FORT IRWIN, Calif. -- A documentary featuring the Soldiers of 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division is in the planning stages, with initial footage shot Nov. 10-13 at the National Training Center.
Old Post Productions, a company headed by television and film actor Ricky Schroeder, has worked with 2nd SBCT, 2nd Inf. Div. previously while shooting footage for the U.S. Army commissioned reality TV show, "Starting Strong." The show is currently in post-production, a process that will edit the footage and add additional voiceover narration, graphics and effects.
"After we shot the 14 episodes for 'Starting Strong,' we were looking for another project. We had such a good experience working with the Army and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, so this idea had already been forming as we were wrapping up the 'Starting Strong' shots [at JBLM]," said Luke Schroeder, Ricky Schroeder's son and a cameraman for Old Post Productions.
The project, currently titled "Door to Door," would follow 2nd SBCT, 2nd Inf. Div. through its rotation at the NTC, to deployment and back home, focusing on a handful of Soldiers and their families as they go through each experience.
"We're gathering footage for what is called a scissor reel," said Hunter Hanson, an Old Post Productions cameraman. "We'll edit what we have into a preview trailer that we can use to pitch the idea to different sources of funding for the project. We show them what we're going for, what this show could be," said Hanson.
"We're featuring the Stryker vehicles quite a bit in these first shots, highlighting a lot of new design features, so one group we'll pitch to would be General Dynamics since they build Strykers," Luke Schroeder said.
The Old Post Productions team is based in Los Angeles, just a few hours from the NTC. The project brings in talent such as line producer Steven Ritchie, who has worked on TV series "Lost," and over 25 feature films to include new release "Janey Jones."
Past projects for Old Post Productions include made-for-TV movies. The company won Country Music Television's award for music video of the year with Brad Paisley's song "Whiskey Lullaby."
Producer Aviv Surkin will be the story developer for "Door to Door," and his work includes TV shows "24" and "Heroes."
"We have such a tremendous respect for the military, and for the work Soldiers do, so a lot of the same crew and production team we had for 'Starting Strong' are on board for this as well," Surkin said.
Once sponsors commit to funding the project, the next step for Old Post Productions will be to return to JBLM to start shooting more footage of 2nd SBCT, 2nd Inf. Div.
"Once we find the Soldiers we want to focus on, we'll be engaged with their families, too. We want to get on a personal level, highlight the great things they've done and what these Soldiers go through. I don't think it's been done before with the kind of depth we want to achieve with these portrayals," Schroeder said.
So far, most of the NTC footage features interviews and training events with Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment and 2nd Brigade Support Battalion. Additional shoots are expected to be scheduled at JBLM in the coming months.
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