Kenton E. Hoppas

Kenton Hoppas is a filmmaker. A few years back, he took a job as a bicycle messenger. And between deliveries, made a feature-length documentary about working as a bicycle messenger.

The film he made – Career Courier – is oddly familiar, strangely foreign and incredibly compelling all at the same time. Like the best of ART, it opens the doors to a world most of us have seen, but few have known.

The total cost of his film, Kenton estimates, was about $11,000, spent cautiously over countless hours and endless deals. I asked him about the filming and how he plans to market the film, too. As part of that, I spoke to Executive Producer, Jason Brubaker, who’s handing the role of PMD. (Jason was a reelgrok Featured Member, too, and his complete profile is at http://www.reelgrok.com/featured-members.cfm )

You’ve just released your film, “Career Courier” – tell me about it….

It's a documentary about a non-traditional career – being a bicycle courier. It's not a good idea to turn minimum wage job into a career, especially one that ranks right below meat cutter in the danger department. But a few bicycle couriers have been doing it for over a decade and my film tries to share their labor of love.

Tell me about the script. 

That's a good one. I read all the books about how even documentaries can and should have a simple script or outline. So I wrote one. Then I started filming in New York, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco and San Diego. First thing I did was throw my script in the recycling bin. What I managed to scrape  together in the edit is this.

Boy gets job, boy hates job, boy quits job. Boy meets bike, boy becomes bicycle messenger. And from there a few boys (and a girl or two) tell us about why, when, where and how. 

Bicycle messengers…?  Why that subject?

It's a job that fascinates the average person working in most large cities. People always want to know more about your job. They are full of obnoxious question while they have you cornered in an elevator, like "How much do you make?"

Imagine if I asked that point blank to strangers in an elevator as they exited a law firm? Just imagine. So I thought, I'll give the people their answers in the form of a highly entertaining documentary. I made a few skits up to illustrate what life as a messenger is like. Also to separate it from a traditional documentary a little. 

How long were you in production? 

I started pre-production in 1999 with the ill-fated decision to quit my stable, decent paying job in the white collar world of graphic design.

In the film world, the production time was about one year. I read that documentaries can take eight years on average. I didn't have eight years. I had one. So that’s what I took.. 

How did you get this footage?

I allotted five days in Portland to interview my main subject. I kept asking for that interview; he kept saying it wasn't a good time. Finally, the night before I left to go home, he gave me my one and only interview. It lasted for 34 minutes.

It's my first documentary, but that just didn't seem like a lot of interview material to me? 34 minutes of footage in five days? Still, it was a good interview. I made the most of it. 

How much did your film cost?  

Cost is such a relative term isn't it? How much did I actually shell out or how much is my time worth? In real dollars, making this film cost around $11,000. People have questioned how I could make a film of this scope for that cost, but I did all the important stuff that didn’t cost hard dollars. Stuff like directing, filming, editing. For the tangibles (like plane tickets and hard drives) I had to use the money I had raised. 

How did you raise money for it? 

I raised $8,450 through KickStarter; it took 90 days. Plus a friend kicked in the last of the budget when I was finishing the film.

I’m pretty good at ball parking a budget without getting tied up in the details. I sat down and broke my budget up into 3 categories – (1) travel expense, (2) equipment  and (3) miscellaneous.

I figured out a number of $9,000 to cover these expenses over the course of the year. Here is it in more detail.

1)      TRAVEL EXPENSES (60%)

1. I lumped plane tickets to 5 different cities, eating out 3 times a day at $8 a meal, public transportation and the last thing was I paid myself $80 a day for the time I was taking off of work. I really tried to keep it all to a minimum.
2. I didn't get all hyper detailed. I ball parked plane tickets at $500 per roundtrip. I ended up getting a good deal on flights and never paid more than $300. But where I made up in one place, I spent it on another. Like food!
3. It took 30 days on the road to make the film that I lumped in this first category.

2)      EQUIPMENT (20%)

1. I took a tally of what I owned, like camera's, mics etc. And then made a list of what I needed to get. I already owned $5,000 worth of gear, so I only had to purchase a GoPro HD action camera, 3 hard drives, 100 tapes, DVD's, some software, etc.

3)      MISCELLANEOUS (20%)

1. I always pad things like the time it will take and the money. That includes all the general, unknown, miscellaneous costs. And you know what, it got spent! It always gets spent…..

So after I burned through the $9,000 I was still 6 months out from finishing my film. Then I had a subject who didn’t want to be in the film – after I filmed him. And I really needed him in the film. We came to a mutual agreement, but it cost me $900.  

So I went to a private investor and told him where I stood and laid out my budget and how the money was spent and what it would take to finish the film. He opened up his check book and told me to just give him a number and he'd help me finish it up. I took $2,000 to wrap the final travel trip and editing up. And I hit the nail right on the head at around $11,000.

So all in all, after I said I’m so good at budgeting, I guess I'm not. My “budget” missed by over 20%. I had to resources to raise the money I needed, but my oversight could have killed the whole project. I had to learn to be a little more honest with myself and not be scared to admit that it will take a little money to make a film. And not to be ashamed about that.

Why do you think you raised the extra money…?

If you REALLY believe your film HAS to be made, you’ll get all sorts of courage to ask people for money to get it done. That said, nothing is more scary to me than finishing a film and not knowing if it will make the money back. Because if it doesn't, it's going to be a little harder to find new funding. But let's cross that bridge when we get to it. The film isn't even for sale yet! LOL.

One last thing. Even though I finished the film for around $11,000, that doesn’t include the additional $3,000 I've had to put on my own personal credit card to pay for prints for reviews and supporters, for posters, film festival entries….  The list goes on!

Next time I'm going to come up with a budget number and double it!

Who’s distributing the film?  

That hasn’t happened yet. I was hoping a distributor would find me. That didn’t happen. I wasn't able to get enough "buzz" while making the film and now I’m holding off until I cultivate a following.

I thought I was too busy to blog while making the film. I also thought I didn't have enough to say. But it's like running and getting in shape. You just HAVE to do it every day; in time you gain momentum and start to feel good about what you are doing. So that's where I am now. I post a daily written and video blog on my website and try to relate it back to my films themes.

Themes…?

There are two themes here. The first is a career as a bicycle messenger and the second is about being a one man movie maker.

So far, I’ve gotten three online reviews. One from Rogue Cinema was very nice, "It's not something that I thought I'd enjoy, but found myself loving every minute of it!" Another wasn’t quite as nice. And the third was in Portuguese, so not sure how that one was.

So far, I had screenings for friends and family and cast. Of course at a local screening everyone knows you and will say nice things. Nice things like, "holy crap, that was like a real movie. I knew you made a movie but thought it would be kinda lame. How did you learn to make a real movie?"  

I had a test screening in front of about 100 bicycle messengers in San Francisco and got really good feedback from the demographic the film revolves around. And that meant a lot. 

So how will you sell your film?  

With support from my EP, Jason Brubaker, I'll self-distribute through my website. 

I won’t even pretend to have any idea what’s going on with distribution. But that doesn't mean I'm not attacking it head first with a lot enthusiasm, a little ignorance, and non-stop action!  

I've talked to a lot of people about distribution. Even successful ones. And they all get pensive and act as if I’m asking for the secret to black magic. I don’t have a clue about distribution. Maybe I should have gotten a real job!

How will you promote your film? 

Promoting my film is the one thing that scared the daylights out of me. I'm not a big promoter of anything. I own my own business and there have been years I couldn't even get my employees to come to the Christmas party. (And I was paying for food and drink.)

So I will give you two words for promotion. Jason. Brubaker.

Jason has held my hand the whole way. Helped me establish a website, get a mailing list set up and auto-responders. I didn’t even know what an auto-responder is. Thanks to Jason, I now know if you sign up for film updates,  you're going to get one. 

How long, how much.

I'm broke, no money left for distribution. Say hello Mr. American Express. I've just been approved. I figure, heck, this film is off the hook. It will sell, so I can go into a little debt to distribute it if I have to. I'll make it back on the back end. There is an old saying, "I lose a little with every sale, but I make it up in volume." Ha, ha.

Do you think this is a good time for indies? 

It’s NEVER been a better for indies. With a credit card.

For five grand you can have an HD camera, 2 wireless mics and a 3 year warranty. Boom, you’re in business. Throw in some software, read some books and the world might even believe you’re a  real filmmaker.

The big challenge is convincing yourself that you really are a filmmaker. I'll let you know when I've accomplished that one.

Is money easy to get right now?

Absolutely. You just have to have two things. First and most important, you need a film you feel HAS to be made. If you don't believe it needs to be made you'll never have the courage to ask someone else for money. Second thing is a big smile and lots of time.

Our entire lives we spend time making friends, good friends. If you asked me for $100 I would tell you to go jump in a lake. But if you ask me for $10, no problem – I can spare $10 if I know you really need it.

You just have to talk to enough people to find the people you can ask for $100,000. Then if you are lucky you'll get $10,000 and you make a film for that. Easy right?

Is this your first film?  

No, I've made dozens of films. This however is my first feature length film. All films prior to this were under 25 minutes in length.

How did you learn the technical aspects? 

Lynda.com The most amazing website and the best $25 a month I've ever spent.

Tell me about your crew?  Who did you work with?

It would have been such a luxury to work with more people. Time would have been a luxury, too. But I didn’t have either of those.

To make everything go as fast as possible and finish the film in a year, I did everything by myself. I worked all day, every day, as a full time bicycle messenger. Between deliveries I would run out and shoot scenes, and then run back to my office and edit.

I did, however, take days off to travel. When I’d film in other cities, I slept on couches and shot everything myself. It sucked.

My first trips to New York and Portland, I carried a Canon XL-A1, two wireless mics, a wide angle lens, 1959 Bolex, 5 cans of film, two GoPro camera's and tripod in my messenger bag. I chased messengers around on my bike ALL DAY, every day, for six straight days of filming and riding. It sucked.

I learned real fast to pack lighter and shoot less.

How did you get started in film? 

This is a true story. 2004, my mother-in-law gave me a digital camera. It shot 30 seconds of video. (no audio) The very first day I shot two 1 minute films and edited them on iMovie. I was hooked.

Six months and 15 movies later a homeless man gave me a digital camera that shot up to 3 minutes of video WITH audio. A dozen short films later I borrowed my dad's Sony Handycam. I was in heaven. I made a six minute film encouraging people to ride their bikes to work. I won a local film competition and got my first real job making films. From there I invested in my own equipment. 

Did you have mentors who supported your film work? 

Yes, for sure. But it's tough at this level. Everyone you meet is where you are at – the bottom.

My real  mentors are people I read about and studied. Like Sidney Lumet, Frank Capra, Michael Moore and Brad Bird. Maybe one day I'll get to meet them. (Well, not Mr. Capra, heaven maybe?) I never stop reading about other filmmakers and watching their directors commentary. I found that the most educational. I can't even begin to explain how influential Brad Bird has been. If only I could draw better I would go ask for a job as an animator with Pixar. 

Have you ever wanted to get away from films and do something more “normal” for your career?

It's taken me my whole life to realize how much I want to do films. I hope this is the beginning of good thing. I look at it this way. Being a bicycle messenger isn't "normal" and there is no way a filmmaker (even a bad one) can make less than I do. So I have nowhere to go but up. Right?

What’s next for you?

Sleep. Then I'll go see a movie.

How’d you become Kenton’s mentor and executive producer and distribution guru? 

I first met Kenton at one of your reelgrok film seminars in Los Angeles. Then caught up with him when he was about to start post. I hadn't seen the movie, but I did enough research to know there is a large, easily reachable community of bicycle enthusiasts. People who dream of riding their bikes for a living.

So part of my responsibility was helping Kenton define his niche target audience and then focus the editing to tell a cohesive, emotionally engaging story that targeted the appropriate audience. I tested multiple versions of the movie and we used audience feedback to tighten things up.

Had I been there from the beginning, I would have helped Kenton get some more crew and resources to aid in his production. I also would have started the audience engagement sooner.

What’s so special about this film?

I think Kenton is what makes this movie special. He’s likable, honest and passionate about his work.

A few years back, he left a high paying job in the Midwest to start a bike messenger company in San Diego. From scratch. He built that into a profitable business that kept growing until he had to face the economic collapse of 2008 – and a newborn baby. The movie pulls at the heart; it centers on what happens when you have to set your dreams aside for real-world priorities.

The movie, like Kenton, has total heart. This is the story of a man who faces adversity and then works his butt off to push past it and make better things happen.

How will the film be distributed?

We’re moving at a grass-roots pace.

The movie is playing the festivals. Kenton has reached out to folks in the bike community who have hosted small screenings in their bike shops up and down the west coast. Kenton also ran a successful KickStarter campaign, which helped him generate buzz and source an initial audience. Additionally, we have sent the movie out to a few traditional DVD distributors.

Our goal right now is to continue the festivals, build up website traffic and increasing Kenton's subscriber list. We are also reaching out to other filmmakers who have already successfully engaged a similar audience and finding out if they would be interested in cross-promotion.

Once the festivals conclude, we’ll get the movie into iTunes and Amazon and direct folks towards the BUY NOW button. Should a traditional deal emerge in the process, we are open to it - but we’re not waiting around....

What kind of effort – and money – does it take to distribute a specialty film like this?

A marketing budget would help, but we don’t have one. So everything centers on grassroots outreach. Some of the organic efforts involve frequent blogs that are optimized for maximum SEO.

For example, through research, we know that people interested in this type of movie may search for bicycle helmets. Kenton then writes an article on bicycle helmets, tied in to his movie…. Then I work a little behind-the-scenes SEO magic to help get that article higher rankings from the search engines.

Each article becomes an investment in future traffic, which will equate to future sales

Why would someone want to buy this film?

If you enjoy riding your bike, imagine what it's like to do it for a living. Kenton not only imagined it, but he documented his experience in his awesome feature documentary called Career Courier. That film hits so many great chords – from entrepreneurship to filmmaking, from adventure to the best city job ever.  This is an incredibly good movie that tells the story of an unknown lifestyle that’s going on all around us. In my book, that makes this film win/win/win.

 Kenton Hoppas, producer-director-writer-cinematographer-editor
and bicycle courier

C A R E E R   C O U R I E R  
a feature length documentary exploring the life of a bicycle messenger.
http://www.careercourierthemovie.com/