 We're getting drone shots, re-enacting war scenes, it was huge, you know? And you got eight hours to do all this, right? Got eight hours to get all this done. The producers pushing it because we ain't got money to be... I told my mom and wife I would only have one. I'll drink the rest of his. So we're gonna be the collaborators, we look out for each other. Everybody welcome to the show. This here, what's gonna happen tonight is a show about making mistakes, recovering from mistakes, like having a big idea, telling all your friends about it, and then regretting that you told your friends about it, because you kind of hit a bot when you run out of money, or you have to pay tactically. Whatever it is, we make mistakes when there's something that we want to do, and we want to do really great things in the world. All of us are like that, and that's what we're gonna be talking about today. We're gonna be talking to Drew and Jerry out of Portland, Oregon. They are filmmakers, and they're making a film called Buffalo Soldiers. We're gonna be talking about that tonight. I'm a little intimidated, I won't lie. Filmmakers are cool, and writers are cool, and actors are cool, and I really want to be cool. Everybody welcome my guests tonight, our guests tonight, Drew and Jerry, both filmmakers out of Portland, Portland, Oregon, is that where you guys are at? I represent Vancouver. I represent Portland. Shout out Vancouver. Right over the water. Right over the water. Both filmmakers have made a film called Buffalo Soldiers. We're gonna be talking about that a little bit. Actually, why don't we just start there? You guys want to tell me what the project's about, what the film's about? Sure. Buffalo Soldiers was an all-black regiment created by Congress after the Civil War in 1866. They fought in the Indian Wars. There were actually veterans of the Indian Wars. Oh, okay. Yeah, they pretty much helped clear up the western frontier for people to be able to migrate here to the Pacific Northwest. During that time, right after the Civil War, they opened up the Oregon Territory. So they were giving away one square mile of land to every white male that would travel across the country. And at the same time, they'd give away two square miles of land if you had a family. Yeah. But at the same time, they had these exclusion laws where people of color couldn't live here. But they could make the way for everybody else to come and live here. Exactly. But the Buffalo Soldiers helped clear up the frontier. They came out and helped lay down the foundation, helped clear up some of the national parks, sustained the national parks. Yeah. What's a missing piece of American history, right? Not just African-American history, but all of our history. And the most people know about the Buffalo Soldiers is the Bob Marley sound. I know. That's me. Are both of you interested in history? By the way, I'm at least aware that most history is not a people's history. Most history is what whoever the victors are, they're the ones that tell the history and put it together. Like, whatever they want the story or the narrative to be all the way through. Did you grow up kind of interested in digging on that and finding out what sort of like the truth is or what history is? Well, so I mean, you and I come from two different places. Yeah. You know, we got two different backgrounds. We ended up coming together as brothers on this project to collaborate. Yeah. And you know, make it meaningful. So, you know, my story is a little bit different from his. And he has his passions too. Yeah. And I can say that, you know, I grew up most in Atlanta, Georgia. And we had in Georgia, we had black history. We had black history class. Yeah. I didn't hear hardly anything about the Buffalo Soldiers. Yeah. And I wasn't, I wasn't really into history to be specific. Yeah. To be honest, you know, I wasn't a type of camera filmmaker. What were, what were you into growing up? Sports. Yeah. You know, playing ball, hooping. Yeah. Chasing after the women. You know, that went on for a long time. Oh, okay. Right. You know, for a long time. I couldn't get them. I couldn't get them like I wanted to anymore. So, when it started down, I was like, I know what I need to do. I'll become an actor. Yeah. Yeah. And then that too. I became an actor. Yeah. You know, so like my passions, my creative passions right now is something new to me over the past decade. Yeah. I've just been experimenting with that. And then Drew and I, you know, he reached out to me when he was, you know, passionate about the film. Yeah. And I was learning more about the history. Yeah. Especially here in the Pacific Northwest, the very limited pieces we have, you know. And so, here we are. Yeah. What was it? What's your background? So, I moved here from Denver in 2017. Yeah. And I was making music videos and web commercials. So, you're doing filmmaking. Yeah. Like for a long time. Yeah. But I hadn't made a feature and wanted to definitely evolve in my career. Yeah. When I came out here, I wanted to get more involved in the film community. So, I volunteered at the Langston Hughes Foundation in Seattle. Cool. Cool. Yeah. And they were doing a Juneteenth celebration. And I brought my family, my daughters and my wife with me. It was an opportunity for them to see the community and get involved with the community. And while we was there, I was catching some footage in my daughter and wife checked out the festival. And I heard my daughter say, oh, horsies. And I looked up. And I seen these guys galloping up the hill on horseback. No way. Dressed in union garments. Like the uniforms. Right. They got the crate coming up. Like, yeah. And she asked me, who are they? And I had forgot who they were myself. Yeah. And then it clicked to me that, you know, these are the Buffalo soldiers. No way. And that's when I knew that we all needed to know this. Yeah. Did you, like, did you hear about him as an actor? And that's how you guys connected? Yeah. Actually, so I was living in Tacoma and I moved down to Vancouver because actually all the crew is across the water in Portland. Yeah. I had, people were telling me about this guy that I should contact this guy to help me, help me on the film. Yeah. I eventually did. I seen his commercial and it was like, yeah. What was the commercial that you saw? Swiffer. Swiffer. Yeah. The Swiffer. No way. Yeah. The Swiffer wet jet with me and my son is a big national, great eight national piece that had billboards and stuff. Oh, that's good. And not just that. That's good money and national commercial. Oh, man, it was amazing. Yeah. I need more. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Not just that he had done a film also before, right? Yeah. And you don't meet a lot of people that have done a whole film, right? Yeah. It's a hard process. With him having that background, wanting to make opportunities for African-Americans in the field. Yeah. Right? I definitely gravitated towards wanting Jerry to come and help on the project. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What's the filmmaking scene? Is it like a family? Like in the Northwest, like Portland and everything? Like, do you know each other in the business? It's a small community. We're starting this project. I knew that I had to build a community around the project. This is not just, even though we're producing the film, directing the film, it's not our film. It's an American history film. So, yeah, bringing everybody together on the film and building the community is what we wanted to do. You know, putting the team together, you had to build a team around the project. Yeah. And especially if you want a project that's going to be diverse, inclusive, accessible. Yeah. And, you know, and offer opportunities for everybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's usually a challenge. That's usually a challenge. But there's been some overlap, too, with Seattle and Portland. Yeah. So, we get these projects and I go audition with a lot of people from up here in Seattle. Okay. And then, but they see me up here, too. Yeah. We have some of the bigger projects. Now, you're acting as well. But I mean, in this particular case, it's filmmaking. I mean, you're, like, what roles do you guys play? The director, producer? We're co-directors on the project. Oh, okay. I'm producing the project, the filmmaker behind the project. Yeah. All right. Well, more, I have all sorts of questions about filmmaking. Let them out. But I think, so as soon as Jack takes out his phone and takes a picture of the drinks for, like, Instagram, I know that he's ready. I smell something. Yeah, I know. I smell something burning. I know. You can hear the fire. It's going to be hot. Coming through. Jack, what are we drinking? I know you're probably wrapping up a little bit. We are drinking the third Calvary cocktail. It's a rendition of the fourth regiment, but all black. In this case, we've got a black strap rum for our base. Molasses rum trade was the major, major two precursors to slaves even being brought to America. That being said, we backed that up with a little ferment of honey, which is kind of something you would find here, something that would have been used by natives, something that was used by all of the indigenous people. Combine that with a little bit of red sandalwood from Africa, chinar, which is an Amaro, a little bit of doubané, which is a flavor with what's called holy bark cinchona. And then there's a couple of savory aspects that I'll tell you about after we drop this bad boy down on you guys. All right, all right. It smells good. Did you understand the stuff he was talking about? I heard sandalwood, I think. Have you had smoke and drinks before, like smoke drinks? This would be the first time. Are you serious? Yeah. So where's the film, is the film done? It'll be done this spring, 2020. Now, is the shooting done? Are you still, are you just in like post-production? Yeah, we're in post-production now. Right on, right on. Animation, all that good stuff. Oh, right, right, right. Animation, this is a real animation and reenactment. All black. That's it, right? Like, okay, yeah, no. It looks, it looks thick. I'm going live because I don't want to look desperate. Because I don't want to look desperate. Why are you doing this? No, you're serious. We got started, you're like, when do we start drinking? Yeah, when do we start drinking? Cheers. Cheers to the Buffalo Soldiers. Oh, man. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here. Right in for it. Oh, wow. That's good. That's delicious. That's delicious, got a little kick to it, too. It's flavorful. A little kick. Yeah. I told my mom and wife I would only have one. Is that what you told them? I did, I did. I promised them they were nervous. I didn't make no promises. You didn't make no promises. I'll drink the rest of his if you need it. So we're going to be the collaborators, too. We look out for each other. Right. The biggest thing about documentaries is pulling together a crew of people from all over it. Not just the crew itself, but, you know, doing the research. Yeah. Exciting to do diligence. Yeah. Learning the story. Especially you're doing history. Learning the history. Yeah. There's a lot of people watching. There's a lot that goes into that versus Sound Studio going and making a commercial. Yeah, just going in there. There's a lot going to that, too. But, you know, there's a turnover in like two days. Like a documentary on average takes five to seven years. Yeah. You know? And so, you know, project management is being diligent, pushing the project. Yeah. Pushing on, moving forward. That's what Jews have been doing as primary producer of the documentary. Yeah. Did you say your styles are as directors than working with people and putting stuff together? So, I mostly do off-set and Jerry does a lot of the on-set type of work. Oh, okay. So, I put all the budget, the people that gather, location. Yeah. Jerry runs the camera, you know what I mean? Talks to the interviews mostly. Yeah. Kind of like sometimes like the ying and the yang, but, you know, like it comes together really nicely. So, doing the research for this, like how personal are you able to get into this type of research? Like do you get the names of Buffalo soldiers, their stories, their families? Like where they ended up? Like do you learn about that type of stuff all the way through? Absolutely. We hire research students, Portland State University. Yeah. The movie follows Moses Williams, Oregon's first metal runner recipient. Moses Williams? Moses Williams is our main person, historical figure who, you know, takes us through the Buffalo Soldiers journey. Like the myth, the myth is like Grizzly Adams. That's the myth. Exactly. Like the mountain men, the mountain men made it possible and safe for some people. It's the Buffalo Soldiers. It's the Buffalo Soldiers. Right. I mean, it's a significant role in everything that's happening here on the western frontier. Yeah. You know, but, you know, it all gets washed over. And then you look at some of these soldiers, these men of honor. I want to make sure I say that about the Buffalo Soldiers. They are men of honor. Yeah. And it should be respected as such, but a lot of their accomplishments were overcome by white lieutenants and soldiers. They go out and help, you know, go in and significantly fight a battle. You know, it'll be their lieutenant who gets all the credit for it. You know, and that's the stuff that we've been learning through doing the research on this whole documentary. You've been doing a whole lot of the history and what's been whitewashed. Yeah. Tell me about some of the, like, the hardships you ran into in trying to put this together. Tell me where it's been, like, where it's been rough, like, trying to make this happen. You know, fundraising has been rough, right? Getting people to see the vision at first on, you know, what it could be. We came a long way and it started back in June of last year, right? And we've been able to pull a great community together. But it hasn't been easy at first, right? What do you guys do when you get a little stressed out about everything you're putting together? I mean, basically, you know, he gets stressed, he dumps it on me. Hey, man, this is this is this. I get stressed, I dump it on him. So I guess we kind of help each other out. Yeah. The sense I get from both of you, and I could be totally wrong, that the challenges are always there. Yeah. That you're just used to the challenges. Yeah, you just work around them or knock them down or figure them out. Problem solving the whole time. Yeah. Well, there was times where, you know, I thought it was a dumb idea, right? To make a documentary. I didn't know how I was going to actually pull it together, right? It was hard to, you know, to start something from nothing, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But we slowly started building this community and people started gravitating. And it was, it's actually amazing all the resources we had available to us. Yeah. Once we got going from locations, right? They want to be a part of it. Locations, actors, horses, right? Those horses want to be a part of it. People put a lot of money for horse trainers, right? Yeah. And we had the, you know, the Buffalo Soldiers of Seattle Living History Group. They've been, you know, completely on board with helping us. And they had the horses already trained. Yeah, we have the Motorcycle Club, Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club, Seattle Tacoma in the film. We have the Moses Williams chapter out of Portland that's in the film. We have the Buffalo Soldiers Museum in Tacoma, right? There's so many things right here up under your nose. So many groups, so many legacy groups right up under your nose. You just got to look. And they were all completely forced making the film. It takes, you know, it takes a while to get there, though. It feels good now that, you know, all the hard work that goes into it from the beginning. Yeah. Get people to buy in, get people to trust you, you know, especially as black men who are coming in trying to make a film about black history. Yeah. It's like, who are these guys and being able to sell that, you know. But then now, like you say, like now the momentum's here. Yeah. And it's starting to really take off for us. And it feels good. It's good to come in and be here. Yeah. To be a part of this and talk about it with you guys, you know. No, it's phenomenal. It was a lot more stressful than I would have thought with all the horses and you know what I'm saying. So we needed all the people, you know, food, right? Yeah. It was... We getting drone shots. Drone shots. Yeah. Re-enacting war scenes. It was huge, you know. And it's like, and we got a lot of us have never met before. Really? Everybody there. And you never met. And you never met before. And you know, so those are the challenges within itself. Like how do you overcome this? And you got eight hours to do all this, right? You got eight hours to get all this done because someone got to be somewhere at some given moment of time. Yeah. Or the producers pushing it because we ain't got money to be... It's a set doesn't be too much drama. No. Right. And more on the hustling fundraising side, that's the part that keeps you up at night. That's the part that makes you bang your head up against the wall. Like, why am I doing this? Yeah. And then like, what the hell else am I going to do about this? Right, right, right. You guys, like, is this the only thing you work on? Are you working on other things too? Like, are you totally dedicated to this right now? I'm working on this 100%. Yeah. Right. I recently got a fellowship for the project with Firelight. So, yeah, this is all I do. This is all you do. Tell me about this Firelight fellowship. What is that? Firelight Media is out of New York. The great filmmaker Stanley Nelson is his fellowship. Yeah. He did the film Black Panthers, Vanguard of Freedom. This is the guy who has taken us under his wing to help us. What? You say he's taking under wing. Like, you talk to him, you, like, consult with him? Yeah, he gives us a creative producer that helps with us, helps us get the film in top shape. Yeah. We go on retreats, grants. Did you pitch him or did he discover you? We applied. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And we're one out of, you know, 12 out of, you know, God knows how many people applied. Wow. So, there are 12 that he's working with. That's amazing. Do you know any of the others? I mean, like, do you get to work with the other? Is it like a community? Yeah, it's a community. We all email and we do online collaborations. Yeah, all documentary filmmakers, too. Yep, all documentary filmmakers. I've been checked out some of their trailers. They all look great, too. So we are in, like, an exclusive group, I feel like. How do you then, like, get it out for people to see? Do you guys know, like, distribution on these types of things? Is it something where you, like, you submit to film festivals? Yeah, we're going to do film festivals. And Firelight's going to help us with our distribution. So we don't quite know what platform is going on, but we will be doing local screenings, touring, and whatnot like that. Spring 2020. Spring 2020. What do you, what do you, I know this is your focus. I know this is, like, what you're focusing on to kind of come fruition. You start thinking about, at all, what you might do, what you might do next. Oh, yes, definitely. Yeah. I'm going to continue on this path and telling these untold African-American stories so that we all know. Right, there's a lot of them that we are unfamiliar with and that we should know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the next one is going to be Black Hollywood. Like, oh, yes. 1930. 1930s. The minstrel Black Hollywood. Oh, yeah. Yeah. What are you doing? Yeah. Well, awesome. Like, thank you so much for being on the show. Thank you. Like, I love this. I love learning about this. I love, like, I love what you're doing. One more drink. You guys have a special way you like to say, you should do cheers. Is that it? Cheers, toast, whatever. Cheers. Cheers. Thank you so much for being on the show. To the Buffalo Soldiers. To the Buffalo Soldiers, man. Oh, the Pacific Northwest. Yeah, thank you, man. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, man, that was amazing. Thank you, Drew. Thank you, Jerry. And if you have your own mistakes, go to fups.com. I'd love to have you on the show.