Animals are so important to us, we're filming a documentary.
Dog walker at the park with dogs via Wix.
Why did you click on this article? Perhaps you grew up with animals, and the title ignited you like a cozy bonfire. Or maybe you have never owned a pet, but your significant other and your kids have been begging you (so you're secretly doing research to find the "yes" in your adamant "no.") Well, I can't say I have all the answers, but I'm here to explore with you as I put together a documentary.
I started walking dogs while entertainment and events became slow during the winter, and to be honest, it was kind of addicting. I discovered there is a whole culture of animal lovers who would do anything to make sure their fur babies are living their best life.
I saw enough money coming in from walks and drop-ins that I considered turning the side hustle into a full-fledged business, hiring other walkers to man the different neighborhoods of LA and building a premium community of pet families. I used portrait mode on my phone to capture the highlights of each walk and built a nice gallery for my Wag profile, which pet parents enjoyed.
People would repeatedly comment on how much my story stood out to them. For reference, here is my bio:
"Ever since my first Akita Chugi came into my life at 3 years old, I've been a dog's best friend (don't tell my cat that). I helped my parents train and care for 5 mid-to-large working dogs (plus 6 Akita puppies we littered, and countless fosters) throughout my childhood. This love led to being a veterinarian's research assistant, administering medicine and caring for 20 beagles at once while I studied Animal Science at UF. I have also privately dog/cat/babysat since 2008."
I care about animals as much as my clients do, and maybe you relate, too. So here is a list of my favorite things pets do to enhance the lives of their families, with some movie recommendations along the way. I grew up in the suburbs, so focus on dogs and cats (although me raving about farm animals and exotic animals will come in time).
The Importance of Animals in My Life
Companionship/Unconditional Love. No one knows you like your pets do. They're working through every up and down alongside you, even though they can't verbalize their advice and comfort). Ever watched the movie Hachiko: A Dog's Tale? Akitas will change your life with their love. COOL, there's a knot in my throat now. Moving on!
Security/Safety. They have been bred for thousands of years to protect your family. Are you familiar with Nana from Peter Pan? Dogs have served as nannies to keep kids safe when the parents need extra hands (I mean paws) IRL. Okay, so Nana let some mysterious flying boy with a lively shadow and a sword take the kids away... maybe not the best example. You get the point though.
Absolute cuteness. Like, so cute all the time to the point where I need to shut up because every move they make sends me into a blissful squeal-fest. After watching #cats_the_mewvie, I started making Instagram content for my cat @theynamedmepumpkin and was astounded to find such a vast community of cat lovers. They're awesome people.
Work/Service. This is my new favorite. I already studied how dogs nanny, fight off bears and coyotes, hunt, and haul. But I'm fascinated in learning more about how service animals become caretakers in health settings. There's a cute, uplifting story about a guide dog called Pick of the Litter that helps paint the scene for the space in which I will live for the next couple years.
Maybe it's manifestation, but spending all this time with dogs and building my cat's Instagram turns into a full circle moment with my film journey. While I walked, I interviewed some documentary filmmakers in LA, for work as well as for fun. By spring, my childhood dream of sharing stories and education like the Irwin family came to fruition and a documentary story to raise service animal awareness sort of fell into my lap. Like, literally while my business partner and I concocted a plan to visit Australia to document our own discoveries (sorry that's on the back burner now until after this project, Steph).
I don't want to spoil too much about it yet, but it's going to be quite an inspiring story as we learn about a service animal's crucial care to her family (more on that later!). It's also going to take a lot of work and community efforts to do it the way we envision it, which is to utilize professional equipment and editing and to reach distribution from the likes of streaming services. (Ah, is anyone else reminiscing on the golden age of documentaries in the early days of Netflix streaming?)
BTS of our cast and crew collaborating for a recent project, Guy. Talk about making the most of a tiny production. Also Albert did a fantastic job directing our dog actor, Tigger.
Consider this the start of reflexive documentary-style blog as we put together the actual documentary. A blogumentary if you will. The rest of the year we'll be sharing our documentary process so you can be alongside us every step of the way.
How you can continue to support our documentary during this phase of pre-production:
subscribing to our production company emails for updates
following our social medias to stay connected
sharing our stories with your friends and family. Building our community of rad people is the most important!
buying hand-designed summer merch from our Orange Lotus Collection (we only profit $10-20 per item but they're gosh darn cute things)
donating to our production expenses fund (equipment, licensing fees, insurance, etc) - email me at kaehla@awhfmedia.com so I can let you know when our full donation page is active.
joining the film crew - if our story resonates with you, email me at kaehla@awhfmedia.com with your resume and reel/clips (seeking below-the-line submissions only). We will consider you for future productions as well.
sponsoring our film if you have a business who's values and missions are in line with what you've read in this article - email me at kaehla@awhfmedia.com for our package.
I love this! Can’t wait!