FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH with Blake Melnick
FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH with Blake Melnick
Billy Runs Boston
Tony Marra joins us in an inspiring discussion on the convergence of running, mental health, and film making. Tony's latest project, "Billy Runs Boston," beautifully captures the emotional and mental aspects of the sport.
Drawing from his own experiences, he explores how running interweaves with personal struggles and triumphs, enriching the film's narrative with genuine depth and resonance.
Tony crafts an independent film with just an iPhone 7, following in the footsteps of pioneering filmmakers like Sean Baker. We uncover the hurdles he overcame, from technical challenges to financial constraints, and the ingenious ways he promoted the film. By collaborating with local running clubs and independent cinemas, Tony not only widened his audience but also fostered a community that celebrates both running and grassroots film making.
We delve into the world of the Boston Marathon's qualifying process and experience the anticipation and determination that define this iconic event.
We wrap up with an invitation to the film's final screening at the Hot Docs Festival, where audiences can engage with Tony in a lively Q&A session. For those unable to make it, the film will be accessible online, ensuring everyone can hear Tony's remarkable journey...For What it's Worth
Billy’s Blog
The music for this episode, Lucky Timeis performed by our current artist in residence, #TracyJones from his album #LuckyTime
You can find out more about Tracy by visiting the Blog Post for his episode
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All right, I'm not a runner, not that I haven't run before, but I've always been more motivated by the destination rather than the journey. Running, for me, is something that's necessary in order to achieve something else. I run in tennis so I can reach the ball in time to hit a good return. I run in order to make the bus, I run to avoid danger and that kind of thing. However, for others, running is a metaphor for life. To paraphrase Arthur Blank, who's the past president of Home Depot, running is symbolic of life. You drive yourself to overcome the obstacles you might think you cannot. You find inner strength and realize you are capable of much more than you thought.
Blake Melnick:Mina Samuel's life coach and author of Run Like a Girl, says Running shoes have magic in them the power to transform a bad day into a good one, frustration into speed, self-doubt into confidence and chocolate cake into muscle. And while I'm not a runner, I play golf. And I play golf because it challenges me to get outside myself and the day-to-day things that weigh heavily on my mind, to search for that state of flow where the body takes over from the mind and the swing becomes effortless and natural and the game becomes one I play against myself, so maybe I'm a runner after all, for what it's worth.
Tony Marra:Hey, this is Ben Hunter, still cruising the Sunset Strip where it all started, and you're listening to, for what it's Worth the greatest podcast on the web with Blake Melnick. Check it out for great music, great info. It's a great podcast.
Blake Melnick:Well, welcome to this week's episode of For what it's Worth. My guest for this week's show is Tony Mara, the director, producer, writer of Billy Runs, boston. An independent film was released this year and Tony, film in Hand, has been traveling across Canada for the opening of the show in all the regional theaters, and right now he's in Victoria, canada. It's great to have you here, tony. You and I are old friends. We've known each other for many years. When I heard about the show, I was really quite impressed, because I've always looked at you as kind of a hybrid. You have the soul of an artist and that's where your passion, your love, comes from, but you have a pragmatic side too. In other words, you have to pay the bills, so you also work as a recruiter for the technology industry. How do you balance your passion and your love for the arts? You're an actor and you've been in a number of TV series and movies, but you have this other sort of commercial or corporate side. How do you balance those two?
Tony Marra:Yeah, sometimes it's hard. Thankfully auditioning is easier because it's not face-to-face. Before you'd audition for a show and you'd have to go in face-to-face with the casting director. They'd put you on tape and that would be three hours out of your day. Now it's self-tape, so that helps a lot. You can record it at night. You have to find a reader so often my wife or my daughter loves being the reader, so I can record that anytime and and submit it to my agent. It's trickier. If I land the job then of course I have to take a vacation day. One of the shows I was on was the Umbrella Academy and I had five episodes, so thankfully that was just one or two days that I needed to take off. Now if I were to land a bigger role then of course I'd have to quit my day job and take that.
Blake Melnick:For the audience's sake. You are a runner and your movie, billy Runs Boston, is about running partly. How did you get this passion for running? Were you a runner before you did this film? How did that all begin?
Tony Marra:so I think all of us were forced to do cross-country running. That's true in grade school, right, that was the only thing I could do baseball, anything with a ball. I didn't have the hand-eye coordination, so running I gravitated to early on. I ran for the cross-country team in high school and then I continued a little bit in my 20s, but not seriously, and then I abandoned it for about 15 years and then I got back into it as a master's and there's quite a vibrant cross-country scene in Canada. So with this I just merged my running background with my acting and filmmaking, right.
Blake Melnick:Before we jump into the film, and thanks again for the tickets last night and for our listeners. I did see the movie last night with Tony. Thank you again for having me as a guest. It was terrific. There were some really unique things about this film and I want to get into kind of why this movie? When you and I talked about this before the show, you said it's really a movie about mental health, with running as a theme. Explain that a little bit.
Tony Marra:The film is my love letter to the sport of running. There's a lot of quirky things that I put in there that runners appreciate, but also non-runners.
Blake Melnick:It's a window into the world You've said, it's really a film about mental health. So how much of this reflects what you've been going through in your life?
Tony Marra:I got injured, I qualified for Boston 2022 and I wanted to still go, even though I couldn't race the marathon. So at that point I decided to write a screenplay and it's fiction. It not a documentary. A lot of running films are and I did let my imagination go wild and I went down a couple running rabbit holes and mental health really became a theme. I can't deny that part of me is is in the film. I mean the, the billy character. There are seeds there that are me, maybe even more subconsciously.
Blake Melnick:I mean it's my script Having seen the film. There is that underlying mental health thread and we'll talk about that in more detail in a few moments. You made some really interesting creative decisions. I guess, partly driven by limited funds and budgets, you shot this entire movie on an iPhone. Tell me about that. That's a hard thing to do.
Tony Marra:I was impressed that Sean Baker shot Tangerine on an iPhone 5. With the Moment lens it's an anamorphic lens so it makes it more cinematic. You get great flares, and so I'm like, if he did it with an iPhone 5, why can't everyone? And so I shot mine on an iPhone 7. Same setup moment lens. I attached a Rode mic For the outdoor scenes with his wind I did need a boom operator like a professional sound person. An iPhone 7 costs $200. The moment lens is $100. The mic is $100.
Tony Marra:So really under $500, you could get a pretty good setup. You shoot it in 4K. So under $500, you'd get a pretty good setup. You shoot it in 4K so it projects well on a big screen. And people ask about the limitations of that setup. Maybe technically you probably can't make a Hollywood film, or maybe you can with the newer iPhones. I think it frees you up. You set it up very quickly, you clean the lens, make sure the settings are correct and then you shoot like it's fast. You set up so fast so that's very friendly toward actors, because actors usually sit around for half a day in their trailer, so things can move quickly and you can shoot so actors love that.
Blake Melnick:So, if you don't mind me asking, how much did it really cost to?
Tony Marra:produce this film. So to film it about $10,000. And then post-production that was another $10,000. So all in about $20,000. But yeah, to get a finished product $20,000.
Blake Melnick:That's amazing. So what does that say about the future for filmmakers, particularly independent filmmakers? I mean this was a feature film 10 minutes, 17 minutes so it was a full-length film. Filmmakers I mean this was a feature film, so it was a full length film. Maybe the bigger question is what's the landscape like for the independent filmmaker the ability to shoot using a handheld telephones, for example? Does that open things up for independent filmmakers, or is it still a real struggle?
Tony Marra:I think, to market it, to sell it, to get a distribution deal. It's still a huge challenge, especially if you don't have a name, or if you don't have a name or if you don't have a big, a big name producer attached to it. It's still very difficult. I I definitely am having trouble getting this out there, but I think to actually make it, everyone can make it. So if you have a solid script, you have to have some solid actors. I think, right and you, yeah, some really talented actors signed on early and that helped a bit. So I think if you have a good story and some good actors to deliver on it, I think everyone can do it.
Blake Melnick:Yeah, and you mentioned again, of course, the distribution and having a big name producer behind it being pretty critical, I guess, in terms of getting those independent films into venues, right into film venues. You struggled a bit with that at the beginning. What decision did you make because you didn't have those big names behind you as a producer in terms of getting the venues?
Tony Marra:Yeah, I had three or four successful screenings in Ontario and then one in England and I reached out to the cinemas and I just booked it.
Blake Melnick:Did it all yourself.
Tony Marra:I did it all myself and then I realized I can replicate this anywhere. So I made the decision instead of just shelving the film, maybe putting it on Vimeo or YouTube, I decided to incorporate it with my love of independent cinemas, so these mostly historic cinemas across Canada. I decided just every province and territory I'm going to screen it, and in at least one city B I'm going to screen it and in like at least one city BC got three screenings. I was happy about that. Yeah, and it was just kind of break the rules a bit and self distribute and see what happens.
Blake Melnick:And you basically approach independent theatres and smaller theatres, review theatres to screen your film, and I guess that was a little easier than trying to get it into some of the big cineplex theaters. But it seems also that you were able to develop relationships with the people that are running these review cinemas. You're the ambassador for your own film, so you started in Ontario. Is that where it all?
Tony Marra:began Just to test the waters Right, and then the tour started actually in St John's, newfoundland, and then I moved it across and then I'll go up north as well.
Blake Melnick:So you're touring with your own film as it opens in these cities across Canada, which is really interesting. We're going to talk a bit about that. You do something unique with the film you actually engage with members of the running groups within these communities. Why did you decide to do that? And tell me what you do every time you go to a new city and your film is releasing. What do you do?
Tony Marra:In the weeks before I land in the city, I'll reach out to the running clubs and I'll say I'm coming to town with this film. May I join you for a run? And what I do is I document them. I will video the run and I've been creating Instagram reels and what I do is I find a local independent band to accompany the reel, and that's a lot of fun. I've got to discover some great bands along the way. So I think promoting a film, it can't just benefit me, so I wanted to also benefit the running community, highlight their clubs, and I think that's a mutual, it's a mutual beneficial thing and hopefully they'll come to the film Also for the independent cinemas. I've also been creating Instagram Reels. I'll record the beautiful facade and marquee and then I'll interview one of the employees. I've been asking them the question what is your favorite film scene? And it doesn't have to be from one of your favorite films and and then I put that up. So that is mutually beneficial as well. They, they've enjoyed that, so you're touching runners, you're touching musicians.
Blake Melnick:You're actually touching everybody because you're asking people what, what their favorite scenes were. And I know you asked me and when he did everything went blank. I can't think of a favorite scene, but as time passed I went oh yeah, I do have some favorite scenes that are memorable, that I can recall. That question what's your favorite scene? Why is that important? Why do you think it's important?
Tony Marra:I think it's interesting because it's a twist on what's your favorite film, what's your top three favorite films, right? So this is a little twist and what got me thinking about it is a film that I thought was pretty boring overall, but there was a scene at the end of the film. It's the sheltering sky and the final scene really hit 22 year old tony mara. Everyone thinks is maybe unlimited experiences like sunset, sunrises, first kisses, whatnot, and this scene basically says no, you don't know, it could be your last sunset. And for a 22 year old who thinks he has the world by the horns, right, it's true. And and so every few years that scene comes back to me, even though the film overall I I didn't enjoy. Have you found the?
Blake Melnick:communities to be receptive. You call the communities to be receptive. You call the head of the running club. I guess they're somehow published somewhere. Every town has a running club and you call them. What's their reaction, generally speaking?
Tony Marra:Sometimes I contact them through Instagram or Facebook. Sometimes I can find the email addresses and overall they're very welcoming. They want new people or even people traveling. Sometimes people miss emails and whatnot, so that there's usually one or two clubs that will respond. Timing has to be right as well. When do they run and am I in that town when they are running? But some clubs have actually added as an extra run to facilitate me, so that's great. There's been a couple cities where I've run with two clubs while I'm there, and how many people come out for these runs.
Tony Marra:It varies. For instance, in Victoria, there were two people that came with me and showed me around. In Calgary, there were 200. A lot of runners in Calgary. I just hooked up with the biggest club in St Catharines, ontario. There were again 200. Yeah, a lot of runners in Calgary. I just hooked up with the biggest club in St Catherine's, ontario. There were again 200.
Blake Melnick:Yeah, it's quite amazing. I learned a lot from seeing the film about the culture of running clubs and running. That was interesting to me because I really didn't know that much about it. To me it was just a bunch of people get together and run around. I never really got it, but I do understand that people are passionate about it. Let's talk about the film. I love the film. That's why I wanted you to talk about how you created it on the limited budget you did, Because if you hadn't told me that, I wouldn't have thought that I've seen lots of independent films over my life, Some good, some bad. I really like this film and there were things that you did, and I should tell the listeners that after every show you do a Q&A with the audience. Why do you do that?
Tony Marra:Short answer. It's fun for me. I love it. I love putting the film out there, giving it to the audience members it's theirs and then them coming back to me with their ideas or their interpretations, and I feel their interpretation is as valid as my original ideas. People have brought up all kinds of points that I find really interesting. That's the main reason, I think. Also experiencing a film together as a group, that's fun.
Blake Melnick:I found the comments from the audience last night to be quite insightful and made me think a lot. The film itself I found it riveting. My attention didn't waver throughout the film, even though I'm not a runner and that's not a theme that necessarily I would be drawn to. But I thought the humanness of the film was extraordinary and you had some pretty good actors. Let's talk about your supporting cast in this film.
Tony Marra:I have quite a number of friends in my neighbourhood that are professional actors Valerie Nahajar, who's done a bunch of Bruce McDonald films. She plays my sister and she agreed early on. She's very supportive. There are a lot of no's when you're trying to make a film. The person who played my brother is a non-actor who has some health issues and was very open to playing the role.
Blake Melnick:Well and he was extraordinary. And to give the listeners a sense of the context of this, without trying to give away the ending, this is a story about a young man that's living with his brother and his sister in a house. Their parents have died At least that was my takeaway. You never really find out too much backstory on them, but they're living together under some pretty tough economic conditions. They don't have a lot of money. Billy, the star of the show played by you, is a runner, but he's also a caregiver. He's looking after his brother, who seemed simple, much like Forrest Gump. He was very childlike Watching you engage with him in the film. It was like a father and a child, and he's a very large man, looked a lot like Jerry Garcia.
Blake Melnick:I have to say I really felt this connection between the two of you. There was tremendous empathy that he was able to convey in a nonverbal way and obviously it was very apparent to anybody watching the film that you and he had a very special and close relationship, even though there was not a lot of verbal communication. And then you had a sister who was mean. She seemed really mean, at least at the outset of the film. But what I loved about what you did is you didn't fall into the classic traps. I see in a lot of films that hackneyed thing where you've got good versus evil and nothing in between. I felt great empathy for all the characters, even the sister who I thought was a despicable character. But then as the film progressed I realized no, it's not quite that simple and you didn't include music. It was pretty stripped down. Let's talk about some of those decisions and what you were trying to convey to the audience.
Tony Marra:I really love dogma films, the Danish movement in the 90s. They have some strict rules. I don't follow the strict rules, but one rule I thought I would experiment with is they don't have any sound, any music. You will have music if, say, there's a radio actually in the scene playing music, but there's no adding music. And I thought of that and I researched, I actually googled films without music and there's a whole bunch of them. A lot of swedish movies, but also no country for old men, my favorite author cormac mccarthy there you go.
Tony Marra:So I'm like, okay, if, if a big film like that massive success, if they can do it, then then why not me? I edited the film as well. When I watched it without any music, I'm like, okay, this could.
Blake Melnick:Yeah, this is working there was a comment by somebody in the audience last night and he brought this up and said well, there was no cue for me to feel a certain way, and he said so. As a result, in some of those scenes I felt really uncomfortable and I thought, yeah, you're right, because there were scenes in there that were uncomfortable to watch and there was nothing to break that tension vis-a-vis music or sound effects. So I think if that's what you were trying to achieve, I think that you were obviously quite successful. So the story is about this young boy, billy, and he's a runner and every morning he leaves his house and there's usually some tension within the family. His sister is not very supportive of anything that he's trying to do in his life and she feels resentment towards him, and early on in the film she said our dad left because of you, it's your fault. So there was a lot of blame being placed on Billy by his sister, and yet Billy was the primary caregiver for his brother, but he would leave every day and he would meet up with the club and he'd go running.
Blake Melnick:It was quite clear that Billy was the impoverished runner. Everybody else had high-tech gear and new stuff and I think members of the club recognized that Billy didn't have that and you make the point in the film as your character, billy. I'm a cross-country runner. I don't have all this fancy stuff. I started old school school just running for the sake of running. So there was a lot of crossover themes in the film. Technology was one of them. What are you trying to convey about technology? Again, I don't want to give away too much of the film, but there's some commentary on technology in our society.
Tony Marra:When I started running, we would Throw on a pair of running shoes. At very most we would have like a Timex Ironman. It wasn't GPS at the time and that was just to do splits. When you're doing more structured workouts In a way, I long for those days the simplicity of just going out Going, yeah, yeah.
Tony Marra:And now you see a lot of gear. It's big business and I think a lot of that stuff is unnecessary. I don't want to criticize people that are into it. I think a lot of that stuff is unnecessary. I don't want to criticize people that are into it, but there's a bit of that and the Billy character. I think he goes down that route and whether or not it works for him.
Blake Melnick:Viewers will have to. I think it was a way for him to explain why he didn't have the latest gear too right, exactly. And again, here's an area where you didn't fall into a trap and I thought you were going to, I. And here's an area where you didn't fall into a trap and I thought you were going to, I thought we were going to see scenes where Billy was not in the frame or not in that scene or coming in, and you had some talk amongst the other club runners about oh, here comes Billy. Again he doesn't have the gear. We feel sorry for Billy. None of that, which, again, I think that was an obvious trap that most people would have fallen into because I kept waiting for it. Obvious trap that most people would have fallen into because I kept waiting for it and you didn't do.
Tony Marra:It. Was that intentional. I needed the run group to be Billy's escape and really where he was the happiest.
Blake Melnick:I just needed that safe space for him and he obviously felt it was a safe space and, as you say, that was his escape from his day-to-day and the tensions that he was dealing with, because his family was receiving social assistance and there were some scenes in the film where the social worker came by and Billy's sister was taking all credit for everything that was going on in the house, but in fact it was Billy that was really looking after his brother and the house and cooking and doing all of that kind of thing. Another trap that would be easy to fall into Billy never expressed deep resentment towards the treatment he was receiving from his sister. Again, I thought it was really interesting. You just didn't fall into those cliches that I see in a lot of films. Does this come to mind when you're doing it? Were you thinking like that when you were making the?
Tony Marra:film. You know what's interesting? Back to my point of people's feedback. What you just raised, it never occurred to me, so it's really fascinating for you to talk about those pitfalls. Maybe it was down lock that I didn't fall into those traps, I'm not sure. It's something for me to think about. Which is great, the feedback from audience members. Yeah, I'll think about it, but I can't remember any moment where I said, okay, I don't want to do that.
Blake Melnick:But as a result, I think the film was really authentic and I thoroughly enjoyed it. And it was a very reflective film because you and I talked about it beforehand. You said you know it is about mental health, the dynamic of the family and Billy and his sister and brother. I started to reflect on similar or parallel experiences in my own life with people I know and I was going yeah, those are impactful things. So I felt empathy towards all the characters, even Billy's sister by the end, because you could understand why she was the way she was, given that she had to take over running the family when she was 18 years of age. Her dreams were put on hold and never realized. And then Billy has an outlet, he's a runner and she's resenting the fact that he's getting some recognition.
Blake Melnick:Now again, you, as Billy, were self-promoting in the film, as you do with the film, but in the film itself, billy is self-promoting through Instagram. I thought this was reflective of our culture, right, the influencing culture. Look at me, look at me, the kind of narcissistic world we live in. Really, I mean, it's all about taking pictures of yourself here and there and yourself promoting and creating in my mind a false sense of self because you're looking for validation through social media platforms and through other people giving you likes and thumbs up and stuff. But it's also, on the positive side, a way to connect with your community.
Blake Melnick:And I think in the film the fact that Billy didn't have any money and had an old flip phone and getting an iPhone was a big deal because that allowed him to connect and step beyond his somewhat challenging life into the virtual community of runners, not just within his own neighborhood and the people he ran with, but everybody else that was running. And when Billy and his decision, supported by his friends at the running club decides he wants to see if he can qualify for the Boston Marathon, that was almost like the breakout moment for Billy and his sister clearly resented that because she didn't have that and it's a dynamic that happens in families right between siblings. So I found that very relatable. I don't know a lot about running. I don't know a lot about the Boston Marathon, so tell me what it means to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I know you qualified but didn't run, which also played in the film. I won't give that away. But what's involved?
Tony Marra:Yeah, so I did qualify and ran the 2017 Boston Marathon. It's a difficult marathon to get into because so many people want to run it and you have to have run a marathon within kind of a time frame where you have to run a certain time and submit that to the Boston Marathon and depending on how many people will try to get in will determine if that time will get you in, I see.
Blake Melnick:So there's no sort of set pace, it's just relative to everybody else that's trying to get in. Is that how it works? It's both.
Tony Marra:My qualifying time that I needed to run was three hours and 20 minutes. Now, if I ran three hours and 18 minutes, it's a BQ, a Boston qualifier, but that doesn't necessarily get you in. If there's too many applicants, they may only take runners that have run three hours and 16 minutes, so it's a bell curve, right? Yes, so there's a period where you will register and you won't know until a month later whether you're actually in Kind of like the recent BC election.
Tony Marra:Oh, yeah, yeah, exactly yeah, yeah. So it's quite a thrill. What they've done is they've made the qualifying times even more difficult this year, just so that people aren't disappointed that if they actually do BQ and they don't get in, that's not a great feeling. So they're trying to make it so that people are not in that position. So if you do run a qualifying time, then chances are you'll get in and are there divisions.
Blake Melnick:I'm assuming there's professional runners that are running the marathon. How can an amateur like yourself or Billy compete against people that do this for a living? How do they differentiate or do they Well?
Tony Marra:the elite runners there, they'll be invited. I think any marathon wants elite runners to participate, right, boston elites want to do that anyway, or any of the majors. And now for the rest of us it's broken down by age category. So the older you get, there's more grace. So if you're 20 years old, I think you you have to run like two hours, 50 minutes, like very fast, and then every five years I think they give you a bit more, uh, grace do you get a pass, like if you've already run it the year before?
Blake Melnick:do you get an automatic invite or do you still have to qualify?
Tony Marra:you still have to qualify and sometimes you can qualify with that boston marathon. If you've run a fast time in b, that's your Boston qualifier for next year, the following year, but if you run a slow marathon in Boston, you'll have to run another marathon with that qualifying time, Gotcha. So in the film, how old was Billy? Billy is between 50 and 55. And when I filmed it the qualifying time was 3.20.
Blake Melnick:It was fascinating watching the scenes from the marathon. Is this the biggest marathon in the world, profile-wise, size-wise, how many people run in the Boston Marathon?
Tony Marra:I'm not sure which is the largest marathon numbers-wise participants, but it's around 50,000 people. For North America, I would say that's the main prestigious marathon. I'm one of the top three, for sure. For North America, I would say that's the main prestigious marathon. I'm one of the top three, for sure. Berlin's massive, London's massive. But yeah, Boston is probably top three. No matter where you are in the world, Tokyo is a massive marathon. There's six majors Tokyo, Chicago, Boston, London, Berlin. What am I missing one? I wish I could help.
Blake Melnick:What I love in the running scenes during the marathon. This is a big deal, like the city comes out and there's thousands of people watching the marathon and people are very supportive of the participants. So all of those shots that you did, those were real shots right From the marathon itself the crowd cheering and the high fives and those people were passing. You were passing. That was real.
Tony Marra:Yeah, that was real. And the Boston Marathon it's run on a Monday, which is unique. Most marathons are on the weekend, but the Monday everyone has the day off and it's a big party. So they really show up. They're great spectators and you feel love, you feel like you're an elite runner at points.
Blake Melnick:But of course you have to self-fund your trip there and Billy had to pay for that and luckily he got a lot of support from his friends helping him with his running kit and new shoes, so he didn't have to run in his old shoes and presumably new socks, because the socks that Billy wore in the film were pretty ugly.
Tony Marra:Yeah, those major marathons. Any race now is very expensive. Even a 10k will cost you $80 sometimes. What's interesting is they have these park runs around the world. I think it started in England and that's back to basics. You show up on a Saturday, I think you pay 10 or 20 dollars and you run a 10k race, whereas the other races are really hard for people who might not have the money when you're qualifying for these races, the marathons?
Blake Melnick:how are they measuring your times? How are they tracking that to make sure that the times that they're legitimate, or the numbers, right Like how's that done it's?
Tony Marra:pretty high tech now. When I first started running, it was a gun at the beginning. Yep, now you have a chip on your bib, like the number behind it. There's a chip, and so they have timing mats at the start, at different intervals At a marathon it might be every 5K or so and so you cross the timing mat and it records your split, and then you cross the finish line and that's your finishing time.
Blake Melnick:What's?
Tony Marra:a split. A split so a 5K split. So there'll be a timing mat at the 5K and that's what you've run for the first 5K and then, if you pass the 10K timing mat, that'll be your 10K split. You can see what your pace is for that, which is insightful. Are you slowing down? Are you speeding up? A well-run marathon should be pretty consistent.
Blake Melnick:And the Boston Marathon is how many miles, kilometers?
Tony Marra:26 miles, 42.2 kilometers.
Blake Melnick:So, going back to your splits, that's split up into legs like 5K segments.
Tony Marra:In other words, when you run those things, or no, so they have the kilometer markers along the way, okay, and then those timing mats. So that's where the watch comes into play, Right?
Blake Melnick:so you know.
Tony Marra:Yeah, you'll know, because you could start way back in the field so you don't cross that timing mat the start timing mat for a while, so you can't necessarily rely on the time that you see on the right display right and that's why people have the watches so they can self-monitor themselves along the way.
Blake Melnick:Yeah, okay, interesting. I want to jump back to your q a after the show. I'm trying really hard not to give away too much of this movie, but I think it's interesting that you're taking the approach to ask audiences for their interpretation of your film, which is something that the playwright, sam Shepard, did. You write something, you produce something, you perform something. Sometimes, if you're open-minded, you say this is what I think it was about, or this was my intention when I created it. But what do you think? So what do you do with that feedback, internally or externally? Because this is an ongoing project. You used to do Another number of cities to go to. You're off to the Yukon.
Tony Marra:Whitehorse, Yellowknife and then Iqaluit Right. Do you do anything with all this feedback that you get? I enjoy it, I savor it and I'm not sure if it will inform any writing in the future You're collecting lots of material and content as you go.
Blake Melnick:You're filming the running clubs. I know yesterday you had a chance to go out with a gentleman who runs the running store in Victoria and you mentioned to me he's quite well known.
Tony Marra:Yeah, Rob Reed from Frontrunners Right.
Blake Melnick:You're giving people lots of profile, you're having lots of conversations in the back of your mind. Is there something forming for the future?
Tony Marra:for it I don't think I'll ever do another running film, so this is more kind of my swan song, just to meet up with the running groups and enjoy that and learning more about especially regional scenes. But yeah, I don't know, you never know how things will inform your work, what ideas will pop up. I think It'll be interesting to see. I don't know and this was a discussion with my wife I don't know what will become of this tour. Right, and I still feel that way.
Blake Melnick:So the reason I asked you the question about what you do with all this feedback and whether that's creating some ideas about what you might do in the future with all of this material that you've collected, when you hear all this feedback from people. And so I'm going to ask you the question what is Billy Runs, boston, all about? This is your chance to promote your film. I assume you're going to. After your cross-country tour is all done. You're going to do something with it. Are you going to seek distribution?
Tony Marra:yeah, I hope so. There's one final screening in toronto. Okay, at the hot dogs on november 20th. Uh, that will. It's a big great big deal.
Tony Marra:it's about 600 seat, uh theater. Yeah, I'll invite people who hopefully can find a home for it. At very least I'll put it online and allow people to enjoy it. But yeah, that feedback I think most importantly is it's a confident booster, and I think that has been so key is just saying maybe I can do this and so that feedback, I enjoy it but also it validates. Okay, I made the right decision to want to tour and put it out there, so I'm going to give you the final word, the pitch.
Blake Melnick:You've got a few more dates on your cross-country Canada tour and then you're back in Toronto. So here's your opportunity to pitch your film for those in Toronto that plan on attending Hot Dogs and tell them why they should come and see Billy Runs Boston and tell them why they should come and see Billy Runs Boston.
Tony Marra:Well, I think it's a film, it's?
Blake Melnick:interesting. It's hard when people put you on the spot.
Tony Marra:I think it's an important film. It started off as a running film and that mental health piece is really resonating with people, whether it be people in the industry or in the field of supporting people at risk or people who have been bullied in the past. Those are the people that are most passionate about the film. Yes, runners enjoy it, sure, but I'm getting feedback from all kinds of people and sometimes at the q a's and sometimes afterwards I'll get emails and that I feel really great about. There's a joke there's a clubs around the world called the Hash House Harriers and their motto is they're beer drinkers with a running problem. So I play on that. I say Billy Runs. Boston is a film about mental health with a running problem.
Blake Melnick:Right. I think it appeals to a much broader audience. I'm not a runner and I loved it. I thought it was great. Good luck on the rest of your tour Fantastic film, and I'll do a plug for you as well. I think anybody in Toronto that's planning on attending the Hot Dogs Festival should check out Billy Runs Boston. Tony, thanks again for taking the time today, and I know you've got to catch a flight, so we'll bid our audience adieu and we'll catch up with you down the road. Thanks, blake. Thanks for having me.
Blake Melnick:This concludes our episode, billy runs boston, with my guest director, producer and actor, tony mara. And don't forget, the last screening of tony's movie is at this year's hot dogs festival in toronto on november 20th 2024 at 7 pm. So make sure you grab some tickets and be sure to hang around for the Q&A with Tony after the show. And if you can't make it to the Hot Dogs Festival, tony will be streaming the show on Vimeo and YouTube and will provide some links within our show notes and our blog page to update you about that. And, as usual, I'll be posting more information about Tony and his remarkable cross country journey with his film Billy Runs Boston on the show blog page for whatitsworthpodcastcom.
Blake Melnick:You can also check out links in the show notes for the episode, as well as on our Facebook page for what it's Worth the podcast series, and I wanted to let you know that we have introduced a new capability for you, our audience, to send us a message about your thoughts or comments about any episode of the show. If you have any questions for our guests, you can send those along as well. You'll see a comment link send us a text at the top of the show notes for every episode. Well, I've been off the air for quite some time now, for both personal and professional reasons, which I'll explain in a later episode of the show. But in the immortal words of Steven Tyler, I'm back in the saddle again for what it's worth.
