Independent Filmmaker, William Nelson Listened To His Father Tell Stories About The Good Old Days And Found His Inspiration To Make His Film, Rum Runners.

Independent Filmmaker, William Nelson listened to his father tell stories about the good old days and found his inspiration to make his film, Rum Runners.

Independent Filmmaker, William Nelson listened to his father tell stories about the good old days and found his inspiration to make his film, Rum Runners.

Independent Filmmaker, William Nelson listened to his father tell stories about the good old days and found his inspiration to make his film, Rum Runners.

The World Premiere of William Nelson's epic film, "Rum Runners," will run for one special night event on April 13, 2016, at 9:00 p.m., at the AMC Studio 30, 2949 Dunvale Rd, Houston, TX, US. Filmmaker William Nelson will be attending the event. Written and directed by William Nelson, "Rum Runners," inspired by actual events, is the epic story of two best friends, "Vic Hanson" and "Don Calyer," who get caught running an illegal booze trade across the Canadian border 1920's.

"… we used three real planes and the prop plane we blew up."

What was the catalyst for writing Rum Runners?

"The Catalyst for writing Rum Runners was probably when my niece came up north from Hollywood to work in set design on a Spielberg movie. She had this grand idea to make a trailer in order to sell a story-line she had worked on for some time. My Dad inspired the film. Having grown up on the end of Felts Field in Spokane WA, he heard stories from all these guys who had been involved."

So what happened?

"We made the trailer. Gold Fever is where I began to hone my skills in Lighting, Props, Casting, Video and sound including foleying (which I love doing). We (family and neighbors) came together to build sets, gather props, act in bit parts and in general fill in all the positions it takes to create a movie/set. It was truly an inspiration to me and I spent the next two years writing all the stories I had had bottled up for years, Rum Runners came out of that experience.

"My Dad inspired the film. Having grown up on the end of Felts Field in Spokane WA, he heard stories from all these guys who had been involved. He worked as an airport rat and spent most of his time Felts Field. He became a pilot eventually, learning from guys like Bigalow Johnson, trading them mechanical work for lessons. I still have his original log books and some photos from those days. He also rode an Indian, everybody rode back then but he was an Indian guy. During the war, he drifted away from aviation moving over to the shipyards of Bremerton WA working as a welder and a riveter for Boeing."

"Around the time I was 17 or so, my Dad introduced me to Don Cauler (one of my characters in Rum Runners) and Earl Ingle and Skitter Carleson both pilots and storytellers. This is where I gleaned my insider information about all the antics that had gone on during prohibition. Telling these stories just felt like something that needed to be shared and movies was the perfect medium. I've also written scripts that are total fiction like Through Iron Eyes which is based on the 'life' of a 1941 Harley Davidson, based on real events from the perspective of a motorcycle, 'I don't think that's ever been done before'. I have already written and directed a couple of horror films, tuning up and honing director skills so that the stories that are closest to my heart can be done, shared, told the way I want to have them done."

"I feel very excited to be able to have accomplished as much as I have already in terms of getting from the handwritten version of a story to the end result on screen. Directing is exciting for sure, especially when you have the right cast/crew it falls together to create this vision, it's thrilling; beyond words. I'm a hands-on kind of guy with my work and have purposely done almost every job that it takes to make a movie come to life. Then I know what I'm asking of my cast/crew. It's important to me to walk a mile in the shoes."

Is the film turning out the way you originally saw it in your mind?

"Rum Runners is definitely living up to my vision there are some things that I would like to have done differently given the budget to work with. This is an ultra-low budget film but If you didn't know that in advance you might not guess it, partly because of our editor, Brian Corder at TE Productions in C.A., he has an amazing eye for detail and has helped make this vision one to be proud of."

What was the most difficult part of filming Rum Runners?

"What was the hardest part of Rum Runners? That's easy NO Funding!!!! When our funding as promised fell through and with the loss' we had to endure it's a wonder we did get it finished. I convinced my wife to draw some of our retirement out and then enlisted every able body I knew to come together (most were unpaid) and we set out to overcome those false promises. Also, I personally created most of the props and a large majority of the sets, I had an old friend Frank Palmer and my brother Bob Nelson come on board as my 'set design' team and if it hadn't been for all their efforts the whole scheme would have fallen flat. Creating a life-size bi-plane is no easy task but with a lot of help from a lot of people (parts, fabric, glue, engine pieces, wings, special paint just to name a few obstacles) the thing came to life. When the paint finally dried we blew her sky high and the visual of a ball of fire was all that remained and looked perfect on film. That and the 1928 Model A pickup we created out of scavenged auto parts, cardboard and plywood held together with duct tape and body putty, carrying bootlegged booze that also went up in another ball of fire, did I mention I love to blow things up?"

Tell us about your production team.

"As far as Producers for Rum Runners we started out with just ITD Productions, William and Teresa Nelson, and along the way, an agreement was made with Bryan Martin of Back to One Productions to come on board with financing, casting, and distribution. Bryan personally was to provide one more video camera and run that himself, which he did. He even did a small part in the film which was later cut due to movie length and relevance to story line. Back to One (Bryan Martin, Rick Cook, and Natasha Dee Davis) as a production company did not bring to the table anything else that was previously discussed, that being the case production credits have not been assigned to Bryan Martin or Back to One. Yves Bright and Brian Boyd came on board as Producers due to the amount of time and energy they both contributed to the creation of Rum Runners. Yves and Brian gave us everything they had and more, assisting with things likes props and costumes without ever having been asked. They were consummate professionals and that being said is the reason for credit and reward.

Tell us about the planes you used in the film.

"During the making of Rum Runners, we used three real planes and the prop plane we blew up. The three real planes were owned by different individuals, two were in Spokane, WA and the third was located in Jefferson OR as these types of planes are rare and hard to find. The plane owners/pilots were so accommodating and really excited to participate. We were very fortunate to be able to use them as well as all of the old Autos in the film. We tapped every source available over the course of two years to line up everything we needed and had wonderful cooperation from friends and strangers to make it happen."

Is your family supportive of your passion for film?

"My family has always been there for me when it comes to my crazy ideas, especially my addiction to movie making (my wife is a bit more hesitant, she's an accountant so her view is about money, but she usually comes around) and they all usually end up participating. Like with Snapped and Fire Worm, my two horror films, all of our kids and grandkids and even my wife's ex-husband, Mitch Manina and his wife were all here together, living and working on the films. Mitch has worked as a camera guy on all of our films including Rum Runners; it's a family deal I guess."

"Our son Kasey Nelson lives and works here and has worked on all of our films as a key grip, lighting, sound, best boy all those hats. Our daughter Mariah Manina from NC has been in two of the films, she is Slack Alice in Rum Runners, that's the speakeasy owner, and was the Mom in "Snapped" as well as being a script supervisor, first AD, craft services you know anything that was needed. Our other daughter Kitt Nelson from KC was here working craft services and had a bit part in Rum Runners as well so no one gets left out. We use every warm-blooded body available."

What was your casting process?

"Our casting process for Rum Runners was kind of spontaneous. We had been working with a number of talented folks from right here in Stevens County, WA so I was able to draw from a pool of familiar actors and specifically one talented young singer Meredith Kerry."

"Locally there are a number of theater groups so we had been watching them perform over the last 5 years and that was very helpful. For the bigger parts though Bryan Martin did put us in contact with Yves Bright, Crystal Victoria Bell, Brian Stewart Boyd as well as Vernon Wells. Our good friend Billy St. John has been in everything we've done including a film called 'Wages of Sin' way back 2005 we became friends when he came up to work on that film."

"We developed a great rapport with everyone which was really helpful considering we were all living here on our property together. We did rent a cabin on a lake a few miles away for our actors and that gave them a little space away from the behind the scenes hustle and bustle so they could relax and decompress. We also were lucky enough to have been connected with Kerry Wallum (the airplane mechanic in Rum Runners) who has many years of experience in the industry, he has brought so much expertise to the table for us. It is an invaluable connection and we will continue to work together."

How did the local community respond to the filming?

"As the days wore on, we found random ways to entertain ourselves and the local population who were all aware of the filming. When we were ready to explode the plane crash site in my Mom's pasture we contacted the local volunteer fire department to let them know all was well, it was just another ITD Production in progress. Well, the fire Chief was ok with that but he had no idea that people for six miles in all directions, a very rural neighborhood I might add, would send his phone ringing off the hook with concerned callers reporting a rather noisy incident which required investigation. Our fire Chief came by and shook hands all around and watched the filming for a while, he really was ok with it."

Tell us about your directing style.

"Directing for me is seeing my vision come to life; I have only directed my own screenplays, so I can't speak for making someone else's vision realized. I just know the creative process for me is fascinating and I'm driven to bring life to my stories in order to move the viewer, in the same way, it moves me."

"Working with people who are dedicated to the process like Mitch Manina, Kerry Wallum and my good friend Joe Wulczynski, these guys will do everything it takes even with the budget constraints we've been working with to make my vision possible. For instance, with Fire Worms the budget was nonexistent but with lots of personal dedication from Joe, Mitch, Kasey, Billy St. John and a really great cast and crew, we did this sequel that was even better than Snapped the original movie. Snapped was released by ITD Productions and is available on Amazon.com, marketing and distribution for Snapped and Fire Worms has been difficult as we have not really found the right Distributor Yet."

"I just know the creative process for me is fascinating and I'm driven to bring life to my stories in order to move the viewer, in the same way, it moves me."