We recently connected with Allen Dillard and have shared our conversation below.
Allen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?
The biggest hurdle I’ve had to overcome in my ‘career’ of making skateboard videos is technology malfunctions or issues – cameras malfunctioning, vehicles self immolating, clips vanishing, heads being dirty, memory cards corrupting, you get the picture.
At roughly 4:42 in 50 year old Kristian Svitak’s ‘Barge Hard: 50’ video part, he goes for a frontside bluntslide on some church steps. He sticks, falls back, and then off of the stairs, but in the middle of all of that, he hits his head on the corner of the doorway. I freeze up, but I don’t stop recording – Kristian’s request (“If I slam, keep filming. Slams can be better than makes.” Wise words, I suppose). He eventually thrusts his hand, covered in blood, in front of the fisheye lens of my camera. It’s a stark reminder that skateboarders like Kristian really do put blood sweat and tears into every project, even at 50 years old.
When I got back to where I lived at the time, Toledo, from Cleveland (roughly 2 hours) I went to import the clip to my desktop pc. It wasn’t there. Nothing was. I panicked. I did everything I could to get the clip back, but nothing worked. The card was requesting to be formatted and I knew enough not to do that. I slept on it and tried it again the next day. And the next. And the next. I was dodging Kristian’s request to see the clip and trying to buy more time, to no avail. I ended up having to tell him, and to be honest, he was pissed and devastated. We didn’t talk for a week or two. In that time, I threw in the towel and shipped the memory card to some professional data recovery service, and crossed my fingers. In the end, I had to borrow the equivalent of a months rent for my house in Toledo from my mom to pay to get that clip (and the make) from that day, but I have to say, it was worth it. It’s a striking first image for BH50, as well as one of the first things everyone talks about in regards to his part. Thanks mom!
Allen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Allen Dillard, I’m 35, I’ve been a skateboarder for 24 of those years, and I’ve been a filmmaker for the last 15 of those years. Since 2010, I’ve been made ten skate videos, some of which have been featured on Quartersnacks.com, Skate Jawn magazine and Thrasher Magazine. My main goal was to make my hometown (Detroit being my home, barring four formative years in Toledo, OH) seem like a viable skateboarding destination and to try to give back something, anything, to a culture activity and community that has given me so much. If one element – one clip, trick, video part, angle I chose to film a clip from, one editing choice, one…thing from any of the videos I’ve made stuck with just one person, I’ve honestly completed that goal.
I’ve honed all sorts of camera related crafts (cinematography, video editing, photography, etcetera) and traveled the United States for the explicit reason of riding a skateboard and maybe spending five hours holding a camera and performing impromptu therapy sessions behind a grocery store while my friends go through each and every one of the stages of grief while trying their hardest to do a trick until they are finally rolling away. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Because of it, I’ve shaken hands with professional skateboarders that I first knew as video game characters and tripped over Kurt Cobain’s daughter (who apologized to me!) at the most San Diego premiere for Barge Hard 50. I’ve been hoping to dip my foot into making different kinds of films, documentaries, advertising, anything really. I just need to get my foot in the door in that world.
I’m most proud of all of the videos I’ve made, but the one that sticks out to me is 2024’s Inter/State. Multiple people have said that different parts of the video made them tear up, which is a high honor, as skate videos almost always miss the mark when it comes to that emotional side. I got to put friends that I hadn’t seen in a decade in there, as well as a clip of my boyfriend Casey as he was just learning how to skate (and a quick clip of him embracing me and kissing me after one of my tricks). It was really special and I had been working on the video in some capacity since 2018. Interstatevideo.bigcartel.com / Allenwdillard.com
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
As far as this relates to making skateboard videos, I think my reputation comes from me being genuine and genuinely loving what I do. I love the ritual. I love looking for skate spots, putting stickers on boards, shooting the shit between skate spots, editing videos and sharing the love with people. I overheard one of my longest a closest friends tell another skater that I was really good with making sure footage got used and that I never double booked myself. There were no surprises. If we’re going skating and filming that day, I don’t have to be back at a certain time. I clear my schedule so that the skater can say “one more time” for 8 hours if they need to until they get their clip. I’m there as long as the skater is. I don’t want to waste their time as much as they don’t want to waste mine, I’m sure.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
The only thing really relevant to this question is how I met 50-something year old professional skateboarder (and Cleveland OH native) Kristian Svitak. I learned he was living in Cleveland and was feeling really confident for some reason, so I shot him a DM on Instagram on a whim, the gist of it being “hey I’m working on this indie skate video in Toledo and I’d love to meet up sometime and film some things for it really quick.” He told me no, that he was too old, and that nobody wanted to watch an old dude skate. I pushed back and said he paid his dues already and nobody was expecting him to reinvent the wheel but that I respected his decision. I did however tell him if he changed his mind to hit me up. A month or so went by and he did, and suddenly, I’m driving out to Cleveland at least once a week from Toledo, OH to film a pro skater, one who was in one of the first skate videos I ever owned as a kid. That journey led to Kristian not only having a few clips in my video, but a full part, as well as us working on Barge Hard: 50 together. BH50 led to me flying to San Diego and premiering the video with real life video game characters and skateboarding heroes in attendance. It was a pipe dream come true.
Contact Info:
- Website: Allenwdillard.com / interstatevideo.bigcartel.com
- Instagram: @Allenwdillard
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@allenwdillard
Image Credits
Casey McArthur
Zach Russell
Scott Bankey