Welcome to the Knight Talks, the University of Florida Colleg of Journalism and Communications produced by students for you.

Im Katey Brown, a first year st studying media production, management and technology.

And our guest today is Gaspar G an award winning filmmaker and w whose films have aired on ESPN, PBS, BBC, and TV One.

He's now the founder and owner o and Nail Productions, focusing on documentary filmmaking.

Hi, Gaspar.

Thanks for joining us today.

Thanks for having me.

It's great to be here.

Of course.

Okay, right into our first quest You earned your bachelor's degre from UF in English and your master's degree and Ph from Yale in American Studies.

How did your time in college pr with the skills for your future Well, my time at UF, so I was a major and I was a history minor.

But I really took I mean, I reme I took everything.

I mean, I took anthropology, sociology, art history.

I mean I took courses all over the plac And that really was a great foun for what I ended up doing.

I did a Ph.D. and I got my master's along the in American Studies.

So basically I'm a 20th century cultural hist So history and literature being you know, essential to American So that was great preparation.

And then I went on from there t I kind of fell into journalism a In 2000 you became a staff write for the Miami New Times.

What was your beat there an what kind of stories did you get So back then, the printe edition of New Times was like 18 Wow.

You know, and we woul we would write every issue would have like two 5000 word features in addition to, you know, two or three 1500 wor features, cultural calendars, pr I mean, you know, it's like this So there was lots of opportunity And we had a large staff.

We had like we had like a dozen staff writer So my particular beat, I was, I was lucky in that I was to kind of create my own beat and I had, I had grown up in Mia so I was familiar with Miami, even though at that poin I hadn't been there for a number But my sort of and this is where my training ca in, I basically wrote profiles, so like 5000 word features.

And a lot of them were like ins profiles, which doesn't sound ex except so, for example there were places like Hialeah P which is you know, a famous horse track i And in 2001, Hialeah Park was slated to close as a result of, you know, economics, politics, changing demographics.

And I wrote I basically wrote a of Hialeah Park which was about all of those thi So I got to write about hors racing and politics and, you kno economics, all of that.

And that was kind of that was kind of my beat was sor you know, making sens of those institutions and giving historical perspective on how t evolved or, you know, what have And that was great.

And I did that.

I did that for two years.

A couple of years later, in 2006 you began working on films for PBS and ESP How did you get started in this versus writing what you did befo Well, so my very first film was Ali: Made in Miami.

So I'll take you back to when I was at the Herald.

So at the Herald, I was a, I was an editor of, they had a they had a standalone cultural w And in February of 2004, that was the 40th anniversary of when Cassius Clay win the heavyweight championship of And he did that in Miami Beach.

That fight with Liston was in Mi And then a few days later he announces that he's no longer Cassius Clay, he's Muhammad X and that becomes Muhammad Ali, or I'm sorry, he's Cassius and that becomes Muhammad Ali.

So it was the 40th anniversary.

And I really wanted to do someth to commemorate that.

Except you know, we had a very small st We had three staff writers, we had one photographer.

We had no budget.

We had to come up with something you know, doable.

And it occurred to me, I said Well, listen, I grabbed our phot and I said, Can you go out and see how many people you can find who knew Cassius Clay, Muhammad when he lived in Miami?

This is 40 years later, and he you know, and we had a weeklies, So, you know, our, we went to pr I think if I remember Wednesday And so, you know, I gave him this assignment on like Thursday, the Thursday b I don't see him Thursday.

I don't see him Friday.

I don't hear from him over the w So I go into work on Monday mor and I'm thinking, I've got to co with something else for the cov because I haven't heard from him And he walks i and I said, Well, did you find a And he says, I found everybody.

He says, I found I found his old neighbors.

I said, Where did you find them?

He said, Living in the house nex to where Ali used to live.

I'm like, the same house?

He's like the same house.

He's like I found his old sparring partner And I said, Well, where did you find that guy?

He said, He's the bell captai at the Fountain Blue in Miami Be And so it was just this crazy you know, like all these people where, you know, he had left th you know, like 40 years earlier.

And we put together a really gre special issue with, like oral hi And we took photos and, you kno portraits of a lot of these peop And that was in February of 2004 That publication, for financial shut down at the beginning of 20 So now I'm out of work.

A friend of mine said, you know, and he knew that I wasn't, you I was kind of in between, you kn And he said is there anything you really wan Is there any, you know?

And I said, I said, yeah.

I said, you know, about a year a we did this special issue around the Clay-Listo fight and Muhammad Ali in Miami.

And I coul I could see it as a documentary, which was a very strange thing for me to say, because I was not a documentary you know?

And, you know if you're a writer, normally you this is a boo or this is something or, you kno and for whatever reason, you kn and I think I think the reason w you know I was just so impressed by the f that these people were still th and they were still available to You know, and to get that story in their you know, and with them, there o So I said to them, I said, I sa I would love to do that as a doc I was not a documentary filmmake And he put me together with a ge named Alan Tomlinson, who had been a BBC reporter in t and he'd spent the eighties get at in Latin America and covering and all that, and had made a pi in the nineties to documentary f So I went to Alan.

Alan loved the idea and we took And so that's kind of I mean, so, so the genesis of that was really, you know, journ And then, and then we made that Wow, really getting to bring i to life in a new way, taking it Well, you know, it' a, it's a lot of the same skill I mean, I didn't know, you know I didn't know how to set up a ca I didn't know how to light.

I mean, I learned all that actually doing the film, you know, it was like going to g all over again.

But the skill set in terms of, you know, interviewing, in terms of [storytelling] putting together a story.

Absolutely.

I mean, that skill set, you know, really does translate Getting into film reall was like a culmination of years Like it wasn't just, I want to try that, it was so mu No, no, and it was organic.

It was like I said, it wasn' I wasn't looking to make a film.

I jus I wanted to tell a particular st And I felt almost intuitively that the best way to tell that story was on film.

And so that was kind of the leap You know, if there was one.

After that film you then moved to a film about Richard Nixon.

What drew you to the story of this former president?

So Alan and I did Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami and that had a national PB premiere in, I believe, August o And so the sponsoring station which was in Miami, the PBS affi came to us and said, All right, guys, what's next?

And, you know, we wanted to do something that was different, but maybe kind of in conversation with the film we had just made.

Muhammad Ali: Made i Miami is really about, you know, crucial Miami was to Muhammad A you know, Cassius Clay's transfo Well, it occurred to m that you could tell a similar st about Richard Nixon, right?

Richard Nixon loses the preside election in 1960 to John Kennedy He then loses a race.

He wants to be the governor of in ‘62 and he loses that electio And now it looks like you know, were never going to h we're never going to hear from R Nixon again.

He's lost two huge elections bac And he kind of retreats.

He did have a home in Miami.

He had friends in Miami.

But what's really happenin is, is the rise of the sunbelt.

So places like Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, the population is And these are people who are kin of, who gravitate toward the Republican Party.

And Nixon understood, he saw it he understood this.

This is what was happening.

He understood tha the electoral map was shifting and he was kind of ideally posit to, you know, reap the rewards o And that's how he comes back in and is elected president.

And we thought it would be inter to tell that story.

And I just love the idea of the of, you know, you've got Muhamma who is, you know, possibly, you know, the iconic, kind of symbol of, you know, o the political left in the 1960s.

And you've got Richard Nixon, who's the, he was the political of the right of the 1960s.

And to do that as a bookend, you know, it was it was fun.

It was interesting.

In 2014 you founded Hammer and Nail Prod What motivate creating your own production com and what's the significance of the name Hammer and Nail?

So, um.

So Id done, I think at tha point, Id done I think maybe fo in collaboration under the umbr of other production companies.

And those were great experiences But I like the idea of kind o just being able to make my own c in terms of the projects that w after and the projects we would you know, just have a little mor on that side.

And I thought, Yeah, it's time, I should have my own, I should have my own company.

And so Hammer and Nail was born, and the name it's actually comes from so it's a little bit of a pet peeve but a lot of production compani tend to have like very elaborate You know, like, I don't know I don't know, like Electric Elep or I mean, there's probably a p company named Electric Elephant.

I'll get into trouble now.

But but, you know they have these very elaborate n And I thought, you know, it's almost like they more time on the name than they you know, on the work.

And I kind of wanted a name tha said, you know, we're here to wo And Hammer and Nail, and I thou well, that's, we make things, ri You make things, hammer and nail Straight to the point.

And it was, you know and you know, and then and then did you know, we did a logo that was sort of lowercase.

I just like the way you know it you know, it starts high and end And I just liked it.

And I thoug well, that's it.

You know, we're not gonna spend a lot of time on this.

It was after the fact that someo You know, my father worked for years and years as a furnitu He was a cabinet maker and a ref So there's this, you know, so my dad was a carpenter.

So hammer and nail, I guess, has a kind of, you know, biographical element which I didn't it didn't really at the time, but it actually has biographical element.

My mother was a manicurist.

Oh wow.

So a different kind of n Yeah So that was completely unintenti But it wa but somebody pointed that out as Said, you've managed to get them both in there in a way.

And that actually made me very I said, Well, then it's perfect.

It's a perfect name.

Yeah, that's amazing That is a perfect name.

So yeah, But it was really about that.

It was really about kind of a n that expressed our philosophy, which is just, you know, it's about the work you know, just get to work, make With Hammer and Nail Production you've produced so many films.

Which of them have brought you pride or had the biggest impact Filmmaking is, it's a lot of wor and you really have to get like, deep into it.

you kind of have an emotional re to everything you work on because you remember how hard i to do this or how hard it was to you know, or how exciting it was when you finally figured out th no, this is the way to do this, So everything we've done I mean, so even short films, you we did a we did a four and a half minute which was actually the first thi we ever did called Gay Taleses Address Book.

So we caught up with, you know, journalist Gay Talese, I found o that he has like a 50 or 60 year old address book.

And, you know, if, you know, Ga his career, he's written about e And I thought I thought, boy I bet I know what that book look you know?

Right.

It's going to be like this.

And it wa it was exactly the way I picture And we did a four minute fil that's about his address book.

But it's really about hi and it's about his life, you kno And, you know, I'm very proud of that Its 4 minutes.

But I loved working on that film Also, I love that you've kind of how the length of a film doesn't always dictate its impa or its meaning or its quality.

I'm glad you I'm glad you brough because, you know, I feel like a lot of times, you there are certain films that are at 8 minutes or 10 minutes or 12 that you try to make them 20 mi they're not so great anymore, yo And so and so that was one of th I always wanted to do is, you know, make films that are, you know, suitable to the subjec Now, your 2020 documentary, The All-American Cuban Comet, follows former Gator football re Carlos Alvarez.

How did you decide to tell his s and how do you get a project like this off the ground?

I kno you worked with ESPN for this pr So, Carlos Alvarez, I knew about Alvarez.

Carlos Alvarez played football a in the late sixties.

He played 69, 70 and 71.

Back then, freshmen were not eli to play on the varsity.

So he played three seasons.

So I knew about Carlos Alvarez, and I knew that he'd been, you know, to this day, Carlos Alvarez is still the all leading receiver in UF history.

It's got like something like ove 2500 yards, I think.

And I don't kno the exact number off the top of So I know that he had I, you know, I knew about him.

I knew he was Cuban, actually born in Havana.

And I knew that he had been at UF from the late sixtie which was a very interesting tim Integration, the antiwar movemen Gainesvill was kind of a hotbed of activism And so I knew that, you know, w sort of interesting protagonist who'd been her during this really interesting t And so I called him.

So I just I just called him.

And a lot of times, you know, and I've told people this befor a lot of times as a filmmaker, it often feels like your job is to propose is to propose something crazy, but to not sound crazy yourself, So I called Carlos Alvarez up, I didn't know him.

I didn't know we didn't have any mutual friend I just called them and I introdu and I said, Look, I you know, I know a little bit about your c and your time at UF.

And I think, you know I think you have a story worth t and it turned out that the story was actually, you know, richer than I could have imagin because, you know, we start talk For starters, I did not kno he and I had gone to the same hi I mean, you know, 20 years apart But we had gone to North Miami Senior High.

And did not kno that he had grown up in a house not far from the house that I had grown up in, you know, and so we had that in all of a sudden, you know, and he had been at UF in the lat sixties.

I was at UF in the late eighties I graduated in 90.

And, you know, there weren' a lot of Cubans in the late sixt There weren't a lot of Cubans in eighties at UF.

So we had that in common.

And then I found out that, you he got into all kinds of trouble while he was at UF becaus he was outspoken and for his act And that seemed like a really like a relevant story, you know and relevant to the current mome You know, this tension between you know, sports and activism.

And so just, you know, the more just the story just got richer.

And I said we're going to do thi You know, we're going to do this And initially, you know, I hadn' I hadn't talked to ESPN about it But then finally I said, look, I've got this you k I've got this project that I rea And and at the time, they weren't taking pitches.

They had a lot in the pipeline they had a lot of films in the p And they said, you know, call us in a year.

And I was like, Alright, so what date is today?

Today is, you know, October 1st.

So October 1st, a year later I called them and I said, What do you think about that fil They said, We love it.

Let's do it.

And, and I mean, we were like, literally, I called the it was late September or early O We were here for homecoming in 2 So like three weeks later, we we Wow.

You were on it.

We were shooting interviews.

We filmed from the sidelines of the homecoming game, which was Auburn that year, it was a great game.

You know, one of our cameramen, our DP actually almost got run o by a Gator on like a like a 60 yard run up the sideli I'm like you know, Richard, he's real clo He's like, but this is a great s I said, He's getting closer.

And so anything for the shot.

Anything for the shot.

So.

So that's.

Yeah, So that's how that film.

That's how that film happened.

I find it so fascinating and I l it was a lot simple creating the story of just calli I feel like people often have t that it's this really complex li Oh, how do I start getting to co how do I start?

You just call them up.

Well, yeah, I mean, you know, so I mentioned Gay Talese's Addr Now so, you know, Carlos is kin you know, he's a regular guy, ri I mean, you know, you know, Ga Talese is like this legendary Ne journalist who has, you know, ag And, you know, you can't just l you know, his numbers not in th Right.

So I just crafted an email, a very short email.

So he had done a Q&A.

He had done a Q& where he just offhandedly mentio that he had this 50 year old add He was trying to make the poin that he was a creature of habit.

And that's where I thought I saw And I thought, you know so I just did like a very brief Hello my name is Gaspar Gonzalez, you and I think I can make a great s about your address book.

And I sent it to his publisher I didn't have an e-mail address So it's just like a message in a Right?

Basically.

And, you know, and don't be cut like when you send those message like don't, you know, it's not h I have a great idea that you should call me and I'l no, you have to put it all in th because that's it.

That's your o So, yeah, but again, it's jus you have to introduce yourself and you have to and you have to, you know, that's you know.

Just be determined.

There's no art to it.

Just introduce yourself.

You tell somebody you have an i you think you can do something a and maybe they're interested and maybe they're not.

But.

But you'll never find out.

You just got to try.

You'll never find out until you Until you get a hold of them.

No Now, you've spoken a lot about the joys of filmmaking and creating these stories.

What do you think are some of the biggest challen to creating these great stories?

Challenges, there are many.

There are many.

You know, access is often the ch I mean, you don't always get eve that you'd like to get.

You know, you don't always get i with everyon you'd like to get interviews wit Sometimes, you know, you'll have what you think is a for a project.

And, you know, the person or the people are not interested.

Money obviously is a huge hurdle you know, to filmmaking, which is why it's it's great when you've got partners who can, you know, who can, can you the kind of budget that you think you need to tell the story the way you want to tell it, you know, and then just practical, you know, there's always a surprise on, you know, there is every fi and you get to the point where you have to get to the poin where you're no longer surprised Right.

When things don't go, you, at th I assume that things aren't goi the way that we envisioned them.

And then when that happens, so n So so you pivot, you know, and y do you go to plan B, your plan C, your plan D or w And that's just that's just so p and parcel of the process that I don't even think about it anym It's like, it's like, you know, were, there were a bunch of surp Well, of course there were, you and then you just deal with it and you do your best.

You just know you got to keep go You got t you got to get something in the and you got to get, you know, an you just keep going.

Roll with the punches.

Now, finally, what advice would you give to s looking to get into filmmaking t I think the best advice I can gi is, is to stay open to opportunities, stay open to possibilities.

You know, in the same way that I wanted to tell that story of Muhammad Ali in Mi you know, and it occurred to me that, well, this could be a docu I think I think one of the reaso I was able to make that leap is because I never limited mysel You know, I didn't think of myse as, you know, I'm you know, I'm a print journalist Well, if you think of yoursel strictly as a print journalist, then it's never going to occur t to make a documentary.

But if you think of yourself as a storyteller, well, that.

It's much more malleable.

Yeah.

And it's much more expansi And again, you'r I think you're more aware and yo alive to kind of other possibili you know, because I think your c I don't know.

I think if you do it right, I think it will take you down roads that maybe you didn't that are maybe more interesting than the ones that you ha kind of mapped out for yourself, you know, when you were starting So that would be my you know, but I think that's I think that's good advice, hop not just for aspiring filmmakers you know, anybody kind of going into the world of journalism or storytelling because that lan is constantly shifting, you know, and to kind of underst that you can shift with it, you know, and that you know, may certain doors closed, but other doors open and you can step through those d Thank you so much for your insig Gaspar.

Thank you for having me.

Of course, from Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami to the All-American Cuban Comet to Gay Taleses Address Book.

You've really show the importance of determination and passion in filmmaking and to not limit yourself.

I think that's really important any future filmmakers and for an And speaking of viewers.

Thank you so much to our viewers for joining us tonight.

Until next time, goodnight.