"Three highschool kids in the woods
making movies"
By Ryder Koch - October 28th 2021
Well… GRIT won. Although that sentence feels good to type on its own; might I add that GRIT won at the largest high school film festival in the world. For something that I started early last spring by messaging local pro Ben Blakely and saw through for the satisfaction of releasing the film to all of you. The definition of success was recognition at any level; let alone being recognized by an accomplished Film Festival. I say all this to establish how truly massive this accomplishment is and means to me and to thank all you for making it possible.
When my friend and producer of the film Luke Johnson and I dreamt up the concept for GRIT; we really only had one goal. Make something rad. The sponsors, premiere events, and film festivals came later along in the process. From the very beginning, we set out to make a rad piece featuring local talent and looking back almost a year after the film's release I think we did exactly that. Three high school kids in the woods making movies.
Well… GRIT won. Although that sentence feels good to type on its own; might I add that GRIT won at the largest high school film festival in the world. For something that I started early last spring by messaging local pro Ben Blakely and saw through for the satisfaction of releasing the film to all of you. The definition of success was recognition at any level; let alone being recognized by an accomplished Film Festival. I say all this to establish how truly massive this accomplishment is and means to me and to thank all you for making it possible.
When my friend and producer of the film Luke Johnson and I dreamt up the concept for GRIT; we really only had one goal. Make something rad. The sponsors, premiere events, and film festivals came later along in the process. From the very beginning, we set out to make a rad piece featuring local talent and looking back almost a year after the film's release I think we did exactly that. Three high school kids in the woods making movies.
None of this would be possible without the help of countless incredibly talented people. Ben agreed to this project with no promise of a quality final product and his title sponsor, Coeur d'Alene Powersports agreed to help in the production process in any way they could. Ryan Armstrong was stoked to write an original score for a broke highs chool punk, and Scott Bigalke donated his time and expertise to making the film the best it could be and creating film art worthy of a Red Bull feature film. Derek Radel from 6D, was generous enough to send us loads of 6D swag to raffle of at the premiere party and promote our little old film to their 124K followers. My dad, Mike Koch, who embraced the title of Grip given to him at the start of production and happily hauled around Luke and I on the side by side and lightened the mood when things weren't going quite to plan. All these people and many more helped make GRIT better than I ever could on my own.
I’m very proud of this film. A project started when two kids wanted to make a motocross movie and ending with it playing in Times Square. None of this would be possible without the incredible crew, all those who attended the premiere, watched and shared the film online. The gears are already turning for the next big project and I think you’ll all be stoked. In the mean time, it’s been almost a year since most of you have seen this film. Sit back, relax, grab some popcorn, and check out a project that has impacted me in a way I truly never imagined.