Awards

Getting awards make me feel uneasy. Like I'm supposed to feel superior or something. Perhaps it is part of my era, having grown up in the 1950-60's. Perhaps it is having grown up around so many simple people in farming communities from Missouri. While I am thrilled to be recognized for my work, crowing about it, or even too much 'marketing' makes me want to find a way back to my quiet home.

What ever that thing is, I can do the public speaking part.

This week I was deeply honored to have my show on the Jocotoco Antpitta receive the distinction of having been chosen as an official selection of the Beverly Hills, California "Going Green Film Festival". I think this hit me because after all isn't Los Angeles the center of the motion picture industry? Hollywood, movie stars and all of that. I mean I am from St. Louis and film birds. I am self taught. I live in rural Montana. My neighbors are Richardson's Ground Squirrels and Red-necked Grebes.

The idea for this show came from my friend Andrew who had spent quite a bit of time looking for this bird. He saw it run from the deep, dense and wet cloud forest cover to a compost pile grab and worm and disappear. He said, " I think you can get it."

So I hired Don, spent way too much money getting ready, found an overpriced guide, and we flew to Quito. I "hedged" my bet by staying for 2 months so I could film in a bunch of great places, then adding an extension to Buenos Aires and planning another month in Argentina. Don would stay for about a month and we would film near Quito, Mindo, Cuenca, and Zamora. These are locations that appear from a map to be close by and easy to access.

We made friends with everyone, and I fell in love with Ecuador and its people. The food was fabulous and I rarely have felt more healthy. We found amazing reserves, several run by the Jocotoco Foundation, but- We did not see the Jocotoco Antpitta on our first visit to Tapichalaca.

This is like making a movie and the star doesn't show up. Suddenly, you are in a panic because there is no script... and you are speaking in Spanish while trying to rapidly figure out how to salvage your vanishing investment.

I had forgotten how hard it is to work in foreign countries.

Now I am flying to LAX. Probably no one I know will be there. And to top it off... I get to schmooze with people so I can find the funds to make a conservation-oriented TV series about the rare birds of the world.

Please- send me back to a foreign country, so I can work. My partners at Cortina can do the awards, I'll just film the birds.