Shoot First…

Lots of backstory on this one, folks. Here’s the short version.

After seeing photos of the long distance trucks bringing 50 greys at a time up from the panhandle (where a pair of tracks are shutting down for an extended period this winter) I was intensely curious about how these “hauls” are put together. How many people are involved? What kind of planning does it take? What it’s like for a greyhound to step off the track, climb inside a dark truck for nearly 24 hours, and emerge as somebody’s potential pet?

And just like that, within a couple of days Melissa and I were in the car headed to Pensacola; a five day trip capped off by a marathon ride north from Florida to Wisconsin, in 17 hours straight.

Armed with this goal of telling these dogs’ story, I was able to get several hours of footage (with Melissa providing her typical, essential support behind the scenes). By the time we arrived home after shooting the unloading in Wisconsin this past Sunday, word had spread about our trip. By the following morning, clips were already being requested by our ABC station in Chicago for an interview on their morning news broadcast.

So here you go; a few seconds of footage interwoven with a beautifully done interview. Hopefully the tv spot will increase the number of applications coming into Greyhounds Only, and hopefully my clips will eventually become part of a full length documentary.

This whole escapade may have begun without much planning, but as with many worthwhile endeavors, good ideas often don’t fit nicely into a calendar, or wait around while you spend months on the phone planning every last detail. Sometimes you need to just “shoot” first… and ask questions later.