Production manager Ralph Giordano sat down with A Voice for Lil Olive’s director Pete Schuermann to ask him a few questions about the film, his connection to the issue of puppy mills, the power of documentaries, and more. This is Part 2 of a three-part series. Find Part 1 here.
RG: What is your personal connection to the subject?
PS: I had spent five years of my life making a very dark and serious film called The Creep Behind the Camera. My wife, Ashley, was very supportive of me through all of that. I thought if I was going to spend that much time and effort on another project, it was going to be for and with Ashley. She was very much informed about the cause of puppy mills, and was enamored of Lil Olive, whose story she had been following. And we have Lola, our own rescue dog (pictured with Ashley at right).
RG: What was your personal reaction to the plight of puppy mill dogs when you discovered the truth about how they were treated?
PS: I think the average person has no idea. When you think of pet stores, you think of this idyllic place of green fields and trees, where they’re breeding dogs because they love dogs, and when they have puppies, they sell them to a retail outlet. What most people don’t realize is that is not the case. Puppy mills are these horrible places where they are turning the breeding dog into a product by breeding them over and over in an endless cycle. That was a shock to me. I think many people have heard of this, but just don’t know how bad it really is.
RG: I think that people do know about it to some degree, but really they would rather not think about it.
PS: Yes, exactly. It’s a denial. And there’s a guilt component, I’m sure. And as a film, we’re not aiming to make people feel terrible if they purchased a dog from a puppy mill … we don’t want to do that. It’s just that people don’t know. They hate to think that their little puppy came from one of these places.
RG: You and I have discussed the power of documentary film, and how it can possibly change hearts and minds. Tell us how you intend this film to do that?
PS: Well first off, I feel that a film has to be entertainment. What we want to do is make an entertaining film that will educate you at the same time. My goal is reach as large an audience as possible and educate them so that when they choose to get a dog, they realize they have options. Just raising that awareness will allow people to make better decisions to the point that puppy mills will no longer exist due to lack of support. People have other options when looking for a pet to add to their family.
RG: Tell me about your and Ashley’s relationship with Pam Horton and the Lil Olive story?
PS: Well, back when we were on track to do Rescued, we thought it was a good idea to get some footage of Pam because she was an interesting woman and Lil Olive already had a social media following. We were fortunate to get some really great footage of Pam and her dogs. We knew that she was great on camera … a no-holds-barred personality … she is very serious about the issue, but also gregarious and fun to talk to … and we got along great. It seemed like a perfect match to work with Pam and tell the Lil Olive story as a center point to a much larger story.
RG: Making a feature length documentary film seems daunting…
PS: Yes, documentary films are hard to make. And the difficulty with this particular story is the balance of the sensitivity of the viewer to the subject. There’s a fine line between making it too light on the issues and also too dark.
This is Part 2 of a three-part series. Join us tomorrow for Part 3. Be a voice for Lil Olive and contribute to our Indiegogo campaign at tinyurl.com/lilolivefilm.