Behind The Project with Producer Gordon Klco
Producer Gordon Klco is one of the creative minds behind our new Travel Oregon series. In this interview, he takes us behind the scenes and shares the challenges and successes on one of his favorite projects to date.
1: Can you tell us about your background before you began working at Blue Chalk?
My journey to the film industry was pretty roundabout. I graduated from college with a degree in anthropology and no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up. I spent my twenties kayaking and traveling as much as I could and was introduced to documentary film by my girlfriend, who was working on a feature doc when we first met. Inspired by the power of moving visuals, I started dabbling in film production and photography, and in 2015 I made my first short film about a river trip for post-9/11 veterans. The process was terrifying, but I couldn’t stop. In 2017, while enrolled in the University of Oregon’s Master of Journalism program, I realized that school wasn’t cutting it. I just needed to work with a solid team of people. I reached out to Rob, and, some would say, the rest is history.
2: What is your current role at Blue Chalk, and what does a typical day look like for you?
I’m a producer at Blue Chalk. I’d say most of my days are fairly atypical. In the office, I split my time between edit sessions and production planning, and in the field my role is pretty fluid. Sometimes I’m holding a camera, other times I’m managing crew or conducting interviews. I’m happiest when I get to approach projects creatively and the fluidity of my role suits me well.
3: This project was the result of successfully winning the “Winter Season Grant” funded by Oregon Film and Travel Oregon. Can you tell us about the grant process and how you came up with the idea behind the series?
The Oregon Made grant program is a really amazing funding opportunity supported by Oregon Film and typically another sponsor. Every year they fund several different grants for Oregon-based filmmakers. Travel Oregon, the co-sponsor of the 2018 Winter Grant, was looking for something that highlighted how special Oregon was in the winter months. They sent out a call asking for pitches for film “postcards.” I spent quite a bit of time at the beginning of the brainstorming process coming up with different ways to incorporate the postcard prompt. I really wanted to create fictional characters for each piece, and the idea of crafting mini-stories around the writing of a postcard grew from that.
4: What was your specific role while on production, and who else was involved?
These projects were pretty special for me because I was allowed to focus on the creative more than ever. Assistant producer Shannon Neilon jumped in to produce the shoots. She was able to wrangle locations, dial-in logistics, and be master of order and keep us on track. Director of Photography Jamie Francis shot both pieces. The combination of his timelapse photography and photojournalistic style was a perfect fit for these stories, and his creative partnership was absolutely priceless. Emma (and her dog, Roscoe) came on board as talent for the Alvord Desert piece. Emma’s voice brought such energy and depth to the voiceover, and her and Roscoe’s chemistry on camera totally made the piece! José Márquez, the editor who cut the pieces, has such a great eye for detail and movement and was able to craft the feeling I was going for in such a beautiful way. Getting to direct something with no clients involved and a creative vision we crafted ourselves was incredible, and I think it allowed everyone a ton of creative freedom.
5: What was the most challenging aspect of this project, and did you learn anything new?
At Blue Chalk, we primarily work in the documentary realm. Working with real people and the constraints of their realities is challenging, but some of the storytelling rules are built-in, which simplifies things somehow. One of the most challenging parts of this project was creating something from nothing, taking a nebulous idea and actually crafting it into something watchable. As I wrote the scripts for each piece, I tried to root them in reality (basing the characters and storylines on people or relationship dynamics I was familiar with), and I quickly realized that in order for these stories to be captivating, I needed to consider the broader world that each character existed within (even if that world is made up). Without the context, the stories felt forced and flat. The biggest challenge of this project was developing believable characters that the audience could connect with quickly.
