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Exclusive Stories of Rodeo Cowboy, Lane Frost’s Documentary
402 Plays2 years ago
Join us as we see Lane Frost’s rodeo bull riding story in the new documentary LANE: Life | Legend| Legacy and how it came to be. From connecting with Lane's family to the emotional screenings that touched hearts. Hear from the filmmakers themselves as they share the ups and downs of bringing Lane's rodeo story to life on screen. Discover the behind-the-scenes moments that made this documentary special, and find out where you can catch screenings near you.
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Transcript
Film Fundraising Disrupted by 2020
00:00:00
Speaker
We were actually in the process of raising funds for the film and we had gotten to almost a million bucks raised and then 2020 happened. We all know what happened there. Yeah, and so we actually, we went ahead and gave our investors their money back.
Podcast Season Introduction
00:00:19
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Kick Your Boots Up podcast. Thanks for listening for another week. Episode two of season two is here. We're so excited that you came back for more. I hope you loved last week. If you did, feel free to comment below, like, subscribe, tell all your friends about it because this episode is going to be even better if you thought last week was good.
Introducing Bradley Hughes and James Trawick
00:00:39
Speaker
We have two guests back in studio with us, and wow, I mean, where do I even begin? Sitting next to me is Bradley Hughes, and next to him is James Trawick. They're with Tough Draw. I don't know if you guys have heard of that before, but maybe you've heard of it through the Lane Frost documentary called Lane Life Legend Legacy. We're here to talk all about it this week in this episode, but I've got to talk to these guys and get to know their story a little bit. You know how it goes here on the podcast.
Life in Godly, Texas
00:01:07
Speaker
James, you're currently in Godly, Texas, right? That's where you live? Yes, ma'am. Okay, so tell us about Godly. What's that like living there? Just south of West of Fort Worth, right off the Chisholm Trail. We moved down there from Denton five years ago, something like that. My wife's a teacher at Godly High School. She teaches film and does a photography class.
00:01:28
Speaker
We love it. God leads a small town. It's growing because of the toll road, but it's a good place. We have two little girls, you know, so to have that small town or access to a small town this close to Fort Worth and be able to come do stuff like this, you know, same day, same morning type kind of thing is nice.
Raising Twin Girls
00:01:46
Speaker
So nice. I'm having twins. That's got to be so hard. Twin girls. What's that like?
00:01:50
Speaker
It's a lot of fun, it's a lot of fun. Chaos maybe? Yes, lots of stories I could tell. My wife and I found out we were having twins and I thought she was gonna pass out whenever we found out we were doing the ultrasound and they said we won the two for one prize and she said, excuse me. And anyway, yeah, life's been turned upside down for the last almost three years.
00:02:20
Speaker
almost three years. Anyway, it's been a lot of fun. I used to kid with him back when they were making babies, having babies, and I told him that he was gonna have twins every time, and they never did. He had boys. Oh, a duke's on you. And lo and behold, I had twins. So here we are.
00:02:39
Speaker
Man, paybacks.
Interning with Hollywood Giants
00:02:40
Speaker
That's got to be rough. I can't believe he admitted that on camera. Well, Brad, one thing that I love about you guys is your friends. And we talked about that. Your guys' story is really cool. But I think for you specifically, starting, you know, before we start talking about how tough draw came about for you, you got a rare opportunity to do internships in California. So tell us about that.
00:03:02
Speaker
So I coming out of high school, I wanted to go to just a film oriented school. And one of my teachers convinced my parents that I really ought to like look because I was thinking about going to like a trade school for video, which at the time wasn't
University of Texas and UTLA Experience
00:03:20
Speaker
an accredited university. And one of my teachers talked to my parents and was like, you know, with his grades and stuff, he needs to go to a good like a solid accredited school. So I went to the University of Texas at Austin.
00:03:33
Speaker
Oh, we won't hold that against you. That's right. I'll do it on camera. But what was cool was when I went to visit, they had a program called UTLA. My goal was to finish all of my classes and make that the last thing I did. I achieved that and I went out there and I interned for Ridley Scott and Ron Howard, which is Imagine Entertainment, Scott Free.
00:03:58
Speaker
Yeah, I went out there, I got to experience a lot of cool things, set in on the editing of Body of Lies and taking Pelham 123 and got to help with some screen stuff and some casting type decisions for a film called The Incredible Shrinking Man, which they didn't even end up making. So it was a remake of an old film, but I got to help with that process. So it was real cool just to kind of be in the industry and see the behind the scenes stuff and kind of figure out what I wanted to do.
00:04:27
Speaker
Oh, I think that was a great start
Creation of Tough Draw
00:04:29
Speaker
for sure. And one thing I was most interested in when I read about you was Friday Night Lights. That's really cool, too. And your time there. So while I was in Austin, the film or the show Friday Night Lights, I grew up in West Texas. I played football. So the whole Friday Night Lights movie and you got it. And then the show coming out while I was in college, they actually filmed a lot of it in Austin. So I got to work on the show a few times just as kind of a P.A.
00:04:55
Speaker
But yeah, that show in particular is actually really impactful, and that's kind of what actually led to Tough Draw a little bit. Really? Well, what an organic segue there. That's so awesome to hear about. I think the two of you have a really cool story coming together because you had a roping background, cowboy background. You kind of left that behind to take it in from the behind the camera part of it. And I know you guys were friends. I've said that here before. So tell us about how it became to happen. Were you guys sitting at dinner one time? Tell us about it.
00:05:24
Speaker
So, after all, the way that it actually started when I was in school at UT, I took a screenwriting class and I wrote a script. And the assignment was right the first act of a film. And so I wrote the first 30 pages and at the time I was really heavily impacted by Friday Night Lights.
00:05:43
Speaker
And another movie that I watched on repeat all the time was eight seconds. And so I love, I've always loved bull riding. I've always loved rodeo, you know, growing up in West Texas, my grandpa had a cattle ranch and stuff. And like, you know, I was always around it and I loved it, but I always chose to play team sports over trying anything else. But.
00:06:01
Speaker
So I wrote basically what I hoped to be the Friday night lights of bull riding was kind of what my plan was. So I wrote the first 30 pages and just kind of put it on the shelf and I actually finished it while I was in LA. I was sitting on Venice Beach and I wrote 70 something pages and by hand in like two days just because I don't like the beach and I was missing Texas.
00:06:27
Speaker
And that's a true story. So I spent the next two days while all my friends were out and stuff. I spent the next two days on the couch basically taking what I wrote by hand to script format. And I let some people at Scott Free read it. There was a lady there named Marisa Pullman that was a UT alumni that was an executive right under Ridley.
00:06:50
Speaker
And she read it and was like, if you want to make this, if you want to be a filmmaker and you want to make this film, go back to Texas. And so moved back.
Independent Filmmaking Challenges
00:06:58
Speaker
And just by circumstance, I actually ended up meeting Kim and Randy Bloomer with Bloomer trailers. And they're actually the ones that introduced us. No way. And what's your story getting to the Bloomer family?
00:07:13
Speaker
Yeah, my sister and I were competing, we, you know, high school rodeo, IFYR. I was in my freshman year of college at Hillsborough. Okay. Rodeo, I'm for Paul Brown. And Miss Kim called me and said, I've got this guy you need to meet. He just moved back to Texas from LA and it was Brad.
00:07:33
Speaker
Yeah, that was 2008 or 2007 or 2009 or somewhere around in there. Not to hate you guys, right? I've had twins since then. Anyway, Ms. Kim introduced us and he was trying to make it in Texas independently and I didn't know anything about this other than I team roped at the time. I had
00:07:56
Speaker
Acting sounded interesting being involved in the film industry was mysterious. I had no idea what it was about and we teamed up and we tried to make that film independently over the next several years and You know raising money for something like that is extremely difficult it is I don't think people realize that
00:08:18
Speaker
It's extremely difficult. Especially when you were as young as we were. Yeah, we were 18 and 19. We were very young and had never made a film, right? And you kept running into dead ends with people saying, you know, what have you done? What's your history? You know, well, we don't have one, but you know, invest in us, please.
00:08:39
Speaker
Yeah, believe it or not, I promise we're good. Nobody will work harder for your dollar than we will. And it was a good path for us to take because we took our lumps early on and we had to learn a lot very quickly and we dove in.
00:08:56
Speaker
doing marketing content and getting involved with live music and hunting shows, all sorts of stuff. There's nothing better than a wedding or an archery elk hunt to learn how to run a camera. Things are happening really quickly. Your environment's changing really quickly. You have to learn and know your camera inside and out to be able to navigate those changes in real time.
00:09:23
Speaker
I don't know, it was a situation that was forced upon us because we had to provide for ourselves and our families. But it was a good thing looking back. You don't like being in those situations when you're in them, but when you have the opportunity to look back, you're thankful for them.
00:09:39
Speaker
Definitely. And sitting here today, you guys can probably look back at your humble beginnings and be so thankful for the opportunities that you had to get you to where you are. Absolutely. That's part of it. Absolutely. Yeah. And speaking of that, you guys recently got to do a really big thing. But before we go more into that, I just got to know for you guys personally, is it hard to mix friends and business together?
Balancing Friendship and Business
00:09:59
Speaker
Does that ever get challenging?
00:10:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it does. They nervously laugh. Well, no, it's funny because... It's difficult for sure. His dad has been a mentor for us and he always kind of explained to us like, and he's been great about pouring wisdom into us and making sure that like,
00:10:20
Speaker
We see things for what they are. He warned us a long time ago that sometimes in partnerships, especially like y'all have, you have to choose at times to be friends and be business partners. There's obviously been times where it's been difficult, but the cool thing is,
00:10:36
Speaker
Even when the tougher times come, we're always able to stick together through the business side to smooth things out and keep things flowing in the right direction on all fronts. But at the end of the day, I know that he can rely on me and I can rely on him and our families can rely on each other because we're business owners. But that takes time. You have to earn that trust over a long period of time.
00:11:01
Speaker
And my dad, where he's coming from, was family construction business. And there's a lot of things that comes from his side, family businesses as well, in the oil field or in the paving roads and highways and stuff like that. And it's hard to work with family because you don't.
00:11:18
Speaker
have that degree of separation to decompress, it kind of just goes everywhere with you, you know, whether it's good or bad. And so that's something that we've had to figure out, you know, healthy boundaries and things like that, but we're still here. We're still kicking. That's right. We're still making it. And that's what I love about guys in general that go into business because I feel like you guys can just punch each other in the mouth and then you're like, hey, you want to go get a burger? So that's really cool, right? We've had those days. We've 100% had those days.
00:11:44
Speaker
I really respect that. It's been a long time since we put on boxing gloves though. Those days are behind us. Maybe you should do it on a podcast episode sometime, right? Yeah, I like that. Oh man, no, that's really good. I'm glad that you guys were transparent about that. Thank you, because that's real. That's what life is all about. And then along the same line, you guys both probably work very differently. So being partners, having the full momentum that you have, you have different roles, but at the same time you work very differently.
00:12:11
Speaker
Tell us about your creative process, the way you work, how it all comes together for that. I mean, you're 100% right. And I think that one of the reasons why we're able to remain friends as close as we are and be business partners and to be effective and continue to grow our business and do different things is because, and it took us a long time to get here, but we finally have kind of come to this point where we know what lanes each other runs in the best.
00:12:41
Speaker
And so we kind of we allow each other to kind of take brains on different things. So when it comes to a lot of business decisions or like dealing with you know dealing with people and stuff like that like James is great and he takes the runway on that and he can drive that and like
00:13:00
Speaker
When it comes to tracking somebody down and making phone calls and finding the right person to talk to to open a doorway, that's where he's always shined. Part of being close friends and business partners is just knowing when to get out of each other's way at times.
00:13:16
Speaker
That's so good. And that's that's what's tricky though because you know as a as an owner and you know being in business like you want to you're an owner and you have control and you want to you want to try to stay as involved with everything as you can and sometimes the best thing we found is like just to try to stay out of each other's way or divide and conquer. We've had to become really good at that over the last I don't know.
00:13:41
Speaker
I mean, he just got back from Key West. I didn't go to Key West. I stayed here because I'm working on other things. Cavenders is one of our best clients and I primarily service that relationship and so I've been here maintaining that. We're working on
00:13:58
Speaker
setting up events, which we'll talk about more in a minute, but for the film, we're working on an event in Phoenix. We're working on Bolden Anza and Guthrie with Cord McCoy. And, you know, there's a lot of things going on and it takes us getting out of each other's way. But I mean, like you talked about, that took some time because he alluded to control and the idea of having control. We think we do. We think we can kind of manage every little detail. You just can't.
00:14:26
Speaker
at the end of the day and thankfully we're very different and so we kind of compliment
00:14:33
Speaker
each other in that my strengths are different than his and my weaknesses are also different than his.
Faith and Mentorship in Growth
00:14:38
Speaker
And so that's helpful, but it took us a long time to be willing to accept what those weaknesses are in both parties and get out of each other's way. And I still struggle with it in a lot of ways, but if, you know, the snapshot of where we are today versus where we were in 2008, nine and 10 or wherever this,
00:14:57
Speaker
2020, last week, yeah, it's progressively getting better. And I attribute that to my relationship with the Lord. And I think he would too, is that, you know, the more that you walk with the Lord, the more that you grow in your faith, the more you understand.
00:15:12
Speaker
that you don't have control of all of those things. And it's really entirely up to him where your steps take you. And so, you know, having kids impacts that, you know, struggling in business impacts that and succeeding in business and succeeding in parenting and being a spouse, like, you know, we've both taken our lumps and those lumps produce, you know, resilience and
00:15:38
Speaker
and you improve as you go and nothing happens overnight. So anyway, it's been a fun journey for us for sure. That, and just to add to it, I 100% agree about our relationship with the Lord individually and together and all that. And as family units, but also I talked about his dad and there's been other people that have poured into us kind of as mentors that have really kind of helped us, you know,
00:16:03
Speaker
One of the biggest things that a lot of people have talked to us about is communication. Just making sure that even if we are running in our own lanes or even if we are doing our own, like dividing and conquering, it's all about the communication when we come back. So, you know, and just being able to say, hey, I'm working on this, hey, I'm doing this, cool, do you need any help with that? No, you're good. Yep, you know, just check-ins like that because we do have so many things that we're trying to juggle right now.
00:16:30
Speaker
Wow, you know, it's so crazy. I'm on year two of marriage, so I'm considered like a newlywed. And it sounds like a marriage right now. It sounds like you're like, we've been through the counseling, we've done the thing. 100%. 100% is like a marriage. I've been married 14 years. I have a 10 year old and a seven year old. And he's been married, what, five years now?
00:16:49
Speaker
Don't ask me that question on the spot. Don't put him on the spot. Come on, man. I'm sorry. Some years long enough to have some twins. He's been married four or five years in his twins. So yeah, I mean, and you know, he and I, like he was with me when I met my wife. So like he, you know, that's like we're, you know, there's, there's a lot of history there and like, and you know, and it's, and it's great. I mean, I'm thankful for it because at the end of the day, I trust like outside of my wife, there's nobody I trust more, you know? Dang.
00:17:19
Speaker
Wow Which by the way for the record March 31st 2018 was the day that I got here and my wife's birthday is March 1st Just to make sure that you know, there's no question I put him on the spot
00:17:37
Speaker
Hey, good for you though. You recovered well. That's so good. No, I really appreciate that because that kind of moves into what I'm genuinely curious about next is like what inspires you. And it sounds like you guys pull a lot of that from your faith, a lot of it from your family. Talk to us about that. Your inspiration.
Evolution of Tough Draw
00:17:51
Speaker
Where do you draw from? Because of course you see things in the industry that inspires you. I mean, even the name tough draw. I mean, where did you get that from? Well, writing and getting a tough draw.
00:18:00
Speaker
Yeah, so it's actually really funny that you asked that because I was in Key West and one of the guys that was with us actually asked me, and I'll save y'all because this talk went on for two hours that night.
00:18:15
Speaker
But essentially, you know, I went to college. The original script I wrote was called Eight Seconds to Glory. That was the original name of the script. And I had gotten back from L.A. and me and one of my one of my closest friends, who was actually with me when I met James, his name's Gary. We were sitting at my house and I'd gone through some hardships and stuff that had me really down in the dumps. And we were like, we're going to pour ourselves into making this happen. You know, and
00:18:45
Speaker
We're sitting there brainstorming because we were bummed because we heard a documentary was coming out and eight seconds to glory was a part of the title. And so I was like, oh crap, I got to change the name. But yeah, we were sitting there brainstorming and the story, it's really cool how the stories evolved. It's been through at least 10 to 15 rewrites.
00:19:07
Speaker
since the original. But it started out as a story about high school kids, kind of like Friday Night Lights, but it's evolved now to a story about family and hardships through that. But the common theme has always been there of the typical type of dramatic elements, but it's about the hand that life dealt you.
00:19:31
Speaker
And so we were sitting there and of course I felt like a rider. I was sitting there in my feelings. And I was just like, you know, life's dealt me a tough hand and all this stuff. And we were just sitting there talking about it. And I was reading through the script and, you know, obviously a draw is the matchup of bull and rider or just any animal and the athlete in general. And so we were like, what about tough draw?
00:20:00
Speaker
And so we kind of kicked it around. I renamed the script and the first version here, it was called Tough Draw. And so the goal was always to make the Friday Night Lights of bull riding. And, you know, because I worked at Imagine Entertainment, and they were the ones that had made Friday Night Lights, you know, it was a book, it was a TV show, all these things. And so like, we always had this vision when we talk about it. And even when we pitch it to people of like, we want to make Tough Draw this big thing. Yes. Well,
00:20:27
Speaker
You know as the Lord would have it the brand and kind of everything we were doing kind of took off before we could get the film made so so here was and we were because of Most of our touch points began with pitching that film we became known as the guys the tough draw guys
00:20:49
Speaker
And it just naturally and at the time we had another production company company called Atonement Entertainment and we had another arm of that called First Light Productions and those two businesses focused on different industries, creating content and building marketing material for different types of businesses.
00:21:08
Speaker
But we always wanted, because of our roots, we always wanted to come back to Western culture. And we just thought that the film was going to be the way that we did that, but it wasn't. It was all of these other things. And kind of like he said, you know, that was not part of our plan, but it's the way that it happened.
00:21:26
Speaker
You know, I love saying that we make plans and God laughs because I think truly you guys have gone way beyond what the TV show could have ever done. And even if it, who's to say it's still not going to come out one day, you know, but your, your guys's name is so relevant in the industry, especially among like the PBR, um, the, the Western industry as a whole. And so because of the lane documentary that you guys have just done, you are paving your way, you know, you're, you're making it and you're doing it again, but you're doing it a little bit differently. And so,
00:21:54
Speaker
We're going to take a break but when we get back we're going to talk a little bit about the documentary and what that is so everyone stay tuned and we'll see you in just a second.
Lane Frost Documentary Introduction
00:22:05
Speaker
Every bull rider wants to be at the daddy of them all and every bull rider wants to win this bull ride.
00:22:21
Speaker
Lane's a world champion. You don't expect a world champion to die in one of the biggest, most prestigious rodeo in the world. Everybody said the same thing. It didn't look that bad. Hey, everybody, and welcome back to the Kick Your Boots Up podcast. Like I said, we would come back with more. And here we are. We're here to talk about the Lane Frost documentary that's called Lane, Life, Legend, Legacy. And if you're familiar with Lane Frost at all,
00:22:51
Speaker
good for you. If you're not, you're living under a rock because Lane is a legend in the rodeo industry and arguably the most famous cowboy bull rider in the industry and mainstream media, all of it. So we're going to dive right into that, but I wanted to tell you a little bit about the documentary before we start asking questions and getting into the meat of it. And so basically what it does is it combines the details of his life, the legend he became and the legacy he left behind.
00:23:17
Speaker
There's a heartwarming story where you'll get to learn all about his story and how it happened. Of course, you'll hear from the family and that you'll get a deeper look into their archives, things that they haven't gotten to share or talk about on a screen ever before. I know growing up in Oklahoma, I was always so passionate about Lane's story and getting to sit down with his parents. Clyde and Elsie was like, I think I was such a fan girl in that moment. So I guess I've just got to start with that you guys.
00:23:43
Speaker
Throughout this whole process, tell us about how the documentary came about. Did Stetson Frost reach out to you guys with Lane Frost's brand? Did he reach out to you guys? Did you guys reach out to him? How did this happen? It actually goes back to the film, Tough Draw, because at the time, we were working on it with Tufidiman, and we were doing some different publicity stuff. Tough, Tough Draw, that makes sense. Right.
00:24:08
Speaker
had some social media stuff going on and Stetson saw that and he reached out to us on Instagram or Facebook or something like that. That's where the very first connection occurred. And then he invited us up to a toka and lane where Clyde and Elsie live. But we got to meet them and I was just like you're saying, starstruck guy. You were a fangirl? Well, yeah, total fangirl.
00:24:31
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we were videoing it and like he and I both were like kind of freaking out. We walked into Elaine's room and we just kind of were looking at each other like we're really standing in lane for us, old bedroom. Well, growing up, you've got eight seconds, you've got all these things that you look up to. You look up to Elaine, all the things that you just said about who he is. And as a kid in rodeo, you know, that's your hero. That's the legend.
00:24:56
Speaker
I mean, you probably grew up doing the wave, the land cross wave. Absolutely. And I had, at the time, in high school rodeo, Clyde and Elsie were still traveling all over doing Sunday church services. Yes, the cowboy church services. And I had a signed Bible. We were at a rodeo in Tennessee, and they were there. And I have a signed Bible that my sister also has a copy from that day. Back in the day. That was our very first interaction with them for all these years.
00:25:22
Speaker
fast forward all these years and then have the opportunity to do this. It was very, very surreal. This is a random question. Did you guys start the conversations in like 2018? Does that sound okay?
From Film Fundraising to Documentary Creation
00:25:32
Speaker
So when I was traveling, the rodeo road is Mr. Oklahoma. I made a stop at Stetson and Kelsey's house and was catching up with them and they're like, yeah, we have some guys coming in next week to film a documentary. You know, you guys are the guys. Yeah. So what you're probably talking about 2018, if I'm remembering correctly,
00:25:50
Speaker
What we did is we actually, so we met them, and the first time we met them, we just kind of enjoyed and soaked it in. But then the next time, we actually brought camera gear. And we interviewed them just because- You interviewed the facts. Well, no, no, no, we hadn't even, the documentary hadn't even started yet. It was just kind of one of those deals where we just wanted to interview them, because we thought that'd be cool. Because why not? Yeah, and Stetson was on board with it.
00:26:16
Speaker
But that's kind of where we talked about just express that that would be something we'd love to do. Like that was the first time we really expressed that. And we were actually in the process of raising funds for the film and we had gotten to almost a million bucks raised and then 2020 happened.
00:26:39
Speaker
And so we all know what happened there. Yeah. And so we actually, um, we went ahead and gave our investors the money back because everybody, because everybody didn't know what was going to happen. Right. And so, but, or how long it was going to last. But a lot of them, uh, that was a painful day. It was, you went from a million dollars to nothing.
00:27:00
Speaker
But the kind of the beautiful thing that happened with it though is like, you know, we talked to Stetson and Stetson had talked about how grandma and grandpa, Clyde and Elsie, you know, they're open to letting y'all do the documentaries. That's something you want to do. And then a lot of the investors that we had on board for the film, we called them and we were like, Hey, it's, it's a lot cheaper to do a documentary. Do y'all want to get involved with this?
00:27:23
Speaker
And so a lot of the same investors kind of jumped back in on the dock with us. And, you know, with 2020, the way it was production being shut down because they didn't want a ton of people in a spot, you know, taking three or four guys and a couple of cameras to go do interviews was a lot easier than trying to put a big production together. Right. So we kind of leaned into it, you know, and as they say, the rest is history.
00:27:48
Speaker
It truly did make up for it. It's kind of a cool experience that you guys gave all the money back because I think that worked in your favor when you were able to get the funding for the documentary to get it going. That's kind of a full circle moment right there in itself. But I want to kind of go back. You said something standing in Lane Frost's room, his bedroom. You had to have had like the hair raising on your neck. Just explain both of that. Both of you guys explain that feeling.
00:28:10
Speaker
his saddles, you know, in his bed, everything is still like it was. You know, I had heard that, but hearing you guys say that, I'm like, okay, I really believe you then. Yeah, it's crazy. One of the interviews for the film is actually in the room. And we did shoot some B-roll in the room that you'll see on the documentary, but
00:28:32
Speaker
spoiler alert it was yeah I mean one of Stetson's interviews actually one of Stetson's interviews and I mean you you kind of talked about it chills like yeah my it's funny because my wife knew that western culture always meant a lot to me but when I called her and was like kind of freaking out a little bit about how I was in Lane's bedroom and all that and sending pictures and the smile on my face that they took of me that day
00:29:01
Speaker
Like, you know, it was it was surreal, because eight seconds, you know, he talked about the connection through rodeo. But for me, I remember being a kid from Lubbock, Texas and going to the theater and that being the first movie that I remember watching where I actually felt emotion. So like, from that moment, and I was that kid that always waited in line to get tough he'd a man's autograph at Jibo's and different things like that. And you remember that? Oh, yeah.
00:29:28
Speaker
And so all that stuff just kind of flooded back while we were standing there. And I was like, this is so cool. You know, like I was, it felt like hallowed ground, you know, and, and when you interview the guys at Cheyenne, like we did, a lot of them call that hallowed ground too. And it's like, you know, it's just, it was, yeah, it was really surreal for sure.
00:29:48
Speaker
It's it's I can't even I mean hearing stories like that gives me chills even I've got to say this to my husband's grandpa was friends with the family and there's a video a home video of Lane at Freckles Brown's funeral and that was just you know months before his own funeral and just even seeing that it does bring like tears to your eyes it brings just like this whoa that's history in the making what was it like for you James what was
00:30:14
Speaker
all of the same. I mean, to be there, to see, there's a really cool picture hanging on the wall in, I don't know what you would call like a, it's a, I guess it used to be a room, but they've kind of remodeled a little bit, but off the living room, there's a big picture of Freckles and his class of the inaugural NFR hanging on the wall. It's stuff like that. It's just, it's just, it's literally history hanging on the wall
00:30:39
Speaker
in their room and so much of the stories embodied in the artifacts, the pictures, the statues and things like that are still
00:30:47
Speaker
available through Miss Elsie and Mr. Clyde firsthand. And we sat at their kitchen table and went through so many pictures and so many stories that didn't make the film, right? Because in the early part of it, you're just exploring what are the options? And like, what's the best way to tell this story? What's the best way to present Lane's legacy? And so for me, the first interaction was that Bible.
00:31:17
Speaker
And then eight seconds as a kid, competing in a sport, just admiring, that was really the only thing, I was a team rep, I'm not a bull rider, I'm not a rough stock guy. But even in being a team rep, that was it, that was all we had. And it's a big part of why we want to do, that's why we're creating media within our space.
00:31:39
Speaker
we'll continue to pursue making that film because we need a new standard. We need to continually create that. And, you know, we have Yellowstone now, we have all these other things, but for the sport of rodeo specifically, we need more content in that space so that we're inspiring the young kids like we were inspired, like Eight Seconds inspired us. And anyway, it was surreal. It was, you know, something I'll cherish for forever, you know, being there and getting to have those conversations with Clyde and Elsie.
00:32:07
Speaker
without a doubt and even now getting to document it and have it forever and ever and ever, that's really cool too that you guys are the faces of that. So well done and hats off to you guys because I'm inspired by you guys having the capability and the ability to do that.
Documentary Screenings and Receptions
00:32:21
Speaker
And with that though, it's been the documentary itself. We probably should get back into it. The documentary itself has been pretty successful so far. I remember when it came into Fort Worth. Tell us about that. You guys had two showings?
00:32:32
Speaker
We did. We did. We had a private screening for the family. It was an invite-only type event for family and people that were involved with the documentary and a couple of industry partners and different things like that, but we had about 350 people.
00:32:49
Speaker
And that's just crazy to say, 350 people at the private screening. Yeah, and it was, it was, it was heavy. It was very emotional. We, we made kind of a, I think, by film terms, it's a risky choice. But the first time anybody got to see the film outside of our team was at that screening.
00:33:10
Speaker
Including Clyde and Elsie. Including Clyde and Elsie and Tuff and Kelly and all them. So it was a risky choice, but it was kind of one of those deals where we knew the family trusted us to do something special.
00:33:25
Speaker
We'd prayed about it a lot and we just kind of decided we'd roll the dice and give it a go. That moment too, kind of like walking into his room for the first time is a moment I'll never forget, you know, just being in that room with those people. They either knew Lane or they were immediate family, two people that knew Lane and lived it. And so to experience his journey again, because the film takes you through his childhood, his entire life.
00:33:52
Speaker
Washes over you and that tough said it Had a tough explain it to you after after the film I don't want to mess it up because it washed over him in a in a really he just tough Like I say there were a lot of people that were super close to lane that it was very hard like tough talked about how hard it was and
00:34:14
Speaker
Because, and it hit him even harder than he thought it would because like he knows the story, but to see everybody kind of share in the details and really kind of hash everything out and relive it. He said it was eye-opening, but I think that probably the biggest compliment that we got from anybody, and this is what
00:34:33
Speaker
as filmmakers this is what meant the most to James and I was the family said we got it right and I think that I think that that's to us that was really like I don't care what critics write or anything like that it's like that's that's that moment but for tough it was hard you know and it and you know we've we've actually had some people reach out that were a part of it that expressed that it gave them some possible closure that they didn't even know they needed still really and so
00:35:02
Speaker
Yeah, it's, it's heavy, for sure. But, but it was great. And, you know, the second screening that you're talking about, we actually were the first film to premiere at Cowtown Coliseum in the history of Cowtown Coliseum. That's iconic. Oh, yeah. And they did an amazing job on that new screen. And, you know, we lowered it down.
00:35:22
Speaker
We had 600 people there and it was right in the dirt, right? They brought in chairs and they packed the dirt Tim and Clayton did all that set it up and took care of us Yeah, it was incredible. But to think of all the history that's you know inside that building
00:35:38
Speaker
Yeah, some of the images of Lane Riding in that arena are in the film. Yeah, really, really cool moment to be in the Coliseum. So iconic. And I want to touch back on what you said about getting it right, because even after the movie Eight Seconds, let's be honest, Hollywood is Hollywood. You have to make things entertaining in a way. And I remember the family even saying like, it wasn't exactly the story. Like it's a good idea, you know, got most of it. But good for you guys for getting like the good, the bad, the ugly, making it right, making it real, making it true and factual.
00:36:06
Speaker
I think that's the point of a documentary, but it's also it shows a lot about your character, too. Well, and, you know, I appreciate that. But one of the things that I want to make sure and say is like, I mean, none of it would have been possible without everybody being as vulnerable and open as they were. I mean,
00:36:21
Speaker
That's right. Every single person, Tuff, Kelly, Lane, or Tuff, Kelly, Clyde, and Elsie, they open their homes to us. You know, Miss Kelly lives over in West Texas, and she put us up for several, a couple of nights, because we had to make a couple trips out there. And, you know, Tuff and Kelly interviewed for over four hours total each. Yeah.
00:36:43
Speaker
And even people making time that like Wes Ward and Donnie and- Robles. Yeah, Robles. And Cody Lambert meeting with us in Cheyenne, which probably couldn't have been easy. And all the modern day Cowboys too, JB and Kai and Stetson and Sage, all those guys making time for us.
00:37:08
Speaker
Sitting down with us, I mean, to be honest, their vulnerability is what made it possible to get it right. And that's not easy to do for a lot of people, especially with a topic that's this close to their hearts.
00:37:25
Speaker
One specific I'd like to point out is Mike Macy. You know, Kelly remarried, has a family, beautiful family. They're still heavily involved in rodeo. And Ms. Kelly was incredible at every turn, helping us with, you know, connections and relationships and, you know, just introducing us to the right people and whatever we needed. And Mr. Mike was too, you know, that's his home.
00:37:54
Speaker
in his space and he opened the doors just like she did. And to have
Capturing Lane Frost's Life in Film
00:38:00
Speaker
to walk through all of that as a man to step back and look at how selfless he was in doing all that, it impacted me in a big way and I'll never forget it.
00:38:10
Speaker
Absolutely. I'm sure it was probably one of the harder things you guys have had to put together to fight through the emotions of, well, what do we do to change the impact to get it right? So yeah, very, very well done. Well, and you've got to get it done in such a short window. I mean, the film's almost two hours and we fought with our producers on how much time because there is a four and a half hour cut out there. Yeah. There's a whole series probably, but yeah, you had to get it done and you know, he's trim and you trim and you trim and
00:38:38
Speaker
And we got it under 2 hours. It's an hour and 56 minutes. 12 seconds. He can remember those details. The producer was on my case the entire time. The day I called him and told him that, that was with credits. Wow.
00:38:57
Speaker
But, but we even rolled interview during the credits. So the, no waste of space at all. You know, I really do love it when they do that though, because instead of just watching their credits go through, why not see some real stuff, read some real footage, hear some real things. So very, very good. And, um, because we are a little bit cramped for time, I hate that because this podcast could probably go four and a half hours. The original documentary. Um, I got to ask, there's probably more momentum, right? Like you're going to keep this up. There's more events coming up. So.
00:39:26
Speaker
This week specifically, it's a big week for you guys. What do you have going on, especially in Oklahoma? Absolutely. So next week we will be bringing the film to Lane's hometown. And we're going to do something with Reba's restaurant up in Atoka, Oklahoma. Tickets are on sale now at LaneFrost.com. And then also if you go to the Frost Ranch store up in Atoka, you can buy physical tickets there as well. And then James, can you talk a little bit more about our
00:39:56
Speaker
our distribution plan that everybody wants to know about all the time. Yes. Get those tickets coming. If you're in the Itoka era, come out for that. Stetson's done a good job helping us get that set up with Reba's family. We love Reba. We've been there whenever she opened. Yeah, we're big partners there, so that's going to be a good time.
00:40:14
Speaker
And we're going to take it to the people. We don't have a distribution deal for streaming in place yet. We're in communication with several major platforms and hope to work that out in the not too distant future. But that is a process we have come to learn. And so in the meantime, since the film came out in November of last year, the messages haven't stopped coming in or the comments on our page. Where can we see this? Is it on? What platform?
00:40:43
Speaker
And so, because of that, we're gonna take it to the people. And so, for everyone listening, if you follow our Facebook page, follow our Instagram pages, or all of our pages, I'll say. At Tough Draw. At Tough Draw. And then there's specific pages for Lane Frost Doc. It's at Lane Frost Doc, across Instagram and Facebook as well. That's where the updates will be coming. But we're gonna bring the film to you.
00:41:09
Speaker
And we don't have cities locked in yet outside of our hometowns. I'm originally from the southeast, Brad's from West Texas, our DP's from South Texas. And so we're going to take it to those areas and we'll be updating where you can buy tickets for those events on those channels and what those dates are going to be and where the venues are. But outside of that, we would love to hear from you because we're going to take this film to several more cities between here in July. And we're working on a really special event in July.
00:41:37
Speaker
And, uh, but we would love to hear from you. We'd love to know where you want us to bring the film. And so we're going to listen to the fans and give them an opportunity for an in-person experience before it goes to streaming. Good for you guys. So if you, I have to say that again, if you are listening to this and you do want it to be seen everywhere, you do want it to make it to Amazon, Netflix, wherever you do have to, um, show up and prove that there is, um, it's worth watching or worth getting, you know,
00:42:03
Speaker
You know how it is. So yeah, get your tickets. Go to the real places. Even if you're not anywhere near Atoka, it's Monday. We have time, because this is Wednesday. So you have time to make a trip there, get all your friends together, get in a car, and go. Even from here in Fort Worth, it's not even two hours. So it's not that bad of a drive at all. And just the history there, the impact that you'll have. I haven't even gotten to see the full film myself just watching the trailer. I'm just ecstatic. I can't wait to see the whole thing.
00:42:31
Speaker
Just because truly you want to be able to have the inside scoop on Lane and his family and all of that. So I commend you there and good luck with all of the different events that you guys are doing. And then on top of that, you guys will probably have updates throughout on your podcast. You guys have a podcast called Tough Draw Talks. And you get to interview people like Dusty Tuckness, who we are going to have on the podcast this season. Spoiler alert there.
00:42:56
Speaker
Um, and you'll get to hear inside stories on there as well. So if you guys liked what you heard from these two guys, feel free to go hop over to their podcast and give them a shout out a comment below. Same thing. You can do it on all their social media channels as
Advice for Aspiring Filmmakers
00:43:09
Speaker
well. And before we go, I always ask this question on the kick your boots up podcast. What is the best piece of advice that you could give to someone in your industry doing whatever you do? So for you guys, what is the best piece of advice that you could give to anyone that's wanting to make a documentary, wanting to just amp up their filming.
00:43:26
Speaker
C segment one that's kind of without you go first I'm gonna follow you on that one. I was looking for you to answer that one. Be real this is I mean counseling session number two right?
00:43:42
Speaker
Specifically, in regards to the business side, just see section one of this podcast. I'll dive in on that. Thank you. Go ahead. I'll answer after you. You have to kill your ego. You've got to remove ego. If you want to be successful in a creative environment, you cannot allow room for ego to exist.
00:44:02
Speaker
If you can figure out how to remove your ego and keep it out, it's something that you have to work on perpetually. It's not a one and done type kind of thing. But if you can figure out a way to work a process for you that you can remove your ego, you will set yourself up for a better opportunity of being successful in the creative space.
00:44:23
Speaker
Great advice. I second that. Drop it out the door. Yes. Great job. I don't know. And from there, ditto. No, I mean, I would have to say, James is 100% right on that. And that's a struggle for every human being. We're humans. Praying through that is probably one of the biggest things.
00:44:47
Speaker
When it comes to business and the creative kind of mixing, agree with the checking the ego, but also be realistic with yourself about where your strengths are. Because I think that that's one of the hardest things. And go into business with people that you trust. And I think that that's a huge part of it is being able to trust that you know your strengths, they know your strengths.
00:45:16
Speaker
and they appreciate your strengths, but also be willing to rely on... Be actually willing to trust them, yeah. I mean, I'll be very forthright. Part of the biggest thing about the doc that was a struggle for me was just like feeling like I had to know everything that was going on at all times because our team was so small. And it was kind of like, you know, you have your hands in so many different things.
00:45:41
Speaker
The film really flew when we got an editor outside of our normal group that we found out right away we could trust. He's fantastic. It takes just trusting and letting go at times. I know that that kind of plays to the ego thing, but some people need to hear it in a different way.
00:46:04
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, I think that and just being in prayer through everything that you do, because we can't do any of this and we can't make any decisions with any sort of discernment without prayerful thought and trying to just pray for wisdom.
00:46:20
Speaker
I love both of your answers because that's what this podcast is all about. Coming around to swap stories and really just, I say kick your boots up, but really just like relax and be yourself and drop your, yeah, kick your boots up, drop your ego. So it really does go along with the same morals and values of the podcast. So I really, really appreciate you guys being here in the time that you guys have taken to share your story, to share Lane's story, um, to just run with that same passion. And truly, I wish you guys the best of luck. I know that Monday's event is going to be,
00:46:47
Speaker
so good and then even the spoiler alerts that they gave you about the delay event and all the events in between. I'm wishing you guys the best of luck and if there's anything we can do you know where to reach us let us know and for you guys out there if you liked what you saw like we said before go to their social medias and this one is
00:47:03
Speaker
Just go to tough draw to find them specifically but the Lane Frost Doc is where you can get questions answered about the Lane Frost documentary. Also they have a website www.toughdraw.com and then like I said wherever you get podcasts listen to their podcast tough draw talks if you liked what you heard and you want to hear more from them.
00:47:20
Speaker
Thank you for joining us for another episode of the Kick Your Boots Up podcast. I'm your host, Taylor McAdams, and we are so happy that you're here. We'll see you next week. Thank you. Thanks for joining us on Kick Your Boots Up. I'm your host, Taylor McAdams, and we can't wait to share the next story of the West. Until then, feel free to like, subscribe, and leave us a review. Follow us on social media at Justin Boots to keep up with our next episode, and we'll see you the next time you kick your boots up.