Filmmakers Making A Social Impact: Why & How Filmmaker Matt Boman of Studio Boman Is Helping To Change Our World
As for other things, there’s no magic bullet and everyone’s experience is not only different, but it is our best teacher. Going up to that celebrity I wanted to work with, and letting them know, is something I’ve done many times and had it work. I didn’t need anyone’s advice to do that, I just did it. Be bold! I love this quote “Do not kill that within you that is cringe, kill that within you that cringes.” 10/10 times you will lose out to the person who’s IDGAF attitude got them into the space you were afraid to go into. “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek” is a Joseph Campbell quote that rings true here. Thankfully, no one had to tell me to be bold or shameless. I entered this world that way.
As a part of our series about “Filmmakers Making A Social Impact” I had the pleasure of interviewing Matt Boman, video director and founder of production company Studio Boman.
Matt Boman, born in the deep south and now based out of Los Angeles, is a video director, editor and founder of boutique production company Studio Boman, which creates heart-pounding content for brands like Indian Motorcycle, Warner Records & eBay Motors. From drag queens to drag racers he gravitates towards triumphant human stories, colorful characters and dynamic underdogs. No stranger to web, TV or feature films, Matt’s directing is most known for Blurring Man (2020) a feature documentary that challenged desert rave Burning Man’s “Radical Inclusion” principles to the point of legal action, Gogo for the Gold (2022) a reality dance competition show featuring a colorful cast of all male gogo dancers for OUTtv, and the face melting, career launching music video for Brooke Candy’s Das Me (2012).
Thank you so much for doing this interview with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit. Can you share your “backstory” that brought you to this career?
Well, going to high school in Lovejoy, Georgia, I was a total “Band Nerd”. I referred to myself (internally) as the “Only tuba player in Georgia to give a damn.” Lord that was so dorky, but it felt true, nonetheless. Because I strove to play that bulky, often overlooked instrument better than anyone else, I was given tons of solos and was first chair in symphonic band, (beating out a sophomore, a junior and an irate senior) my freshman year. I played in jazz band, symphony (with the orchestra) solo / ensemble and my favorite, marching band where I marched the sousaphone. An instrument I’d sling around me in delight, playing Trick Daddy songs for “Crunk” audiences every Friday night. Think the movie Drumline, that was my life. I was on track to be a conductor and even got sponsored to go rehearse with some college bands which I was considering attending. All that changed when on a whim, I visited my older brother Derek at the art school SCAD in Savannah, Georgia.
He was studying architecture, but his roommates were film majors, and I was there while they were filming their senior thesis film. To my astonishment, they had rented a 35mm film camera from the school, cast local middle schoolers from a casting call they hosted, and the kicker for me, was a sight I’ll never forget: an industrial fog machine. I remember watching someone hold that massive fogger, spaying the area with atmospheric magic. I was captivated and thought to myself “Wait…you can go to school for this?”. As someone who struggled paying attention in most of my classes, I was hooked. At that moment I put down my tuba and never looked back. I applied and was accepted to the Film & Television program at SCAD and the rest is, as they say, history.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Sometimes I think my mistakes are my only teachers. I think the pain of screwing something up is sometimes the only thing that makes us remember a lesson. Starting out in filmmaking I think I left my memory card at home once. Another time, very early on, I left my camera batteries at home once. Those are lessons you can and should only afford to make once.
In terms of funny examples, years ago I shot a music video of all exteriors in LA that I did not check the weather for. Obviously it doesn’t rain much in LA, but it sure rained on our video. I almost had a meltdown thinking I couldn’t afford to rent the gear and pay everyone again, but soon the clouds parted just enough for us to film the remaining scenes we needed and to be honest, it created a dreamy vibe that really fit the video which can be seen here. I think the funniest part of that teachable moment was that during the rain, thousands of snails came out of the ground to mate. They were literally doing it all over the film shoot and there were so many of them you couldn’t help from stepping on some. I feel bad for those snails, but at least they went out having a good time. If they do in fact enjoy that experience, perhaps we will never know.
Now I check the weather beforehand for any shoot, anywhere I travel to, even if it’s all filmed inside, I want to know “Will load in, load out be easy?” “Will traffic be crazy because of the weather?” “Should I leave earlier?” I want to be as well informed as possible leading up to a shoot and in some small way, I have snails to thank for that.
Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?
Oh, wow. I think there’s something interesting about everyone, and that is no different for the people I have filmed and collaborated with. That being said, as subjects I am most attracted to outsiders and underdogs, unseen or under-appreciated heroes, madmen and mavens seeking to carve out an existence in an all too often indifferent world. The spotlight is all too often on people like me; straight white dudes who come packed with privilege and ideas about how the world “should” work. I’m more inclined to let others speak, and to truly listen, reflect and try to understand their perspectives. Like I always say “You don’t learn nothin’ from talkin’!” I feel that strongly and like to let others shine as I try to understand their world, with my camera or just with my mind.
In terms of interesting people I have filmed so many. Strippers fighting for equality and safety trying to unionize their club, Korean classical composers who run a hip hop orchestra, disabled dance troupes, women drag racers and acrobatic marvels the world over. But one group that stands out to me that I think of often–the underwater cinematographers I met filming Shark Week in the Bahamas.
I was down there filming behind the scenes for a season of Shark Week and was amazed by these guys. They’re basically Navy Seals with cameras. They are all about marine life conservation and have a real passion for protecting and showcasing the incredible ecosystems of the world’s oceans. I remember how they would see a shark in the water (sometimes very murky water which still freaks me out) and immediately throw their cameras overboard (which are housed in floating, waterproof cages) and dive in after to get a shot of said shark. I have so much respect for those guys, I kind of consider them the purest filmmakers, full of passion with their own core missions and devoid of fear.
One of them I saw changing out of his wetsuit on the boat, and across his bare shoulder, was some very intense, jagged scarring. It took me a minute but it finally donned on me, wow that is a shark bite, a gnarly one. I wanted to ask him about it, and take a portrait of him, which I do often, but I just couldn’t muster up the courage. That’s something my friends and I call “Too Raw, Too Real” for when we aren’t able, for whatever reason, to snap a photo or record a video or something epic. Those fleeting, magical moments that are perhaps only meant for our eyes, due to their ephemeral nature. At least that’s what we tell ourselves so we don’t feel bad about “missing the shot.” Try it sometime, maybe it will help you.
Once I got home from the Bahamas, I found his name on the call sheet and Googled him along with “Shark Bite” sure enough a local news story popped up. He was bitten by a blue shark just behind his home in Florida. It was profound to me that even after this injury, he didn’t shy away from the majestic beasts from the deep that he clearly loves. Perhaps there is some sort of lesson there. I hope to meet that man again, if I do, I hope I have the courage to ask for his portrait.
Which people in history inspire you the most? Why?
At the top of my list lately would be Frederick Douglass. I read his autobiography last year and was blown away by his story. Being born a slave, he endured so much bigotry and suffering at the hands of white America, yet still he managed to not only maintain his humanity but to expound upon it teaching himself to read (by trading some of his meager food rations to white children in exchange for secret lessons) later becoming a social activist, famous writer and statesman. What particularly spoke to me about his story was his ability to not let what was done to him fester inside and manifest itself in, say violent or destructive acts.
Another incredible part of his story was that he, all the way back in the 1800’s predicted a future of revisionist history and “Fake News” and included many receipts in his autobiography that people could fact check in the future. Names of streets, people, businesses, dates and locations, he included them all so future skeptics (many believed that a former slave could never learn to read, let alone hold government office) could fact check him and see that he was in fact, telling the truth. I remember reading his biography and thinking, “wow, this guy is my favorite American!” What a legend.
A historical figure in the cinema landscape that inspires me is semi-forgotten director George Stevens. I just read about him in the book Five Came Back about the top Hollywood directors joining the armed forces during WWII to make propaganda films for the allied war effort. Originally a director of comedies, he enlisted and ended up filming the allied advance through Europe to push back the Germany army.
In less than a year, he participated in the landing on Normandy, filming some of the only color footage of D-Day, the liberation of Paris and the final advance into Germany where he documented the horrors of the Dachau concentration camp as it was discovered and liberated. Harrowing footage of human suffering that was used during the Nazi war trials as first hand evidence, that still bears witness to history across the divide of time. I think the work he did was cinema in its purest form. No made up characters, no fabricated narrative, just raw, and real human events.
Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview, how are you using your success to bring goodness to the world? Can you share with us the meaningful or exciting social impact causes you are working on right now?
Most recently, I used my vast amount of privilege to create a hard hitting commercial for Indian Motorcycles, I’ve named Freedom Machines. The spot features a diverse cast of all women riders, twisting tires and reveling in their community set to words by Langston Hughes. Also appearing in the film are members of the Medicine Wheel Ride, a group of Indigenous riders who ride to eradicate the horrible crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls or #MMIWG. I met the Medicine Wheel Riders when filming our main rider, motorcycle legend Gevin Fax, in Black Rock, South Dakota at the Sturgis motorcycle rally in 2022. I was shocked to learn about the heartbreaking statistics for #MMIWG, that indigenous women are ten times more likely to be murdered than the national average, that out of 5,000+ cases of missing indigenous women in 2016, only 216 were actually logged federally, and that four out of five indigenous women experience violence in their lifetimes.
I consider myself someone fairly aware of current events, and am well aware of the horrible treatment of the Native Americans by the United States and its people, past and present, but to hear of these stats for the first time was quite appalling and I knew I wanted to help raise awareness to this crisis. So I was extremely thankful and humbled to have the Medicine Wheel Riders agree to be a part of my project in a profound and authentic way.
It should be noted that Freedom Machines is a spec commercial, meaning I self financed, produced and created it without the help, funding or blessing of Indian Motorcycle. I set about creating it at the suggestion of a friend who is a more established commercial director, to “make the ultimate commercial for a brand you love” in order to showcase my directing skills and ability to pull off a high level production in the vein of a national commercial. I set out to create the first “woke motorcycle commercial” which grew, morphed and expanded with my collaboration with Gevin. I can’t thank her, or the team of other incredible women, for letting me (and my cameras) into their lives for this project. In the few weeks since its premiere it got a write up in LA Weekly and has already created a flurry of new leads on high level commercial work so the excitement is high and I’m stoked for what the future holds for our short motor-centric film.
I also have another project in the works, a surreal documentary I’m making with my friend Love Bailey, a firebrand Trans woman, as she takes on the bigoted city council of her hometown of Temecula, California. More on that soon.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest them. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and take action for this cause? What was that final trigger?
I don’t so much have an “Ah-Ha” moment as an “Uh-Oh” one. My freshman year of college, I broke up a fight and got sucker punched in the face with brass knuckles. Yikes! I was in the hospital for several weeks while doctors monitored my swollen brain. In my face, my right zygomatic (cheek) bone which was shattered “like an egg shell” according to the doctor, was replaced with a square titanium mesh, two rods and six screws. I didn’t have a bowel movement for over a month, which I learned years later, was a side effect of the morphine drip they had me on. It was an awful experience to say the least.
A month later, I tried to attend classes again but was overwhelmed with feelings of anxiety which I later realized was PTSD. I tried to cope with these horrors by excessive drinking and reckless behavior. Which culminated in me being expelled from college for what would end up being a year, though I didn’t know that at the time. I remember going back home, staying at my parents house again and lying in my childhood bed, feeling so ashamed and lost, crying myself to sleep at night while I watched my friends at college galavant and move on with their lives via the first iterations of Facebook. I thankfully found structure by becoming a hibachi chef, of all things, which I excelled at for a year garnering the name of the “Caucasian Sensation” by my adoring customers. This structure and acceptance by a literal family of Asian immigrants gave me purpose and I vowed I would return to college and work harder than ever. Spinning knives, making volcanoes and flinging shrimp, I solidified my resolve to use cinema to impact the world in a positive way. To be a champion for diversity and strive to eradicate toxic masculinity, a social cancer that I feel left me, and millions of others, in traumatic situations. I swore to return to college and finish my film degree, working harder than ever before imbued with my new mission.
After a year I did return to college and excelled at my classes, finding myself pouring more hours into my projects with more gusto than many of my peers. I spent my entire senior year, working around the clock on my thesis film (like the one that had inspired me to study film years ago on the same campus) which I called On Homeostasis. A dialogue free Jodorowsky-ian voyage that helped me process my own trauma. Audiences responded and it garnered an “Award of Special Artistic Achievement” from the same collage I had been suspended from a few years before as well as screenings at over twenty film festivals worldwide. After graduation, I set off for LA to expound on my cinematic mission, amidst the great economic crisis of 2009.
Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
I would say that person might have to be Elmer, the subject and star of my first feature film, Blurring Man, a documentary that parallels Elmer, a day laborer from El Salvador’s two arduous desert quests, one through the scorching Soronran desert and across the US border, and the other to legendary desert sand rave, Burning Man.
He agreed to travel with me ten hours away into the desert to attend Burning Man. Insanity, drama, legal threats and poignant moments ensue as we follow him through his honest experience of the festival, intercut with artful recreations of his traumatic survival trek through the Sonoran Desert across the US border. I won’t spoil too much, you’ll need to go watch the film, but I do think Elmer had quite a good time playing the role of “movie star” even if for a short time, going to premieres, sharing the film with his friends and family back home and raising money for undocumented children in Nevada. I spoke with him recently and he now has a full time job, is engaged to his girlfriend in the film, and via an immigration lawyer I connected him with, is on a path to citizenship. We don’t speak the same language and can barely understand each other, but we have forged a friendship beyond words, for that I am grateful.
Are there three things that individuals, society or the government can do to support you in this effort?
Going back to “Freedom Machines”, we’ve set up a GoFundMe to raise money for the Medicine Wheel Ride. I’m asking everyone who watches the film to please donate to their cause to help stop the crisis of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Some of the organizations they partner with are the Red Ribbon Skirt Society, a healing center for the families of missing and murdered indigenous women and Where All Women Are Honored, which provides housing and legal advocacy for victims of intimate partner violence, sex trafficking and sexual assault.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
Oh wow, I have never thought of that. How about “Buy index funds? Or Bitcoin?” I wish someone had told me that twenty years ago. Joking aside…Firstly, I’d say maybe specialize in something relating to your field. When I first moved to LA fifteen years ago, I was doing any creative jobs I could find, making incredibly janky websites for people, masquerading as a fashion photographer, even crystallizing thousand dollar “Christian” t-shirts. It was the height of a global recession so I had to diversify, but I think there’s some truth to being “That” person in your field, rather than someone that scrambles to do it all. I don’t even really mean the “Jack of all trades, master of none” trope, because you can probably master all those things within your field, but I wish someone had told me “hey, focus on ONE aspect.” Often those are the people I see having success in my field. “Oh, they do production design for queer horror movies”, or “Oh, they do FPV drone stuff for sporting events”, “Oh, they write rom-coms based overseas.” All these folks are known for being good at one specific task, and get hired often to do it. One must remember many people in hiring positions lack imagination and will only hire someone if they’ve done that task. “Oh, you’ve never directed dogs surfing? Well, then, we’re going to award the job to the dog surfing director.” I’ve seen it a million times.
As for other things, there’s no magic bullet and everyone’s experience is not only different, but it is our best teacher. Going up to that celebrity I wanted to work with, and letting them know, is something I’ve done many times and had it work. I didn’t need anyone’s advice to do that, I just did it. Be bold! I love this quote “Do not kill that within you that is cringe, kill that within you that cringes.” 10/10 times you will lose out to the person who’s IDGAF attitude got them into the space you were afraid to go into. “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek” is a Joseph Campbell quote that rings true here. Thankfully, no one had to tell me to be bold or shameless. I entered this world that way.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
I can’t really convince anyone to be helpful, you either want to, or you don’t. I will say this: even from a selfish standpoint–because at the end of the day, we’re all selfish creatures aren’t we–using your skills, privilege, passion, whatever you have, to try to spread a little light in this all too dark and scary world, will give you a lot of satisfaction. Satisfaction that will spread to others who interact with your creation. Be it something tangible; housing, health care, renewable energy, or something artistic that can make a viewer stop and go “wow…I feel seen.” It’s impossible to quantify that, and you have to know you might not even get to really see the effect of what you’ve created. Sometimes, as filmmakers all we get to see are the comments, left online, but the real impact is much greater. There’s so many people taking from the world, just think of how good it will feel to leave something, and go do it!
We are very blessed that many other Social Impact Heroes read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, whom you would like to collaborate with, and why? He or she might see this. 🙂
I feel like we haven’t heard from Greta Thunberg in a while…I would like to make a rap video of her telling us some new information about climate change. It’s pretty obvious that the world is getting hotter and hotter and climate change is really starting to wreak havoc on our planet. I know a lot of people try to make fun of her and her methods, but I think she’s incredible for doing the important work she does and I feel like future generations will look back on her as a true trailblazer! Being the avant-garde ain’t comfortable! I mean, it’s literally a military term for frontline soldiers, who always receive the most heat, literally and metaphorically.
Other notable visionaries (in this perfect world scenario) I’d like to work with would be who I think is one of the greatest speakers of our time, Van Jones and the important work he’s doing with prison reform. Perhaps there is a unique documentary we could make on the subject. Another would be David Hogg, school shooting survivor and gun control activist. I’m someone who grew up in Georgia, I don’t remember the first time I fired a gun because I had to be very young. My father owns dozens of guns and I grew up enjoying shooting them and the hobby in general, but I also understand the need for smart gun control. Civilians have no reason to own military grade firearms, but since taking them away from the Americans who already own them would be impossible, we need more backstops in place to prevent mass shootings in the future. More thorough background checks, longer waiting lists and closing of gun show loopholes. We also just need for the NRA and the political right side in America to admit we as a nation have a collective sickness, and work together to try to fix it. Rather than the endless cycle of succumbing to gun lobbyists, constantly brushing it off until another mass shooting happens, then sending obligatory “thoughts and prayers.” Rinse and repeat forever and ever. I saw a meme once, maybe it was an article by The Onion that said “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.” So yes, David Hogg would be up there on my list of hypothetical collaborators.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
One of my all time favorite quotes works well for this. It’s by German playwright Bertolt Brecht and it goes like this: “Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” I really feel that sentiment so deeply. We as artists get to create our own reality, not just for ourselves via our work, but for everyone that experiences it. I tire so of art with no meaning, art that is just merely visual flash. Sure, there’s a place for it, but why not make a statement of some kind, show us something unseen or open the viewer’s mind to a new way.
I think of an experience from long ago, after I made my thesis film On Homeostasis and it was running the festival circuit. I got to attend one of the screenings in person, at the Santa Fe Metaphysical Film Festival (yes, that exists). I was in a theater listening to an expert on shamanism speak (yes, those exist). He talked of prehistoric cave paintings made by early peoples, which often depicted animals rendered with many legs, suggesting movement, and instances of old torches found, with arrow and spearheads lodged in the cave walls, seeming to have been some early hunting practice ritual. He mentioned how early peoples must have gathered collectively, in dark cavernous spaces to tell stories with flickering light. He tied it to modern times by saying something to the effect of “what are we doing here today, if not gathering collectively, in dark cavernous spaces to tell stories with flickering light?” That really hit me in the chest. Moving through life I think we could all be more aware of what legacy we’re leaving behind, as ancestors reaching across time to future generations, that is, if climate change doesn’t wipe us all out before then. Are we leaving behind something profound, something we can be proud of, or just more derivative fluff, floating on the winds of time like the embers of a burnt torch, made by a forgotten civilization?
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This was great, thank you so much for sharing your story and doing this with us. We wish you continued success!
Filmmakers Making A Social Impact: Why & How Filmmaker Matt Boman of Studio Boman Is Helping To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.