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A (Liar's) History of BFP, Chapter 1:
While we could have sat down and wrote an honest and revealing history of BFP since its founding a decade ago, we thought it'd be more fun just to make one up. In the spirit of "based on a true story" dramatization, we present to you our Liar's history of BFP. The truth, after all, is over-rated...
Big Flaming Pile, or BFP, was formed amidst the summer heat of 1998 due to the ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) strike of that spring. The conglomerate was formed to circumvent the problems that had caused the strike, mainly wages for all those participating in the making of movies.
BFP’s solution was witty, sharp, and simple. There would be no wages at all: everyone would receive absolutely zero compensation for any work which was put into these projects. Amidst many critics BFP thrived under this new strategy, recruiting some of the top minds in Canadian cinema straight from the finest Canadian film studios. Actors arrived not from greed, which drives so much of Canadian film-making, but lust, lust for good quality film making. They came, they saw, they worked hard, and they were paid nothing.
There were three founding members of BFP: Alex McPhaden, Brian Griffith, and Derek Heaman. They had come together by chance when Alex’s car was hit by a train carrying Brian. A plane carrying Derek crashed into the still-burning wreckage. The three were the only survivors of the disaster, said to be the most unlikely in transportation history.
From this meeting spawned a friendship which would lead to a partnership. Soon after they met, they came to understand that fate had brought them together. They were three pieces to a puzzle: a jigsaw of great movie-making...
Alex had been a writer and producer of smut films for several years, after dropping out of junior high. His films had great success among a new demographic of porn viewers (males aged 18-24) with award winning titles such as “Blah Blah Blah Anal”, “Dun Dun Dun Fisting”, and “Anal Fisting Cha Cha Cha”, the latter taking home 15 AVN awards in 1995.
Brian had spent several years directing and editing wildlife videos with National Geographic. His films were very successful, having broken down borders in the industry with films about wildlife which was questionably wild. Brian’s last film for National Geographic, “My Neighbor's Cats”, brought lucrative offers from throughout the documentary genre.
Derek had also been working in the film industry, though not in Canada. He had been working in Macedonia as a set designer and part-time stunt coordinator in very popular Macedonian action films. None of the films which Derek worked on ever made it to American releases, but he did win several awards at the Skopje Film Festival in 1993.
The three members combined to form BFP, and set off to make their first full-length film, “Cop Fiction”. The film would combine the three’s talents in film-making to create a piece of cinematic history. The film had sex appeal, action, and a plot so tight it could only be called tight. Filmed on a record-breaking budget,it was a instant classic. “Cop Fiction” was snubbed by the Juno’s even with an infinite profit margin. With a wage cost of $0.00 and total movie sales totaling $28.75, it had shown there was much money to be made in no-money films.
Paramount instantly called on Big Flaming Pile to sign a 6 picture deal. The trio, driven by a passion for film, declined with one word heard round the world. Their response to Paramount, and a 6 picture multi-million dollar deal: “Nuts”. The Pack was determined to make it on their own and with the purity that only an independent self-run production company could provide.
It was from that idea of purity that spawned the idea of “Dead Air”, BFP’s second full-length feature film. Rumored to be the result of a mysterious brain-melding session between the three founding members in which they accidentally joined the occult, “Dead Air” was just that: one-hundred-and-twenty-three minutes of nothingness; a static filled screen followed by credits.
Though bashed by the critics, the movie would set BFP’s place in history, and the record-breaking profits would afford them the chance to expand. And expand they did, welcoming new partners to the corporation each bringing unique talent and new opportunities for BFP...
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We make t-shirts (check out ourA (Liar's) History of BFP, Chapter 1:
While we could have sat down and wrote an honest and revealing history of BFP since its founding a decade ago, we thought it'd be more fun just to make one up. In the spirit of "based on a true story" dramatization, we present to you our Liar's history of BFP. The truth, after all, is over-rated...BFP’s solution was witty, sharp, and simple. There would be no wages at all: everyone would receive absolutely zero compensation for any work which was put into these projects. Amidst many critics BFP thrived under this new strategy, recruiting some of the top minds in Canadian cinema straight from the finest Canadian film studios. Actors arrived not from greed, which drives so much of Canadian film-making, but lust, lust for good quality film making. They came, they saw, they worked hard, and they were paid nothing.
From this meeting spawned a friendship which would lead to a partnership. Soon after they met, they came to understand that fate had brought them together. They were three pieces to a puzzle: a jigsaw of great movie-making...
The three members combined to form BFP, and set off to make their first full-length film, “Cop Fiction”. The film would combine the three’s talents in film-making to create a piece of cinematic history. The film had sex appeal, action, and a plot so tight it could only be called tight. Filmed on a record-breaking budget,it was a instant classic. “Cop Fiction” was snubbed by the Juno’s even with an infinite profit margin. With a wage cost of $0.00 and total movie sales totaling $28.75, it had shown there was much money to be made in no-money films.
Though bashed by the critics, the movie would set BFP’s place in history, and the record-breaking profits would afford them the chance to expand. And expand they did, welcoming new partners to the corporation each bringing unique talent and new opportunities for BFP...