Episode 038 - Exclusive Stories of Lane Frost’s Documentary

Brad Hughes: We were actually in the process of raising funds for the doc- or for the film. And we had gotten to almost a million bucks raised and then 2020 happened.

Taylor McAdams: And so we all know what happened there.

Brad Hughes: Yeah. And so we actually, we went ahead and gave our investors the money back.

Taylor McAdams: Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Kick Your Boots Up podcast. Thanks for listening for another week. Episode Two of season two is here. We're so excited that you came back for more. I hope you loved last week. If you did. Feel free to comment below. Like, subscribe, tell all your friends about it because this episode is going to be even better if you thought last week was good. We have two guests back in studio with us, and wow, I mean, where do I even begin sitting next to me is Bradley Hughes. And next to him is James Trawick. They're with Tough Draw. I don't know if you guys have heard of that before but maybe you've heard of it through the Lane Frost  documentary called Lane Life | Legend | Legacy. We're here to talk all about it this week in this episode, but I've got to talk to these guys and get to know their story a little bit you know how it goes here on the podcast. So you, James, are currently in Godley, Texas, right? That's where you live. Okay, so tell us about Godley. What's that like living there?

James Trawick: Just south of just southwest of Fort Worth right off Chisholm Trail we, we moved down there from Denton, and five years ago, something like that. My wife's a teacher at Godley High School. She teaches film and does like a photography class and we love it godley's A small town is growing because of the toll road, but it's a good place. We have two little girls, you know, so to have that small town, or access to a small town, this close to Fort Worth and be able to come to stuff like this. You know, same same day, same morning, type kind of thing is definitely is nice. 

Taylor McAdams: So nice. And having twins. That's got to be so hard twin girls. What's that? Like?

James Trawick: It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun.

Taylor McAdams: Lots of Chaos. Maybe?

James Trawick: Yes. That's lots of stories. I could tell, you know, my wife and I found that we were having twins and I thought she was gonna pass out. Whenever we found out we were in. Okay, what happened the ultrasound and you know, they said we won the two for one prize. And she said, Excuse me. And anyway, yeah, life's been turned upside down for the last almost three years. Almost three years. Anyway, it's been it's been a lot of fun. I used to kid with him back when they were making babies having babies. And I told him that he was gonna have twins every time and they never did. He had boys.

Taylor McAdams: Ahh! Joke son you! 

James Trawick: And Low and behold, I had twins.So here we are.

Taylor McAdams: Man! Paybacks. That's gotta be rough.

Brad Hughes: I can't believe he admitted that on camera.

James Trawick: It’s the truth.

Brad Hughes: It is the truth.

Taylor McAdams: Well, Brad, one thing that I love about you guys is your friends. And we talked about that your guys's story is really cool. But I think for you specifically starting, you know, if before we start talking about how Tough Draw came about for you, you got a rare opportunity to do internships in California. So tell us about that. 

Brad Hughes: So- I coming out of high school, I wanted to go to just a film oriented school. And one of my teachers convinced my parents that are really out I'd like look, because I was thinking about going to like a trade school for video. Which at the time wasn't an accredited university. And one of my teachers talked to my parents and was like, you know, with his grades and stuff, he needs to go to a good like a solid, accredited school. So I went to the University of Texas in Austin. And

Taylor McAdams: Oh, we won't hold that against you. Oh, no.

Brad Hughes: I’ll do it on camera. But what was cool was when I went to visit, they had a program called UTLA And it was my goal was to finish all of my classes and make that the last thing I did so. And I achieved that. And I went out there and I interned for Ridley Scott and Ron Howard, which is, uh, Imagine Entertainment scot free. And yeah, I went out there, I got to experience a lot of cool things, sit in on the editing of Body of Lies and Taking Pelham 123 and got to help with some screen stuff and some casting type decisions for a film called The Incredible Shrinking Man, which they didn't even end up making. So it was a remake of an old film, but but I got to help with that process. So it was real cool just to kind of be in the industry and see the behind the scenes stuff and kind of figure out what I wanted to do.

Taylor McAdams: Oh, I think that was a great start for sure. And one thing I was most interested in when I read about you was Friday Night Lights. That's really cool too and your time there.

Brad Hughes: So while I was in Austin, the film or the show Friday Night Lights, I grew up in West Texas. I played football so the whole Friday Night Lights movie-

Taylor McAdams: You got it.

Brad Hughes: and then the the show coming out while I was in college, they actually filmed a lot of in Austin, so I got to work on the show a few times, just as kind of a PA. 

Taylor McAdams: Wow. 

Brad Hughes: But yeah, that that show in particular is actually really impactful. And that's kind Know what actually led to tough draw a little bit.

Taylor McAdams: really?

Brad Hughes: Yes Ma’am.

Taylor McAdams:Well, what an organic segue there. That's so so awesome to hear about. I think the two of you have a really cool story coming together because you had a roping, background cowboy background, you kind of left that behind to take it in from the behind the camera part of it. And I know you guys were friends, I've said that here before. So tell us about how it became to happen. Like, were you guys sitting at dinner one time, tell us about it.

Brad Hughes: So tough draw, the way that it actually started. When I was in school at UT, I took a screenwriting class and I wrote a script and the the assignment was wrapped the first act of a film. And so I wrote the first 30 pages. And at the time, I was really heavily impacted by Friday Night Lights. And another movie that I watched on repeat all the time was 8 Seconds . And so I love I've always loved riding, I've always loved rodeo. You know, growing up in West Texas, my grandpa had a cattle ranch and stuff. And like, you know, I was always around it, and I loved it. But I always chose to play team sports over trying anything else. But so I wrote basically, what I hoped to be the “Friday Night Lights” of bull riding, was kind of what my plan was. So I wrote the first 30 pages, and just kind of put it on the shelf and actually finished it while I was in LA, I was sitting on Venice Beach. And I wrote 70 something pages in by hand in like two days just because I don't like the beach. And I was missing Texas. And that's a true story. So I spent the next two days while all my friends were out and stuff. I spent the next two days on the couch, basically taking what I wrote by hand to script format. And I let some people at Scott Free read it. I was the lady there named Marissa Pullman that was a UT alumni. That was an executive right under Ridley. And she read it and was like, if you want to make this if you want to be a filmmaker and you want to make this film, go back to Texas, and so moved back. And just by circumstance. I actually ended up meeting Kim and Randy Bloomer  with Bloomer Trailers. Yes. And they are actually the ones that have introduced us.

Taylor McAdams: No way. Yeah. What's your story getting to the Bloomer  family?

Brad Hughes: Rodeo

James Trawick: Yeah, my sister and I were competing. We, you know, High School Rodeo . IFYR. I was in my freshman year of college at Hillsborough. 

Taylor McAdams: Okay,

James Trawick: Rode down for Paul Brown. And Miss Kim called me and said, I've got this guy you need to meet. He just moved back to Texas from LA and it was Brad. Yeah, that was 2008 or seven or nine or somewhere around in there. Fat kids, guys, right? Yeah. I've had twins since then. But anyway, yeah, Miss Kim introduced this. And he was trying to make it in Texas independently. And I didn't know anything about this other than I Team Roped at the time I had. Acting sounded interesting. Being involved in the film industry was mysterious. I had no idea what it was about. And we teamed up and we tried to make that film independently over the next several years. And you know, raising money for something like that is extremely difficult.  It is I don't think people realize that.

James Trawick: It's extremely difficult 

Brad Hughes:  Especially when you were as young as we were. Yeah, we were 18 and 19. Or, ya know, we were very young. 

James Trawick: And, and had never made a film. Yeah. Right. And you kept kept running into dead ends with people saying, you know, what, what have you done? What's your history? You know, we don't have one, but you know, invest in us, please. 

Taylor McAdams: Yeah, believe it. I promise we're good. 

James Trawick: Yeah, nobody will work harder for your dollar than we will. And it just, it was a good path for us to take because it, we took our lumps early on. And we had to learn a lot very quickly. And we dove in doing marketing content and getting involved with live music and 

Brad Hughes: Hunting, shows hunting. 

James Trawick:Yep, all sorts of stuff. There's nothing better than whatever, then a wedding or an archery elk hunt, to learn how to run a camera. Things are happening really quickly, your environment is changing really quickly. You have to learn and know your camera inside and out to be able to, to navigate those changes in real time. And so that's what you know, that was an I don't know, it was a situation that was forced upon us because we had to provide for ourselves and our families and but it was a good thing. Looking back. You always don't like being in those situations when you're in them. But when you have the opportunity to look back you're thankful for em.

Taylor McAdams: Definitely and sitting here today. You guys can probably look back at your humble beginnings and be so thankful for the opportunities that you had to get you to where you are. Right, absolutely. That's part of it. Absolutely. Yeah. And speaking of that, you guys recently got to do a really big thing but before we go more into that I just got to know for you guys personally, is it hard to mix friends and business together is Does that ever get challenging?

James Trawick: Yeah. 

Brad Hughes:Yeah.

Taylor McAdams: They nervously laugh,

Brad Hughes: it's, well, no, it's funny because-

James Trawick: It’s difficult for sure

Brad Hughes: His dad is has been a mentor for us. And he always kind of explained to us like, and he's been great about pouring wind wisdom into us and making sure that like, we see things for what they are. And, you know, he's he warned us a long time ago that sometimes in partnerships, especially like y'all have, you have to choose at times to be friends with business partners. And there's obviously been times where it's been difficult. But the cool thing is, is, even when it's tougher times come, we're always able to stick together through the business side to smooth things out and keep things flowing in the right direction on all fronts. And then, you know, but at the end of the day, I know that he can rely on me and I can rely on him and our families can rely on each other because we have to, because we're business partners.

James Trawick: Yeah. But that takes time, you have to earn that trust over a long period of time. And my dad, where he's coming from was family construction business, you know, and there's a lot of things that, you know, comes from his family businesses as well, in the oil field, or in the paving, you know, paving roads and highways and stuff like that. And it's hard to work with family, because you don't have that degree of separation to decompress. It kind of just goes everywhere with you, you know, whether it's good or bad. And so that's something that we've had to figure out, you know, healthy boundaries and things like that, but, but we're still here, we're still kicking.

Taylor McAdams: That’s right! You’re still kicking! In about guys in general, that go in business, because I feel like you guys can just punch each other in the mouth, and then you're like, hey, you want to go get a burger. So that's really cool.

James Trawick: We've had those days. 100% had those days.

Taylor McAdams:  I really respect that I really do.

Brad Hughes: It’s been a long time since we put on boxing gloves stuff. 

Taylor McAdams: Maybe you should do it on a podcast episode sometime. So um, yeah, no, that's, that's really good. I'm glad that you guys were transparent about that, thank you. Because that's, that's real. That's what life is all about. And then along the same line, you guys both probably work very differently. So, being partners, having the full momentum that you have, you have different roles, but at the same time, you work very differently. So tell us about your creative process, the way you work, how it all comes together for that.

Brad Hughes: I mean, I mean, you're 100%, right. And I think that one of the reasons why we're able to remain friends as close as we are, and be business partners and to be effective, and continue to grow our business and do different things, is because it took us a long time to get here. But we're, we finally have kind of come to this point where we know what lanes each other runs in the best. And so we kind of we allow each other to kind of take brains on different things. So when it comes to a lot of business decisions, or like dealing with, you know, dealing with people and stuff like that, like James is great. And he takes the runway on that, and he can drive that and like, you know, when it comes to tracking somebody down and making phone calls, and like finding the right person to talk to, to open a doorway, that's where he's always shined. And, you know, part of part of being close friends and business partners is just knowing when to get out of each other's way, at times. 

Taylor McAdams: That’s so good. 

Brad Hughes: And that's that's what's tricky, though. Because you know, as a as an owner, and, you know, being in business, like you want to, you're an owner, and you have control, and you want to you want to try to stay as involved with everything as you can. And sometimes the best thing we found is like, just to try to stay out of each other's way or divide and conquer. We've had to become really good at that over the last. I don't know. 

James Trawick: I mean, he just got back from Key West. I didn't go to Key West. I stayed here because I'm working on other things. Cavender’s is one of our best clients. And we're you know, I primarily service that relationship. And so I've been here maintaining that we're working on setting up events, which we'll talk about more in a minute. But for the film, we're working on an event in Phoenix, we're working on Bullnanza in Guthrie with Cord McCoy. And, you know, there's other there's a lot of things going on. And it takes us getting out of each other's way. But I mean, like you talked about that took some time, because you he alluded to control and the idea of having control, we think we do we think we can kind of manage every little detail you just can't do at the end of the day. And thankfully, we're very different. And so we kind of complement each other in that my strengths are different than his, and my weaknesses are also different than his. And so that's helpful, but it took us a long time to be willing to accept what those weaknesses are. And both parties and get out of each other's way and I still struggle with it in a lot of ways. But it if you know the snapshot of where we are today versus where we were in 2008 Nine and 10 or wherever this 2020 last week. Yeah, It's progressively getting better. And I attribute that to my relationship with the Lord. And I think he would, too, is that, you know, you the, the, the more that you walk with the Lord, the more that you grow in your faith, the more you understand that you don't have control of all of those things. And it's really entirely up to him. Where your steps take you. And so, you know, the having kids impacts that, you know, struggling in business impacts that and, and succeeding in business and succeeding and parenting and being a spouse, like, you know, we've both taken our lumps, and those lumps produce, you know, resilience and, and you improve as you go, and nothing happens overnight. So anyway, yes, it's been a fun journey for us for sure. 

Brad Hughes: That and just to add to it 100% agree about, you know, our relationship with the Lord, individually and together and all that and as family units, but also the, I talked about his dad, and there's been other people that have poured into us kind of as mentors that have really kind of helped us. You know, one of the biggest things that a lot of people have talked to us about is communication, just making sure that even if we are running in our own lines, or even if we aren't doing or like dividing and conquering it's all about the communication when we come back. So you know, and just being able to say, Hey, I'm working on this, Hey, I'm doing this. Cool. You need any help with that? No, you're good. Yep. You know, just check-ins like that, because we do have so many things that we're trying to juggle around.

Taylor McAdams: Wow, you know, it's so crazy. I'm on your two of marriage. So I'm considered like a newlywed. And it sounds like a marriage right now. It sounds like you're like we've been through the counseling. We've done the thing.

Brad Hughes: 100% 100% as like a marriage. I've been married 14 years, I have a 10-year-old and a seven-year-old. And he's been married, what, five years now?

James Trawick: No one asked me that question. Oh, come on, man. I'm

Taylor McAdams: Some years long enough, perhaps between married for

Brad Hughes: five years. And has twins. So yeah. I mean, and, you know, he and I, like he was with me when I met my wife. So like, he that's like, we're, you know, there's a lot of history there. And like, and you know, and it's, it's great. I mean, I'm thankful for it. Because at the end of the day, I trust, like, outside of my wife, there's nobody I trust more, you know, so.

Taylor McAdams: Wow. Very good.

James Trawick: Which, by the way, for the record, march 31 2018, was the day that I got. My wife's birthday is March 1. So it's almost just to make sure that, you know, there's no questions.

Brad Hughes: I put him on the spot.

Taylor McAdams: Hey, good for you, though. You recovered? Well, no, I really appreciate that. Because that kind of moves into what I'm genuinely curious about next is like what inspires you and it sounds like you guys pull a lot of that from your faith? A lot of it from your family. Talk to us about that your inspiration? Where do you draw from? Because of course, you see things in the industry that inspires you. I mean, even the name Tough Braw. I mean, where did you get that from? Well, writing and getting a tough draw.

Brad Hughes: Yeah, so I Yeah, it's, it's actually really funny that you asked, because I was in Key West. And one of the guys that was with us actually asked me, and I'll save y'all because this talk went on for two hours that night. But essentially, you know, I went to college, the original script I wrote was called Eight Seconds To Glory. That was the original name of the script. And I had gotten back from LA, and me and one of my close one of my closest friends who was actually with me when I met James name's Gary. We were sitting at my house, and I've gone through some hardships and stuff that had me really down in the dumps. And we were like, We're gonna pour ourselves into making this happen, you know? And we're sitting there brainstorming because we were bummed, because we heard a documentary was coming out and eight seconds to glory was a part of the title.

Taylor McAdams: Noooo

Brad Hughes: So I was like, crap, I gotta change the name. But yeah, we were sitting there brainstorming and the story. It's, it's really cool how the story's evolved, it's been through at least 10, to 15 rewrites, since, you know, since the original. But it started out as a story about high school kids kind of like Friday Night Lights, but it's evolved now to a story about family. And, you know, in hardships through that, but the common theme has always been there, of, you know, the typical type of dramatic elements, but it's, you know, but it's about the hand that life dealt you. And so we're sitting there, and of course, I thought it was like a rider. I was sitting there in my feelings. And I was just like, you know, life’s Life’s dealt a tough hand and all this stuff. And we were just sitting there talking about it. And I was reading through the script. And, you know, obviously, a draw is low the matchup of bull & rider, or just any animal and the athlete in general. Yeah. And so we're like, what about Tough Draw? So we kind of kicked it around, I renamed the script and the first version here, it was called Tough Draw. And so the goal was always to make the Friday Night Lights of bull riding. And, you know, because I worked at Imagine entertainment, and they were the ones that had made Friday Night Lights, you know, it was a book, it was a TV show, all these things. And so, like, we always had this vision when we talk about it, and even when we pitch it to people of, like, we want to make tough draw this big thing. 

Taylor McAdams: Yes.

Brad Hughes: Well, you know, as the Lord would have it, the brand and kind of everything we were doing kind of took off before we could get the film made. So Wow. So here we are.

James Trawick: And we were because of most of our touch points began with pitching that film, we became known as the guys the tough draw, guys. And it just naturally, and at the time, we had another production company, a company called Atonement Entertainment. And then we had another arm of that called Firstlight Productions. And those two businesses focused on different industries, creating content and building marketing material for different types of businesses. 

Taylor McAdams: Oh, cool,  but we always wanted, because of our roots, we always wanted to come back to Western culture. And, and we just thought that the film was gonna be the way that we did that. But it wasn't it was all of these other things. And kind of like he said, you know, that was not part of our plan, but it's the way that it happened.  

Taylor McAdams: You know, I love saying that we make plans and God laughs because I think surely you guys have gone way beyond the to what the TV show could have ever done. And even if it who's to say, it's still not gonna come out one day, you know, but you guys, his name is so relevant in the industry, especially among like, the PBR, the Western industry as a whole. And so because of the Lane documentary that you guys have just done, you are paving your way, you know, you're making it and you're doing it again, but you're doing it a little bit differently. And so, we're going to take a break, but when we get back, we're going to talk a little bit about the documentary and what that is. So everyone, stay tuned, and we'll see you in just a second.

Announcer: Every bull rider wants to be at the daddy of them all. And every bull rider wants to win this bull riding.

Tuff Hedeman: Lane's a World Champion, you don't expect a world champion to die in one of the biggest most prestigious rodeos in the world. 

Pam Minnick: Everybody said the same thing. It didn't look that bad. 

Taylor McAdams: Hey,everybody, and welcome back to the Kick Your Boots Up podcast. Like I said, we would come back with more and here we are. We're here to talk about the Lane Frost documentary that's called Lane Life Legend Legacy. And if you're familiar with Lane Frost at all, good for you. If you're not you're living under a rock because Lane is a legend in the rodeo industry and arguably the most famous cowboy bull rider in the industry and mainstream media, all of it. So we're gonna dive right into that. But I wanted to tell you a little bit about the documentary before we start asking questions and getting into the meat of it. Basically, what it does is combine the details of his life, the legend he became, and the legacy he left behind. There's a heartwarming story where you'll get to learn all about his story and how it happened. Of course, you'll hear from the family and that you'll get a deeper look into their archives, things that they haven't gotten to share or talk about on a screen ever before. I know growing up in Oklahoma, I was always so passionate about Lane’s story and getting to sit down with his parents Clyde and Elsie was like, I think I was such a fangirl in that moment. So I guess I've just got to start with that you guys throughout this whole process. Tell us about how the documentary came about did Stetson Frost reach out to you guys with Lane Frost Brand ? Did he reach out to you guys? Did you guys reach out to him? How did this happen?

James Trawick: It actually goes back to the film Tough Draw. Because at the time we were working on it with Tuff Hedeman and we were doing, you know, some different publicity stuff and

Taylor McAdams:  Tuff, Tough Draw that makes sense.

James Trawick: Had some social media stuff going on? And Stetson saw that he reached out to us on Instagram or Facebook or something like that's where the very first connection occurred. And then he invited us up to Atoka and, and Lane, where Clyde and Elsie live, but we got to meet them and I was just like you're saying starstruck? 

Taylor McAdams: You were a fan girl?

James Trawick: Well, yeah, total fangirl.

Brad Hughes: Yeah. I mean, we were videoing it and like, he and I both were like, kind of freaking out. We walked into Lane’s room. And we're just kind of we're looking at each other. Like we're really standing in Lane Frost’s old bedroom. 

James Trawick: Well, growing up, he's got a second so you've got all these things that are that you look up to you look up the line, all the things that you just said about who he is and as a kid and rodeo, you know, that's a that's your hero. That's that's the legend.

Taylor McAdams: You know, probably grew up doing the wave the Lane Frost wave. Absolutely.

James Trawick: Yeah. And I had at the time. In high school rodeo, Clyde and Elsie, were still traveling all over doing Sunday church, church service and I had a sign but we were at up at a rodeo in Tennessee. And I had and they were there, and I have a signed  Bible that my sister also has a copy. You know, from that day back in the day, that was our very first interaction with them. And for all these years, fast forward all these years and then have the opportunity to do this. It was very, very surreal.

Taylor McAdams: This is a random question. Did you guys start the conversations in like 2018? Does that sound? Okay, so when I was traveling the rodeo road as Miss Rodeo Oklahoma. I made a stop at Stetson and kelsey’s house and was catching up with them. And they're like, Yeah, we have some guys coming in next week to film a documentary. You know, you guys are the guys.

Brad Hughes: Yeah, so what you're probably talking about 2018. if I'm remembering correctly, what we did is we actually, so we met them, and the first time we met them, we just kind of enjoyed and soaked it in. But then the next time we actually brought camera gear, okay. And we we interviewed them just because for Well, no, no, we hadn't even the the documentary haven't started yet. It was just kind of one of those deals where we just wanted to interview like, because we thought that'd be cool. Yeah. And Stetson was on board with it. But that's kind of where we talked about just expressed that that would be something we'd love to do. Like, that was the first time we really expressed that. Yeah. And, you know, we were actually in the process of raising funds for the doc or for the film. And we had gotten to almost a million bucks raised, and then 2020 happened. And so we all know

Taylor McAdams: We all know what happened there. 

Brad Hughes: Yeah. And so we actually, we went ahead and gave our investors their money back,

Taylor McAdams: Did you really?

Brad Hughes: Yeah, because everybody really, because everybody didn't know what was gonna happen. Right? And so, but or how long it was gonna last, so but a lot of them. 

James Trawick: That was painful day, it was,

Taylor McAdams: you went from a million dollars to nothing.

Brad Hughes: But the kind of the beautiful thing that happened with it, though, is like, you know, we talked to Stetson, and Stetson had talked about her grandma, grandpa Clyde and Elsie, you know, they're open to letting y'all do the documentary. So that's something you want to do. And then a lot of the investors that we had on board for the film, we call them and we were like, hey, it's, it's a lot cheaper to do a documentary, do I want to get involved with this. And so a lot of the same investors kind of jumped back in on the dock with this. And, you know, with 2020, the way it was production being shut down, because they didn't want a ton of people on the spot. You know, taking three or four guys and a couple cameras to go do interviews was a lot easier than trying to put a big production together, right. So we kind of leaned into it. You know, and as they say, the rest is history.

Taylor McAdams: It truly did make up for it's kind of a cool experience that you guys gave all the money back, because I think that worked in your favor when you were able to get the funding for the documentary to get it going. That's kind of a full circle moment right there in itself. But I want to kind of go back, you said something, standing in line for us through his bedroom. You had to have had like the hair raising on your neck. I just explained both of that. Both of you guys explain that feeling.

James Trawick: His saddles, you know, in his bed, at my everything is still like it was 

Taylor McAdams: You know, I had heard that, but I'm hearing you guys say that. I'm like, Okay, I really believe you then.

Brad Hughes:  Yeah, that's crazy. One of the one of the interviews for the film is actually in the room. And we did shoot some B roll in the room that you'll see on the documentary, but spoiler alert, it was Yeah,

James Trawick: I mean, one of Stetsons interviews,

Brad Hughes: Stetsons interviews. And I mean, you kind of talked about it chills, like, yeah, my, it's funny, because my wife knew that Western culture always meant a lot to me. But when I called her and was like, kind of freaking out a little bit about house, lights, bedroom and all that sent him pictures and the smile on my face that they took me that day. Like, you know, it was it was surreal, because eight seconds. You know, he talked about the connection through rodeo. But for me, I remember being a kid from Lubbock, Texas, and going to the theater. And that being the first movie that I remember watching where I actually felt emotion. So like, from that moment, and I was that kid that always waited in line to get Tuff Hedeman’s autograph at G bows and different things like that. And you remember that? Oh, yeah. And so all that stuff just kind of flooded back while we were standing there. And I was like, This is so cool. You know, like I was, it felt like hallowed ground, you know, and, and when you interview the guys at Cheyenne, like we did a lot of them call that hallowed ground too. And it's like, you know, it's just, it was yeah, it was really surreal for sure. 

Taylor McAdams: It's it's. I can't even I mean hearing stories like that gives me chills even I've got to say this to my husband's grandpa was friends with the family and there's a video a home video of Lane at Freckles, Brown’s funeral, that was just, you know, months before his own funeral, and just even seeing that it does bring like tears to your eyes, it brings just like this. Whoa, that's history in the making, what was it like for you, James, what was

James Trawick:  All of the same I mean, to be there to see there's a really cool picture hanging on the wall in what you would call like a it's, it's, uh, I guess it used to be a room but they've they've kind of remodeled a little bit. But Off the living room, there's a big picture of freckles and his class of the inaugural NFR hanging on the wall, and stuff like that. It's just, it's just, it's literally history hanging on the wall, in their room. And the so much of the stories embodied in in the artifacts, the pictures, the statues and things like that are still available through Miss Elsie and Mr. Clyde firsthand. And we sat at their kitchen table and went through so many pictures and so many stories that didn't make the film, right? Because in the early part of it, you're just exploring, what are the options? Like what is? What's the best way to tell the story? What's the best way to present Lane’s, you know, legacy? And so, for me, the first interaction was that Bible. And then eight seconds as a kid and competing in a sport, just admiring. That was really the only thing I was a team roper. I'm not a bull rider. I'm not a rough stock guy. You know, but even in being a team roper, that was it. That was all we had. And that's a big part of why we want to do that. Because while we're creating media within our space, while we will continue to pursue making that film, because we need a new standard, we need to continually create that. And you know, we have Yellowstone, and now we have all these other things. But for the sport of rodeo specifically, we need more content in that space, so that we're inspiring. The young kids like we were inspired like Eight Seconds inspired us. And anyway, it was surreal. It was, you know, something I'll cherish for forever, you know, being there and, and getting to have those conversations with Clyde and Elsie. 

Taylor McAdams: Without a doubt and even now getting to document it and have it forever and ever and ever. That's really cool, too, that you guys are the the faces of that. So well done. And hats off to you guys. Because I'm I'm inspired by you guys having the capability and the ability to do that. And with that, though, it's been the the documentary itself, it probably should get back into it. The documentary itself has been pretty successful so far. I remember when it came in to Fort Worth, tell us about that. You guys had two showings?

Brad Hughes: We did. We did. We had a private private screening for the family. It was an invite-only type event for family and people that were involved with the documentary, and a couple of industry partners and different things like that. But we had about 350 people and and that's

Taylor McAdams: It’s just crazy to say 350 People at the private screening 

Brad Hughes: . And it was it was it was heavy. It was very emotional. We we made kind of a I think by film terms, it's a risky choice. But the first time anybody got to see the film outside of our team, was that that screening, including Clyde and Elsie, including Clyde and Elsie, and Tuff and Kelly, and all them. So it was, it was a risky choice. But it's kind of one of those deals where we just you know, we knew the family trusted us to do something special. And we prayed about it a lot. And we just kind of decided we'd roll the dice and give it a go. 

James Trawick: And that moment to kind of like walking into his room for the first time was a moment I'll never forget, you know, just absolutely being in that room with those people they either knew lane, or they immediately were immediate family to people that knew lane and lived it. And so to experience his journey again, because the film takes you through his child to all his entire life and so it washes over you and Tuff said it had a Tuff explain it to you after after the film. I don't want to mess it up because it washed over him in a in a really he just

Brad Hughes: Tuff like I say there were a lot of people that were super close to lame that it was very hard, like tough talked about how hard it was. Because and I'd hit him even harder than he thought it would. Because like he knows the story. But to see everybody kind of share in the details and really kind of hash everything out and relive it. He said it was eye-opening. But I think that probably the biggest compliment that we got from anybody, and this is what as filmmakers This is what meant the most James and I was the family so we got it right. And I think that I think that that's to us that was really like I don't care what critics or anything like that. It's like that's that's the moment but for Tuff it was hard, you know and and you know we've we've actually had some people reach out that were part of it that expressed that it gave them some possible closure that they didn't even know they needed still and so, yeah, it's it's heavy for sure. But uh, but it was great. And you know, the second screening that you're talking about, we actually were the first film to premiere at Cowtown Coliseum 

Taylor McAdams: In the history of the Cowtown Coliseum? Yeah, that's iconic. 

Brad Hughes: Oh, yeah. And they did an amazing job on that new screen. And you know, we lowered it down. And we had 600 people there.

Taylor McAdams: And it was right in the dirt. Right?

James Trawick: They brought in chairs, I packed the dirt, Tim and Clayton did all that set it up and took care of us. Yeah, it was incredible. But to think of all the history, that's no, absolutely no. inside that building. Yeah, some of the images of line riding in that arena are in the film. It's yeah, really, really cool moment to be in the Coliseum.  

Taylor McAdams: So iconic. And I want to touch back on what you said about getting your right because even after the movie eight seconds, let's be honest, Hollywood is Hollywood, you have to make things entertaining, in a way. And I remember the family even saying like, Oh, it wasn't exactly the story. Like it's a good idea, you know, got most of it, but good for you guys forgetting like the good, the bad, the ugly, making it right, making it real, making it true and factual. And I think that's the point of a documentary. But it's also it shows a lot about your character too.

Brad Hughes: So and, you know, well, I appreciate that. But one of the things that I want to make sure and say is like, I mean, none of it would have been possible without everybody being as vulnerable and open as they were. I mean, that's right. Every single person, Tuff, Kelly, Lane are Tuff, Kelly, Clyde and Elsie, they open their homes to us. You know, Miss Kelly lives over in West Texas. And she put us up for several a couple of nights because we had to make a couple of trips out there. And, you know, Tuff and Kelly interviewed for over four hours total each. Yeah. You know, and even people making time that, that, you know, like Wes Ward and Donnie and

Taylor McAdams: Wild Wes

Brad Hughes: You know, and Cody Lambert meetin’ with us in Cheyenne, which probably couldn't have been easy. And you know, and all the modern-day cowboys too JB and Ky and Stetson and Sage, like all those guys making time for us and sitting down with us. I mean, they're, to be honest, their vulnerability is what made what made it possible to get it right. You know, and that's, and that's not easy. That's not easy to do for a lot of people, especially with a topic that's this close to their hearts, you know,

James Trawick: Yeah. One specific I'd like to point out as Mike Macy, you know, Kelly remarried, has a family beautiful family, they're still heavily involved in rodeo. And Miss Kelly was incredible at every turn helping us with, you know, connections and relationships and, you know, just introducing us to the right people and whatever we needed. And Mr. Mike was too, you know, that's his home and, and his his space and and he opened the doors just like she did, you know, and to have to walk through all of that as a man to step back and look at you know, how selfless he was and doing all that was it impacted me in a big way and I'll never forget it. 

Brad Hughes: Absolutely. 

Taylor McAdams: I'm sure it was probably one of the harder things you guys have had to put together to fight through the emotions of well, what do we do to change the impact to get it right so yeah, very very well done you guys.

James Trawick: Well and you've got to get it done in such a short window I mean, the film's almost two hours and we fought with our producers on how much time because there’s  a four-and-a-half hour cut out there. So yeah, there's a whole series probably but yeah, you had to get it done. And you know, use trim any trim any trim and and we got it under two hours. hours and 56 minutes. Yep.

Taylor McAdams: Look at you guys.

Brad Hughes: can lose those details. Yes, it was on my case the entire time. The day I called him and told him that was with credits so.

Taylor McAdams: Wow. 

Brad Hughes: But we even rolled interviews during the credits, so that no wasted space at all.

Taylor McAdams: You know, I really do love it when they do that though. Because instead of just watching the credits go through, why not see some real stuff? Some real footage hear some real things, so very, very good. And because we are a little bit cramped for time, I hate that because this podcast could probably go four and a half hours the same time. The original documentary, I got to ask there's probably more momentum right, like you're gonna keep this up. There's more events coming up. So this week specifically, it's a big week for you guys. What do you have going on, especially in Oklahoma?

Brad Hughes: Absolutely. So next week, we will be bringing the film to Lane’s hometown, and we're going to do something with Reba’s restaurant  up in Atoka, Oklahoma. Tickets are on sale now at Lane frost.com. And then, if you go to the Frost Ranch store up in Atoka, You can buy physical tickets there as well. And then, James, can you talk a little bit more about our our distribution plan that everybody wants to know about all the time? 

James Trawick: Yeah,get those tickets come if you're in the tech era come come out for that Stetson’s done a good job helping us get that set up with Reba’s family. 

Taylor McAdams: And we love. We've been there, opened. Yeah, they're so good time.

James Trawick: And we're gonna take it to the people, we don't have a distribution deal for streaming in place yet. We're in communication with several major platforms and hope to work that out in the not too distant future. But that is a process we have come to learn. And so in the meantime, since the film has since the film came out in November of last year, we have the messages haven't stopped coming in are the comments on our page? Where can we see this? Is it on what you know what platform,and so because of that, we're going to take it to the people. And so for everyone listening, if you follow our Facebook page, follow our Instagram pages, or all of our pages, I'll say that Tough Draw. That's tough draw. Pages. Yeah, at Lane Frost Doc

Brad Hughes: It's at Lane Frst Doc across Instagram, and Facebook as well.

James Trawick: Yeah, that's where the updates will be coming. But we're gonna bring the film to you. And we don't have cities locked in yet, outside of our hometowns. I'm originally from the southeast. Brad's from West Texas are DPS from South Texas. And so we're going to take it to those areas. And we'll be updating where you can buy tickets for those events on those channels, and what those dates are going to be and where the venues are. But outside of that, we would love to hear from you. Because we're gonna take this film to several more cities between here in July, and we're working on a really special event in July. And but we would love to hear from you, we'd love to know where you want us to bring the film. And so we're gonna listen to the fans and give them an opportunity for an in-person experience before it goes to streaming. 

Taylor McAdams: Good. for you guys. So if you're, I have to say that again, if you are listening to this, and you do want it to be seen everywhere, you do want it to make it to Amazon, Netflix, wherever you do have to show up and prove that there is a it's worth watching your worth getting, you know, you know how it is. So yeah, get your tickets go to the real places, even if you're not anywhere near Atoka i It's Monday we have time because this is Wednesday, so you have time to make it to make a trip there, get all your friends together, get in a car and go even from here in Fort Worth, it's like not even two hours. So it's not that bad of a drive at all. And just like the history there, the the impact that you'll have, I haven't even gotten to see the fulfill myself just watching the trailer. I'm like just ecstatic. I can't wait to see the whole thing. Just because truly you you want to be able to have the inside scoop on lane and his family and all of that. So I commend you there and good luck with all of the different events that you guys are doing. And then on top of that, you guys will probably have updates throughout on your podcast. You guys have a podcast called tough,Tough Draw Talks.

Brad Hughes: Yes, ma'am. 

Taylor McAdams: And you get to interview people like Dusty Tuckness, who we're going to have on the podcast this season spoiler there. And you'll get to hear inside stories on there as well. So if you guys liked what you heard from these two guys, feel free to go hop over the to their podcast and give them a shout out a comment below. Same thing you can do it on all their social media channels as well. And before we go, I always ask this question on the Kick Your Boots Up podcast. What is the best piece of advice that you could give to someone in your industry doing whatever you do? So for you guys, what is the best piece of advice that you could give to anyone that's wanting to make a documentary wanting to just amp up their filming? 

James Trawick: See segment one? That's kind of what you got first. I was looking at that. I was looking for you to answer.

Taylor McAdams: Be real. This is I mean counseling session number two, right? 

Brad Hughes:Yeah. Naw, Specifically, you know, in regards to the business side, just C, C, section one of this podcast, 

James Trawick: I'll dive in on that. 

Brad Hughes: Go ahead. I'll answer after you. 

James Trawick: You have to kill your ego. You've got to remove ego. If you want to be successful in a creative environment, you cannot allow room for ego to exist. If you can figure out how to remove your ego and keep it out. It's something that you have to work on perpetually. It's not a one and done top kind of thing. But if you can figure out a way to work a process for you that you can remove your ego, you will set yourself up for a better opportunity of being successful in the creative space.

Taylor McAdams: Great advice. I second that drop it out the door. Yeah. 

Brad Hughes: Great job.

Taylor McAdams:  Ditto from there,

Brad Hughes:I mean, I would have to say I mean, James is 100% right on that. That's been and that's a struggle for every human being we're humans. Praying through that is probably one of the biggest things when it comes when it comes to business and the creative kind of mixing. Agree with the the checking the ego but also, you know, be realistic with yourself about where Are your strengths are? Because I think I think that that's one of the hardest things and, you know, go into business with people that you trust. And I think that that's a huge part of it is, you know, being able to trust that you know, your strengths, they know your strengths. And they they appreciate your strengths. But also be willing to rely on-

James Trawick: Be actually willing to trust them. 

Brad Hughes: Yeah, I mean, I'll be very forthright part of the biggest thing about the doc that was a struggle for me was just like, feeling like I had to know everything that was going on at all times. Because it just because our team was so small. And it was kind of like, you know, you have your hands and so many different things like, the film really flew when we got an editor outside of our normal group that we found out right away, we could trust, and he was like, He's fantastic. But it's like it takes it takes just trusting and letting go at times. I know that that kind of plays to the ego thing, but some people need to hear it a different way. 

Taylor McAdams: Yeah, yeah. For sure.

Brad Hughes: So. But yeah, I mean, I think that and just being in prayer through everything that you do, because we can't do any of this. We can't make any decisions without any sort of discernment without prayerful thought and trying to just pray for wisdom. So

Taylor McAdams:  I love both of your answers because that's what this podcast is all about coming around to swap stories and really just I say, Kick Your Boots Up, but really just like relax and be yourself and drop your Yeah, Kick your Boots Up, drop your ego. So it really does go along with the same morals and values of the podcast. So I really, really appreciate you guys being here in the time that you guys have taken to share your story to share Lane story to just run with that same passion. And truly, I wish you guys the best of luck. I know that Monday's event is going to be so good. And then even the spoiler alerts that they gave you about the delay event and all the events in between. I'm wishing you guys the best of luck and if there's anything we can do you know where to reach us, let us know. And for you guys out there if you liked what you saw, like we said before, go to their social medias. This one is just go to tough draw to find them specifically, but the Lane Frost Doc  is where you can get questions answered about the lien, frost documentary. Also they have a website WWW dot tough draw.com. And then like I said, wherever you get podcasts, listen to their podcast, Tough Draw Talks if you liked what you heard, and you want to hear more from them. Thank you for joining us for another episode of The Kinky Boots up podcast. I'm your host Taylor McAdams and we are so happy that you're here. We'll see you next week. Thank you. Thanks for joining us on Kick Your Boots Up. I'm your host Taylor McAdams and we can't wait to share the next story of the West. Until then, feel free to like subscribe, and leave us a review. Follow us on social media at Justin Boots to keep up with our next episode. And we'll see you the next time you Kick Your Boots Up.