I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas celebrations with family and that some rock star deals were snagged on Boxing Day, if you were brave enough to venture out. Now we can put on our New Year hats and get ready to say bye bye to 2019 and hello to 2020.
With that being said, I bring you the last Friday Find of the year from Stockmen's Memorial Foundation.
This week, the story of Mr. John Scott.
John Scott carries a fairly unique and interesting story to him. A movie production and animal Guru whose name many people are quick to recognize. Although his story has been told several times before, I thought I'd try my luck at it.
In 1942, John Desmond Scott was born in Calgary to Florence and Jack Scott. He was an only child who completed his schooling in Calgary and spent his weekends absorbed on his grandfather's homestead in Longview.
"It was always good times getting out to the ranch and away from the city and working with horses," said Scott.
At a young age, Scott would familiarize himself with cattle and horses, growing to enjoy this scene substantially. Little did he know that his interest would eventually steer him in the direction of the big screen.
He mentioned he never broke livestock and credited peers superior to him, but I believe he is just being a humble soul because he would have had to have known a thing or two about horses and cattle seeing as his career would be nestled in their involvement.
Scott was an outrider in his early days and was around chuckwagons for quite some time.
It can be said that an outrider carries a good sense, having to feel and understand what the horses are experiencing. This sense would be a strong suit for Scott and would ultimately trickle down to his future successes as he would work with many different animals throughout the years including snakes, reptiles, elephants and an awful lot of buffalo.
Being immersed in the rodeo world and ranching lifestyle, an opportunity soon presented itself to Scott in 1969 which he was quick to jump on board for.
"Through the rodeo business I had some friends that came up to do a picture called, Little Big Man (1970) and they hired me to put riders together and some horses together for it and that was kind of how it all started," explained Scott.
The process for such a production would require a script being looked at, which then Scott would assess its likelihood to be done in Alberta. Finding locations would be next on the list and if that was deemed a go, the animal(s) would finally be introduced.
For more than 40 years Scott has been in the motion picture business and holds an accomplished portfolio of productions which include Oscar winning films such as The Revenant, Lord of the Rings, Legends of the Fall, Unforgiven, Days of Heaven and an Emmy winning film, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. He has worked in numerous feature films in one shape or form along with mini TV series and TV pilots.
Scott has three lifetime brands. Two for cattle; Quarter Circle U X which is placed on the left hip and J Over Triangle which is placed on the right rib. His horse brand is Quarter Circle 7 and is placed on the left thigh.
Currently he operates a working ranch down in Longview. It houses three movie sets which, over the years, has seen numerous celebrity faces and famous scenes shot.
"I dealt with Gene Hackman for three years and he was absolutely great to work with, some others like Paul Newman and Glen Ford, Berlan Caster, all the old ones and then I worked with Brad Pitt on a couple of pictures."
At the moment Scott is working on putting together a couple of films which he says he is hoping to get the government's cooperation with to help bring them into Alberta.
"You definitely need government assistance to be on a level playing field with every other province in Canada, because every province in Canada has got a tax credit situation and a lot of the accountants that work in the movie business, they'll go where they get the best tax credits."
Scott also continues to be involved with the Calgary Stampede and Heritage Park, two organizations he says he is happy to work with.
A career that came out of left field for Scott has taken him down the right field. He will keep on with his big screen affair, doing it well and adding to his collection of tales.
"I've been very fortunate to work with a lot of good people and a lot of good actors in an interesting business that brings stories to the screen."
