Ohio & Kansas

What was supposed to be one of the easier shoots for this documentary turned out to be one of the most difficult. The plan was to fly up to shoot Dave Jackson of The School of Podcasting at his home in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio in the morning, go to a meetup where the crew were to be the featured presenters, drive from Ohio to Kansas, catch at least five hours of sleep and shoot Rob Walch, VP of Libsyn the next day.

That’s when it all went off the rails. The plane to Ohio had engine trouble, delaying the flight for five hours. The crew barely got to Cuyahoga Falls in time for the meetup. The shoot at Dave’s, originally scheduled for the morning, didn’t even begin until 9:00 p.m., and went well past midnight. Niel Guilarte was literally sleeping and shooting at the same time. Dave caught him a few times, but Niel, ever the consummate pro, would wake up and say he was just “resting his eyes”. It was a sight to see.

Having grown up in New York, Chris Krimitsos was accustomed to major cities being much closer to each other than they are in most other parts of the country. Needless to say, he hadn’t realized that the drive from Ohio to Kansas would take 12 hours. Thanks to the flight delay, the crew would have to forego their scheduled sleep time and drive all through the night to get to MidAmeriCon in time to film Rob Walch.

Willie Harper saved the day by driving the majority of the way and the crew finally caught their trophy picture of Chris (who to that point had never fallen asleep in the car) completely passed out from exhaustion. With barely enough batteries and memory cards to shoot, they made it to Rob and got the footage they needed.

Despite the adversity, the Midwest leg was one of the most productive shoots of the entire movie. Dave Jackson’s humor added needed levity to the film, and Rob Walch’s wit was a sharp counterbalance for the Podcasting vs. Radio storyline.

Behind-The-Scenes Trivia

The ICEMAN Goeth

Niel Guilarte was flying his beloved drone ICEMAN over the water in Puerto Rico. Just as his drone cleared the water, the winds picked up, and elevated ICEMAN above the tree line and into an emergency landing on top of a palm tree. Twenty feet up and on a tree leaning precariously over a freshwater river that emptied into the ocean, the chances of recovering ICEMAN seemed grim. That’s when James Van Prooyen saved the day by clambering up the palm tree and saving Niel’s drone. This was one of many close calls where the crew almost lost ICEMAN.