BONUS - Crowdfunding for the LA Trip

This is a short bonus episode with a very specific purpose. Patrick Tyndall and I are in the middle of a GoFundMe campaign to get us back to Los Angeles to finish filming Not Your Average Joe, our documentary about legendary production designer Joe Alves. This episode is me explaining where the project is at, what we’ve already achieved, and why this upcoming LA trip feels so important. We’ll be in Los Angeles from 22–28 February 2026, filming interviews and B-roll that cover some key chapters of Joe’s life and career, including:

• Joe’s short but intense motor racing career, including racing alongside Dickie Smothers
• The story of Joe introducing a major Hollywood actor to racing, setting them on a path to a serious motorsport career
• An interview with Alec Gillis the effects artist who built the articulated sharks for Jaws 3
• A conversation with Ann Dusenberry, who worked closely with Joe on Jaws 2
• An interview with Dean Cundey, cinematographer on Escape from New York
• Ongoing efforts to involve Steven Spielberg in the project

The documentary has only been shot over a relatively small number of days so far, all fitted around regular jobs and family life, but the material we’ve captured already has been incredible. This next trip is about joining the dots and getting the remaining pieces that will allow us to bring Joe’s story properly over the finish line. At the time of recording, the GoFundMe is sitting at around $1,000, and we need roughly $3,000 to make the trip work. Any contribution helps, but just as importantly, sharing the campaign on social media genuinely makes a difference. If you’ve ever enjoyed the podcast, the articles, or the behind-the-scenes conversations, this is me asking for a bit of help to make sure this story gets told. 

Donate here!

This podcast is completely independent and made possible by listener support. If you’d like to help me keep making these episodes, you can join my Patreon community here: https://patreon.com/jamiebenning

Watch more on YouTube:
Check out the Filmumentaries YouTube channel for behind-the-scenes clips and extra content: https://youtube.com/filmumentaries

All my links

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hi, it's Jamie here. I just wanted to take a
quick moment to let you all know if you haven't
already seen that. Patrick Tyndall and I my co director
on the Joe Al's documentary Not Your Average Joe, which
is still forging ahead. We are currently running a go
fundme campaign to get us to Los Angeles to shoot
some interviews and some b roll. We've already been out

(00:34):
to LA a couple of times. This time we're going
out to focus on a bunch of other topics, including
Joe's motor racing career, which lasted for a few years.
He used to race with Dicky Smothers of the Smothers Brothers.
He even introduced a very well known film star to
motor racing who went on to have a very illustrious career.

(00:54):
We're also speaking to the man who made the articulated
sharks for Jaws three, which barely got you used in
defense really of what the film could have been. We're
also speaking to Anne deuson Berry, who was one of
the stars of Jaws two, who worked very closely with Joe,
because Joe shot a lot of second unit on Jaws two,

(01:15):
and of course there's a lot of scenes in that
film that are kind of action sequences. Also, I've managed
to convince Dean Coundy, the dop on Escape from New York,
another film that Joe was the production designer on, to
do an interview. So we're interviewing Dean near his home.

(01:36):
Quite a thrill to be able to talk to somebody
who's work I admire that much. We're going to have
to really focus in on the Escape from New York stuff,
but maybe maybe if we get on I could get
him as a podcast guest in the future. We've also
been chatting to Leah Thompson directly managed to get hold
of her and she is very busy at the moment.

(01:57):
She said, let me know nearer the time, so I've
just sent her any and hopefully we can fit her
in as well. So we're going to be in LA
from the twenty second to the twenty eighth of February
twenty twenty six, cramming in a lot of these interviews.
We're hoping to also hang out with Joe a little
bit and maybe even get some more stories. What I
have to remind myself is that we've really only shot

(02:20):
like between ten and twelve days on this documentary, and
some of those days were just one interview, you know.
Other days it was a full run of interviews with
Joe for the day, or maybe multiple people. But it's
actually only a short number of days that we've worked
on this, and what we've achieved so far is amazing.
We've even managed to get in touch with Amblin, Steven

(02:41):
Spielberg's company, and maybe we'll get a response from Stephen himself.
We've sent him a gift and a message about the
documentary and how we would really love if he could
be involved. You know, Joe's ninety this year. I'm not
saying we're running out of time. Joe's doing well, but
you know, this is a diminishing window, and we've been

(03:04):
working on this for a long time, in between our
regular jobs and you know, all the other things that
go on in life. This is really a passion project
and we're hoping that Stephen can see that, and he
can see the importance of getting Joe's story out there
as well and leaving a legacy for the great Man.
So I wanted to appeal to your behind the scenes

(03:25):
loving nature and hope that you'll be able to maybe
donate towards the GoFundMe. I'll leave the link in the
show notes. We're currently at one thousand dollars. We need
about three thousand to make this happen, but anything we
can get over like eighteen hundred pounds would be amazing.
So if you've never contributed to the podcast Patreon and

(03:47):
you feel like you'd like to support me in my work,
then please check out the GoFundMe link in the show notes.
If you have already supported me on Patreon, then please
just you know, just share. Go on social media. I've
literally been posting for days. It's on Mastered, on Blue Sky,
linked in, Twitter, Instagram, my personal Facebook, my film Mementary's Facebook,

(04:10):
on Instagram, it's on my film Memnentitar's account, and on
my Joe Alves doc account. So I've been posting it everywhere.
So if you have already donated and you want to
help out still, or if you are unable to donate,
then just please go on those social media platforms and
share and comment and let's get uh, let's get the
algorithm on our side. So I'd really appreciate that, and

(04:34):
I'll be reporting back as to what happens on our
la adventure later this month on a later episode or
a little bonus extra like this, I'll include some photos
on social media as well, and maybe on the YouTube channel.
Thanks as always for your support, and I really do
appreciate any help you can offer. This is literally just

(04:56):
me and Paddy making this documentary. Literally the two of us.
We have had her recently, from an editorial team of
two some friends of ours, and a sound designer who's
a friend of mine as well in a graphics animator friend,
all doing this stuff for the love of it, But
for the most part, it's me and Patty. Patty's shooting it,

(05:16):
I'm organizing it. I'm doing the interviews. I'm doing additional editing.
We're coming up with ideas together. We really need as
much help as we can get if we're going to
get this across the finish line. So I'll stop pleading now.
Have a great day, have a great weekend, and I'll
speak to you soon.