The most common production we hear from here at A Year Without Rent is documentaries that are in editing. It makes sense--docs take forever to edit. Thing is, it's not really that visually interesting to watch someone stare at a computer screen. So generally speaking, we always tell people to get back to us when they have something specific in their editing schedule (maybe a re-shoot? or vocal dubbing? foley work? something concrete, with dates). Or, if the project sounds really compelling, we see if we'll be in their neighborhood and can just stop by.
One of those projects is Michael Babiarz's HICKS ON STICKS, a documentary about a Canadian skateboarding tour twelve years (12!) in the making. Michael lives in Vancouver, so it was always in the back of our minds that if we found our way to Vancouver, then we should definitely get in touch.
Mike, being the go-getter that he was, beat us to the punch, tweeting that he was pretty sure he could get tickets to Vancouver Craft Beer Week, if I was so inclined.
As soon as we got to the event, it became clear that Mike did not, in fact, have tickets to the event (that we were an hour late for, due to a very close hockey game). Actually, the owner of the bar (pictured below) was under the impression that we were videotaping the event, which was news to both of us. But, I had a camera, and he had a camera, and so we videotaped the event. And by videotaped, I mean that we took pictures and capitalized on plenty of chances to drink free craft beer.
No one had a clue. The owner of the bar pretended he had heard about me somehow (we didn't believe him). We got pretty drunk on free beer, and the next day, Mike showed me the Super 8 setup for HICKS ON STICKS.
Filmmaker Lucas McNelly is spending a year on the road, volunteering on indie film projects around the country, documenting the process and the exploring the idea of a mobile creative professional. You can see more from A Year Without Rent at the webpage. Follow him on Twitter: @lmcnelly.
