10 Questions with Wes Thomsen, Director of the Documentary Scrapped

Wes Thomsen is an award-winning filmmaker who recently produced, directed, and starred in a riveting and entertaining documentary about scrapbooking titled "Scrapped." He's also a biker. Recently, Drex Davis, President of Scrapjazz.com, sat down with Wes for a "10 questions with" segment.

For more information about Wes and Scrapped, visit www.scrappedmovie.com

How did you get the idea for Scrapped?

I had finished up a docu-drama that centered around motorcycles, and the people and places involved with that culture. It was very comfortable and it dealt with my own kind of midlife faith-crisis.

I was talking with a filmmaker friend of mine who knows I like to try to pull deep and meaningful messages out of real-life activities. I was going on about doing the next project about NASCAR and talking about the redundancy of life and talking about enjoying the process of life, not just the goal. She suggested doing a complete 180 and make something for women who, say, scrapbook. She more or less dared me to do it.

We had a good laugh and wondered how in the world I could write a story around why someone like me - a burly biker - would be in scrapbooking circles and why anyone would care.

Not a week later I was at a friend's house - we had taken a vacation together with our spouses two years previously - and she pulled out her scrapbook of our trip. I couldn't remember much of the trip, that is, until I saw the scrapbook. When I looked through the layouts in the album, the memories of the trip came flooding back. It was then I caught the vision.

It really is different when a scrapbook is filled with YOUR pictures and YOUR experiences.

I understood the value and it got me thinking about how much of my life I'm really missing. Why did I know more about the lives of celebrity bike builders, musicians and sports figures than my own life? Why could I recite lines from movies I saw ten years ago but not remember the vacation I took a couple summers previous?

This whole concept of living a fictitious reality set the hook for me. It presented an unlikely main character that had a quest against the odds to find truth. The challenge was to weave a story around real-life people saying completely unscripted things to give a sense of something so honest that the viewer would hopefully be compelled to apply the story personally to their life. It's harder than it looks.

When people who haven't seen the movie ask you to describe it, what do you say?

The elevator pitch is "Biker Scrapbooks." The longer version is about a guy who sees a friend scrapbooking and realizes that as much as he fears the perceived skills, lifestyle and feminine attributes that go along with the activity, he's compelled to pursue it because of the relational void in his life. The deeper he goes into the culture, the more personal connections he makes with its patrons, finding the heart of scrapbooking though preserving his own memories and stories.

You're male. You're also a burly goatee-wearing biker. What reaction do people have when they meet you at a scrapbooking show or crop, and has it surprised you?

What's been surprising is how welcoming, inclusive and nurturing people can be. I've run into a couple women who were on the defensive and viciously guarded their passion, but, overwhelmingly, people have treated me like an old friend. It's really blown my mind because there are constantly little things that pop up that remind me how foreign the culture is to me but it doesn't seem to matter to anyone else.

Scrapbookers consistently seem to be funny, creative people who like to find fun and still manage to live their lives with amazing transparency. Some of their deepest challenges, triumphs, loved ones and personal thoughts are made brutally public by their craft.

How has the documentary been received and what parts of the world have most embraced it?

Scrapped has been received surprisingly well. I assumed it would have a life limited to the scrapbook community but it has found interest outside it, just based on the merits of the story. That's wonderful because I think it could really get people fired up about scrapbooking that would have never considered it or even heard of it. (Yes, there are still a few dozen people that don't know what scrapbooking is.) I have been fortunate enough to sell the movie in well over a dozen countries as well as have a screening tour in New Zealand and Australia. (Thanks, Kiwi Scraps!) As rooted as scrapbooking is in America, it's still ramping up abroad. That's driven interest internationally for Scrapped.

What is the coolest opportunity you've had as a result of making the movie?

Having a premiere. I will never, ever forget Scrapped's premiere night. Over 500 scrapbookers and their spouses, as well as scrapbooking and entertainment industry people, came to the premiere - held in a beautiful, swank five-floor club in downtown Minneapolis that was built at the turn of the century. Many who came hadn't ever seen a scrapbook. I've heard back from many people who were inspired to give scrapbooking a whirl after the premiere.

I was handing out cigars, got to see everyone dressed up, and saw how over the top some scrapbookers can get when given the chance to have a night out. Everyone there, scrapper or not, felt the groovy vibe of shared stories and shared lives.

What's the zaniest experience you had as you made the movie?

The most surreal moment was sitting with a bunch of artistic movie fiends in Milan, Italy watching my movie in an international competition. It was crazy to see Midwestern housewives, friends and family - all from my movie - displayed on a 60-foot screen with Italian subtitles.

I didn't win but was amazed to even make it into the same category as documentaries from the BBC and other big networks and studios. At the showing, I was impossibly self-conscious and intimidated but it turns out Middle America is more interesting to the rest of the world than I had originally thought.

The moral of the story is that people are people no matter where you go. Everyone has a story and people want to hear it. That's the core of scrapbooking as well.

Can you tell us how you went about making Scrapped, what worked best, and what didn't?

Well I can suggest that trying to make your first feature, direct a crew, be on top of cameras using digital technology that just hit the market and try to have deeply revealing, coherent interviews with people simultaneously might reveal a lack of delegation skills.

I actually ended up doing a bunch of the interviews myself after the crew had taken off as well as most of the scenes where I'm talking into the camera directly. I just went with what was comfortable: me, a camera, some lights and someone to talk to. I would hop up during the conversation to move the camera, zoom in or whatever so that when I cut it together with the other interviews done with two cameras it would all look the same.

What did you learn about scrapbookers and scrapbooking as you made the movie that you didn't know before?

Absolutely everything.

1) Scrapbookers don't bite.

2) Everyone apologizes before showing you a page but the pages always look fabulous.

3) You don't have to be artistic. When you're dead and gone your grandchildren won't care if the blue rickrak doesn't match the grey paper.

4) Done is better than perfect.

5) It's easier to buy products and take pictures than it is to use them.

6) Asking questions is good. Some people give you answers regardless so you might as well ask.

7) Being vulnerable and inept makes other people want to loan you tools.

8) Find out if someone does chunky, archival, digital, artistic, heritage, craftsy or exhibition style scrapbooking before you tell them what you really think about the genre.

9) Chocolate really does make everything better.

10) I don't really want to know what happens at women's weekend getaways.

Do you have any future plans to do more film-work in the scrapbooking industry?

Yes! I just signed a distribution deal for Scrapped with a company that is encouraging me to do a sequel, online videos and possibly a TV show. They're a regular movie distributor and know nothing about scrapbooking so I'll be able to work in the general public and hopefully get more "outsiders" involved in the activity. I have met a lot of characters in the scrapbook industry that I've kept in contact with so I'm still able to attend conventions and keep up with things. I think having a foot in the media and cropping worlds will present some interesting possibilities in the near future.

What would you say to people who are on the "fringe" of scrapbooking or who haven't yet jumped in and tried it - anything they should know?

To men I would say you don't have to get creative if you don't want to. The main thing is to preserve your pictures and stories. Scrapbooking products help make sure they last as long as possible. If nothing else it keeps everything in one place. Wouldn't you want to see a book made by your great grandfather about crossing the Great Plains in a wagon as a child; a team of horses working a farm; what Chicago, New York or LA looked like a hundred years ago? What about your dad's first car? Your parents' first house? Maybe what football gear looked like at a game four decades ago. It might be too late for you but you can give seemingly everyday occurrences in your life to your family generations from now.

Heck, bring your tailgating pictures from Sunday's game, the hunting trip or bikes from the rally you went to arranged together in an album to show the guys at work. Make them jealous.

To young people I would say making an album helps remember your friends and "roots" when you move away to college, out of college to a job or off to get married. In a digital world nothing is as meaningful and old school as a real world, paper and binder album. Don't lose your photos on a crashed drive. Print them and paste them.

To people who aren't artsy or creative or don't feel like a scrapbooker I'd say who cares? It's all you baby. You can sneak in to any major retailer and get the basics to put something together or get supplies online and dabble. Start by making a small book about an event or person as a gift, something you can finish in a couple hours. Just put in some pictures and write some quick notes. See what they think. You might be surprised.