Jeremy Gillespie
Host / Producer
Jeremy would rather swing a hammer than use a nail gun.
He would rather swing an axe than use a splitter.
He prefers reading books and personal research to the education found in “institutes of higher learning.”
He just found out what a “selfie” is, and you’ll never see him take one.
He performs his own bike maintenance out of fear of upsetting his bikes by taking them to a stranger.
All coffee is consumed black, the way god intended it to be consumed.
He can’t tell jokes, stories, or anecdotes. He can’t remember a limerick to save his life. Spare yourself the agony and simply walk away if he begins one.
He believes hard work and dedication to your craft is the only true path to happiness, and true happiness is the ultimate measure of success.
Ian Rygiel
Host / Producer
Ian is a rogue, scholar and gentleman adventurer. During The Great Recession, he loaded trucks, swung a hammer and hauled demo to get by, but he has also worked as an educator, freelance videographer and editor.
For him, the West has always held a certain allure, speaking to him through novels, poetry and classic westerns. Broke Out West is an opportunity for Ian to follow in the footsteps of the explorers, vagabonds and writers who heeded the call of the road and experienced America for themselves.
Blog Posts:
We now return to our regularly scheduled blogcast.
My apologies to both of our regular readers for missing last week’s post. In the interest of full disclosure, I did have an entry ready to go, but I would have immediately regretted posting it; I was in my cups, my Irish was up, and I was feeling frustrated with my current profession (not the one where I get to ride a motorcycle and talk to amazing people, that’s the best job in the world). The language of my original post was a bit too raw, but I’d still like to touch upon the same theme. Labor. It’s a noun, it’s a verb, it’s an adjective, and it’s the unsung, under-appreciated engine that drives our economy. So where’s the love for those who literally and figuratively put their backs into their work? The sad reality is productivity and corporate profits are at an all time high in this country, but workers’ wages continue to stagnate. The laborers reward for their hard work? More work. Longer hours. Larger demands. A smaller share. When I think of the hard workers we met, the first person to come to mind is a rancher named J.R.. He very much played the part with his wide-stance, direct speech, and exceptional mustache. J.R. was an intimidating presence, but he said some of the most insightful things I heard all trip. Through sweat and sheer force of will, J.R. made the Blue Springs Ranch in Missouri what it is today. To any outside visitor, myself included, the Ranch seems idyllic, and wildly successful, but it takes an incredible amount of work for everything to appear so...Happy Halloween!
It’s Halloween Eve, which is to say the eve of All Hallows’ Eve, and everyone and their brother with a creative outlet is doing a Halloween-themed entry. I’d like to tell you I’m better than all that. I would love to say I’m going against the grain, blazing my own trail, and taking the path least taken. But I have a confession to make. A deep dark secret. I love Halloween. Halloween is without a doubt my favorite holiday of the year. Since I was just a wee shaver, I felt drawn to monsters, horror films, and the macabre. October was the one month of the year everyone else seemed to immerse themselves in this world with me. Horror films, dark humor, and the celebration of all things that go bump in the night took over for one whole month. It was glorious. And it still is. I never lost my enthusiasm for the spooky things and places of the world, and I want to spend some time in this blog talking about the scarier moments from our trip. They’re likely not the moments you would think. A few films have informed public opinion about rural America: Deliverance, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Hills Have Eyes all come to mind. The plots share some similarities; namely, a group of city folks are terrorized by disturbed individuals who live beyond the edges of civilization. As a city boy myself, you would think that I’d carry some residual fears with me across the country. In all honesty however, I never felt unsafe in rural America. The people we met were...Nashville: Part 2
Nashville. The name has weight. It’s a city with a history and for many it conjures up images of blue jeans, cowboy hats and country stars. That was the city in my head, but it wasn’t the city before my eyes. As we rolled into Nashville, Jeremy and I were nearing the limit of what we were willing to endure for the day. Once we hit the city, the humidity rose, the sun beat down, traffic brought us to a crawl, and we were sick of sitting. We had been on the road for 8 or 9 hours, and the last thing we wanted to do was sweat it out as we inched toward our destination. Covered in bugs and road dirt, it goes without saying, we weren’t exactly feeling funky fresh. But as we would learn, the tougher the ride, the more we would appreciate the destination. We were soon saved by the good graces of our interviewee, and it wouldn’t be the last time. Lacey was kind enough to put us up pre-interview, so we could shower and hydrate. It’s a good thing too since the alternative was to look (as the kids say) like a hot mess on camera. Jeremy took this interview on solo for reasons which may or may never be explained in the show due to the magic of editing. The short of it is, I was exploring the local landscapes and taking in as much as I could. I found Nashville fascinating. In many ways it reminded me of Brooklyn. It was young, it was active, it had great food and terrific...
Lauren Quirolgico
Producer / Director
Lauren Quirolgico earned her BA in Communication from Seton Hall University and possesses an MA in Media Studies and a certificate in Media Management from the New School in NYC. She is a native New Yorker and has been working in film, television and media consulting for over seven years.
The world doesn’t need mediocre, average and typical, Lauren is striving to be exceptional. Her interest in Broke Out West is academic, professional and personal, as she is interested in hearing how the Great Recession has affected individuals and businesses across the country.
Ryan Palmer
Director of Photography
Ryan Palmer studied, Communications at Penn State University and Marywood University, and also Filmmaking at the New York Film Academy in NYC. He has worked across the country on countless independent projects over the last seven years.
Ryan is best known for his role on set as a Production Sound Mixer and Boom Operator for which he has worked on a number of acclaimed projects including two films selected to the Cannes Court Métrage and one film which won the Cine Golden Eagle Award. Ryan is also a skilled Cinematographer and Photographer and has worked with Fox and Viacom.
Joe Dominic DeMuro
Unit Production Manager
Joe has a BA in theater, several Information Technology certifications, as well as certifications in fitness and nutrition.
Primarily an actor and filmmaker, Joe has had to utilize various means to support himself in the changing landscape of America.
Joe grew up in a small family owned business, and is concerned about the future for himself and for others. We live in a new America where the rules are different from that of our parents. Social unrest and the declining economy seem to be just a tip of the iceberg.
Jesse Christiansen
Intern
Jesse Christiansen is the young pup of the bunch. He is 21 years young and currently attending Caldwell University as a Communications major where he will be graduating in May of 2015.
He currently relies on the kindness of strangers, as his only source of income is pizza delivery.
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