Each week, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s Tony Taglavore takes to lunch a local person – someone who is well-known, successful, and/or influential, and asks, “What’s Your Story?”
By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services
He began to notice. Little things only a son would see.
That four-hour solo drive to visit her sister? She was too tired to make it.
Things she would never forget? She forgot.
Her always-steady balance? She was shaky at best.
Damn Parkinson’s disease.
“I saw how my mom’s health was deteriorating faster than it had been. I made the decision to become a caretaker, to hopefully improve her quality of life.”
The son – single and without children – sold his house and moved in with mom. He cooked for her. Took her to doctors’ appointments. Kept a close eye on her. Sometimes, that close eye wasn’t close enough.
“I was out doing yardwork one day. Mom had come out to check the mail, and I didn’t see her fall. She was laying on the ground for I don’t know—a moment, a few seconds. When I looked up and saw her on the ground, it was like, ‘Holy shoot!’ I was right there and I missed it.”
This was the stuff of which movies are made. Just so happens, the son was an up-and-coming filmmaker.
“It was hard for me to write . . . . It was really difficult to fashion a story where those frustrations drove the main character. But I did it. It forced me to be honest with myself. It forced me to be honest about how I saw myself as a caretaker — the things I think I do well, and the things I think I do poorly.”
The result was Toots., a short film (12 minutes and 11 seconds) which finished in the top five at the most recent Louisiana Film Prize competition. Toots. was the only entry by a local filmmaker to reach that status.
“I call it auto-fiction because there are a lot of true things in it, but there’s also stuff I made up for the film. My mom’s still alive, but in the film, she passes away for dramatic effect.”
Chris Evans, the producer, director, and writer of Toots., told me that story – and his story – during lunch at a place Chris chose, Flying Heart Brewing & Pub. We shared an appetizer of Firehouse Cheese Bread. For his meal, Chris had a half-dozen Korean BBQ Wings, and water with lemon. I enjoyed a large Greek salad, and water with lemon.
“She just loved it,” Chris said, offering his mom’s review of the film.
Born in Shreveport and raised in Haughton, Chris – an only child – enjoyed a normal upbringing until he was 10 years old. That’s when his parents divorced. Who says divorce is always hard on a youngster?
“I remember that Christmas I got more toys than I had ever gotten. I got one complete Christmas from my dad and one complete Christmas from my mom. I thought hey, this divorce thing is working out.”
As he grew up, Chris seemed destined for the entertainment industry.
“I performed for my family a lot. I was the kid who made the family laugh. I would re-create something I saw on Saturday Night Live, or something I saw in a movie. I remember the people in the family always saying, ‘Chris is going to grow up to be a stand-up comedian.’ I never had that desire. It never occurred to me that was actually a thing you could do.”
That was until Chris went to Northwestern State University and majored in Journalism. Not that he was interested in the news business. Journalism was the closest program to movie production NSU offered. So, Chris learned how to write, video, and edit a story.
“That was the first time I had made something. I thought, ‘This is really fun.’”
So much fun that after graduating, Chris moved west to do big things.
“I had one friend who was in acting school. Our big idea was to live in Dallas and write movies. That was going to take us where we wanted to go.”
But the script was short.
“We did everything but write movies. After about six months, I realized I wasn’t going in the direction I wanted to go.”
So, Chris went east, as in back home. Before long, he was entertaining people again. This time, on the radio. For 16 years, Chris was known as the Kissin’ Bandit. He would drop in on a business and if the employees were listening to his station, Chris would give them prizes.
Making movies quickly became an afterthought – If that.
“I got very comfortable very quick in radio . . . . I forgot about what I wanted to do for most of my life.”
Until Chris became uncomfortable, thanks to a general manager (Chris’ ninth) who kicked the Kissin’ Bandit to the curb. Chris had opportunities to stay in radio, but at 39 years old, this was his last best chance to try something different.
“I could do (radio) another 15-20 years and retire, and I will probably be fine,” Chris thought. “Or I can do the thing that I had always said I wanted to do, which was go try to make a movie. Go try to be a film producer. I’m almost 40. If not now, when?”
A decision as risky as casting Sylvester Stallone in a Disney animated movie.
“The worst thing that could happen is I would spend all my savings, not earning money for the first couple of years. If that’s the worst thing, then that’s not that bad. If I don’t have any money, I will just go back to work.”
Better late than never, Chris began – without pay – to make his dream a reality. Chris made friends in the movie business – friends who became mentors. He hung out on film sets, with Chris’ paycheck coming in the form of an education.
“Those first two years were not gainful. Those first two years, I had to cut into my savings to be able to live. But I was building relationships. I was getting a lot of experience by being on sets at Film Prize. I was working for free for amateur film makers, but I was learning.”
Four years after Chris took a leap of faith, his sacrifices began to pay off.
“I did better than broke even. I had enough jobs that year that it was gainful.”
When the calendar turned to 2020, Chris had momentum. He was full of optimism – about to break out and break into the big time.
Then came Covid.
“It all just stopped. It completely stopped for a year and a half. That really made me re-evaluate.”
That’s also when Chris began noticing the toll Parkinson’s was taking on his mother. Writing her story for the big screen became a form of therapy.
“I didn’t anticipate it being that way, but it kind of was. It put things in perspective for me more. I was able to define more clearly what was important to me regarding her.”
Chris has two films in the can (that’s movie talk for the movies are finished and ready to be released). So, knowing he might soon become way too popular a filmmaker to talk with little ‘ol me, I asked my final question. As always, what is it about his story that might pave the way for someone else?
“I could have waited too long to try this. I could have let my entire life pass me by. Truly, it’s never too late to start chasing your dreams. I know that’s a cliché, but I’m that cliché . . . . If you have a dream you feel you’re going to regret if you don’t chase it, whatever it is, do it. Just do it. Don’t be afraid. Just try it.”
Who knows? At the least, your story might make for a darn good movie.
Do you know someone with a story? Email SBJTonyT@gmail.com.
The Journal’s weekly “What’s Your Story?” series is sponsored by Morris & Dewett Injury Lawyers.