Cottonwood Update #25: The Ambulance

 I said last week that I would go back and tell some stories from filming this summer. This blog I want to tell you about the ambulance for the film. Now this may seem like a small thing, but it ended up being one of the most challenging.

So to start this story off I want to first off say that I have nothing against the Windom Ambulance crew or anyone involved with the ambulance. My issue is more with the policies regarding emergency vehicles in Windom. To people who have no idea what I am talking about; a couple of years ago there was an incident with a firetruck. A firefighter took some wedding photos on a fire truck and there were people in the community who became very upset with this. This led the city government to basically make it impossible for anyone to use firetrucks, ambulances, or any city vehicles for anything other than what they are intended for. Now this may sound like a great rule, but it has absolutely killed us for every film I have ever made.

 For every feature film I have made I have tried to get emergency vehicles, but I am turned down because of the firefighter incident. I knew that we would have issues with this going into Cottonwood, but I knew I'd figure something out. I first started calling around to see if we could rent an old ambulance from a dealership. No one was willing to rent them out. They just wanted to sell them. So who came through to help us out big time?

The folks in Mountain Lake! Mt. Lake is 10 minutes from Windom. I was able to talk to my uncle, who is the mayor, and get the phone number of some of the guys on the ambulance crew. They were extremely generous to allow us to film in their ambulance.

 Greg looking pretty rough with Dalton running audio. It was truly an awesome experience to use an actual ambulance. I cannot thank the guys from the Mountain Lake Emergency Services for helping us out!

As I continue to edit the movie I am getting started on the official trailer. The trailer should be coming out here within the next couple weeks. Stay tuned for weekly blogs and more info on the premiere.

Ethan Clerc