ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Liberal’s annual Pancake Day celebration has been a community fixture for nearly 80 years and recently, a Liberal-born filmmaker has captured the annual tradition for a documentary short film.
Filmmaker Ben Scantlin said the idea for the project, “Flipping Pancake Day,” has been in his mind for more than a decade.
“I've actually had the idea of doing a documentary about Pancake Day for at least 10 to 15 years. I've been talking to people in Los Angeles for so many years and gotten to know so many people, and I've had the chance to tell a lot of people about growing up in Liberal and Dorothy's House and all of those sites, and inevitably, Pancake Day manages to come up in those conversations,” Scantlin said. “I've talked to a lot of people about what Pancake Day is all about and the history behind it and all of that, but finding the right time and medium to get that out to a broader audience has been the challenge. So for Pancake Day 2024, with the crew I was able to bring to Liberal, everything lined up as far as the scheduling and other logistics, so they were all able to be part of the project. And with Pancake Day 2024 being the 75th running of the race, that was also a really nice surprise and the icing on the cake.”
And the 2024 festivities were when all the stars aligned to help make the film happen, Scantlin said.
“I'm about 20 years into my career in the entertainment industry, and when you approach any project, the more experience you have, the better. You learn a lot about what cameras to use and what music you like and how to shoot everything so the editing process goes easier and so you capture everything you need,” Scantlin said. “If I'd done this project say, 10 years ago, I don't think it would have ended up as good as it has today because there's just been so much I've learned on the job and from other filmmakers and studying other documentary work. I had the experience and the right people who I knew would help bring my vision to life, which is a challenge sometimes because you have a vision in your mind of how you want things to look, but there's a lot of work and team effort that goes into making all of that actually happen. The crew I worked with on 'Flipping Pancake Day,' I've worked with them for the past 15 or 16 years and we're at the point where we finish each other's sentences and even have our own shorthand for communicating with each other. There were also the considerations of flying into Southwest Kansas and renting some of the film gear we needed, which was not exactly easy in Liberal, and there were a lot of other logistics and moving parts that needed to be taken into account. All of the stars aligned for us to do this project this year and capture all the amazing things that ended up happening.”
Scantlin added there were a few non-negotiables he knew he had to feature in the project.
“The first thing was the community. I wanted to feature people who know the story and know Pancake Day, and I wanted to get as many stories and perspectives as possible in order to get everything from all different angles, whether they were newbies to the festivities or had been participating in everything for multiple decades in one form or another,” Scantlin said. “I knew I especially wanted to talk to members of the Pancake Day Board, people who were running, among others, so my main goal was to start interviewing as many people as possible and let the interviews start driving the story. When I started doing the storyboards and planning things out, I knew I had to find some really good people to interview, and everyone was so welcoming and open – I got to talk to the Pancake Day Board members in Liberal AND in Olney, England, which was amazing, and I knew I had to include them. I was also lucky enough to find a production crew there in England to film on behalf, which was amazing, and I can't thank them enough for their work, and I also interviewed Rex and Eydie Petty since they were the Liberal representatives to Olney for the 2024 festivities. Everything just ended up working out really well.”
While the film is currently a short film, Scantlin said the possibility of expanding it to a feature-length project is not entirely out of the question.
“I did start out wanting to make a short film. I love going to film festivals because they're so much fun and it's great to be able to network with others in that community and also spend three or four days just watching movies, which is totally my wheelhouse,” Scantlin said. “I knew I wanted to make something that could be put in film festivals, and I'd been wanting to make this documentary since it checked so many boxes. I decided we were going to make a short film with the goal of submitting it to as many film festivals as possible to spread the word, and then at some point in the future, expand it and maybe strike some other distribution deals. A great thing about doing a short film is it's a great teaser for what could be, and I learned a lot, so if we end up deciding to turn this into a feature film, having that experience will show me what additional footage I need to shoot and other things like that. I can't say 100 percent if the stars will align enough for me to make this into a full-length film, but who knows what the future will bring?”
Overall, Scantlin said he is proud of how “Flipping Pancake Day” came out.
“I'm actually really proud of it all. With any artistic endeavor, there are always those little thoughts of 'I wish I had done X better' or 'I wish that shot had turned out different' here and there, but I've been in this line of work long enough, and I've worked with enough other filmmakers that I know no one walks away from a project thinking 'That was absolutely PERFECT.' But I'm really proud of the film and I'm excited for people to be able to see it not just in Liberal but in other places throughout the U.S.,” Scantlin said. “I'm so proud to be from Liberal, and making this film has reminded me of just how cool Pancake Day is and how big a part of our history it is, and I want to let other people know about Pancake Day. Growing up in Liberal, Pancake Day was just a fact of life for everyone, but when you talk to other people about it, there's some raised eyebrows and even more curiosity about what it's all about. And with that in mind, I now have a short film I can show them that showcases this quirky event that's been part of Liberal for almost a century.”
As with any project, however, there were some challenges faced on the set.
“One of the main moving parts to this project was filming in Southwest Kansas, and once we got there, we had to make sure we had all the necessary equipment and everything else,” Scantlin said. “On the flip side of that, however, if there ever was anything we needed, we had the support of the community and were able to procure what we needed, whether it was an extra light or an extra pair of hands/legs, or food for the crew, and everyone was just so, so helpful when it came to that. We also had to make sure we had all the interviews lined up, since there are only so many hours in the day, so we had to determine what exactly we wanted to film over the five days we were there. Overall, the challenges were mitigated pretty easily because of all the support we were seeing from the community.”
The film will be premiering in Liberal Friday evening, and Scantlin said he is excited to see what the future holds.
“After we premiere the film in Liberal, we will make some editing adjustments and then submit it to film festivals starting in the early spring,” Scantlin said. “While it's on the film festival circuit, we won't be able to post it publicly since those festivals want that exclusivity and want people to view it there in person. We'll probably spend about a year on the film festival circuit, and then like I said earlier, we'll look at distribution and talk about whether we'll have it on a streaming platform or on YouTube or whatever. I'm excited to be able to talk about my hometown and how proud I am of it. With our crazy world everything going on, there are still communities that stick to these traditions, and that's the overall theme of the piece. The fact that the race goes on rain, shine, etc. and Pancake Day happens, that's not an easy feat to maintain for 75 years. Everyone should be proud of that, and being able to broadcast that just brings so much joy to me, and I'm really excited. I knew I would be visiting the area for the Christmas holiday and knew it would be a great opportunity to show it to not only local people but also their family members visiting from out of town, and that's actually what kind of spurred me to set and official deadline. I'm excited to continue filming in the Midwest, because it's an underserved market in the film and TV world. There are so many movies and TV shows out there, but not very many of them are about this area and its beauty. I want to continue filming projects in this area and broadcast the beauty of the area and show people what we get to take in on a daily basis. I'm excited to be able to continue in my career to make more movies, and I'll be pushing for that really hard as time goes on.”
