Filmmaker Brett Bentman, of B22 Films, has made quite a name for himself in the independent film world, releasing a slew of films in the last few years, three of which have been reviewed on “The Movie Buff.” We watched “90 Feet From Home” in 2019, which won an award at that year’s Independent Film Awards for ‘Best Actor’ (Adam Hampton) and runner up for ‘Best Picture.’
Bentman’s films, which have been set predominately in his home state of Texas, center on people living hard lives, and shine a spotlight on crime and the Rodeo life. “90 Feet From Home” focused uniquely on a strained father/son relationship and physical abuse, whereas Bentman’s follow up, “Copper Bill” focused more on crime and plotting.
At “The Movie Buff,” we recently had the chance to watch Bentman’s new film, “The Rodeo Thief,” which carries along on this Rodeo theme, casting its characters in that same Texas heat and brings back once again Bentman favorite Thom Hallum in the lead role. The film is shot well, and features a steady lens on its subject and its location.
We recently had the chance to talk to Brett Bentman about “The Rodeo Thief,” filmmaking, and some of the challenges and rewards of indie films, and what the future of filmmaking may look like amidst our new Covid landscape.
Hi, can you introduce yourself for our readers?
Brett Bentman (center) with actors Thom Hallum (left) and Dustin Rhodes (right).
BB: My name is Brett Bentman and I’m a writer/director originally form New York/New Jersey transplanted here in the middle of North Texas!
Can you tell us how long you have been a filmmaker? What got you into filmmaking? What are some of your inspirations?
BB: I started screenwriting while in college in Florida, so maybe 2002…so that gives me about 18 years of writing experience. I was mostly self-taught. I watched a couple online tutorials, purchased some screenwriting books, and just kept reading and re-reading the scripts to movies I loved.
As I evolved into a professional writer, I started seeing many of these projects I have bled through ultimately scrapped on the cutting room floor and it started to effect me. You start to second-guess yourself; and when you know you are truly good at something, you usually are. A good friend at the time (and short film director out of Austin) and I were working on a short down there, and one day out of the blue just sort of dared me to direct my own script and after thinking about it, I dove right in. Turns out it was a natural fit for me. Since then, writing and directing have gone hand-in-hand for me. Those directors out there that can hone both crafts inspire me. I think I get most of my drive to keep writing and creating from the ones before me that can do both and do them well.
How many films have you made? What was your favorite one? How about the hardest one for you to make?
BB: Let’s see, we’ve made eight feature films to date, and sprinkled in a ton of shorts and commercial projects. We stay busy!
My favorite project to shoot was “90 Feet From Home” for a myriad of reasons, but mostly because the process from start to finish was incredibly fluid. We had a great cast, a terrific script, the best crew, solid producers that believed in the project… you can’t write a better formula for success.
The hardest project is a tougher question because they’re all tough in their own ways. I think the western we shot recently, “Honor Among Thieves,” was incredibly challenging due to the fact that there were location issues and we were working with a long cast of characters we had no experience with prior to showing up on set.
We also shot a movie called “Kreep” five years ago that hasn’t seen the light of day, despite starring some pretty big Hollywood names, that kicked our butts. Bad producers ruined that one though… it’s all relative. There are so many factors that can twist your vision as a director, and once that happens, the project is shot. You have to tune out that noise and stay true to your movie.
We recently had the chance to watch both “Copper Bill” and “The Rodeo Thief,” which centered on cowboys and heists. Additionally, the films share a cohesive link. Did you plan the films to be part of a series, or was this an accidental finding?
BB: We often times work with the same actors across several projects and that’s done by design. When you work so often with the same talented individuals you start to operate on the same wavelengths where everyone knows what everyone else is wanting and expecting on set. We always thought it would be fun to connect “Copper Bill” with “The Rodeo Thief” and true fans of ours, if we have such a thing, will catch it and hopefully think we were being clever and enjoy the common “multi-verse” we are creating across a few of our films with a couple key characters.
What were some of your inspirations for “The Rodeo Thief” and Boone Carson’s character? What made you focus on these plots of down-on-their-luck thieves?
“Copper Bill” official poster.
BB: “The Rodeo Thief” is a special project for us. It’s half my own inspiration about a man who has done so many things society considers “bad” and his path to redemption where he feels he owes himself, and every street lamp he stands under an apology, and the other half is ripped straight out of the front page headlines of my partner in crime and wife, Tiffany, and her prior life before us meeting. The script came together as a combination of those two factors pretty nicely.
I’ve noticed in the three films of yours that I’ve watched that you seem to take pains to paint Texas in your scripts and cinematography. Can you tell us a bit about filming in Texas? What are some of your inspirations for centering your stories in Texas? Are you from there?
BB: Filming here is nice because it’s home. Our crew can go home every night, see their families, and come back to work the next day. There’s something to be said for that. We are not subjected to being in a hotel room for three weeks away from everyone we love. It almost serves as a mini-vacation to be able to work an 8-hour day and sleep in your own bed at night. It’s a luxury, really.
We have gotten really efficient as a production company in developing these “modern-day westerns” because they evidently occur all around us here in the Lone Star State. Inspiration is easy to draw from when you turn on the news or hear an East Texas country song and think, “what a great story.” There’s history everywhere, but Texans sure are proud of theirs, good or bad, and that’s what makes it emotionally fun to draw from. There are good guys who act so bad and bad guys that want so badly to be good. It just goes on and on.
What was it like working with Thom Hallum across your three movies? He has a widely different role from “90 Feet From Home” to “Copper Bill” and “The Rodeo Thief.” Did you always plan to use him in that manner?
BB: Thom is the best male working actor not in Hollywood. How he isn’t a household name yet, baffles me, and we are so lucky to have him as part of our stable. He’s the kind of director’s actor where you can trust him to show up and know all his lines and bring his own Hallum flair to every role. He can be a priest one day or he can be a serial killer the next—I don’t think he even knows his own limits, which is what you want in an actor. You want someone that jumps in full fledged and doesn’t worry about crashing through the wall every now and again.
The WWE/AEW guys deserve much more credit than they’re given. They’re great actors and every time they step into the ring, they’re natural entertainers.”brett bentman
I’ll also say there are times in our world where the clock is ticking and we don’t have the luxury of three or four takes at a scene and Thom is the only one-taker I have ever come across that you can ask him to nail something the first time and it’s “heard” and ten minutes later, you are moving on.
We loved your film “90 Feet From Home,” and both that and “Copper Bill” had you working with professional wrestlers. Can you tell us how you got hooked up with Shawn Michaels and Dustin Rhodes?
BB: The WWE/AEW guys deserve much more credit than they’re given. They’re great actors and every time they step into the ring, they’re natural entertainers.
I grew up a huge WWF fan, along with every other teenager in New Jersey, so working with ‘The Heartbreak Kid’—this guy I idolized as a child—was a dream come true. One day you’re watching him on pay-per-view, repelling across the arena catwalk into the ring, and the next day he’s sharing a car with you every morning on the way to set. Unreal. [Shawn Michaels] was such a great guy, and really did an amazing job in his role in “90 Feet From Home.”
We had a tough time filling that role before we hired Shawn. We cast a very wide net to find our Jimmy Devine and we heard lots of “we loved the script, but we have to pass” so we became pretty discouraged at one point. I even called my friend Michael Ironside—yes, the guy from “Total Recall”—and he talked me through a script re-write while soaking it up in his hot tub one Sunday afternoon. So with some new ideas, we slept on it. Not to sound cheesy, but Shawn came to me in a dream and in the morning I approached Tiffany with the idea and we started making calls. Shawn loved the role and we flew to Orlando to meet him at the WWE Performance Center and the rest was history.
Dustin was another wrestler I looked up to when his character was named ‘Goldust.’ He’s a Texan and lives just a few short hours from us here so we reached out to him about “Copper Bill.” Dustin slid into that role so easily and his bravado and grizzled voice really filled the role very nicely from the moment he stepped on set. We’re really good friends to this day and talk quite often and our wives are close as well. It’s nice to work with these guys you look up to and get to know them on a personal level too. Shawn and Dustin have both invited our family and boys to live events this past year so it’s been great to experience that part of our friendship as well.
Can you talk a bit about independent films? Do you think the medium is gaining traction with the proliferation of online streaming options and online film critics?
Thom Hallum in a scene from “The Rodeo Thief” (B22 Films, 2021).
BB: I have a different view of independent film than most people in my position. I mean, I know that with this year it’s more of a “nobody knows anything” approach, myself included, but this evolution of film has moved faster than anyone ever imagined. Look at the messy Warner Brothers deal and how that’s shaping the future of streaming content over movie theaters. I think the days of crowdfunding or private financing an indie film, putting it together without a home, taking the film to festivals and trying to sell it there–those days are dead. Filmmakers are now forced to find a new way to get it done.
Most of the distributors and producers I know are scrambling to set up deals with big box stores, streamers, and studios NOW—but the ship seams to have already sailed; and if you weren’t ahead of the curve years ago, you may be left on the shore with your investment deck resting at your feet. Don’t get me wrong, the whole grungy idea of piecing together ten bucks here and there to raise enough money to make your movie will never die, but will the project ever be seen is the bigger question now. It’s true that everyone is foaming at the mouth for content, but the content you are competing with now have bigger budgets and bigger names than your indie film.
We’ve been lucky to stay a head of the influx with our partners as they see our work as quality and find a good home for it. One more thing I will say is that this notion of “but my film has a name in it” really isn’t a good fallback option. Plenty of films out there with great Hollywood actors in them are failing to find shelf space. Years ago there was the idea that any semi-famous name would sell your film by just being on the poster, and now it’s shifted to the idea that your name has to be big enough to move other content aside, not to mention how difficult SAG is to work with due to the pandemic and these new standards for safer sets.
What is the biggest struggle of being an independent filmmaker? How about the biggest blessing?
BB: We haven’t really struggled much. I think we suffer from postproduction stress disorder at times. You’re engrossed in the process of making the film and then you hand it off to your editor and cross your fingers for a good first cut and make adjustments from there. We have a great editor though so there is a good level of trust and comfort with him. The biggest blessing has to be our relationships. We have the best crew and it’s taken us ten years to find them, not to mention the relationships we have with our distributor. We’ve taken this methodical and steady approach to finding our partners and it hasn’t always been easy; but we are here and the machine is cranking and not showing signs of stopping.
Do you have any upcoming projects in the future? Can you tell us about them?
BB: We have “The Rodeo Thief” hitting Wal-Mart and streaming nationwide on 3/2/21 and then we have “Honor Among Thieves” doing the same in June 2021. We just wrapped “Buckskin,” our 1820s trapper love letter to “The Revenant,” and we are in post with that project as we speak. We are close to a three picture deal for 2021 which will include one movie already written about land developers stealing land in Texas and a two-part story about Texas vampires… yes, vampires are coming.
Do you have any advice for people looking to get into independent films? What are the ups and downs?
BB: I get asked that question a lot and my answers are always the same. First, pick your producers wisely. It’s like Indiana Jones choosing the cup in “The Last Crusade.” If you choose unwisely, we all saw what happened to the greedy German. Good producers don’t care about the project as much as they care about the PERSON. Bad producers care about being in movies and taking snapshots on set. Be careful who you allow into your circle.
Second, don’t get into filmmaking to get rich. There is money to be made, but it’s a marathon not a sprint and remember: no matter how bad you want it, somebody else wants it just as bad. Be prepared to want the work more than the reward.
What are your hopes for the future? What are your goals and aspirations?
BB: I recently had a bitter actor say that nobody in Texas makes good movies, granted this person has never, and probably now WILL never, work with B22 Films, but that’s what we do. We make good movies and we make them well. In 2020 we worked three features and a TV pilot, all Covid compliant sets, and with the idea of safety first. We are excited to sign our three-picture deal for 2021 and continue our success with our partners.
I do want to say thank you to you and “The Movie Buff” for always being a stout champion of my work, it has not gone unnoticed. Congrats to you and your team on your success and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our team to yours!
