A Life in Film: Rich Brauer Follows his Muse to the Farm for his Sixth Feature Film, Barn Red

Rich Brauer is one of those rare persons who knew early on what he was going to do when he grew up. Back in the summer of ‘66, he saw a screening of the World War I dogfight film, *The Blue Max,* at a theater in Beulah and was fired with the spirit of filmmaking. “I came out of that theater and thought what a riot it must have been making that movie,“ he recalls.
That was back in the sixth grade when Rich started making films on his dad‘s 8mm camera. Today, at the age of 49, he can look back on some 40 years of filmmaking from the helm of Brauer Productions, a company with international connections headquartered at Union and Ninth Street in Traverse City. He can also look back on a body of work that includes hundreds of commercials, training films, documentaries and six full-length feature films, including his latest, *Barn Red,* starring Ernest Borgnine and Kimberly Norris Guerrero.
Shot in Leelanau County, *Barn Red* is a drama about urban sprawl and the forces threatening a farmer (Borgnine) with the loss of his property to a developer after he‘s hit with an overwhelming inheritance tax. Guerrero stars as an attorney who grew up on the farm as the child of migrant workers. She returns to help save the day.
This Thursday, Dec. 18, Brauer will screen *Barn Red* as a benefit for the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy and the Rex Dobson Ruby Ellen Farm Foundation at 9 p.m. at GKC Horizon Cinemas in Traverse City. The film will run at GKC Horizon through Dec. 24 for sneak preview screenings before its distribution.

TODAY‘S HEADLINES
Brauer says *Barn Red* comes from the heart and his own concerns over urban sprawl. A resident of Mission Peninsula, he says he was driving through the Grand Traverse area a year ago and became dismayed by the onslaught of development in the area.
“I think we all drive around and see things change and scratch our heads and say, ‘how did that happen?‘“ he says. “I think I saw one too many aspects of sprawl, and it got me thinking about the problems farmers face in holding onto their land.“
Brauer notes that he‘s not anti-development, but believes that there are times when developers go too far. Then too, the story which he wrote, produced, filmed and directed, is literally ripped from today‘s headlines, with farmers pressured to surrender to developers by high taxes and the temptation of sudden wealth.
“A lot of farmers are being forced to make these decisions and it‘s not something that they do lightly,“ he says. “When I was writing the script, I tried to capture what someone thinks when they‘re asked to turn their back on generations of farm life for a quick sellout. I think that if we all had tons of money it would be easy to be good stewards of the land, but when you‘ve got developers offering you more money for your property than you can make in a lifetime, it‘s a tough decision.“
Brauer was also influenced by the progressive tack being taken on Mission Peninsula, where voters have approved the purchase of development rights on area farms to maintain its rural nature.
“I‘ve been hanging around the whole issue of land stewardship for some time,“ he says. “My dad was always into preservation and I‘ve tried to follow in his footsteps. The ability to tell a story on film seems a good way to share that message.“

LOOKING BACK
It was a different world when Brauer was growing up in the Ann Arbor area and summering on Crystal Lake. Fascinated by movie-making, he had a big paper route, delivering 100 copies of the Ann Arbor News each afternoon and spending all of his earnings on film. “By the time I was in the 10th grade, I was the first guy there to have sound attached to my movies,“ he recalls -- an achievement made possible through a process that literally glued a soundtrack to the film as it was being shot.
Coincidentally, Brauer attended Ann Arbor‘s Pioneer High School with Ken Burns, who went on to become the noted documentarian. The two are still in touch occasionally. And, speaking of *The Blue Max* and coincidence, Brauer‘s life was swayed by another film, *Billy Jack,* which came out in the early ‘70s. The film was about a tough loner, Billy Jack, who defends a bunch of kids involved in an experimental “free“ school. At the time, the Ann Arbor School Board thought that *Billy Jack*‘s anything-goes concept of education was a groovy idea, so Brauer was able to spend his senior year at the Pioneer II Free School, doing whatever he pleased. “It worked out cool because I was extremely driven,“ he recalls. “All I did my last year in high school was make films -- no science, no math, English or history -- I just made films.“
Brauer even got into souping his own film with a processor at home, stringing his movies out to dry in his family‘s backyard like a celluloid clothesline.

MOVIN‘ NORTH
With a two-year waiting list to get into the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California, Brauer decided to spend the interim completing his basic courses at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City. Thereafter, he headed west to complete his majors in motion picture making and underwater cinematography. But Northern Michigan had made its mark, and Brauer returned here to launch his career in 1977.
In between filming commercials and such, Brauer began working on feature films, beginning with the historical shipwreck drama, *The Wreck and Rescue of the J.H. Hartzell,“ followed up by the kids-in-trouble-tale, “Sleeping Bear.“
In 1995, he travelled to Detroit to see Jeff Daniels‘ play, “Escanaba in Da Moonlight,“ the longest-running show in the Motor City‘s history, with 680 performances.
“I laughed my hind-end off and wrote him a letter cold, pitching an independent film,“ he recalls. “It was right when *Dumb and Dumber* was coming out, and Daniels called me at home on a Saturday and said, ‘Who are you? What have you got going on up there?‘“
The phone call lead to a collaboration with Daniels‘ Purple Rose Theatre Co., and Brauer served as director of photography on the film version of *Escanaba in Da Moonlight,* which aired in 2000. He was also onboard for Daniels‘ latest film, *Super Sucker.*

LOST TREASURE
Brauer was also able to connect Daniels with Native American actress Kimberly Norris Guerrero for the *Escanaba* film in the role of Wolf Moondance. He met the Los Angeles-based actress after seeing her perform in the play, “Naturally Native,“ and *Barn Red* is Brauer‘s second film collaboration with her.
This is also Brauer‘s second outing with Ernest Borgnine, who starred in his film, *The Lost Treasure of Sawtooth Island.* For that project, Brauer needed a crusty, aging nautical type, and there was a short list of actors to fit that bill. After negotiating with Borgnine‘s agent for several months, Brauer met the now 86-year-old star for the first time at the shoot on Lake Michigan in 1999. Unfortunately, for that project, Borgnine‘s character died early in the film because Brauer literally couldn‘t afford his rates for more than a brief appearance. *Sawtooth Island* went on to sell to the Showtime cable network, however, giving Brauer the confidence and budget necessary to hire the actor full time for *Barn Red,* which is Borgnine‘s 168th film.
Speaking of which, as the producer of *Barn Red,* Brauer had to come up with half a million dollars to shoot the film, all of which he financed himself. Although it was a considerable personal risk, he was able to cut costs by shooting in high-definition digital, and his track record assured him of distribution sales to the worldwide television market, which includes pay-per-view, cable, DVD and subscription deals. He notes that his first big deal with *Sawtooth Island* was sale of the film to a market made up of Germany, Spain and Italy.

ALL TOGETHER
You‘ll find several of the same actors popping up repeatedly in Brauer‘s films. In addition to Borgnine and Guerrero, *Barn Red* stars Julie Kavner (the voice of Marge on “The Simpson‘s“) and Wayne David Parker. Local actor Mike Kelly appeared in both *Sawtooth* and *Barn Red.*
Looking ahead, Brauer is considering several scripts for his next feature. His options include “A Small Bequest,“ about friends growing up in the 1930s; “Drillman,“ a dark comedy set in the 1950s about a man who becomes a dentist by chance; and “Free and Brave,“ about women pilots in World War II.
With a string of exciting projects ahead and a worldwide demand for new films, Brauer can look forward to a satisfying and financially secure future for as long as he cares to keep peering through the viewfinder. In fact, his statement about Ernest Borgnine‘s outlook on life might just as well suit his own situation: “He‘s got no interest in retiring ever -- he can‘t believe he‘s getting paid to go to cool places and make films.“ View On Our Website