presentation – completed, I had earned a co-writer OUT OF THE credit. That film, Footsteps to FRYING PAN AND the West, was recognized as a INTO THE FIRE OF Spur Award finalist (the win- ner that year was Boone and DOCUMENTARY Crockett: The Hunter Heroes, FILMS written by Hutton and Dan Gagliasso for Gary L. Fore- man’s Native Sun Productions). Gaglias- so, by the way, was the lead writer on the By Candy Moulton the experience, learning some key Trail Center project so he earned double I became a documentary film pro- lessons from that LA producer: 1) Eat recognition in the Spur Awards that year. ducer by accident and entirely because whenever you see food because you The first film project I wrote and pro- of WWA. Twenty years ago, a content won’t get regular meals. 2) Stay behind duced myself came seven years later and developer for BPI, a multimedia the camera. 3) Get everybody to sign a was a short film for a stagecoach experi- production company in Boston, called release before you film them. 4) Don’t ence, also for the National Historic Trails WWA member Paul Andrew Hutton, worry about the current scene being Interpretive Center. Two years after that who was nationally known for his many filmed; instead get ready for the next production, we were deep into planning appearances in documentary one. 5) Watch what’s going on in front of a major documentary films being pro- of the camera, but more importantly film, In Pursuit of a Dream, duced for a variety watch for what is happening behind it! developed for the Oregon- of cable television I earned my paycheck the first day California Trails Association, channels. The of filming when I saw an irate member which won the Spur Award company was pursu- of the wagon train making a beeline for documentary film in ing a project in toward her husband, who was involved 2010, my first major award Wyoming for the in a scene. I managed to intercept her for writing and producing a National Historic before she could ruin the shot. Paul Andrew Hutton documentary film. The film Trails Interpretive I knew nothing about film produc- won many other awards and ultimately Center and sought a content researcher tion, but what served me and the pro- went into distribution to the education and a scriptwriter. Hutton gave them my duction was the fact that I did know market under an agreement OCTA nego- name for research and suggested a the story. tiated with Landmark Media. scriptwriter as well. As we worked on script development We had a talented group of content The company got the job, and so did and later shoots, I had a bigger role; and film experts who had a hand in I. Production moved quickly. Less than the company recognized my under- that production, including several who a month after being hired, we were standing of westward migration. By are WWA members: BPI director and filming in Wyoming. I’d started as a the time we wrapped the shooting and cinematographer Bob Noll, line pro- researcher, but my role quickly changed. had the film – a five-screen theatrical The film called for footage of a Ice Age foods and geology expert Bruce Bjornstad provides commentary for flms for the Hanford wagon train. At the time, I was traveling Reach Interpretive Center. Candy Moulton with Ben Kern and his California Trail Wagon Train. When the LA-based pro- ducer asked if I could hire wagons and find people to appear in the shoot, it was easy for me to say yes. I hired Ben’s wagon train and found other wagons, teams and people from throughout Wy- oming to be involved. I found wardrobe and props. Along the way I was given the title of associate producer. Since I did not even know what an associate producer did, I called WWA member Miles Swarthout and asked him. He told me, “Anything the producer does not want to do.” My first exposure to production was in early June 1999. I managed to survive DECEMBER 2019 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE 17 ducer Quackgrass Sally and film Awards from the National Cowboy and content experts Hutton, Will and Western Heritage Museum for Bagley and Terry Del Bene. Best Documentary Script in 1998 That film set me on a path I for Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the never sought and did not expect. Corps of Discovery and in 2013 for In the years since, I have devel- The Dust Bowl. He won a prime- oped several dozen films and time Emmy for Outstanding Writ- multimedia pieces with Noll and ing for Nonfiction Programming BPI for museums and visitor dress. I gleaned many other details and also Outstanding Nonfiction centers ranging from the Flint Hills – that ever-important writing color – Series in 2009 for The National Parks: Discovery Center and Hanford Reach from Bagley’s book. During filming he America’s Best Idea and was a nominee Interpretive Center to the Minuteman was on hand to explain the background for a Primetime Emmy for The Dust Bowl Missile National Historic Site. to the story and for the episode “The Great Plow-Up.” While filming in Texas, provide critical Duncan has also written or consulted I earned the name Three overview for and advised on documentaries that are Horse Woman from Dr. filmmakers and not centered on the American West, Jerry Bread, a Comanche, actors. That film including miniseries documentaries The who told me the name Mountain Massacre Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, Prohibition and fit me perfectly – “You won Hutton, Kurtis The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. know,” he said, “nag, and Jamie Schenk Hutton, besides giving me a hand up, nag, nag.” Yep! That’s a Spur Award in has appeared as a subject matter expert what producers do. The 2006. and has also been a writer for many finished film, Settling the Plains: The For any documentary film producer, documentary films. Among his writing Story of Fort Griffin, is an interpretive the work of the writers is critical. Pro- credits are the TV movie Eighty Acres of documentary that tells a story of a ducers rely on not just the writer for Hell, the TV movie documentaries Car- place from two unique perspectives – the film under production, but also the son and Cody: The Hunter Heroes and Time the American Indian view from Bread writers who have chronicled any of the Machine: Boone and Crockett and an historian’s perspective provided details of the story being told. – The Hunter Heroes. He also by Henry Crawford. *** wrote the short film, The This point-counterpoint technique Ken Burns is the most recognized Wilderness Road: Spirit of A plays well across the three-screen pre- documentary filmmaker working to- Nation, and wrote several sentation. It is in typical documentary day, having produced dozens of films, scripts for the documen- style: subject matter experts or “talking including the exceptional Country tary TV series Investigating heads” telling a story that is visualized Music that aired in September on PBS. History. with a blend of layered archival photo- Burns has focused on some of the epic On camera, Hutton has graphs and images, small-scale reenact- stories of the American West, includ- been featured in a number ments and original B-Roll (supplemen- ing Lewis and Clark: the Journey of the of series including The American West, tal footage) that set the scenes. Corps of Discovery, The Dust Bowl and America: Facts vs. Fiction, Gunslingers Having the opportunity to bring The West itself. and American Experience programs on stories to life on a screen – either big Dayton Duncan is one of the best- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, or small – is work and fun all rolled known documentary film writers. Most Custer’s Last Stand, Billy the Kid and together. And the work of producing of his work has been in coordination Wyatt Earp. He has also been on The has made me a better writer because I with Burns. He wrote nine episodes of Wild West, History’s Mysteries, The Untold now know the real importance of the The West, including “Ghost Dance,” West and The Real West. His work on small details – the “color,” as the great “One Sky Above You,” “The Geog- documentary films as writer and subject popular nonfiction writer and editor raphy of Hope,” “Fight No More expert has spanned more than three Dale L. Walker once taught me. Forever” and “The People.” decades. He has three Spur Awards and When Bill Kurtis and Hutton Duncan wrote The National Parks: Wrangler Awards for both writing and produced a film about the Mountain America’s Best Idea, The Dust Bowl and on-camera work. Meadows Massacre for Investigating Country Music, all TV miniseries docu- Former WWA president Kirk Ellis History, I had a chance to assist with mentaries. He also wrote multiple epi- won a Spur Award in 2006 for Hell on field production and carefully dissected sodes for the TV movie documentaries Wheels, an episode of the Into the West Will Bagley’s book, Blood of the Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps TV miniseries, but he is best known for Prophets, to get the details correct, such of Discovery, Mark Twain and Horatio’s his work on the miniseries John Adams, as the fact that the 8-year-old girl who Drive: America’s First Road Trip. for which he won two Emmy Awards carried the surrender “flag” for the Duncan won Spur Awards from (among the 13 garnered by the series).