In 2013, I made a documentary called Start Local.
Was I completely ready to tackle a project like this? Absolutely not. But I could see a massive wave of passion in the community surrounding the subject. It felt like a golden opportunity to dive into something meaningful, and honestly, I didn’t have anything else going on at the time. (That’s a joke. Mostly.)
I teamed up with Ashley Matt, and we set out to explore what the word “local” actually meant to the people around us. We wanted to look past the buzzwords and document how choosing a more localized lifestyle actually affects a community, the economy, and the people just trying to build something of their own.
The $850 Mistake (and Other Production Highlights)
Making this movie was incredibly difficult, primarily because we had basically zero money. The budget was, for all intents and purposes, imaginary.
However, we did scrape together enough to make one massive, monumental investment: a single, hefty wireless microphone that cost $850. It was the height of wireless tech at the time and the crown jewel of our production kit.
Naturally, a few years later, I lent that microphone to someone out of the goodness of my heart… and it was never returned. If you are reading this and you have my $850 microphone, just know that I have not forgotten, and I never will.
Despite the non-existent budget, the actual filming process was a blast. We traveled around, visited some truly interesting spots, and talked to people who cared deeply about their craft and their town. Gathering the raw materials was a great experience.
Putting it together was another story.
The Slog
The editing process was an absolute, unmitigated slog. I took on the edit entirely by myself, which meant spending hours upon hours locked in a room, staring at a timeline, and staying up until unheard-of hours of the night. Every single night. It was the kind of repetitive, chaotic post-production marathon that slowly breaks your grip on reality.
But I learned a massive amount. I forced myself to find the fun in the process, to embrace the absurdity of the late nights, and—most importantly—I actually finished the thing.
A Window into 2013
We finally premiered Start Local with a private screening at the Midland Cultural Centre on November 10, 2014, and eventually took it to the Toronto Beaches Film Festival on July 4, 2015.
Looking back at the footage now, the movie has taken on a completely different life. It’s an unintentional time capsule. A lot of the independent businesses we featured are no longer around. Many of the people we interviewed have moved on to completely new places in their lives.
It exists now as a strange, beautiful little snapshot of a very specific era. I like to think that future generations might stumble across it and use it as a window into the early 20-teens—a time when people were fiercely fighting for their local communities, and independent filmmakers were risking their sanity (and their expensive audio gear) to capture it.
I now present to you Start Local in its entirety.
