The first collaborative effort between Speedonthewater.com and Scrapyard Media, the “In The Lead With Grant Bruggemann” video opens with the renowned powerboat rigger putting a Skater 438 catamaran into the water for client Matt Rice. In a voiceover set to softly building music, Rice describes Bruggemann’s meticulous nature, a quality that carries though the man’s extraordinary life.
It remains my hands-down favorite Speed On The Water/Scrapyard Media production. That’s saying something given the volume, substance and quality of the work we’ve done together.
Part of that is nostalgia, of course. Producing documentary videos was new ground for all of us. We didn’t know what we didn’t know, which made it all a little scary and a lot of fun.
Another part of that my love for Bruggemann and his wife, Kellie. I am so lucky—so damn lucky—to call them friends.
And of course, part of that is the video itself. The production set a new, nose-bleed-high standard in video storytelling for the high-performance powerboating world.
Flash forward five years to Performance Boat Center Fall Fun at the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri last weekend. My ride for the day is a Skater 438 catamaran owned by Ron Szolack. The boat feels familiar but I can’t place it until Szolack reminds me it once belonged to a guy named Matt Rice.
And suddenly the nickel drops and I am back at Rice’s second home in Sarasota, Fla., watching Scrapyard Media founder Brad DiMaggio capture Rice on video as I interview him off-camera. Though we’d spoken by phone, DiMaggio, Ryan Wenk—then with Scrapyard Media and now the national sales and marketing manager for Sunsation Boats—and I met for the first time the night before the shoot.
That relationship continues to this day. Currently in production, the latest “In the Lead” episode from Scrapyard Media and Speedonthewater.com shines the spotlight on offshore powerboat racing safety and rescue leader Shawn Steinert. Scrapyard Media videographer/editor Bobby Boyd traveled from Michigan to Southwest Florida a couple of weeks ago to capture Steinert in his crew in action during the Race World Offshore Clearwater Nationals. The segment will air this fall, perhaps as early as during the Key West Offshore World Championships.
Returning Speed On The Water/Scrapyard Media sponsors CP Performance, Hardin Marine, M CON and Race World Offshore are backing the project.
The finished product may end up being better than “In The Lead with Grant Bruggemann.” Scrapyard Media has upped all aspects of its game since that first production five years.
But as much as I expect to and damn-well-better love it, that first In The Lead episode will forever remain my favorite.
As my recent ride in the Skater 438 that opened the video vividly reminded me.