EITHAN OSBORNE’S ‘SKINNY MEAT HEAD’ IS JUST ABOUT HERE
The sound someone makes when you call them, as in, like, literally call them, when you go into your contacts, find the name you’re looking for, hit the phone button, and hold it up to your ear without sending a warning text or anything is always: ahh?
There is another noise they make too, always right after, that goes like this: (inhaling all the air you possibly can through your nose and then not really releasing it at all, like you’re about to dive into the deep end of the pool) Helleuhr?
Now, interviews are often serious affairs. Do I toss on a wool suit, you know the type, all brown with a hint of green, that hand-knit texture, and elbow pads, find my most comfortable chair, read over the list of questions I’ve pulled together after delicately consuming every previous interview, video, and every other piece of media featuring my subject before contacting them? Yes, of course. Almost always. I also pour myself a splash of neat bourbon while I do it all and do not just have three moderately to heavily used coffee cups strewn about my desk along with an untouched glass of room-temperature water.
Other times, however, I had a long week. So, I go for a surf, remember I’m already late on doing an interview in the water, and then hit call, toss my phone on speaker, and hope for the best while I shimmy into a frigid pair of Levis in the beach lot.
But anyway, the two noises again: ahh?, the inhalation and holding so the voice inflects while saying, “Helleuhr?” This is exactly how Chapter 11 TV’s resident lensman, sign painter, and everything in-between, Hunter Martinez answered when I rang him from the El Segundo parking lot to chat Skinny Meat Head, his newest flick highlighting Eithan Osborne. And it’s also exactly the same two sounds I made when Hunter put Dane Reynolds on the line soon after since he was literally standing close. Anyway, here's how an informal and unexpected-for-all-parties-involved chat about Eithan, Hunter's, and Chapter 11's incredible new flick went down.
Hunter! What’s up how've you been?
Good! Just trying to prep and get things in order as much as possible before Saturday.
Looks like you guys are doing a lot of cramming the night before the test over there getting the new store set up?
Yeah, like the photo I sent you yesterday, there’s a lot of adult arts and crafts going on here.
So good, though. Wait, so why did you guys have to move again? I forgot. Was it just like a lease thing or something?
We had actually more time with the old place than we thought. They wanted to turn it into a sandwich store, or something like that. But still, nothing has happened to it yet. Like, it still has our signage and whatnot on the back.
But you’re so stoked about the new spot, yeah?
Yeah, it's looking so good. I think it's actually the same size as the old store, but, it's just one big room, so it has a different feel.
So, Skinny Meat Head. How are you feeling about all of it?
Actually, it’s funny, Eithan asked me that earlier. Just, “Do you like it?” And I’m like, “Yes! Of course I like it.” That’s always a good sign. “As a filmer, you’re into this right?”
And how long have you been filming it for then?
Let me think… actually, Dane’s here too, let me ask him. How long have we been filming this?
Dane: What, Eithan’s movie?
Yeah.
Dane: Two years? Since 2022, I believe. That’s when we started with the plot, right? So, yeah, just a little under two years.
Dane what’s your favourite part of it!
Dane: My favourite part? My favourite part… I don’t know. The whole film’s good (laughs). There’s good surfing, the soundtrack’s good. Yeah, he killed it.
So the whole thing just whips then?
Dane: I wasn’t really getting great reporting from his trips. He was telling me he was having a real shocker a lot and then I finally got all the footage compiled and was fully blown away.
And where’d you travel for all of it? Seemed like you were doing quite the map hopping.
So, we started shooting it in Hawaii. And then, Eithan was also was filming, doing a bunch of trips over the past couple of years, like for Harry’s movie, Motel Hell, and whatnot. But for it all I actually went to Hawaii and South Africa and… Where else did I go instead? Japan! Japan, too. Yeah. Yeah, of course.
I mean, that wasn't like a proper trip, but the waves turned out and luckily being able to go there to document what we did was really, really rad. Once he kind of won the contest there, it put the film together, in a way. Because the context of the films is it’s about the free surf side of things that he does and then the contest side and how it's tough to balance both of those, you know, but he does. You’ll know when you see in the film and you’ll see how he found his method.
Oh I’ll hang tight then and avoid spoilers.
But, yeah, the Japan trip was so sick. Like, we got great waves in South Africa and we had fun in Hawaii. South Africa was a pretty good time too. It’s pretty far away but we were able to stay with our friend, Shane Sykes so it was nice and not too hard.
Any good stories from the road that didn't make the final cut? That’s a lot of time in transit and some no one’s safe from at least one or two meltdowns or disasters.
We’ll definitely do some B-sides after the film lives online for a bit. Just because there’s so much footage of the travels and whatnot, and in Japan, there were a bunch of funny moments for sure. We did a little Channel Islands trip for before meeting up with the wave pool and it was just the coolest. So we definitely had a great time every night for the week that we were there. So, with some stories, I'll let some stay secret and I'll let some go and be in more videos down the line.
Keeping your cards close I get it. Well, anything else you want to say about it all?
I'd say, throughout the editing process and storyline, I mean. I'll shout out Eithan obviously. He didn’t even do that much. He just does what he does like a psycho and everything tends to work out for him one way or another. And I definitely will shout out Dane for steering the story along and making the end section really sick. I've even heard it makes people cry (laughs).
Skinny Meat Head is on the premiere circuit now and it’s very good. Find out where you can see it by you or hang tight until it drops on Chapter 11 TV’s YouTube channel.