Glenn P. P. Milligan is a heavy hitter when it comes to the world of BMX videos, dropping his unique style and creative eye on countless titles over the years. From BASE to Ride BMX to Volume to Nike and beyond, this dude has the chops to make BMX vids entertaining to watch. I threw a ton of questions at him recently, and he was happy to oblige. Read on for part 2 of the interview, or check out part 1 right here first.


What riders are the best to film with, and which ones are nightmares?
Nigel Sylvester is one of my favorite all time riders to film with, and E-man [Manuel Cantero] and Boy [Anthony Flores] are awesome! I generally like and get along with everyone. I try my best to always keep the mood light, I don't really care if we get clips - I mean at the end of the day I want to be productive but NEVER at the expense of putting pressure on the guys. I'm not gonna get caught out there on the nightmare one, but there are one or two!

Are there any riders you'd like to work with that you haven't before, or do you not really give a fuck who the guy riding is?
Nah, I fully give a fuck! I'd to hang with some of the European dudes, some of them seem cool as shit and a good time to hang with. I really love what I do, and I consider myself lucky, I love meeting new people and hanging in different situations, and if someone sucks, well then now I know, but 80% of the time, everyone is cool!

How do you approach it when the guys you're filming are going for dead-man moves?
Honestly, it's on them. I hear about some photographers and video guys pushing dudes, and I will on tricks but NEVER on dead-man shit. If someone got hurt on something I felt like I pushed them into, I think I would quit... What kind of scumbag would do that?

Have you done any non-BMX projects, or have plans to?
Porn mostly.

Go through a typical timeline for making a video.
It's always so different, but in very general terms: Someone says "wanna make a video?" I say yes, I need to pay rent... Go film a few clips with some of the guys, get footy from others for the rest... make a promo, a month or two in... set a deadline for anywhere from six to eight months away (usually for Interbike)... film with the guys whenever you can... eight months later, push the deadline back 2-3 months because you only have 40% of the video... in the next two to three months get the other 60%... be done!

Name five essentials in your editing room at crunch time.
Energy drink, mostly sugar free Red Bull, but it's so expensive when you get to 4 a day.
Some sort of cookies
Fan
Radio
Footage

What are you working on right now? (Ed. note: this was a while back, I'm late getting this posted)
We are about to drop a Cardinal Edit, it came out pretty cool, but it's dropping with the launch of the website. I'm also right in the middle of Nigel's "Because I Grind" Gatorade tour, working out the next few episodes of the Big Big BMX show, I'm doing some special project stuff for HARO, and Fuel's Daily Habit has me doing some segments here and there!

Contrast your first video with the one you're working on now
First video (NEW YORK HARD CORE) was done because NY had no exposure to the rest of the country and we wanted to show our scene, mostly everyone involved were friends. Now people hire me (sweet); it's technically a job, but it's the best one I could dream of, I'm very lucky.

First one got stalled for over six months at one point because no one seemed to care, so why would I? Now, there's none of that nonsense; if you take a job and agree to do it, you do your BEST to get the deadline!

The first one was done in the college of Staten Island on two editing decks. I hid in there overnight on two separate occasions to get it done, I also starved in the process. Now I'm lucky enough to own my own shit and I eat way too many cookies and when I'm done editing I look pregnant!

Are there any other BMX video editors who put out shit that you're down with?
Will Stroud shoots awesome, he can really capture a pretty picture. I love Bob Scerbo; I wouldn't say he's the best, but he truly does it the way he sees it, he really doesn't care what anyone thinks, and I respect that. Joe Simon is the most underrated guy, he's so good!

Anything else you'd like to put out there, whether it's related to video production or not?
Yeah, I love BMX! Most of us people who aren't pro riders but work in this industry love BMX. I think sometimes people think we might see it as just a job, and sometimes it is very hard work, but at the end of the day WE LOVE BMX!

Glenn P. P. Milligan is a heavy hitter when it comes to the world of BMX videos, dropping his unique style and creative eye on countless titles over the years. From BASE to Ride BMX to Volume to Nike and beyond, this dude has the chops to make BMX vids entertaining to watch. I threw a ton of questions at him recently, and he was happy to oblige. This here is part one; keep an eye out for part two tomorrow…

How long have you been making videos?
Something like 15 years...holy crap I'm old!

Do you know the total number of full-length videos you've made?
I actually have no clue; I've tried to count like 20 times and keep losing track. It's somewhere in the neighborhood of 32, give or take 3.

Has your production experience been all trial and error, or did you have any schooling or something similar?
The first few videos I made weren't done on a computer (again, I sound very old!). Digital editing wasn't quite available for the masses back then, so I've seen it start from its early stages, which was tons of trial and error. Hard drives were so small then, you'd have to edit a video a few minutes at a time and put the section on tape and edit the tapes together. To output a three-minute segment would take like 12 hours to render, so if you made a mistake you'd have 12 hours to try again! It was hell. I never took any editing classes; I did take a graphics class last year, though. You can teach an old dawg new tricks!

When you start a new project, what is your process for creating the unique visual feel for it (graphics, effects, titles, etc.)?
Usually there is a movie or TV show I like that is giving me an idea - I won't straight rob a concept, but more go for the feel of it. Sometimes a name or the music dictates quite a bit of how it's going to go. It's always a process, sometimes I find old files on my computer - ideas I had for videos that got released completely different; most of the time I think, "thank god I didn't do that," sometimes I'm like "Aww MAN, I should have done that!" Trial and error!

How do you keep from getting burned out, video after video?
When I'm not burned out anymore I'll tell ya!

Are you super into seeing movies and do you get any inspiration from them?
Yeah for sure. I just saw Transformers 2 and got tons of inspiration from that piece of crap. After seeing how much it sucked I realized I really can have a career doing this stuff!

What are some typical problems you run into when making a video?
Not enough footage and not having footage the rider is stoked on are two major ones. If you are clearing music, 90% of the time the music sucks, it's so hard to work with and around that, but if someone needs or wants cleared music, you gotta do your best!

Name one (or more) of the best experiences you've had while working on a video project.
To narrow it down would be so hard, but the moments on a roadtrip when you laugh so hard you almost piss yourself makes all of it worth it!

The worst?
Almost the same thing. Sometimes you don't get along with people and being on the road with someone that doesn't like you or you don't like is rough, especially for me, cause I have diarrhea of the mouth and I can't keep it shut!

Looking back, is there anything you've done that you now cringe at?
A couple of the Ride BMX [magazine] videos. I won't call out which ones, and in no way is that a stab at Ride, but there was pressure to get them done as quick as possible. Looking back, I wish I had fought harder on a couple to merge a few titles together and cut a ton of footage out. Part of the problem lies with me; dudes would try hard to get footage in and I hated cutting them out. I always felt like if they put in the work, who was I to dis 'em? I guess I don't regret that feeling, but I do cringe at it!

What title(s) are you proudest of?
Neighborhood Superheroes, Turbulence, Living in Exile, On the Clock, and Nice Try!

NICE TRY promo2 from PRIMO on Vimeo.

What video project was the best overall experience for you? Which was the worst?
Neighborhood Superheroes. Everything was new then and it was fun. I had a scrappy part, and everyone involved were basically friends. It was the best!

The worst was the last one I did for Ride, "FLIPSIDE". I guess first I have to say there was so much drama involved but nothing to do with the riders at all. Again, this is no stab at Ride either, it wasn't anyone there at the magazine, but two higher-up suit types. Basically they sold me on the idea of making a TV show and not a DVD, but when the project was more than halfway through they bailed on the BMX project a little and decided to make it a DVD. The problem was, the thing wasn't really being shot like that. I ended up quitting, but stayed on to finish only because the riders in the video had already put in some work.

To be continued...

The Vert dogs wrapped up the Chicago stop of the Dew Tour on Saturday, with Jamie Bestwick coming from last place after his first run to score yet another indisputable win. Bestwick had dropped in for his first run straight to a flair on his first hit, but he didn't come in clean, sliding out on the transition. In run two, he stuck with his more typical monster first air, this time a no-hander, and kept the hits coming like Motown, including a gigantic alley-oop downside tailwhip and alley-oop 540.

Simon Tabron spun his new can-can x-up 540, along with a no-handed 540 and a 900 in his first run. He was still in the lead for run two, so he dropped in and blasted a brand-new one-handed one-footed 900 but looped out on the landing. Steve McCann came in third, spinning a triple whip, a 540 whip, and a no-handed flair in run one. He made another triple attempt in run two but came down hard on his left ankle, cutting his run short.

Typical podium finisher Chad Kagy went down early in run one on one of his new moves, a nac-nac seatgrab barspin. He managed to squeeze off a flatspin flairwhip before crashing on another of his newer tricks, the one-handed x-up flair. He came out swinging in run two, tossing out a crazy double flair attempt; apparently, he's been landing them pretty consistently to the resi at Woodward. Unfortunately, he got KO'd, but was able to return to watch Bestwick's final run after the medical staff gave him the once-over. Looks like Chad's pulling out all the stops for 2009.

Once again, Bestwick has put himself in the pole position and everyone else will be playing catch-up. Jamie's already said he plans on taking more risks this year with new tricks, and starting the tour off in a good position makes it even more likely that he'll be breaking the seals on brand-new stuff. Considering what he's doing already, I can't wait to see what he has up his sleeve.

Results
1. Jamie Bestwick
2. Simon Tabron
3. Steve McCann
4. Kevin Robinson
5. Jimmy Walker
6. Dennis McCoy
7. Jay Eggleston
8. Francisco Zurita
9. Chad Kagy
10. Koji Kraft

Sean Sexton (pictured above with a jumpover to toothpick) and his hand-picked teammates Aaron Ross and Danny Hickerson took the win at the Nike 6.0 Street contest at the Dew Tour today. The scores were based on an edit that each team filmed over the first two days of the the event (70%), along with a judged 30-minute jam session on Friday (30%). The Austin crew was victorious over the other two teams (consisting of Garrett Reynolds, J.J. Palmere, and Dennis Enarson, along with Van Homan, Chase Dehart, and Randy Brown), but all three teams delivered some serious bangers on the course.

Ride BMX has all three of the finished edits up on their site, and you can also vote there for the one rider you feel did the best overall. That dude will pick up a $1,000 bonus, not bad. Click for the Sexton/Ross/Hickerson edit, the Reynolds/Palmere/Enarson edit, or the Homan/Dehart/Brown edit.

The Park Final went down today at the Dew Tour in Chicago, and it was a doozy. Despite taking it on a gnarly crash earlier in the day, Dave Mirra rallied to turn in an awesome first run that no one else could touch. He dropped his signature no-handed 360 flip and a clean 720 over the box, as well as a giant 540 and a flair whip over the kicker on the 10-foot quarter. Garrett Reynolds kept the heat on Dave with a totally different style, throwing a barspin-to-barspin 360 drop from the top of the course, a no-handed to late barspin 360, and a barspin to manual to no-hander. Marcus Tooker took third with a 360 whip to barspin, a 720 over the box backwards, and a perfect bikeflip.

Results
1. Dave Mirra
2. Garrett Reynolds
3. Marcus Tooker
4. Steve McCann
5. Brandon Dosch
6. Mark Webb
7. Craig Mast
8. Ryan Nyquist
9. Daniel Dhers
10. Dennis Enarson
11. Morgan Wade
12. Mike Spinner

The Vert Prelims happened just after Park, with the Final scheduled for later tonight. Pre-qualified riders Jamie Bestwick, Chad Kagy, and Simon Tabron will be joining the following seven riders to close out the Chicago stop of the Dew Tour.

Vert Prelim Results
1. Jimmy Walker
2. Dennis McCoy
3. Francisco Zurita
4. Kevin Robinson
5. Jay Eggleston
6. Koji Kraft
7. Steve McCann