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I want to make a movie about Repack

8K views 108 replies 32 participants last post by  hairstream 
#1 ·
In the last couple of years there have been two skateboarding movies, "Dogtown and the Z boys" and "Lords of Dogtown." The first was a documentary, the second a re-creation of events, using actors. Both explored the events that led to vertical skating.

I want to make a movie about Repack. It was a supremely unlikely and crazy event, conducted by a cast of colorful characters. Repack was the event that drew together the people who would start this sport, and it is amazing to me that we got away with this highly organized, competitive event on public land without ever being busted. I think I could make a movie that every mountain biker and half the DeadHeads in the world would go see and then buy on DVD, and that should be enough people to cover the $8-10 million it would cost to make it.

Why am I posting this? I'm telling everybody. I'm telling strangers on the street. I'm telling riders I meet on the trail. I figure that if I tell a million people I want to make a movie about this, one of them might be the guy.

Are any of you the guy?
 
#2 ·
Movie

There are two mountain bike history movies being filmed right now. I would love to see you make one though, since you helped start it all. I kow that one film is an independant, and one has alot of money behind it. Well, alot relatively speaking.
 
#3 ·
Recently, there were a couple of movies that were made that made a big impression on me. Both documentaries and both were on topics where there's not a huge amount of film, let alone video, available. And they both set me on the edge of my seat while watching them.

Check out Joe Kid on a Stingray http://www.joekidonastingray.com/
and Riding Giants http://www.sonyclassics.com/ridinggiants/ Stacy Peralta (he also did Dogtown and Z-Boys).

Considering there are many more people who mountain bike than surf, I think the field is ripe to do a movie on Repack (and possibly how it spawned the mountain bike fad ;) ) would be awesome. I can imagine a shot of a klunker bombing down Repack and a fade into a shot of Tomac blazing down the Kamikazee...

Go for it. If I had 8-10 million...
 
#4 ·
ScottyMTB said:
There are two mountain bike history movies being filmed right now. I would love to see you make one though, since you helped start it all. I kow that one film is an independant, and one has alot of money behind it. Well, alot relatively speaking.
history or fiction? i've got a screenplay done myself and can't find any producers interested in the theme. but then i'm not in america and mountain bike here is a joke.
 
#5 ·
Repack Rider said:
In the last couple of years there have been two skateboarding movies, "Dogtown and the Z boys" and "Lords of Dogtown." The first was a documentary, the second a re-creation of events, using actors. Both explored the events that led to vertical skating.

I want to make a movie about Repack. It was a supremely unlikely and crazy event, conducted by a cast of colorful characters. Repack was the event that drew together the people who would start this sport, and it is amazing to me that we got away with this highly organized, competitive event on public land without ever being busted. I think I could make a movie that every mountain biker and half the DeadHeads in the world would go see and then buy on DVD, and that should be enough people to cover the $8-10 million it would cost to make it.

Why am I posting this? I'm telling everybody. I'm telling strangers on the street. I'm telling riders I meet on the trail. I figure that if I tell a million people I want to make a movie about this, one of them might be the guy.

Are any of you the guy?
whta are you looking for? the producer, i guess.. like i said, i have already written a script, no on the repack story specifically but on the challenges of the mountain bike ride and how it stands as a metaphor for the eternal search for balance, elegance under pressure and courage to go for it.. not to mention the love for bikes..
 
#6 ·
Movie

ssmike said:
Recently, there were a couple of movies that were made that made a big impression on me. Both documentaries and both were on topics where there's not a huge amount of film, let alone video, available. And they both set me on the edge of my seat while watching them.

Check out Joe Kid on a Stingray http://www.joekidonastingray.com/
and Riding Giants http://www.sonyclassics.com/ridinggiants/ Stacy Peralta (he also did Dogtown and Z-Boys).

Considering there are many more people who mountain bike than surf, I think the field is ripe to do a movie on Repack (and possibly how it spawned the mountain bike fad ;) ) would be awesome. I can imagine a shot of a klunker bombing down Repack and a fade into a shot of Tomac blazing down the Kamikazee...

Go for it. If I had 8-10 million...
Not to hijack Charlie's thread, but I have been waiting to see Joe Kid on a Stingray. I don't know when it is coming to Denver, or when it is coming to DVD.

The two movies I heard about were about history.
 
#8 ·
I want to do the Repack story specifically

colker1 said:
whta are you looking for? the producer, i guess.. like i said, i have already written a script, no on the repack story specifically but on the challenges of the mountain bike ride and how it stands as a metaphor for the eternal search for balance, elegance under pressure and courage to go for it.. not to mention the love for bikes..
I do not want to do a general movie about mountain biking. I want to tell the story of the events in Fairfax, and the Repack race.

Just for the entertainment value, let me tell the forum how Gary Fisher and I met. It would be a crucial scene in my movie.

I was spending time with a DeadHead girl named Rose, and she mentioned that there was a guy in the Dead "Party Krew" who was just like me. By that, she meant a hippie bicycle fanatic. One day I was out riding, and here are two guys, one has to be the guy she called "Spider," all arms and legs and hair nearly to the waist. So I rode up and asked if he was Spider.

He said that some people called him that, but his name was Gary. Okay Gary, where are you guys riding? Let's ride.

He introduced me to his companion, who he called Marmaduke, but explained that his real name was John Dawson. Marmaduke played in a band called the New Riders of the Purple Sage with Jerry Garcia, and they were on their way to the Grateful Dead office to look at art for the cover of their first album.

Awesome, I said, I'm a roadie for the Sons of Champlin, I know all those guys, let's go.

So ten minutes after I met them, we're sitting in the Dead office looking at drawings and photos with Marmaduke and the bass player, Dave Torbert, and Gary and I are being asked what we think. We don't even know each other, and we're looking at each other like, "Why do these guys CARE what we think? It's THEIR album." But we liked a couple of the pictures on the table, we said so, and believe it or not, these were eventually chosen for the cover.

Business done, we head out for a ride, and meet Garcia on his way in. Marmaduke tells him we're going to ride 15-20 miles, and Garcia says something to the effect that we certainly will not run into him out there.

About six months later Gary moved into the house I was renting in San Anselmo, and for about the next 12 years we were joined at the hip. Those 12 years were an amazing adventure, and eventually we helped change the world.

I think a lot of mountain bikers would come and see my movie, if I ever get to make it.
 
#9 ·
Fat Tire Flyer, the movie?

CK,

This is a good idea.

I talked to my son today. He works in the Ski Porn business. The company he works for, Matchstick Productions (www.skimovie.com) also does Bike Porn, Kayak Porn, well you get the idea.

His first question was "is there any footage"? I told him that all the old crew was pretty much still available and that enough bikes and certainly the "terrain" (can you say Marin County Film Commission?) are accessable?

So new footage would not be much problem would it? You could round up enough of the old gang to say/do something in front of a lense right? Young fearless stunt doubles would beg to be in on it. The Dead angle is sharp, work it. Script, write it yourself. The above post shows that you can do it.

He thought that a documentary, something that could be distributed easily on DVD and marketed via "showings" at venues around the country, online and the press, could be done in the neighborhood of 100k. If you want the big screen in theatres (not a suitable format for this venture IMNSHO) then you can plan on the big bucks I guess.

Matchstick has "sponsors" that pay for their production every year to a tune more than that. I would think that TREK could come up with alot of that to toot the GF horn, don't you? Sponsors are the key. :cool:

BP
CB

PS: Please make some shirts up with the FTF logo to help finance the venture. I want one. I had one that Specialized stole for their own use way back when and it was a favorite for years.It was Stumpie blue.
 
#10 ·
ssmike said:
I'm not a surfer, but that film straight up and moved me something fierce. Halfway through, I wanted nothing more than to get up off the couch with a big wood longboard, and beat myself silly on some waves with it.

CK, I sincerely hope you find your man. For the last ten years, I wished someone would find a way to sneak our sport onto the big screen. Your story would be a great one to get down for posterity. I would just hope that should Trek get involved, they wouldn't turn it into another absurdly overblown GF promo bit. Erm, just to add. I don't think many people have a personal problem with Gary, as much as there's just a general contempt for the marketing dept in Waterloo that protrays him to be some kind of superhuman ultragenius to whom we should all grovel... well, you get the idea. I'd love to see your story without a bunch of corporate kiss-ass stuff. Of course, if it means not getting it out, well, there are always compromises. I'd buy a t-shirt too.
 
#11 ·
WOW! The thought of this blows me away. I have been to several screenings here in Rapid City (ski,adventure etc) and can vouch for packed houses. Last one I went to filled all 2000 seats. I know a venture like this would haul out the MTB community in every local. Thanks for the insider info on what was going on!
 
#12 ·
Repack Rider said:
I do not want to do a general movie about mountain biking. I want to tell the story of the events in Fairfax, and the Repack race.

Just for the entertainment value, let me tell the forum how Gary Fisher and I met. It would be a crucial scene in my movie.

I was spending time with a DeadHead girl named Rose, and she mentioned that there was a guy in the Dead "Party Krew" who was just like me. By that, she meant a hippie bicycle fanatic. One day I was out riding, and here are two guys, one has to be the guy she called "Spider," all arms and legs and hair nearly to the waist. So I rode up and asked if he was Spider.

He said that some people called him that, but his name was Gary. Okay Gary, where are you guys riding? Let's ride.

He introduced me to his companion, who he called Marmaduke, but explained that his real name was John Dawson. Marmaduke played in a band called the New Riders of the Purple Sage with Jerry Garcia, and they were on their way to the Grateful Dead office to look at art for the cover of their first album.

Awesome, I said, I'm a roadie for the Sons of Champlin, I know all those guys, let's go.

So ten minutes after I met them, we're sitting in the Dead office looking at drawings and photos with Marmaduke and the bass player, Dave Torbert, and Gary and I are being asked what we think. We don't even know each other, and we're looking at each other like, "Why do these guys CARE what we think? It's THEIR album." But we liked a couple of the pictures on the table, we said so, and believe it or not, these were eventually chosen for the cover.

Business done, we head out for a ride, and meet Garcia on his way in. Marmaduke tells him we're going to ride 15-20 miles, and Garcia says something to the effect that we certainly will not run into him out there.

About six months later Gary moved into the house I was renting in San Anselmo, and for about the next 12 years we were joined at the hip. Those 12 years were an amazing adventure, and eventually we helped change the world.

I think a lot of mountain bikers would come and see my movie, if I ever get to make it.
i saw the documentary on skate.. not the fiction. one thing that story has is a dramatic social backdrop: they were surfers.. but poor. their ocean was rotten.. they didn't belong in the surfer's heavenly universe. cliche? ok.. it gets better: one of the kids, the most talented, lost it to drugs and criminality.. he was doing time while the film was completed. the chosen one, the prodigal son.. scr34d up big time. his friends have to carry on. that's material for a good story.
you want to make fiction, you need drama.. even if mountain bikes are omnipresent, even if there was never a film about it.. if you don't have drama.. you can't have fiction.
first, find a good character(which you already have), then place him on a high tree.. now find a way to bring him down. then you'll have a movie.
what's the drama behind the invention of mountain bike? good times only don't make fiction.
 
#13 ·
Movie

colker1 said:
i saw the documentary on skate.. not the fiction. one thing that story has is a dramatic social backdrop: they were surfers.. but poor. their ocean was rotten.. they didn't belong in the surfer's heavenly universe. cliche? ok.. it gets better: one of the kids, the most talented, lost it to drugs and criminality.. he was doing time while the film was completed. the chosen one, the prodigal son.. scr34d up big time. his friends have to carry on. that's material for a good story.
you want to make fiction, you need drama.. even if mountain bikes are omnipresent, even if there was never a film about it.. if you don't have drama.. you can't have fiction.
first, find a good character(which you already have), then place him on a high tree.. now find a way to bring him down. then you'll have a movie.
what's the drama behind the invention of mountain bike? good times only don't make fiction.
I loved the documentary and I thought the movie was OK, but not great. I bet some of those stories are there for Charlie's movie, but people have to be willing to open up and put those things out there for everyone to see.
 
#14 ·
ScottyMTB said:
I loved the documentary and I thought the movie was OK, but not great. I bet some of those stories are there for Charlie's movie, but people have to be willing to open up and put those things out there for everyone to see.
you sell the movie to a producer based on human trouble.. if you say: i have a movie on bicycles, i would ask: do they kiss in the end?
 
#15 ·
colker1 said:
that's material for a good story.
you want to make fiction, you need drama.. even if mountain bikes are omnipresent, even if there was never a film about it.. if you don't have drama.. you can't have fiction.
first, find a good character(which you already have), then place him on a high tree.. now find a way to bring him down. then you'll have a movie.
what's the drama behind the invention of mountain bike? good times only don't make fiction.
I don't know, but it doesn't sound like he want's to make fiction. I think he's thinking of more of a documentary. Actually, it could probably be done as a comedy...

Hope you're alright CK.
 
#16 ·
There are a lot of good cues in the above posts.
Man you don't need 10 mill . It would kill the movie. a couple of blokes down here made a move for $37K Australian ($25K U.S?) and it knock their socks off in Canne.

This is well do-able.

I like the idea of a doco, real people talking to a camera, then a couple of re-enactments, photos, old footage. Some back to the future follow up shots, showing the deveopment of the industry. Some good quotes, The netural habitat of MTBs lends itself to stunning visuals.

The openess and freedom of then, the corporatisation of now (although show there is still an "underground component" today - modern deadheads etc). If you can develop the feel of it... well once you have that, it won't need 10 mil.

How much did it cost to make the Parrot Man of Telegraph Hill (I think that's the title)?

I still remember that line from that great dirtbike doco
…”I start thinkin’ the world is all bad, then I see people havin’ fun on motorcycles and it makes me take another look.” (Steve McQueen - On Any Sunday)
 
#17 ·
flyingsuperpetis said:
I'd love to see your story without a bunch of corporate kiss-ass stuff. Of course, if it means not getting it out, well, there are always compromises. I'd buy a t-shirt too.
Yeah, but a movie about the history of MTBing, if it follows the way things actually went down although starting out in the idylic sense, would pretty much end up with some of the corporate kiss-ass stuff in it anyway :rolleyes:

I remember the buttons that SOPWAMTOS handed out one year at Interbike in the late 90's it said "Not bought by Trek yet" on it..........
 
#18 ·
flyingsuperpetis said:
I don't know, but it doesn't sound like he want's to make fiction. I think he's thinking of more of a documentary. Actually, it could probably be done as a comedy...

Hope you're alright CK.
i was mislead by the crucial scene of him meeting gary fischer. it read as a fiction project.. but i agree it could be an interesting documentary.. especially if it's linked w/ the dead, hippie scene... and the internet. hippies were deemed as pathethic idealists and anti materialist losers a short while ago by the trend setters but .. they invented the mountian bike .. correct me if i'm wrong.. they also invented the social use of the internet. seems hippies are having the last word.
the mountain bike is the rebirth of the bicycle.. due to a different perspective brought by a group of guys in california, w/ a certain code of values and taste. these guys promoted a clash of the bicycle, a symbol of old times, and space research technology. pathethic antimaterialists? try boeing enginneers.
wasn't for the mountain bike, there would be no aheadset, oversized everything etc.. etc.. wasn't for the mountain bike, there wouldn't be millions of people riding bikes again.
 
#19 ·
colker1 said:
what's the drama behind the invention of mountain bike? good times only don't make fiction.
Uh, look around. IT REALLY HAPPENED. Unfortunately, unlike the skateboarders who practiced their photography at the same time as their sport, we ranged all over a lot of hills, and didn't drag our movie cameras along. There is a total of about 10 minutes of actual film of these events, and it isn't good enough to use.

I want to recreate the events, using actors and stunt riders, but telling the real story. It's good enough. A cast of extremely unlikely characters created a multi-billion dollar industry by putting on this amazing event.

Answering another poster, I know Gary Fisher well enough that I do not need to write a bogus legend for him. It is unfortunate that he has been deified, because his real contributions to the sport have been obscured by hype.
 
#20 ·
Repack movie

hippies were deemed as pathethic idealists and anti materialist losers a short while ago by the trend setters but .. they invented the mountian bike .. correct me if i'm wrong.. they also invented the social use of the internet.

????????????????? They invented the internet? I thought Al Gore invented the internet.
 
#21 ·
ScottyMTB said:
hippies were deemed as pathethic idealists and anti materialist losers a short while ago by the trend setters but .. they invented the mountian bike .. correct me if i'm wrong.. they also invented the social use of the internet.

????????????????? They invented the internet? I thought Al Gore invented the internet.
the social use of internet.. internet was invented by and for the military. and i'm not absolutely sure of all that. whta i know is that it's actual dynamics spread from the san francisco area. maybe al gore was a closet hippie. did you check his old pictures for hairstyle?
 
#22 ·
Repack Rider said:
Uh, look around. IT REALLY HAPPENED. Unfortunately, unlike the skateboarders who practiced their photography at the same time as their sport, we ranged all over a lot of hills, and didn't drag our movie cameras along. There is a total of about 10 minutes of actual film of these events, and it isn't good enough to use.

I want to recreate the events, using actors and stunt riders, but telling the real story. It's good enough. A cast of extremely unlikely characters created a multi-billion dollar industry by putting on this amazing event.

Answering another poster, I know Gary Fisher well enough that I do not need to write a bogus legend for him. It is unfortunate that he has been deified, because his real contributions to the sport have been obscured by hype.
if it's good enough.. write the script. gather everything in scenes. good luck.
 
#23 ·
Repack Rider said:
Uh, look around. IT REALLY HAPPENED. Unfortunately, unlike the skateboarders who practiced their photography at the same time as their sport, we ranged all over a lot of hills, and didn't drag our movie cameras along. There is a total of about 10 minutes of actual film of these events, and it isn't good enough to use.

I want to recreate the events, using actors and stunt riders, but telling the real story. It's good enough. A cast of extremely unlikely characters created a multi-billion dollar industry by putting on this amazing event.

Answering another poster, I know Gary Fisher well enough that I do not need to write a bogus legend for him. It is unfortunate that he has been deified, because his real contributions to the sport have been obscured by hype.
Just in case you took my "toot the horn" comment out of context. I by no means meant it in regards to making your movie as a tribute to Gary. But as he was part of the scene back then he will be part of the script no doubt? Just tell it like it is/was. My suggestion was strictly based on a possible way to fund your venture and the reason why a company like Trek might kick in.
 
#24 ·
colker1 said:
the social use of internet.. internet was invented by and for the military. and i'm not absolutely sure of all that. whta i know is that it's actual dynamics spread from the san francisco area. maybe al gore was a closet hippie. did you check his old pictures for hairstyle?
Good one. I was actually in military communications in the mid 80s so I am very familiar with that part of internet history, but I had never heard any reference to early use by the hippies. The first people I knew doing it were techies.
 
#25 ·
Bigwheel said:
Just in case you took my "toot the horn" comment out of context. I by no means meant it in regards to making your movie as a tribute to Gary. But as he was part of the scene back then he will be part of the script no doubt? Just tell it like it is/was. My suggestion was strictly based on a possible way to fund your venture and the reason why a company like Trek might kick in.
And I think Gary did enough self promotion to aid in his deification :D

And Trek would be stupid not to invest in this story.
 
#26 ·
Repack Rider said:
In the last couple of years there have been two skateboarding movies, "Dogtown and the Z boys" and "Lords of Dogtown." The first was a documentary, the second a re-creation of events, using actors. Both explored the events that led to vertical skating.

I want to make a movie about Repack. It was a supremely unlikely and crazy event, conducted by a cast of colorful characters. Repack was the event that drew together the people who would start this sport, and it is amazing to me that we got away with this highly organized, competitive event on public land without ever being busted. I think I could make a movie that every mountain biker and half the DeadHeads in the world would go see and then buy on DVD, and that should be enough people to cover the $8-10 million it would cost to make it.

Why am I posting this? I'm telling everybody. I'm telling strangers on the street. I'm telling riders I meet on the trail. I figure that if I tell a million people I want to make a movie about this, one of them might be the guy.

Are any of you the guy?
Already being done , they are going to start filming very soon .
I was just contracted to build a fleet of vintage /retro repack bikes for the movie .
 
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