In 2007 I made my MTB film Earthed 5 for Dirt Magazine and in the same season I also produced shot and edited this motocross film following the two top GB riders at the time Billy Mackenzie and Tommy Searle. From the British rounds where they dominated to their challenges and achievements on the MXGP scene as factory pilots. This film was a first in UK MX showing the riders feelings and attitudes and actual emotion in every detail, with no boring sit down interviews. Film maker Gary Price help film at many races and for the MXDN we shot with radio mics to capture the britsh team captain Mark Eastward going all in on the challenge. Music selection for the film came thick and fast from Tim March and the whole film was edited by myself in less than two weeks over many 16+hour days and a few all night sessions to meet an insane new deadline that was changed at the very last minute by factory media the then publishers of Moto Magazine. It felt at the time like they wanted me to give up on the film and quit. I was more expensive than the younger film kids that would work for beans and it was in their business model to use this fact to their advantage. Whilst I'm proud of this film it's mostly for the reason that I pulled it out the bag like that and refused to give up, considering the time scale for the edit I can't believe how good it turned out. Having said that I'm sad to think about what could have been and how much better the story might have tied together, but I guess the low sales for UK Motocross films never justified such indulgence. Sadly because of the way Factory media handled me at this time was the reason I decided I could not continue to produce films under their banner and subsequently there was no more Earthed or full length films of any kind other than my Josh Coppins MX film "One More Year" from 2008. The Freelance opportunities were huge for me at the time and the scene was changing to web content and it's in this space that I still work in today. So the film could not have been made with out a few key players, Jeff Perret you see holding the mic in the interviews and he was my number one hype man, Jeffro got me where I needed to be and every time had my back and was think about what he film needed at every step. Tim March did the music selection but also co-produced the film to a large extent shaping the direction of Moto Magazine and output like this, it was a shame he left factory media and that was the beginning of the end of it for me as well. Factory paid my expenses and a salary, if I was less emotional and attached to my films I could have probably worked there for a few more years but as mentioned the conditions were poor with a lack of trust towards their most loyal and hardworking staff. Its certainly silly and comes across as bitter to mention all this stuff so many years on but it also needs to be put out there because this film to me represents so much more than just a few bikes and tunes, and whilst the film is great in its own way all the factors mentioned changed the way it turned out and its important to me that viewers, friends and fans know the facts. thanks Alex
