Katie Burrell Tattooed Crew Members While Making 'Weak Layers'

Weak Layers is a sharp right turn away from the ever-present, intro-to-credit full-throttle, male-centric ski films so common in the industry in the last 50 years.

It is the perfect concoction of ski clips, movie plot, and a little bit of societal reflection that makes it go down smoother than a neat Johnny Walker Blue label.

The dramatic ski comedy, set in iconic Lake Tahoe, speaks to the heart and soul of being a ski bum: three relatably rowdy local women, spurred by a housing crisis, embark on a journey to win a 72-hour short ski film competition that would solve all of their problems. Coincidentally, all three characters are talented skiers and filmmakers. They also love to party.

I caught up with Katie Burrell, director and lead actress of Weak Layers, producer Jared Drake, and Steven Siig, producer and owner of Tahoe Art Haus, Tahoe's local cinema.

Jared Drake and Steven Siig also produced Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche, a documentary about the historic avalanche in Lake Tahoe.

Check out our conversation below:

Steven, what made hosting Weak Layers at your theatre so special? What were the reactions from the community/audience?

Steven: "Well, it’s always special to host our films at our cinema. We even filmed all of our interviews for Buried at the Art Haus, but with Weak Layers screenings it was a bit more special because the community was able to come see themselves on the big screen. Plus our community message within the storyline is really based on our North Tahoe community. Truly special nights. The premier party was all time!

Katie, you were there at the Tahoe Art Haus premiere. What was it like to debut the film in front of the hometown crowd?

Katie: "I was the most nervous to show it in Tahoe because it meant so much to me that the people there felt like I had done the town justice. I'm not from there. I'm Canadian. 

Being embraced by Tahoe to make the movie was a life changing experience for me in a lot of ways. I have joked before that if the movie makes any money, I'm gonna buy a house in Tahoe so I can visit.

The crowd was having so much fun with it (on the night of the premiere). People were having drinks and partying and taking photos on the red carpet and just goofing off and appreciating what we pulled off as a team.

Of all the screenings I've gotten to be at, that one was the most exciting, nerve-wracking, and also validating, because everybody had so much fun watching it.

I've had multiple people from Tahoe tell me they've gone back (to see the film) a couple of times. Michelle Parker told me she took her family with her to see it a second time.

That kind of stuff means the world to me because it's definitely intimidating coming into a new place and trying to do it justice."

Jared, how was the process of making Weak Layers different than making Buried?

Jared: "The process is very different on every level. For Buried, Siig and I each had camera packages at our house, and we would shoot kind of randomly as the conditions allowed, for about two years off and on, maybe more. As a documentary, you have to explore and find your story through that process.

For Weak Layers, it's kind of the opposite. You spend a lot of time in development, writing the material, getting in storytelling shape, and then starting to figure out how you're going to execute. You end up having to shoot the movie all at once.

Our entire production schedule was just over three weeks, but there were probably two years of lead up with writing the script, developing the budget, and then production is just this tiny moment of time where you go execute it."

Steven, you’ve filmed for Warren Miller, TGR, and Matchstick Productions. What made producing Weak Layers different, and was it an enjoyable shake-up?

Steven: "It is such a different experience producing narrative feature films in contrast to action sport productions. Usually (action sports films) have 1 or 2 cameramen and a couple athletes.

With a narrative feature you are following a script, shooting schedule, logistics for locations, crew, talent etc and it is daunting. We shoot 12 hours a day and are beholden to the shooting schedule and SAG (screen actors guild) requirements.

There is a lot more freedom with action sports filmmaking."

So how did you end up choosing Katie as director for Weak Layers?

Jared: "For Siig and I, and for Realization Films, we loved working together and the ski comedy genre is something we've just always loved. We kicked ideas around for years, playing a lot of bad golf, drinking a lot of dumb beer, trying to brainstorm what a movie ski comedy could be.

We saw Dream Job, Katie Burrell’s short, and reached out to her. We were soliciting other writers at the time and hearing pitches from bonafide screenwriters and other storytellers. But we reached out to Katie and we're like, “Hey, we wanna tell a film that speaks directly to mountain audiences and community, but it is a bonafide feature film that can cross over and reach wider audiences.”

We had a call with her right away and just immediately hit it off. Siig and I realized that we should not be the ones to tell this story. Our job, at this point, should be finding other voices that need to be heard and highlighted within mountain culture and give them that chance and that pedestal. When we met Katie, we just fell in love with her and we're like, Katie, you, you gotta make this movie.

Her vision and her voice was crystal clear, but in terms of how to develop a feature film, it was rough. But, that’s also what we loved about her. You can read a screenplay written by somebody who went to NYU or USC but it just smells like they've been sitting in a fufu coffee shop in LA writing a script ."

Katie, what was it like to direct alongside these two?

Katie: "Jared has been a mentor and a huge support throughout this entire process. He’s got a lot of experience and a lot of great ideas and he's extremely dialed, in terms of planning out some of our production days.

He was just so, so helpful. And Siig can make anything happen in Tahoe. He can pull the craziest strings in that place, and we got so lucky with some locations. Going into production, I definitely had some imposter syndrome and was doubting my directing and acting, because they are both really big jobs.

But I did so much prep work and I felt so strongly attached to the story in so many ways. I felt so connected to the character and having been part of the writing process, I felt like it was actually easier in some ways than I thought, but harder in other ways.

I'm forever grateful to the team because I feel like that was really what made it extra special and made it extra efficient. My DP, Ryan DeFranco, and my co-writer, Andrew Colleen, were super dialed in terms of like picking up on some of the D cam stuff, and the DVX footage, and all this stuff. The problem solving my editor Anna Rocky did in post… this has felt so collaborative, so I felt supported, it being my first feature."

What was your intended message in the film?

Katie: "The message has more to do with Cleo's personal growth journey than anything. Looking at the way she starts where we find her, she's very much in her victimhood pointing fingers at her ex-boyfriend or her friends or the industry at large. As the movie and story progresses, she really takes accountability for her life, and has that taking ownership moment.

The messaging is about stepping into your own unique voice as being the way to step into your power. And we've seen it, you know, time and time again in the last few years with the way that ski media is being put out from different groups.

It used to just be ski porn from the white males, but now there are so many different storytelling opportunities in ski media and in outdoor sports media at large. Cleo is kind of a metaphor for that larger conversation and the central messaging is around embracing the community that you have and the resources that are already at your fingertips to be able to understand how your unique voice is your most powerful one."

So, I have to ask. What was the craziest story from shooting this movie?

Katie: "Josh Gold brought a tattoo pen to the party because he wanted me to tattoo “Weak Layers” or something on him. The drinks are flowing, and Josh got his tattoo, and next thing I knew there was a lineup.

I'd never tattooed anyone before, and I'm not particularly artistic . The tattoo I was offering was a W and an L . Next thing I know, I think six, seven, eight people got “WL” tattoos, and we're drinking as we're going. They're getting increasingly haphazard and I felt so terrible. 

I still feel terrible, but Christie Ryan, who was one of our unbelievable PAs, and she acted in the movie in one scene...She did so much and she wanted one on her foot. I had just done the two or three boys' thighs. I was going off that size, and I gave her this massive tattoo on her foot, like massive tattoo on her adorable little foot.

And she was like, “that's bigger than I was thinking.” I was like, “oh my God, I botched you. I'm so sorry.” She's the cutest, most adorable person in the world and she has this three-inch “WL” on her foot from me.

I tattooed my stunt double for the sled scene, Jesse Flynn. I tattooed our PAs Chris and Christy. I tattooed Bo, our extra coordinator, and one of our actors, Pete. I tattooed Jen Bunn, our production coordinator."

What strings did you have to pull in order to get so many cameos in the film?

Jared: "Across the board from, you know, those that helped on the movie, those that were extras in the movie, and those that provided resources, people were fired up. We didn’t feel any pushback!

Plus, there were a few key people and you know, partners that supported us, like the PlumpJack. We had our base camp in their conference room the entire time. It’s a very difficult location to pull off. Your basecamp is critical.

They gave us the bar to shoot. They gave us the pool, they gave us one of their banquet rooms. They gave us a bunch of their rooms for hair and makeup and wardrobe. The River Ranch gave rooms to all of our cast and crew for free for the entire shoot. Like we never could have made this on our budget without them.

One of the craziest things about the movie, in my mind, is Scott Gaffney. He plays himself as our hero’s muse, but he also second unit directed all the scenes. He plays himself in the movie as a star ski filmmaker , while also executing for our movie, what he's known for within the movie, which is shooting all of our skiing."

Oh man, that’s meta. Were there any crazy times on set?

Jared: The greatest mishap was that we didn't know if we were going to have snow or not. During pre-production, we were planning how to shoot the movie in the event we didn't have snow. Katie and her DP were coming up with all these creative ways to shoot inside the van but not see out the windows.

We were fake frosting the windows, and putting curtains and kind of cheating it. We had a bunch of fake snow that we were bringing up from LA and a snow machine.

But literally like two days before we started shooting, our production designer was driving a truck up from LA with about $15,000 worth of fake snow. And he got stuck in one of those first big snow storms. We were basically just fed him back. We were like, I don't think we're gonna need it.

What do you want people to know about Weak Layers?

Steven: "It’s our love letter to our community! We would not have pulled it off without their support. And we are forever grateful."

Jared: "Our hope is that small towns everywhere will watch this and identify with it. Highlighting “the nobodies,” that makes up community. Those really are the heroes. It doesn't matter if you're a pro who's totally ripping, or you're washing dishes or doing whatever, you're all equally as important.

What we hope to see as the movie comes out and audiences everywhere can watch it, is feedback from small towns in Nebraska going, “I love this. It really spoke to me in my life and everything that I was about and I finally feel heard.” Anyone who plays a part in their community is gonna respond to this.

Katie: I just hope they love it, and have fun with it, and if they are a Dane Blake, that they find it in their heart to use this movie as an opportunity to look at how they can change . 

Weak Layers is available to stream on Apple TV and Amazon.

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