Минотский режиссер Дерек Олсон вернулся на родину и завоевал международную награду Telly Award

Trending Minot native Derek Olson's creative career has taken him from working in journalism to photography and producing films in Los Angeles. Recently, Olson has brought his experience back to Minot, started the production company Grain and Thunder and won a Telly Award for his work. The Telly Awards are an international event that honors video and television excellence across all screens. "My recent piece is a live action sitcom one camera comedy that I shot here in Minot with local actors," Olson said. "My show “Millennial Taekwondo Tortoises” - which I made a couple years ago - that recently won The Telly Award." Olson was born and raised in Minot and stayed in the community until 20. While film was always in the back of his mind, he said he didn't feel like it was something he could outwardly say, therefore he switched his sights to novelist and then to journalism. "There's no way I would've said when I was younger, 'I want to be a film director.' That would be like saying, 'I want to be the king of the world.' It would have been received as not plausible and delusional,” Olson said. "In my head I wanted to be a novelist and I would never tell my parents that. It was very daunting. I went into journalism because I thought, maybe I can be a novelist later and now work on my fundamentals." After moving, Olson chased after a journalism career and shared that he even got to photograph the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Moreover, Olson has has built a filmography of short films and shows. He said he worked on many productions during his time in Los Angeles. Additionally, a few of his films have made it into film festivals. “Merry Christmas Farmer” screened at the American Pavilion at Cannes Film Festival and “The Rideshare” was additionally screened at the Las Vegas Film Festival. Olson added that French New Wave films inspired him and experimentation eventually led to his interest in comedy. Using his newfound interest in comedy, he combined it with a thriller and said the Las Vegas Film Festival gave him confidence. "I had this darker movie I made in 2017 called “The Rideshare,” and it got into the Las Vegas Film Festival. I went and there was like 500 people in the theater. It was an IMAX screen and it was packed," Olson said. "I thought it was going to be like two people in there. I was sweating bullets the whole time.” “I like to work subtle humor into my stuff, and this was kind of a thriller. I just remember that every single little hidden joke got a laugh and because there was 500 people, somebody got one thing or somebody got another. People were loving it and I really felt the energy of them liking the humor. I still have never matched that moment. It gave me confidence,” he said. Aside from his education from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities for journalism, Olson said he took classes at the Los Angeles City college for film and to learn different equipment. It was there that Olson shot his first short film. "I'd be doing a documentary film as extra learning after I got off work. I would go to my classes and I really loved being there. That was where I made my first short film and Ryan O' Flanagan was in it," Olson said. "There was a chase season and I had no idea whether it was going to be good or bad, but I just put everything I had into it. I think to this day it kind of holds up in a way." Before The Telly Awards, Olson said it was a challenge to try to get people to watch his animated series, even though he knew it was good, along with praise from people in the industry. The Minot native said he knew someone who worked at FOX and Adventure Time Makers and was able to get “Millennial Taekwondo Tortoises” in front of producers, however they passed, but not without telling him his show was good. Olson said he submitted “Taekwondo Tortoises” for The Telly Awards, but before that he had almost given up. He read about the awards and saw that the judges, a panel of Hollywood "big shots" as he described, would watch the entire show to give ratings. "That's the only thing that mattered to me, if you watch the whole thing," Olson said. "At the end I've got some twists that make stuff from the beginning mean something, but it's a slow burn so if you stick with it, you get it." “Millennial Taekwondo Tortoises” was submitted in the same category as South Park and won bronze right behind them. Olson said he had a feeling he was going to win, but the day of the announcements, he lowered his hopes. "I had this feeling inside me that I was going to win. I remembered the day the announcements were made and I was mentally preparing myself to lose," Olson said. "I was like, when you find out you lost don't worry, it's not a big deal. Then I won, and then I looked at the category and South Park was the winner. They only won one.” “They were TV and mine was Web, but we got to be on an even playing field because it was one category. It was a pretty proud moment and validating for me because I've been making stuff for 15 years and it wasn't all that good in the beginning,” he said. Moving back to Minot was a family decision, Olson said. He said having kids and working wasn't the easiest situation. Sometimes he thinks about moving back, but said industry workers are moving away from Hollywood, so the opportunity would have to be perfect. "I'm still living my life, just in a different way because I'm still going to be traveling. But while my kids are young, they need stability and not being in an environment where I can't spend much time with them because I’m busy or it's just a simple struggle to do things. That's how I felt in LA," Olson said. "My son was in first grade and my daughter was in daycare and they were only 2 miles from each other but in order for me to get them picked up by 6, I had to leave my job in Burbank by 4." Olson returned to Minot, his hometown, and just before The Telly Awards he established Grain and Thunder. The production company develops and produces commercials, documentaries, branded content and original projects, according company information. Grain and Thunder wasn't originally meant to be a solo job, Olson said. However, that didn't go exactly to plan. "I feel that I kind of got pushed into being by myself because there’s nobody really to work with, however, sometimes it's like the universe is telling you this is the best way to do it," Olson said. Olson’s most recent work is a sitcom called the “B.O.G.” and has been shot with local actors. The ensemble comedy follows four men who meet in a church basement for support, but soon they have to deal with much more than they were meant to.