NOTES FROM THE FILMMAKER
BEHIND THE SCENES
The man was a great talker with a fantastic sense of humor. One thing I remember him saying was that a lot of people think he's cheap for wearing a jacket patched up with duct tape, but he wanted everyone to know it was "the best duct tape money can buy."
- OLEG HARENCAR
Ron MacAnnan
THE BEGINNING
Not long after I bought my boat and got a slip in Sausalito Yacht Harbor, I was amazed by the incredible, interesting people who congregated there. The "interesting characters per capita" rate was certainly higher than in the general population. Being a filmmaker and storyteller, I quickly started thinking about filming these individuals and their stories.
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I'm simplifying here, but eventually, one of the people I talked to about this—Vince Maggiora—strongly suggested that my first story should be about Ron MacAnnan.
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After getting Vince to agree to help, and with the strong encouragement of my girlfriend Kat Lusher—who agreed to contribute her energy, organizational skills, and graphic design talent—we decided to go ahead. Perhaps most importantly, Kat also agreed to invest half the money needed to buy the camera. Before that, I believed I shouldn't own equipment. I thought the idea should come first, then the budget, then the making of the film; in that model, there should be enough money to rent what you need. But it was obvious this wouldn't work here. I just wanted to make these films, even though it didn't make sense economically. I figured I would continue to make a living working on other films, and "Life on The Water" would be something I did in my free time, hoping the first one or two films would attract funding to continue.
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There was no funding for the film—except what Kat and I put into it—but I felt several factors would minimize the cost. Ron's boat was on the way from my slip to the parking lot, and he was on it pretty much every day, so I figured I could film whenever I had time.
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OFF TO A BUMPY START
Ron MacAnnan was both famous and infamous in Sausalito Yacht Harbor and beyond. A huge plus was that he was a good storyteller. On the downside, he could be cantankerous, temperamental, and outright angry and negative.
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Ron wasn't really interested in talking to me and didn't seem to give a damn that I wanted to make a film about him. But eventually, Vince, who had known Ron for a long time, convinced him to do an interview. The crucial part was that Vince was going to ask the questions. I would just run the camera. Vince knew something about interviewing from his time as a photographer for the San Francisco Chronicle, but basically, he just asked Ron to tell the stories he'd heard from him over the years.
A few times when I came to shoot on Ron's boat, I was turned away. "I don't fuck around" was his way of saying he was busy. Fortunately, he liked Kat a lot more than he liked me. He was flirtatious with her, so eventually, between Vince and Kat's help, I shot enough to put together a film.
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I also somehow managed to get invited for a sail on Ron's boat, Pursuit, and Kat convinced Ron to give us a tour, which I filmed.
ONWARDS
So that's how it started: our first film in the "Life on the Water" series. No budget, no sponsors, no donations.
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We thought we might recoup some money through screenings, but this turned out to be much harder than anticipated. We premiered the film for free at Sausalito Yacht Harbor. Ron did not come, but a lot of people did. In fact, more and more people kept coming until the club ran out of chairs and had to turn people away. Everyone stayed all the way to the end of the film, and afterward we had a great Q&A. The audience was positive and excited and I thought, "Okay, we have something here."
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We screened the film at several other yacht clubs around the Bay Area, always to enthusiastic audiences. Our biggest screening was at the Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley, coinciding with Ron's 88th birthday. Kat called Ron's landline to invite him to attend. His wife answered, and after Kat delivered the invitation, she said, "It ain't gonna happen," then hung up! We got the message to Ron another way, and he did come to the Throckmorton screening—minus his wife. He even got on stage and gave a great speech. Afterwards Kat wheeled a gigantic birthday cake on a cart with candles ablaze, onto the stage to join Ron while the audience sang Happy Birthday to him. The next day Ron left a sweet voicemail for Kat: "I didn't expect all that. Thank you very much for the evening and the whole show. All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you."