Panel discussion set for Squatchcon event
Published 1:30 am Saturday, April 11, 2026
PORT ANGELES — A future locally produced “tru-ish” story about Bigfoot will be featured during a panel discussion at Squatchcon this weekend.
“Bigfoot Enterprises: The Tru-ish Adventures of Patterson and Gimlin” will be discussed from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at Studio Bob, 118½ E. Front St., Port Angeles.
“I think the panel will be about independent filmmaking and how we’re planning to make this movie,” said Mark Schwartz, an adjunct professor at Peninsula College who also wrote the screenplay for “Bigfoot Enterprises.” Mark Allen helped write the screenplay.
The film is a scripted narrative which interprets the historic events when a charismatic entrepreneur and his stoic cowboy friend capture what appears to be footage of Bigfoot, Schwartz wrote in an email.
In October 1967, Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin went on a road trip during which they captured the footage supposedly showing Bigfoot.
The image which is frequently shown of Bigfoot — that of a hulking figure with long arms and turned to look back toward the camera — is from a frame of the footage Patterson and Gimlin took.
“They were two kind of rodeo partners who had been involved in adventures together,” Schwartz said. “That was my appeal to this story. The director said it was like a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid thing. They’re friends, but one keeps dragging the other into precarious situations.”
Patterson was the showman while Gimlin was the quiet partner dragged along.
Although the film is about the pair’s adventure and their resulting footage of Bigfoot, Schwartz said the movie tries not to say whether the footage was real or if it was constructed to make it look real. The film is more about the characters involved and their motivations.
The film has been awarded the Washington Filmworks Small Budget Production Incentive, which will reimburse 30 percent of the budget. The incentive gives a six-month timeframe for the rest of the funds for the budget to be raised. Schwartz said they plan to begin filming in October.
“Garnering the WA Filmworks Incentive is a huge boost for the project,” Schwartz wrote. “Now, we’re launching a campaign to raise the other 70 percent from equity investors.”
Information about the soon-to-come crowdfunding for the film can be found at bigfootenterprisesmovie.com.
Schwartz also serves as a producer for the project alongside director Erik Fulford, a longtime friend of his.
They plan to shoot as many scenes as possible on the Olympic Peninsula and then shoot other scenes in a studio, Schwartz said.
The main characters have been cast from actors working in the greater Seattle area because part of the filmworks incentive is that the cast be from Washington, Schwartz said.
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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.
