POST PRODUCTION NOTES

PUSH POST PRODUCTION

NOTES/TRIVIA

by Geoff Callan

Producer/Director

Special Thanks

Roy Tuscany had the original vision for this film and suggested that Grant Korgan take his place on the South Pole journey. Instead of going, Roy stayed back and worked on his foundation (highfivesfoundation.org) which focuses on preventing life-changing injuries and provides resources and hope if they happen.

Mike Shaw whose creative contributions were instrumental as he and Callan worked with Grant and Shawna Korgan to write the film outline and script during the "rebirth" of the project in 2015. (The film was edited based on their outline). Mike also edited a large part of the film.

Ronnie Parker whose team at RhinoHub and Boost Creative Services created the website, poster, logo, and social media campaign. (www.rhinohub.com)

Teressa Cannata who served as our Creative Producer & Content Marketing Consultant.

Quick Production Observation...

If you are a filmmaker or businessperson you will understand that contracts are essential. Mainly because when a business or film goes from "nothing to something" and possible success is on the horizon, there are always those bully's and badapples who "want more credit" than what they've actually done.

The above scenario also happens in the film business. Sadly, this happened on our film.

There were a few cases where we brought some people onto the project to help, and once they saw "success on the horizon", not only did they try and take credit for more than what the actually did, but they had the audacity to try and to take an actual "Film Screen Credit" that would inaccurately represent their contributions to the film.

Luckily for them, but frustrating for the rest, we had a person on the team who didn’t understand the film business actually handed out credits like they were candy on Halloween. This was truly frustrating.

The Film Production Backstory

On January 29th, 2015, my good friend Andy Wirth introduced me via email to Grant Korgan. Soon after we had our first of many conversations.

Grant and his team had shot footage of his journey to the South Pole in 2012, but for the past three years they had been going in circles and unable to make or finish a film about this amazing journey. They needed help not only on the filmmaking and creative side, but more importantly business side.

I believed in Grant and Shawna and I believed in the potential of the story. I not only knew that this film could get made, but I knew that it would be spectacular.

Although they were under contract with another production company, I continued to have legnthy conversationa about the film and its directon with Grant and Shawna Korgan. Eventually I brought in my film partners Jeff Allard and Mike Shaw to help. Allard is a master film producer who loves contracts and accounting, Mike Shaw is just a genius editor and creative (Shaw and I directed the Award Winning Documentary PURSUIT OF EQUALITY).

The South Pole footage was great, but that was it. There was no story. The produciion team before us had been working on the making of the film for over 3 years! On top of that, there were no contracts between any of the filmmakers! (which turned out to be a disaster) At the time, before our involvement, there was no chance that this film was ever gonna get made,

Grant’s team didn’t renew the contract with their production team, and in May 2015, Along with Allard and Shaw, we signed a contract to take over Producing, Directing, writing and editing the film. Allard and I would produce, Shaw and I would direct & write the film, Shaw would edit.

When we took over, it was as if someone emptied a box of puzzle pieces on our desk and said, “Ok, go make a movie out of these pieces…”

The problem? There was no money. There was a frustrating fight between past members of the production and film team (they had no contracts… just handshake agreements that they broke). No script. No Problem for us.

Did I mention that Allard, Shaw, and I didn’t get paid? Yup. Nothing. We were not fazed, as we knew that this movie “had” to be made. Instead we agreed on a small % of the film… if it was ever to be sold or distributed. We believed in the film.

Allard and I worked (mostly Allard) on the contracts, dissolving former partnerships, paying people fees (fees that wouldn’t have had to be paid if there were contracts), started a new LLC, and had to deal with jerk attorney’s from the other members of the former production team.

There really isn’t a “screenwriter” or director in a documentary. Often times, depending on the project, the story comes together when viewing and editing footage. That is exactly what happened on this film. Shaw and I wrote out an outline of a film that we thought would work, and we then went to work digging deep into hundreds of hours of south pole footage, finding archival footage of Grant and Shawna, interviewing friends, family, and doctors. The film was coming together.

As a matter of fact, the film today is based on the outline (screenplay) that Callan and Shaw wrote with Grant and Shawna. Allard and Callan were the main “Produced By” producers.

As the post-production was coming along, my wife and I hosted numerous fundraisers and raised well over $150k for the film

During the Post-Production, Hiball Energy drink founder Todd Berardi donated $20K and became an Executive Producers, joining original EP's Patrick Rivelli, David Schneider, and Frank Slootman. HiBall, whose mantra is "Good Energy", was a perfect partnership for the film and we seamlessly and successfully incorporated their brand into the film.
(I mentioned people wanting more credit above, well we had a filmmaker join the team to shoot B-Roll and interviews and he took credit for not only the branding, but the making of the film... crazy people.)

Brian Niles, who is a cameraman and editor for HiBall Energy, was brought in to finish editing the film. He did a great job editing the film. That said, I’d like to point out that he did have a lot to work with considering, the story outline was in place and Mike Shaw had already done editing. Regardless, thank you Brian.

This was a team effort and the completion of this film could not have been done without the extraordinarily and collaborative group of filmmakers, cinematographers, producers, editors, writers, designers, photographers and donors.