Local horsemen star in TV series
Last summer, Andy Breland got a call from a producer interested in featuring him in a show for the National Geographic Channel.
Breland thought the man was trying to sell something and hung up on him three times. On the fourth try, the producer pleaded with Breland, “Do not hang up.” So Breland listened.
On May 7, Breland and longtime friends Chuck Allen and Bud Petryszak will be featured in a new National Geographic Channel show, “Dead End Express.” The program showcases the real lives of men and women who supply people living in America’s hinterlands.
Breland, Allen and Petryszak have been packing horse and mule trains in the mountains for decades. Their segment of the show will run 22 minutes each over six episodes featuring them packing supplies to lookouts, stocking fish to remote lakes and other adventures.
Filming took place on the Flathead National Forest and F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber land. Commercial filming is not allowed in designated wilderness areas.
The three said it was a lot of fun but also a lot of work. They all quit the second day in. After two consecutive 16-hour days of shooting, tempers flared with the film crew. In the end, there was a meeting of the minds and everyone eventually became good friends.
“They were trying to teach us to be TV stars and we were trying to teach them to ride a horse,” said Breland, who last year spent 85 days sleeping in the woods and packed more than 1,000 miles with his team of horses and mules. “You’d turn around to talk to them and the horse would be empty — they’d fallen off.”
But the three kept at it as the shooting continued for weeks last fall and into early winter. When temperatures dropped well below zero in November, the film crew taped handwarmers on their equipment — and themselves.
Filming was a tedious process at times. The three had to make sure they had clothes that matched day after day. Allen once put on a different shirt and a producer asked him if he wore that shirt the previous day.
“Well no,” Allen said. “That shirt was dirty.”
But that shot covered only one day in their lives, so Allen put on the old shirt, dirty or not. And there were often multiple takes.
“If we had a trip that took two hours, it would take at least eight hours to get it done,” Petryszak said.
As head wrangler, Petryszak’s horses carried the film crew’s gear — and there was plenty of it. Go Pro miniature video cameras were attached to just about everything — riders, horses, mules and pack saddles. The film crew also used drones equipped with cameras.
The resulting footage is dramatic. Breland, Allen and Petryszak have only seen bits and pieces so far, but in National Geographic style, it’s premium eye candy.
Breland gives a lot of the credit to their families, who kept things operating at home while the three were out on location.
Breland owns Trailhead Supply in Kalispell, and his wife and daughter ran the shop and their ranch while he was gone. Allen took a five-week leave of absence from his job with the city of Whitefish.
While it was a lot of work, Petryszak recalled some lighter moments. One time, a film crew member let go of his horse. Petryszak chased after it, charging through the brush on his own horse and losing his .357 Ruger Blackhawk pistol in the process.
Petryszak was none too happy about it. When the film crewman apologized, Petryszak said he wouldn’t have been so sore about it but his brother had given him the pistol just before he died.
“Oh no,” the crewman said. “I knew you’d say something like that.”
“Just kidding,” Petryszak smiled.
“Dead End Express” will premier on the National Geographic Channel on Thursday, May 7, at 9 p.m. It will be available on other outlets, including Hulu, the day after the premier.
Breland said the three are hopeful the show gets picked up for another season. They’re already working on storylines.