Guest Blog By Roberto Leal
I had been exchanging email messages with Raul Carrera of Back in the Saddle Productions, a film production company located in Austin, Texas, trying to arrange a meet ‘n greet.
“I’ll be wearing a San Francisco Giants 2014 World Series t-shirt and baseball cap.” I responded.
We were meeting at Casa Garcia, my favorite Mexican restaurant in Austin. I figured a San Francisco Giants t-short and baseball cap would be safe since Austin is about 250 miles from Arlington and the Texas Rangers.
Had we been meeting in Los Angeles and I showed up wearing a Giants tee, I would have been taking my life in my own hands. Surely, the 2010 World Series defeat the Rangers suffered at the hands of my San Francisco Giants had faded from memory.
I’ve been told I look like Anthony Quinn.”
Anthony Quinn, one of the great movie icons in film history. Born in Mexico, but raised in Los Angeles in the Boyle Heights / Echo Park neighborhoods, Quinn was one of those rare actors who could play lead, supporting and character parts equally well. A guy who could, and did, do it all.
During his long, illustrious film career, Quinn was truly a man for all seasons and a man for all movie roles. I wondered if Raul Carrera’s resemblance to Anthony Quinn would merely be physical or would there be other similarities.
The genesis of this meeting had begun a few months earlier in a sort of six degrees of separation chain of events.
I had asked my long-time friend, stand-up comic, TV, film actor and writer, Danny Mora, for some advice on becoming a full-time writer.
“Bobby, here’s a list of books you need to read.” he said. “Check out The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler, Riding the Alligator by Pen Densham and The Blue Collar Screenwriter and Elements of Screenplay. My good buddy, Robert Gosnell, wrote it. He was with me at the beginning when I started Peer Group Productions way back in the ’80’s.”
After finishing Robert Gosnell’s book, Danny put me in contact with Robert and we struck up an email correspondence. Knowing that I was living in San Antonio and wanting to write about Texas-based indie and Chicano cinema, he suggested I might get in touch with Raul Carrera.
Raul Carrera, Actress Kristin Wojciechowski, Misty Miller, and actor Daniel Baldwin.
“Raul is the hardest working guy I’ve ever met in 30 years in the industry,” Robert wrote in an email to me. “He’s also one of the smartest, and is adept at tackling problems in production and putting out fires. I’ve never seen or known him to lose his cool under any circumstances. That’s hard to find, particularly among directors.”
Despite his busy schedule, my first impression of Raul after speaking to him on the phone was how open and willing he was to get together for an introductory meeting. After several delays; both our daughter got married within days of each other, my previously scheduled trip to California and his production schedule demands, we finally settled on having lunch at Casa Garcia.
During the ten years, I lived in Austin, my wife, daughter and I would eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at Casa Garcia as often as possible. My favorite dish is their chicken mole with warm, tortillas de harina just like Mom made. We agreed to meet at 1:30 PM.
I was running late and phoned Raul to say I might be a little tardy. He answered with a laugh that he was also running late because he’d had a flat tire.
Casa Garcia is located in a small strip mall at the intersection of William Cannon and Manchaca in south Austin. I arrived first. There was another call from Raul saying he was having a hard time finding the restaurant because he’d never been there before. I gave him some specific directions and landmarks to look for and we finally spotted each other, shook hands and took our seats inside the restaurant.
“I was doing some carpentry work in New Braunfels.” Raul commented as we looked over the menus
“Was it some set construction for a film?” I asked checking to see if Casa Garcia still offered the chicken mole.
“No,” he replied. “I was helping my brother Chuy build a deck onto an addition to the home of the manager of La Quinta Inn. He’s always been very good about giving us a good deal on lodging accommodations whenever I have people working on a production in the area.”
Raul ordered the chili “rojo” and I ordered the chicken mole. We both requested tortillas “de harina”.
“My father was a general contractor and high-end carpenter. Chuy and I learned a lot from him that has come in handy when we do set construction on a production.”
When our food arrived, I didn’t have to prompt Raul with questions. Like all good storyteller, his monologue unfolded naturally, organically, and effortlessly. I noticed that there was a physical resemblance to Anthony Quinn. There was also a biographical similarity as well.
“My father was born here in the United States to a Mexican family in Eagle’s Nest, Texas near San Marcos,’ he recalled. “Eventually he went back to Mexico; back to where he’d grown up. It was there he met and married my mother.” Raul continued, “In 1956, he immigrated the whole family; Mom, 5 boys, and a brand new baby girl to New Braunfels, Texas.”
In between bites of chicken mole and using pieces of flour tortilla to sop up that delicious, dark, iconic Mexican sauce, I managed a few questions.
“What got you interested in film?” I asked with food in my mouth Sorry Mom. (Note: My mother used to admonish me when she saw me eating and talking at the same time during dinner: “Mijito, el que come y canta, loco se levanta.”
“Actually, my first love is the theater.” Raul said reflectively. “When I was in middle school, I had an English teacher named Mr. Watson. Mr. Watson was also in charge of putting on school plays.” He remembered with amusement the very first play he was in…A Visit to a Small Planet. “I played the senior Earthling,” he said with a smile.
Eventually, Raul found himself at UCLA pursuing his love of theater in their theater arts program. I asked him if he encountered any kind of discrimination or stereotyping as a Hispanic. “No, not really. Not any overt racism. But because I am a Mexican, I was always being pushed to get involved with Teatro Campesino and “street theater” which was very big back in those days.”
Raul shared that growing up in a predominantly German community, like New Braunfels, also had an impact on him.
“I learned to appreciate the work of people like the great German dramatist Bertolf Brecht as well as American playwrights like Arthur Miller and Eugene O’Neill.”
“Weren’t you in the original stage production of Zoot Suit?” I asked using yet another napkin to wipe mole away from the edge of my mouth. “Actually,” he pointed out. “I was briefly an understudy with the original cast. But later, I got the part of Joey in the second cast of Zoot Suit which played at the Aquarius Theater for over a year.”
The waitress came to our table and refilled my glass of iced tea. “Can I get you all anything else?” she asked pleasantly with a big smile.
There was still a lot of mole on my plate.
“I think we (meaning “I”, of course) need some more tortillas por favor.”
I did an abrupt jump cut to the genesis of his Back in the Saddle Productions. After another bite of chili rojo and a piece of flour tortilla, Raul answered:
Raul Carrera here with an extra while directing one of his first films The Radicals
“I was originally working as Maverick Productions in Dallas. I was brought to Austin to help with programming for The Cowboy Channel. A channel whose programming would be rooted in cowboy traditions and old Western values. It was to be a full network like TNT or The Family Channel.” recounted Raul. “Willie Nelson was the “figurehead” but Mack Long was the CEO. But, for various reasons the project never was realized.”
Raul went on to explain that after that experience, he started his own production company and ironically called it Back in the Saddle Productions. I was curious about what, just exactly did Back in the Saddle Productions do.
“There is no physical location or office. Back in the Saddle Productions is a full-service film, video and multimedia production company located in Austin, Texas. My brother Chuy’s company, Legacy Films Studios and Back in the Saddle, often blend together to work on projects.”
Full-service indeed! Just like gas stations in the olden days of 45¢ a gallon gas. The full-service gas station when the guy wearing the cap, khaki uniform, and bow tie would not only fill it up for you, he’d check the oil, put air in your ties, clean the windows (not just the windshield), come over to your house to mow the lawn, babysit the kids and do your taxes.
Raul is that kind of full-service kind of guy. He not only produces and arranges financing for films, but he also directs, and casts actors.
“Whenever an out-of-town film crew is shooting here locally, I sometimes act as the liaison between them and the workers and technicians needed for whatever particular project is being filmed.”
In addition to all that, Raul and brother Chuy have lent their considerable carpentry skills learned from their father and designed and constructed sets as well.
By this time, we had both finished our meals. The table had been cleared off, but I was still munching on chips and salsa. As we sipped our drinks (Raul had a diet soda and I was squeezing some lemon into my iced tea), I asked him what was on the horizon for him.
“I recently finished editing a documentary called 25 Words,” he replied quickly. “It’s the story of Chinese families, mostly women, who were torn apart from their families during World War II. The International Red Cross had a program called Family Link,” he continued. “This program was designed to bring those people who had been separated from their families back together.”
Raul went on to further explain that his goal was to package this documentary for the American market.
“We hope to get it on the History Channel,” he said. “We have Sam Donaldson as the host and moderator. There’s a good chance a series might be developed from the documentary.”
Although our lunch plates had both been wiped clean of the delicious Mexican entrees, it was obvious that Raul’s business “plate” was as full and varied as the menu at Casa Garcia.
I happily picked up the bill. Raul was kind enough to give me a ride back to the home of the friends I was staying with in Austin. On the way there, he said:
“I’ll be glad to give you a tour of the production facilities we use here in Austin and also in San Antonio.”
That’s just what I wanted to hear. What a treat and great opportunity for me. Lunch will definitely be on me again.
As he dropped me off at my friends’ house and we shook hands, I remembered something Danny Mora, our mutual friend, had told me during a recent phone conversation.
“This anecdote best sums up what Raul Carrera is all about Bobby, Raul and I were producing the very first televised Golden Eagle Awards,” danny recalled. I was during one evening as they were “burning the midnight oil” working on the show, Danny noticed that Raul was nowhere to be found.
“I looked out back,” said Danny. “And there was Raul bundling up two huge bags of trash for the dumpster.”
Danny yelled out to him:
“Hey Raul, what the hell are you doing bagging trash?”
Raul turned, looked up and casually observed, “A producer’s work is never done.”
No doubt. However, it’s hard to imagine David O. Selznick ever bagged trash on the set of Gone with the Wind.
I bet Anthony Quinn would have winked and given Raul two thumbs up!
Raul is currently working in the art department for a pilot TV show. The Catch, is a detective / thriller pilot for ABC.
Robert Gosnell’s book, The Blue Collar Screenwriter and the Elements of Screenplay for any one interested in the “sausage making” of movie making.
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