Why did you make a movie about scrapbooking?
Do you actually scrapbook yourself?
Is Scrapped a comedy, documentary or drama?
Who paid for your movie / were you sponsored?
Was this movie made by Creative Memories?
Is this your first movie?
What's your next project?

Q: Why did you make a movie about scrapbooking?
A: I was talking with my film maker friend Lauralee who asked what I was going to do now that I had finished up a recent project on motorcycles and mid life crisis. One of us came up with the idea of doing a project about middle aged women who scrapbook since it seemd like a 180 degree turn from what I was familiar with. We would both take credit but regardless that was the beginning of the joke for me, I was getting ready to write a script about NASCAR and the redundency of life, enjoying the journay and all that stuff when this scrapbook idea kept hounding me. It became serious when I was over at my friend Bryan and Rebecca's house. Rebecca was the only person that I knew scrapbooked and I taunted her ruthlessly about it. Ourconversation turned to a vacation we took a few years reviously. Rebecca mentioned she was finally getting around to sorting and cropping the pictures and brought out her scrapbook. Looking at the end result of all that I had mocked her for got me thinking.there was a sory here somewhere.

Honestly, I also did it as a personal challenge. It seemed like an impossible task at the time to pitch, write and complete a story about someone so foriegn in such an undiscovered realm to the movie world. It seemed like someone that could pull this off could write their way out of anything. :0)
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Q: Do you actually scrapbook yourself?
A: I knew absolutely nothing about scrapbooking when I started the outline for the script. I literally did not know names fo rthings, had never seen any of the tools, didn't know how pictures were stuck on the pages and had never realised these products were designed to be archival or photo safe ( depending on your product affiliation. )

I fought several offers and urges to read books, take classes and dabble in it while I was writing the script because I wanted to go through the process on camera for honest reactions. I actually have much more footage to represent the learning step by step but only about 5 minutes of it actually makes it to the screen.

Now I do scrapbook and will continue to do it long after I'm into my next project. It's also rubbed off on my wife Connie who vowed to never do it and my mother. I don't do anything near what you see in magazines. I just arrange simple pictures and hand write in my notes and doodle around pictures with some minimal embellishments. I prefer the old school plain black pages with photo corners and silver or gold writing. Kind of a cross between what your grandma did and doodling on your notebook in high school.
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Q: Is this a comedy, documentary, or drama?
A: Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Since the reality show reared it's ugly head ( I'm as addicted as anyone else ) there have been some lines blurred in how reality is portrayed in media. It's no secret people on camera are put in situations to achieve a predicable response and programs are edited down from dozens and sometimes hundreds of hours to form characters we're used to seeing in stories... good guys, bad guys, beautiful women, nerdy types, etc. Even in straight line news we can see how stories are sometimes slanted depending on the conclusion the writer found. To complicate matters there has been a whole new genre popping up of stories that move from reality to fiction and back seamlessly. Scrapped pretty much takes advantage of all this chaos and intentionally does whatever it wants. The story is all real thoughts and reactions by Wes the writer but some things like the opening scene for example was chosen to be a re-enactment instead of a narrative. All the interviews are completely real which make up the main body of the project and there are a couple scenes that are over the top caricatures of situations for a laugh. The main concept was to tell a free form story which, although built of fact and real life interviews with real people sharing their thoughts and opinions, was assembled into a large dramatic story with a main character and their journey from one place of thought and action to another, which is called the characters arc.

The movie follows a specific outline: The main character has a problem, he is fearful he's missing out on something scrapbooking might provide and is discontent with his current situation. The first body of the movie explores the foundation of scrapbooking from a philosophical perspective and the need for pictures, stories and memory. Then there is an intentional effort to show people the basics of scrapbooking through the characters journey and expose them to how simple it is underneath all the commotion and flash. The third act explores peoples personal connection with the activity with interviews from several people who are not the stereotypical scrapbookers. They share the passion behind the activity. Finally it becomes personal as the main character challenges his conflicts and finds a connection with the subject matter.
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Q: I see ( fill in the blank ) products in your movie or I saw you at ( Fill in the blank ) company booth at a convention. Did they pay for your movie? Who sponsored it?
A: Scrapped was originally intended to be partially funded by a sponsor. Some major companies showed interest but not in actually funding it. The whole concept of a guy scrapbooking, particularly one who looked like he was mocking it didn't fit anyone's marketing model. I was in negotiations with a company that had mixed interest and within two weeks of actually shooting there was still no supplemental corporate funding. I had booked a flight for my friend Tag to come in and help shoot the project, rented thousands of dollars of equipment and my other three crew members had blocked a week out of their schedules so I had a heart to heart talk with my wife and asked if we could get a home equity loan ( second mortgage ) to cover some costs. She said yes and we haven't received any actual money from a company yet. We have however partnered with several companies who help promote the movie because they either like the message it presents and it helps promote srapbooking to guys, people that are afraid to try it or have never even heard of it. We have never officially endorsed someones product and have never taken money from a company but have had several companies sponsor events and screenings. One example would be the movies premiere where Creative Memories, Fiskars, Scrapbook Adhesives, Memory Makers Magazine, Fujifilm and others donated products for gift bags or companies that help sponsor screenings by covering travel expenses or reduced prices for ticket sales.

At the end of the day, the script ( the shots, the message and the final edit ( good or bad ) were all under the control of the writer / director.
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Q:Was this movie made by Creative Memories?
A: No. In fact we were not even granted permission to show behind the scenes in their factory until approx. ten days before we started shooting. We wanted to show the Creative Memories lab for the sheer geek factor. The movie was aimed at guys and people not familiar with scrapbooking. Most people have no idea product are designed for extreme longevity and nobody tests their products like Creative Memories. They're also the largest company in the business so it was kind of like doing a show on American made motorcycles and being able to shoot at the Harley Davidson R&D facilities. Love them or hate them, they're bigger than their top six competitors combined and one of the few places where we could bring cameras into a factory and see products actually being made in America and not out sourced to Southeast Asia. We didn't have the budget to go overseas and CM headquarters was an hour from our studio. :0)

Rhonda Anderson was on board with the project right away, she eventually was the champion that got us in the door and many people in our interviews had Cm albums but you'd be hard pressed to find garden variety scrapbookers who don't have at least a couple laying around somewhere.
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Q: Is this your first movie?
A: yes, it's the first feature length project. The project before this one was called Brethren. It was made in a TV format of 52 minutes with natural breaks for commercials. Brethren was the first traditional script I had ever written completely by myself. I have edited, shot, worked on several projects for other people but hadn't ever produced and directed one myself before.
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Q: What's your next project?
A: I am currently laying the groundwork for two new projects that are not scrapbook related but if Scrapped turns out to be a popular project I would also like to follow up with shorter TV format pieces ( 52 minutes with breaks ) that explore areas of scrapbooking we weren't able to in Scrapped itself. One program dedicated to digital scrapbooking, another episode about artistic scrapbooking, heritage albums, interviews with scrapbooking celebrities, even an episode that explores scrapbooking in different cultures. Within two weeks of Scrapped's public release it sold copies in Sweden, Canada, France, Italy, The Philippines, New Zealand, Australia and even made it's way to Ireland. Scrapbooking around the world written, directed and interviews lead by Wes could have some fun and enlightening situations.
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