The minds behind an upcoming western are working in reverse. Rather than make a movie and then cut the trailer, they started with the trailer first.
Their unconventional approach is both a response to hard economic times and a way to show investors they can make a quality feature at a fraction of the price paid to craft similar features.
Colorado based Travelin’ Productions and Wide Awake Films are teaming up to make the Faustian western “Arkansas Traveler.” The story follows a confederate soldier heading home after Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.
The 10-minute teaser, which stars Garrett Dillahunt (“No Country for Old Men“), Angela Bettis (“May,“ “Girl, Interrupted“) and Sean Bridgers (HBO’s “Deadwood“), debuted at the Little Rock Film Festival earlier this year.
WWTW checked in with co-directors Sean Bridgers and Michael Hemschoot from Travelin’ Productions and Shane Seley from Wide Awake Films, which specializes in Civil War documentaries, to find out more about their unique marketing approach.
WWTW; How did you come up with the plan to acquire funding for “Arkansas Traveler” via an extended teaser scene? Any updates you can share about funding?
Sean Bridgers: The decision to shoot a teaser to help raise funding was something that Travelin’ Productions and the guys at Wide Awake Films had been working towards a few years ago, but our attempts were thwarted at the time by scheduling conflicts and the U.S. economy going to the outhouse. Last fall, we collectively decided that we would find the time, pool the resources and just make the teaser shoot happen; and in the Spring of 2010, we did. Making movies takes a great collective effort from all parties involved; it requires a tenacity that can only be found in a group of people who love to see things through. That was the first thing we learned from the experience.
Travelin’ Productions and Wide Awake Films had the opportunity to develop a work flow that proved that filming “Arkansas Traveler” can be pulled off with a reasonable budget without sacrificing quality in any way. The experience of doing, and the resulting scenes/images we got for the teaser of “Arkansas Traveler,” quelled any doubts that we can and will make a great movie. The teaser has had a remarkable response from audiences, industry folks, and the press.
Shane Seley: We had been batting around ideas for this film for at least five years. Things changed in everyone’s situation to allow us to experiment with a three-day shoot to not only create a piece to drive financing but to also take our business and working relationship for a test drive. The results were better than anticipated on all counts. Plus, Wide Awake is from the “Show Me” state of Missouri. For the money we need to get this film off the ground, it was important for us to highlight our capabilities.
WWTW: Talk about the historical accuracy of your film … why was it so important to the project, and was it difficult to marry a strong narrative with historical truths?
SB: “Arkansas Traveler“ is set at the end of the Civil War because it is the story of a man whose soul is at hazard, at a time in history when our great nation’s soul was at hazard. It’s the story of a man and his struggles to realize his own humanity, which is a story for everyone and everyone’s story. You don’t need to know anything about the Civil War to enjoy and understand “Arkansas Traveler.” However – if you are a history/Civil War buff, our film will be one you won’t want to miss.
Everything shot in camera is historically accurate, from the weapons, saddles, uniforms, even the buttons on the clothes, are either vintage or exact replicas. We are able to achieve production values that not only ring true to the audience but also fill the performers with a sense of truly being in another time. The script has been thoroughly researched. I read hundreds of letters from soldiers of the day, read slave narratives, Native American history of the time – all to give me the correct and true colors with which to draw out this tale.
We could tell this tale in another time, a man returning from another war. The protagonist of “Arkansas Traveler”, Wayland McGlawhorn, could be returning from current day Iraq. We chose the Civil War because it is one of the most important times in the history of our nation and also because it is a visually interesting time to revisit. The Civil War was the first war to be photographed. It was the first time that civilians far from the fighting could see the brutal reality of warfare.
I don’t find it difficult at all to form a narrative around historical events. It’s quite the opposite. Having a strong narrative, i.e. a good story, is the key and there are no new stories anyway – The Greeks tapped them out long ago – there is man vs man or man vs nature or man vs God. “Arkansas Traveler” tackles all three tried and true forms of dramatic narrative.
SS: From Wide Awake Film’s 20+ years of experience recreating history for the lens, we’ve found that when you get the history right, good mojo envelops your project. When you get the history right, good things happen. “Saving Private Ryan” proved that.
WWTW: The western genre has been on life support for years, despite the success of “Deadwood” and the “3:10 to Yuma” remake. Why do you think the western is having such a hard time these days, and could a film like “Arkansas Traveler” shed light on how to make a western relevant again?
Michael Hemschoot: While there haven’t been many recent runaway hits of the Western variety, I’m of the opinion that some of the best films the genre has ever seen, have been made in the past 15-20 years. Also, based on some of our research, we’ve found that although the genre may not currently fare as well as some others at the box office, it does excel in other outlets, like television, home video, etc. We’ve been told that one of the most popular channels in the Starz family is its Western channel. That alone tells me that there is an audience out there for this type of movie; it just needs the right project to find it.
In my opinion, Sean had done a masterful job of mixing all of the right ingredients into a screenplay that really has something for just about everyone, while not sacrificing those core elements that have always defined this one truly American film genre. We’ve got action, we’ve got drama, we’ve got love and human emotion, sacrifice and hardship, redemption and reward; it’s all told through a very thoughtful lens.
SB: The only difference between cop dramas of today and old western serials of the early days of film are the costumes and the settings. They all involve some form of wrong being righted. The details change but a good story is timeless. “Apocalypse Now” is a retelling of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” that was written in 1899 or so – that story could work if it were set in outer space or at the bottom of the ocean because at its core it’s a story about the human condition.
Westerns are relevant only if they tell a story that is relevant and I would argue this is true of all movies, regardless of genre. The Western is dealing with a time in history that was rather short – 1865 to the turn of the 1900’s – but the idea of “Manifest Destiny,” which propelled and created the setting for the “Western” is a theme that can always be re-visited. Much of American mythology is wrapped and cloaked in the Western. A stranger comes into a situation and by sheer will, skill and acts of daring do conquers his foes and wins the day. He usually wears a white hat and the bad guys wear black. It is very simple, easy to digest, easy to dismiss.
WWTW: Why did you describe your film as a “blue collar” story, and do you think that sort of sensibility is missing from many mainstream films?
MH: We think of our projects as “blue collar” mainly because we’re most interested in telling stories that everyday folks, like our friends and family, would like to see, especially those that involve genuine characters we can all relate to in some way. At the same time, we believe that these stories can be told in intelligent ways, with layered plots and authentic language, while focusing on the lives and adventures of the type of people we either knew growing up, spend our free time reading about, or have in our lives today.
WWTW: Indie filmmakers have access to the kind of equipment that can make even micro-budgeted films look as good as a $50 million feature. And yet indie films continue to struggle to find an audience. Are you optimistic about the future of indie films given the technological advances and access to Video on Demand services, or do you worry more than ever that the blockbuster films are squeezing the indie spirit?
MH: It’s my belief (hope?) that like so many aspects of our society, the independent film market is cyclical, and is currently just in a down turn, which is both ironic and unfortunate, because as you point out, at no other time in history has technology so accessible that even the independent filmmaker can afford the possibility of big studio production value. As a side note, I also think that one of the reasons independent films find it so hard to bring in a paying audience, is exactly because of that accessibility. In an era when anyone can post a video of their kid smacking his dad in the nuts with a baseball bat on YouTube and call it a “short film,” the accomplishment of actually making a movie that tells a real story runs the risk of being diluted by a media-saturated world. It’s like the curtain has been pulled back, and the mystique of making movies is gone.
While we certainly intend to take advantage of services like Video on Demand, Netflix, etc., with the assistance of our very experienced business planner, Jeffrey Hardy, of FilmProfit, Inc., we are also outlining new avenues of digital and grassroots distribution that, combined with a healthy dose of traditional deal making, gives us a pretty promising return on investment scenario.
We’re not a bunch of blindly optimistic young bucks, fresh out of film school anymore. We’ve experienced this industry, ridden its waves in both good times and bad, and have come to a point of informed optimism that not only will the independent spirit prevail, but that we’ll be part of its resurgence.
(Photo: A sequence from the teaser trailer for “Arkansas Traveler.” Photo credit: Travelin’ Productions and Wide Awake Films)
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