Patrick, how would you describe your event?
Patrick: It’s a tactical three-ring circus with everything from the Navy SEALS, parachutists, and 5-star organic catering all of which is going to be televised by The Outdoor Channel.
With our sponsors for the event, we try to integrate their products very powerfully into film and television projects that we do. We have been very successful in doing that. We live in an environment where people are gear rich and cash poor so we serve these sponsors in the best way we can and get them into as many media as possible. We are very grateful for their support.
For example, we will be taking some of our sponsor’s products on a helicopter hog eradication hunt in Texas, as they have a huge problem with feral hogs. We provide them with terrific commercial spots for Facebook, The Outdoor Channel, Sportman’s Channel and Orion Multimedia using their products in really inventive ways.
In [regards to the archery component] of the event, we will have champion shooters there to show people from 8 years old to 80 how to shoot bows in a great environment that is entertaining with music and [more].
Tim spearheads the archery component of the HCSCI. We have fly-fishing, archery, handgun, and rifle events.
He is key to bringing people like Joella Bates, World Champion Archer, to our event as well as numerous archery sponsors like TNT Archery, Mathews Solocam, Horton Crossbows, Morrell Targets, Dummies unlimited, 3-D Targets.
That is awesome, Patrick. So what is your motivation behind the Hollywood Celebrity Sporting Clays Invitational?
Patrick: In particular, countering some of the negative, global imagery that Hollywood, in the past, has provided the masses that was very negative to the Second Amendment or archery. There has been a movement, generated by PETA, to ban archery which is the absolute worst thing to do for wildlife and ecology. We will have a huge military presence to counter the anti-military stuff. It’s an integrated ball – anti-military, anti-hunting, anti-archery, and anti-American stuff that was coming out of Hollywood was repulsive. That’s why the event came into being.
Patrick: We are very much about bringing in the new generation into all of these outdoor sports. We are very dedicated at the Hollywood Sporting Clays Invitational to get A-list people, and actors including the young actors who have Nickelodeon and Disney series. We have a very positive and strong, young Hollywood outreach.
Tim: Yes, and Morrell Targets was instrumental in making that happen. They donated all of the targets that were used at the event. We are working on 3-D targets right now. There will be bag targets and there will be 3-D targets there. One of the things we like to do is to put everything out there, all of the different types of targets. That forces them to choose and they realize they don’t HAVE to shoot 3-D You don’t HAVE to shoot bag targets. Archery is that broad of a sport. It gets that message out. Our results show that almost everyone heads to the 3-D range. In the 4,000 people I have taught in the past four years, I have had one family say to me, ‘That’s fine that you want to go down and shoot those, but we don’t kill animals.’ One family out of 4,000. Everybody else sees it as the game that it is and the preparation of the hunting season. 3-D archery blends in real well. We incorporate real animals with extinct animal. Rhinehart Targets makes a couple of dinosaurs. Delta Targets makes a couple of dinosaurs and that appeals to the children. It also appeals to the mothers. It also keeps within the theme of tombstone/ apocalyptic theme of Patrick’s event. It will have a little bit of a fantasy element. It will have a little bit of the ancient history element with the dinosaurs.
Where else in the world will you get a chance to shoot a velociraptor?
Tim: Exactly! That’s what starts them. Pretty soon they see another target that’s further away and wonder if they can hit it. Then they shoot at the deer. It becomes the game that 3-D archery is with its inherent challenges and the fun of flinging sharp sticks. It kills two birds with one stone.
What is the best part of being able to be a part of an event like this?
Tim: Quite honestly, the smiles. At the October event we had a couple of up-and-coming actresses that came by the archery range. They had never touched archery gear before in their lives. Within a couple of hours they were instructing adults. They took to it like ducks to water.
There was a ‘celebrity jeweler’ there who was shooting and one of the girls said, ‘Oh, you are leaning the bow. You need to keep it straight up and down.’ Eric and I looked at each other and asked if [the other] taught her that. Nope! She was that detail oriented that she spotted it and corrected it. Then he shot a bullseye.
The two girls are still shooting to this day. The smiles are the best part and when they are laughing and having fun at the end of the day, well, that’s all that matters.
Do you just have the target range or are there other archery events to participate in?
Tim: For safety purposes, it’s basically a static range with one line to shoot front and the targets radiate out from that line. It’s not your traditional 3-D course, it is more of an introductory course.
There is another archery event where archers will have the chance to shoot at a foam target that is tossed into the air by a machine and you shoot it while it’s in the air. That is part of the TNT Archery mix. They are bringing in some of their bow for the event and we’ll be using the Mathews Genesis bows, as well, so we’ll be covering the gamut. The TNT bows are 22” axle-to-axle with an IBO speed rating of 280fps. There are not speed demons, then again speed isn’t everything.
Tim, can you share some of the celebrity archers that will be coming to the event?
Tim: Well, you haven’t heard this yet and it is exclusive to the SoCal Bowhunter blog. We are working right now with Chris Reed, an archer as well as the Season 2 champion of Top Shot [on the History Channel]. He is an avid bowhunter and just signed on with PSE.
Also, Joe Serafini, from Top Shot, will be joining him. He was billed as the archer of the show amongst all of the contestants. They are both ecstatic about being a part of the event and being able to help out.
Huntress Joella Bates is also slated to be coming. She is going to be doing children’s and women’s instructional archery.
TNT Bows, from Montero, CA, will also be on hand doing an aerial demonstration shooting sporting clays with bow and arrow.
Patrick: Jay Wotowski, who runs Adrenaline Action and Extreme Outdoor Sports Productions, will be doing the pheasant hunting with bows out of one of the stations. The Sporting Clays has 15 different stations, with one of them devoted to shooting clays with a bow. I am planning on going on a shark hunt with those guys, with bows, off the coast of Rhode Island, in Provincetown on Cape Cod, sometime in the summer. Jay is a fantastic videographer and is running all of the video on the hog hunt. Their operation is very cool.
Tim brought up the teachers. One of the goals for the HCSCI is to get champions from all different kinds of shooting in front of as many people from Hollywood that we can to impart their knowledge. Just this morning, Kimberly Rhodes, who is a multi-Olympic champion, came in to volunteer and will be teaching people how to shoot sporting clays. Taran Butler, 5-time World Bianchi Cup Pistol Champion, will be there teaching people contemporary pistol will be there. Thell Reed, who is the guy that taught all of the western movie guys – Russell Crowe for Quick and the Dead, Sharon Stone, and the two Tom Selleck movies I did. Particularly, if there is a Hollywood guy who has learned how to draw, he’s studied with Thell Reed. Thell will be teaching cowboy action shooting.
Will there be a solid public presence at this event or is it mostly celebrities?
Patrick: We have celebrities coming from all over the country. Our event is open to the public. We do have a looky-loo price of $75 which gets you in for the entire day’s event, three different meals and shooting all of the guns. What it doesn’t allow you to do is participate in the Sporting Clays tournament, but you can observe that.
The SC Tournament itself costs $180 up to 220 per single shooter. There are corporate teams, too. The looky-loo thing lets you do everything; airsoft, archery, fly fishing demos and there are vendors of all kinds from sniper rifles to cupcakes. There’s a gift bag for everyone with gear and all kinds of stuff. We’ve got 12 canons and civil war reenactments, too.
There are vendors of all kinds from sniper rifles to cupcakes.
There’s the cocktail party at the end of the evening with everything from rubber band Gatling guns to great hunt auctions.
It’s a red carpet event and all of the international press will be there, ABC & CNN to name a couple. There is a huge presence by the military, Army band, Navy band, musicians, four or five color guards for the opening ceremony and more.
Tim will be working with the kids of men and women who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan teaching them archery. We have both seen these kids take to archery and become obsessed with it. It’s really great.
What do you guys find the most challenging about being a part of an event such as this?
Patrick: The most challenging is doing the right things like us attending conventions. We literally had hundreds of sponsor candidates. The challenge was finding the time to get to all of them and then customizing them to our event. We don’t stress out our sponsors in these economic times. As long as they are providing entertainment and color to the event and we are able to maybe auction something off.
The biggest challenge is meeting pre-event costs. Although we get funds from certain sponsors, with this economy, people are gear rich and cash poor. It’s unavoidable. You have your range costs, PR costs, and the catering purchases before the event. I’ve been an actor and director for a long time and the process isn’t very different. You are always out on a wing and a prayer.
Tim: Getting everybody on the same page and maintaining the relationships after the event. You want to follow up with people and be there to answer their questions. You want to foster those relationships and that is the biggest challenge.
Gentlemen, I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions and I wish you all a truly successful event.
Patrick: Thank you and I look forward to meeting you. Cheers!
Tim: Thank you, Al. We will do everything we can to give you information if you want to call during the day and we can give you a rundown of how the day is going. Take care.
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