Ep 034 - Mac Smith, Filmmaker and Producer

Creative Confidential with Bryan Tuk

Mac Smith was born into a family of tuba players in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents and older siblings exposed him to films that were a bit mature for his age, and a wide variety of musical styles. Mac experimented with video cameras, and picture editing throughout his childhood. He went off to Los Angeles at age 17 to take the Summer Production Workshop at USC Film School, and then made his home in Iowa City at the University of Iowa. Mac marched in the sousaphone section of the Hawkeye Marching Band, and studied film at Iowa. During his time in Iowa City, Mac decided to audition for the Madison Scouts drum & bugle corps in Madison, Wisconsin. He marched as a contra player for only one year due to age eligibility in 1995. Mac has worked on post production sound for over 75 films (“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”, “The Birth of a Nation”, “Toy Story 3”, “Tron Legacy”, “Rango”) and has been nominated for 10 Golden Reel awards (Motion Picture Sound Editing). In 2011, Mac and Tom Tollefsen started developing the concept of a documentary film that focuses on the drum corps activity that they wanted to direct and produce. The film, “Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching Brotherhood" screened at four film festivals from 2014 to 2015 and took home 3 awards. The film will be released on iTunes November 8th. Mac enjoys living in the Bay Area with his wife Ashley, his son Admiral, and daughter Maven. For more information: http://www.scoutshonormovie.com