Tarpon are captivating. From the places they live, to the way they eat a fly, and their Olympic-level acrobatics. The thought of a tarpon flying through the air has likely brought more anglers to saltwater fly fishing than any other fish, just as it did in Key West in the 1960s and 70s. Except it brought with it a crew consisting of Jimmy Buffett, Tom McGuane, Jim Harrison, and other icons. In All That is Sacred, we gain a glimpse into early life in Key West, including tarpon fishing and the lifelong friendships that came with it.
There are fishing films, and then there are masterpieces that transcend the fish we pursue, capturing the moments, memories, and stories of a time and place. All That is Sacred is the latter. Scott Ballew is a director and musician based in Austin, Texas. He is the creative genius behind this film and YETI Presents. This Tarpon Week, we sat down with Scott to talk more about All That is Sacred, his music, and his journey into fly fishing. Check out the full interview below.
Flylords: You are a musician and director. Can you tell us when you discovered both these passions?
Scott Ballew: I was born in Austin, Texas, and am a recovering high school and college football player. After college, I moved to California and became involved in the film industry. I spent 10 years learning how to make films, documentaries, and commercials. Then, YETI hired me to start their film program. I moved back to Austin and spent the next nine years creating YETI Presents and their commercials.
Along the way, I started writing songs and making my own albums, in addition to the YETI projects. About a year ago, I took some time off, and now I am the VP of Creative in Marketing at Tecovas.
Flylords: You have directed a number of short films in the past across categories. Is there anything you look for in choosing a topic or individual to cover?
Scott Ballew: When I’m working on a new film, I’m always the most interested in the individual. I’m drawn to dynamic people who are a little complicated, with some evidence of struggle in life that they’ve overcome or haven’t overcome. I was agnostic of pursuit or fame. Meaning I don’t care if it was a fly fishing film, a surfing film, or a music film. I was only interested in the people and their stories; their pursuits came second.
Flylords: Your film, All That is Sacred, opens up a world that many never knew existed in early Key West. When did you learn about this story, and what drove you to tell it?
Scott Ballew: Well, I learned about it early. Not the story I told, but I grew up in Austin and was exposed to Jimmy Buffett at a young age, becoming a bit of a premature Parrot Head. In elementary and middle school, I read all of his books. There was always a lot of folklore surrounding Key West because Jerry Jeff Walker, who is the pride and joy of Austin, Texas, was the one responsible for bringing Buffett to Key West. So from a young age, I fantasized about Jimmy and Jerry Jeff Walker, and Key West as it pertained to deadbeat musicians, poets and the gypsy lifestyle.
At some point, I grew out of that and then got into fly fishing as an adult. It all came full circle when a friend sent me Tom McGuane’s Some Horses and Jim Harrison’s book of poetry, In Search of Small Gods. I went down a deep rabbit hole learning more about these guys, which ultimately led me to the film Tarpon. That was when the whole story fell into place for me.
Flylords: In All That is Sacred, you follow the story of Key West in the 1960s through the eyes of Tom McGuane, Jimmy Buffett, Jim Harrison, Richard Brautigan, and other icons. What did it mean to you to work with some of these individuals in creating this film?
Scott Ballew: Working with these guys was intimidating and surreal. You know, Jimmy Buffett was my earliest “hero,” and Tom McGuane was probably my most recent. As a budding writer, I definitely looked up to Tom McGuane and Jim Harrison, and spending time in Tom’s house, earning his trust, and becoming part of his family was truly special and surreal. It was a full-circle moment, being able to connect in person and chat with Jimmy, and asking questions that I had as a sixth grader. Ultimately, it was really cool. Here were these giants that I looked up to, and they were the most down-to-earth and nice people, and we became friends.
Flylords: All That is Sacred is equal parts fishing for tarpon, as it is exploring the early life of many of these great artists. Was that the original goal of the film, or did this come to life later as you were exploring the story?
Scott Ballew: The story I told definitely came to life later. Going into it, I didn’t know that we would have access to the Tarpon footage, I didn’t know that we would have access to Jimmy, or that Jimmy would want to participate.
At the base level, I thought it was gonna be more specific to Tom McGuane and his life. The more he talked, the more I realized that so much of his life and story is connected to Jim Harrison, and that became an interesting thread to me. So basically two things happen after the first interview with Tom, I realized I was most drawn to this 50 year old best friendship he had with Jim Harrison, and realizing while talking to him that he had not processed the loss that we explore in the film with Jim and Richard, and that era, in a really meaningful way.
I caught up with Tom during the pandemic, when he was forced to sit still with all of this. And then Jimmy caught wind that I had interviewed Tom, and they were talking about Tarpon. He got excited about it and wanted to be a part of it. Then Harrison’s family became interested in it, and it just snowballed from there. It was these lifelong, complicated friendships of giants.
Flylords: Are you a fly fisherman yourself, and what impact did that have on you making the film?
Scott Ballew: I became exposed to fly fishing early on by a friend who was really into it. We used to go down to Mexico and Belize and do a lot of flats fly fishing. Redfish, bonefish, and permit, and then I went to California and Seattle, and I got away from it.
When I got sober, moved back to Texas, and started creating YETI films, I came across guys like David Mangum and J.T. Van Zant. Between that and having access to a million shoots in Montana with Hillary Hutchinson, Oliver White, and other icons, I fell in love with fly fishing again. It became the only time I could really totally tune out. There’s a small stretch of the Laramie River in Wyoming that I started visiting with my best friend growing up. This has become my annual reset.
The combination of falling back in love with fly fishing and then starting to write creatively myself was the confluence that led me back to Tom and Jim and the story I tell in All That is Sacred.
Flylords: After playing a role in multiple films about tarpon, have you ever caught one yourself?
Scott Ballew: Believe it or not, I actually haven’t caught a tarpon myself. I’m intimidated to go with David Mangum because he’s so intense and angry, and I feel like I’ll mess something up, and he would yell at me. He’d be my best option, but I’m not sure that’s a great idea.
It’s on my bucket list, but honestly, I’m not fond of fishing from boats. To me, my ideal fishing is narrow streams in the mountains where you’re just bushwacking through slippery boulders for brown and rainbow trout. I like getting bloody and working for my lunch. I think I love being on a boat, but I feel powerless when I’m on one. I’m drawn to the physicalness of mountain stream fly fishing.
Flylords: Can you talk us through the creative process of bringing a story like this to life?
Scott Ballew: I don’t know if I’m the best one to do that. I mean, I honestly still don’t necessarily consider myself a filmmaker. When I’m working on documentaries or music, I start with a seed of an idea or an instinct. You keep building and building and building, and then finally, where it’s all in one place, you just instinctively piece it together, trying to capture some sort of feeling that you had at the beginning.
I think All That is Sacred is one of those where I didn’t really have an outline, structure, or a clear understanding of the story at any point during filming. However, I knew what the feeling was. I kept talking, gathering, looking, and exploring until I felt I had everything in front of me. It flowed effortlessly into this shape that evoked the same feeling I had when talking to these guys about that time, the friendships, the loss, and the adventure.
Flylords: What challenges did you face in creating this particular film?
Scott Ballew: The big challenge was time and access. Jimmy was sick in retrospect, and we didn’t know it. It was during the COVID-19 pandemic, so there were all these restrictions, including flying, social distancing, and crew sizes. Tom was also traveling all over the world. Jim Harrison had passed away, too, so we’re trying to tell someone’s story that’s no longer there.
Then there were all the legal hurdles of gaining access to the Tarpon footage. Diana Odasso, the daughter of the filmmaker Christian Odasso, was on board from the beginning. The problem was that she didn’t have the final sign-off. Christian entrusted her mom to do with it what she thought he might want. It was a bit of a guessing game to ensure everything was approved, and then we had to restore the film. We also encountered some other issues, such as how to license Jimmy’s music and how to get approval from Warner Brothers for a soundtrack that doesn’t exist.
Flylords: The film closes with your song All That is Sacred. Talk me through the process of creating this song, and did you create it specifically for the film?
Scott Ballew: Well, it’s funny. I wrote it the first time I went to interview Tom McGuane. He lives an hour off this dirt road outside of Livingston, Montana. He gave me the address, and my GPS took me an hour, the opposite direction, down the wrong dirt road. I was an hour and a half late, with no GPS or cell reception.
I was nervous that Tom was going to be pissed, which he was, and nervous that I was going to be lost, which I was. There was a forest fire going on on the other side of the highway on the Crazy Mountains, and the song just started in my head. It kind of happens when I’m driving and trying to stay calm or pass the time. I was just driving down the dirt road, and that song started with some of those lines, and kind of finished it on that trip from Livingston. But I wouldn’t say it was about them.
When Bennett, my editor, was in Austin, editing, I was getting mixes back from my engineer for this record. I still hadn’t picked a title for the film. A title can make or break a film, and presenting one to the world’s greatest writers is intimidating. One morning, I was listening to the mixes while jogging, and that song came on. It took me back to Tom’s house, and it just clicked instantly. I jog back in all sweaty, and I said to my editor, “This is the title for the film,” and he loved it. He asked me what the song sounded like. I showed it to him, and he plugged it into the closing sequence, and it worked.
The title said exactly what I thought the film said, but the actual nature of the song and how it was written is some amalgamation of my own personal journey, what I was thinking about with those guys, and being lost in Livingston, Montana.
Flylords: Can you give us any insight as to what might be next for you?
Scott Ballew: I’m releasing another album this summer, called Paradiso. I’m also working on a short film right now with Jeff Nichols, who’s an Austin director, that I think will be fun. That’s an ode to Texas, inspired by iconic scenes and characters from some Texas cinema, which I’m excited about.
