us across the divide? And I was. It sounds. It was so bizarre because I was like, well, how are we, are we going to film this? That seems like quite an undertaking. But then I just got my toe to coma. I was like, okay, I think I could figure out how to do this. So I thought about it for a little bit and I said you know what? I had kind of started. I had left college to pursue film and photography and media and kind of exploring what I really, really love to do in that world, and I had never made a documentary yet. And so when these guys approached me and said, hey, would you guys like to, would you like to do this?

Speaker 9 26:27

I said well it'd be quite great learning experience at the end of the day, and and so it was very. It was fear, like there's a lot of fear involved, but I was like really kind of excited to to take this under undertaking and see what happens.

Speaker 1 26:40

Absolutely, and I think the best part about that and this being like the first documentary where you're like I'm going to dive in after a month, you're like I'm going to dive in and we're going to do it. We're going to do it Is that there are no rules in your head yet, right, like. The best part about like when you start making movies in different genres or whatever.

Speaker 1 26:56

It is like the new territory is that you don't have like that preconceived notion of like, well, we're going to have five cameras and we're gonna have one in the time and then we're gonna have one, you know, on the back of the camera.

Speaker 10 27:05

It's like okay let's feel it out, let's learn together.

Speaker 1 27:07

Let's grow what feels comfortable, and I think that's probably why, like you, have such a successful film. That's, you know, debuting and, and and it's so wonderful. So that's great, that's awesome and what a great collaboration. Now the rest of the team how did? How did you get involved?

Speaker 6 27:20

uh, we came in later, so uh so. So before I get into that, I just want to say Jack was 20 years old when he started this project, which is amazing, yeah.

Speaker 9 27:29

He's 30. I feel 30.

Speaker 3 27:33

Now he's retired.

Speaker 6 27:34

Now he's 23, but he feels like 100.

Speaker 9 27:37

Right, of course.

Speaker 6 27:40

No. So he was on with them for 24 days. He shot hundreds of hours and then he edited a film that was about an hour 40 minutes maybe hour 45 minutes. That was just documenting them on the ride, yeah, and then he put it on YouTube.

Speaker 6 27:56

Not what I would recommend but that's what he did right, and Chris's wife contacted me and said hey, you know, my husband, this thing, and they made this film and they put it on YouTube. I'm not sure it was a good idea, but can you check it out? And I did, and I saw there was heart and there was a really powerful narrative and it was so much more about the journey of purpose and enlightenment and even though it happens to take place with cycling. So I said, said, yeah, there's something here. Yeah, uh, let's set a meeting. We had a meeting, and then the first thing I said was please take it down off of youtube, yeah, which they did, yeah, and then we started the conversation of you know, if our company comes in, we can really help shepherd this and and make it a full feature film that has all the parts it needs. Yeah, and they talked about it because at that point it was just the three of them and and once they uh, they agreed that was the right decision then.

Speaker 1 28:57

Then we move forward wow, filmmaking is hard, but I also think obviously this journey is really difficult, and so merging the two while still trying to make a story out of it. Obviously a lot of stuff. Stuff happens when you're kind of on these journeys. But what was the when you talk about heart and soul? How did you make something that seems so overwhelming and kind of bring specificity to it, to know what, to capture what were, like your rules you created in your head to be like this is how we're going to kind of start to do this. And what was that conversation like?

Speaker 9 29:26

yeah. So I mean, I was really unsure. Like you can't plan for this, for a film like this. Like you can, you, can you know? You tell the story three times you tell in pre-production, you tell it while you're shooting it and you tell it in post-production. So you tell the story three different times. The problem is you can't, you're not going to really know the story. Now, these two, I I knew I knew Chris Schmidt really well. I didn't know he wrote super well yet, but I knew that they had personalities. So I said, if I just document the conflicts and their journey there, something will arise.

Speaker 9 29:52

Now the beauty of this film was I, when it came to like gear first. I think this is kind of what it really kind of boils down to is how are you going to tell the story with? You know the route and the gear? I kind of had, I kind of limited myself with the gear. So I had, like you know one camera, it was just me. You know a drone and some gopros.

Speaker 9 30:09

I said this is all I'm gonna, these are the tools that I'm gonna use. I'm not gonna have five cameras, I'm not gonna have three. I was like, if I overwhelm myself is this story will not be told, I will miss things. So that was kind of right off the bat, like the the. You know, the specifications I set for myself was we're going to make this very simple and I'm just going to be there as much as humanly possible, so lived in the back, in the back of this truck and just followed their journey and um, used the small amount of tools that I had, but was the most effective way to tell a story, especially as kind of a one-man band, for this amazing and for the talent of the film.

Speaker 1 30:46

What were you not expecting? Um, you know, like you, you're like, let's document it. But what did this turn into?

Speaker 11 30:51

Was it the expectation that you, you thought, or was it more like well, yeah, well, I've, I've known Jack, um kind of coached him in cycling for a bit and and kind of grew up with him a little bit and I knew Jack as a as a friend and somewhat of a mentor. And we show up in Canada, canada, and he picks us up at the or in Montana. He picks up at the airport and next thing you know he's putting up lighting and you know just telling us we're going to do interviews and we're like what I thought we were just making a home movie.

Speaker 11 31:22

And he was serious Like this was filmmaker jack, and I'd never seen that before he was. He came prepared and he was. We were clear in saying we don't want your help because we want to do this self-supported. And he was very clear in saying I'm there to make a film, not to help you if you're bleeding.

Speaker 11 31:39

I'm there to document it um, and and he was true to that, I mean from from the first mile to the last mile. So seeing him kind of transition into filmmaker Jack and you know, handing us GoPros like what we got to do, a GoPro Like we were just going to ride our bikes right and suddenly he's making a film and it was just. I'm grateful to have been a part of that you know, transition for him.

Speaker 14 32:02

Well, it was also fun watching Jack improve his technique too as we went along. I think you were a newly minted drone pilot. You'd gotten your license just before we went. And you know, chris and I would be like wouldn't it be cool if Jack like flew the drone in between us while we're riding?

Speaker 10 32:21

And you know Jack's like I don't know about that, guys.

Speaker 14 32:26

And then all of a sudden one day we're driving you know riding along the drone goes shooting through us and it's like it.

Building Trust in Film Collaboration

Speaker 14 32:31

You don't hear it until it's right on. Absolutely you know you're dodging a drone, it felt like. But yeah, his technique got better, um, and then he was. He also was learning, um, how to anticipate where we'll be. Yeah, better um. I will say that there were some situations where it's like jack, make sure you're was learning how to anticipate where we'll be better. I will say that there were some situations where it's like Jack, make sure you're in front of us the whole time, because we were worried that he'd get stuck in the mud. Oh, wow.

Speaker 14 32:57

And we wouldn't know, We'd just end up in the next city and it's like where's Jack?

Speaker 11 33:01

We had no idea where he's going to pop out.

Speaker 1 33:05

I mean, he would see us for 30 seconds and then we wouldn't see him for four hours, which is kind of great, because it allows you to still have the journey that you set out to have while also being true to the story which is like what we're trying to do with making a film and and um.

Speaker 1 33:17

So I have had my own experiences with like long distance traveling and I I know, at the end of the night it can be really hard to document whether it's writing it down so you remember it, or filming, in this case, because you hadn't had the experience of being like okay, we're gonna have these GoPros with us and stuff. Was it hard to remember to film yourselves or was it a habit you had to get into with the GoPros at night and tents, things like that, or how did that work?

Speaker 14 33:39

I wasn't really good at it, to be honest. I had an older GoPro. I was really frustrated with it.

Speaker 9 33:49

You know, you'd say GoPro video and it would say no, I'm not going to do that for you. It's like what'd you say?

Speaker 14 33:55

But I was really frustrated with the GoPro. Or I'd pop the GoPro up to take a video and there's Jack right behind me. I'm like there's some cats in the video.

Speaker 11 34:08

That's so great. There's certainly a learning curve, because for us this is a bike ride. For us it's not really about making a film. So it's like I turn this thing on, what do I say? And so I think that evolved over the course of things. And you know, you, you don't really know what you're getting yourself into or how you're going to react in certain situations, and you find yourself in situations you didn't anticipate, and then you just would take it out, um and and talk um it's, it's very organic, very real which is, I think, the best part, yeah yeah it's just, once again, authentic storytelling I will say, as someone who has seen all the footage yeah, over and over and over and over again, many, many, many times.

Speaker 6 34:54

Um, what was really interesting to see is that at a certain point they kind of forgot about the cameras.

Speaker 6 35:03

Great, and yeah, and because, like, let's say, the journey was only two or three days, they would always have been aware For sure, but because it was a 24-day ride, at a certain point it was like hammer around was nothing, and they were so genuine and vulnerable. And I will say that, even though Hiebert, yeah, was not necessarily thepro, wasn't necessarily his best friend, he was very vulnerable about when to to to use it like one of my favorite shots is he chooses to do a confessional while he's sitting on a toilet in an outhouse great you know, and I'm like

Speaker 9 35:39

it's so good who would think?

Speaker 10 35:41

who would think?

Speaker 6 35:42

like I think about that totally except for him.

Speaker 1 35:45

You're at a point where you're just like diary entry.

Speaker 6 35:49

Yeah, so I remember just so you know like it wasn't in the original cut that I saw, and so I knew there was going to be golden nuggets, that that was not in. Yeah, and so we so our editor Keith, who's not here, and I, we were going through it, and every once in a while we'd find one and I go that's gold.

Speaker 9 36:07

And when I saw him in the polo party like doing the serious confession, I was like that's cool, yeah, yeah, I kind of wanted to build on too From my perspective, and why I kind of chose to pursue this GoPro avenue was there was really two things. One is because it's one man band. I can't be there for everything, so I kind of had to just like and I knew these two well enough that the first couple of days will be hard, but they're going to warm up to it and they're going to really enjoy.

Speaker 10 36:31

And I said this is your diary.

Speaker 9 36:32

This is like a journal, okay. The other second thing was I knew those really well. So in documentary it's really if you know the subjects really well, if you're friends with them, sometimes that can be really tricky on how you're going to get from them what I really really wanted. Um, it just wasn't going to happen because they know me so well. You know, I pulled my truck, I pulled the camera. They're going to feel like they have to perform or whatever. So I I kind of had to think about it. I was like you know what, if I just give them GoPros and say, hey, this is your, you're still your journal, it's going to remove me from it to the best I can and we're going to get those moments on, sitting on a porta potty talking to the camera or whatever, like that's what I really wanted and I'm just I'm kind of glad that worked out because that's my favorite part of the film, you wouldn't have been in the porta potty Right?

Speaker 9 37:20

I don't think so, not sharing it with anyone.

Speaker 1 37:22

I wouldn't have let you in there. That's probably the more important thing. Um, now let's talk to like producing team over here. What, for those that are listening, what is the most important thing when building relationships? When there's like the footage has already been shot, the relationships already exist and you're coming in kind of telling them like we're gonna take your footage, take that down, like what? What are those initial conversations? What do they look like?

Speaker 6 37:47

uh, we'll definitely trust for sure. Okay, um, in this we came in. I would say not at the end, at the end, because there's still. When I saw the original cut, I knew a couple things. I knew, number one, that there this is, this story has heart and it has soul, and there's, there's something here that I know is is missing, that I know it exists, but I also knew that it wasn't done right because he had, he had made a movie that was an hour and 40 minutes. That was just following these two guys riding and I knew that, well, wait a minute. No, no, no, we have to go back a year later and meet these guys. How has this story effect? Or how has this ride affected them? And they both were changed dramatically. They both had enlightenment, enlightening enlightenment moments. They found new purpose in their lives beyond cycling, and that's really what the film is about. Yeah, um. So. So trust is really it, because this team of three had to trust this team of three yes, yeah that we're gonna now continue filming.

Speaker 6 38:48

We're going to. We're going to now continue filming. We're going to. And then, because Jack was in Colorado, these guys live in Wisconsin, maya and I are in LA, chase is in Austin, we're all over the place, and the editorial was six months. It was impossible for Jack to be there for the editorial, so he had to trust us.

Speaker 1 39:09

I think collaboration is kind of like the foundation of all we do in film at the end of the day and and and. So it's so wonderful to to see that like torch passing kind of back and forth, so that you can kind of be here from an audience perspective as well, because that's kind of what you're coming in as, like of course you're coming from producer side, but you're also the first time you're watching it. Someone's sending it to you. You You're coming in from audience, being like I want to know what happens a year later, what happened to them? Like I want to see kind of the more the intimate moments, and that's why it's great to kind of have you guys on board.

Speaker 13 39:37

Yeah, I mean, that's, that's what our job was to present a perspective and gain their trust in a genuine way. So how can we shape this and what are we seeing? And how can we make that? And jack, they all three, uh, trusted us with that and then gets to step away from it, come back to it and it turned into something just really beautiful. And that's how we presented it basically to come on and just allow for a safe space of trust, absolutely yeah yeah, I kind of wanted to add to that.

Speaker 9 40:06

I mean, I when, michael, I had released the film in South Africa actually, I was in South Africa living there for a little bit and I had released the film on YouTube originally and you know I had stayed there for quite a while and so Michael said, hey, let's have a meeting. So I'm I think it was either really early or really late, I don't really actually remember but I had a meeting with him and I saying to him, I said, hey, like I really want to take this up to the next level. I agree with you, like this could be way better than what it is now. I can't see the forest from the trees per se.

Speaker 9 40:33

I'm so I you know they had gotten involved, I think about a year and a half later. So I was, I had added this in craziest places and I was. I was so married to it that I had to find an outside perspective and I said I remember telling michael. I said if we're gonna do this thing, you guys gotta watch. I said someone's gotta watch all the footage I shot. I said that's kind of like something that I really asked that as a question.

Speaker 1 40:52

You're like I watch all that footage and I'm like this is a good like producer, like for producers who are like listening, who are just behind, of coming that, um, watching the footage and understanding the parts of story, even though there might be thousands of hours, is so crucial, right? Yeah, I should have gone lower, so it seemed higher instead of being higher. Yeah, I know.

Speaker 9 41:15

But I, I knew for a fact that there was gold I missed. I knew it, but I couldn't see anymore because I had. I had already watched all the footage, obviously, and I was like and I had put together what I had saw, but with other perspectives. This is the product you're going to get now, which is what we have now, is like with the other perspectives you're going to take it up 10 levels. But I knew and testament to those guys and especially keith and michael or keith is our editor I was like, guys, I know there's things you gotta miss. So I said, would you guys mind watching every frame? And they did, and and that's why I believe this film is just so amazing and where it's at now.

Speaker 1 41:52

Fantastic.

Speaker 6 41:54

And I would say that documentary filmmaking is very like we come from a narrative background.

Speaker 2 41:58

Right.

Speaker 6 41:59

This is actually our first documentary that we jumped into.

Speaker 1 42:04

Congrats to everyone here. Yeah, thank you, because that's like the first doc for literally everyone on the couch right. Yes, oh, my gosh, fantastic yeah.

Speaker 6 42:10

But we understand story. Yes, we understand structure, that's all it is, we understand character right, and so, jack, what he and really all three of them, what they set out to do was to make a cycling film, and that's what he made, not really understanding that it's not a cycling film. It's not a cycling film.

Speaker 6 42:31

And then when the experts came in and we weren't looking at like what is the coolest cycling shot or what's the most dramatic drone shot. We were really just focused on character and plot points and we structured the entire documentary based upon a narrative structure three acts eight sequence design, plot points, the whole thing Fantastic.

Speaker 6 42:50

And what I think that you know is valuable to aspiring documentary filmmakers is um, it's the story. It's still the most important thing and there's. You know, these stories haven't changed like the rules of story hasn't changed for thousands of years and it's like just a testament to like we.

Speaker 1 43:10

we just want to love our heroes and our villains and see, like, the human parts of them. Now, to round it up, because I know we've already gone over, but I just really loved wanting to talk about this to our, to both the Chris's here what are the the life-changing things that you can tell us that you kind of came out of a year later that we explore in the doc?

Speaker 14 43:33

I'm going to say. If I tell you what that was, it'll spoil the end of the movie.

Speaker 1 43:37

Great, this is the perfect marketing round.

Speaker 11 43:42

I'll summon up hero villain I love it.

Speaker 8 43:45

Hardly.

Speaker 6 43:49

I'm definitely not going to spoil anything, but there are moments that you're going to dislike krishnick, but there are moments that you're going to absolutely love him because he's incredibly tender and gentle and understanding. Um, you're always gonna love him. Yeah, you, because he, he. We can all learn from Hebert. It is amazing that a grown man can be so honest and vulnerable. It is a strength and and I think that he birds one of the strongest people I've ever met in my life and and they both have enlightenment and they and they both are changed dramatically because,

Speaker 14 44:31

of it I will add this, my favorite quote that fits the movie best is if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, you go with a friend, and he's one of the reasons why I was able to do the ride and it was. I couldn't have imagined a better person to do it with fantastic.

Speaker 1 44:58

I literally cannot add any more to that, because we have to end on something like that. Thank you so much for joining us here at mammoth film festival for is it the premiere or the world premiere of tracing the the Divide, the wonderful filmmaking team. Go watch it. I know you're going to want to after this Great marketing here. Thank you all so much. We'll see you soon. Thanks everyone, Bye.

Speaker 10 45:19

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