Scott York and I have been collaborating secretly on a new documentary about fitness competitor Adela Garcia. We had kept it under wraps for a while, but now things are starting to happen that I think might give some insight into the process for those of you interested in shooting documentary style. So we are going to “open it up”, work out our problems and have our conversations HERE on the forum rather than privately by email.

Adela Garcia

One of the interesting things about this project is that it is a long distance collaboration. Scott lives in Texas, I’m in Pennsylvania. We have never met face to face but have forged a partnership through email and phone conversations alone.

For the as yet unnamed “Adela Project” Scott will be the videographer and I am acting as the “director” of sorts, giving advice, suggesting interview questions and evaluating footage. I will also do the editing once shooting is complete.

Adela is a good subject because she is outspoken, feisty and has a lot of talent. She will go far and Scott and I want to be there to chronical the whole thing. A few facts about Adela (from Wikipedia):

“Adela was born on December 1st, 1971, in Cabrera, Dominican Republic and moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico at age eight. In school, she played softball, volleyball, and basketball. She started weight training at age 17.

Adela started competing in 1995, with the goal of becoming a fitness professional. She earned her pro card in 1999 by winning the NPC USA Fitness Championships. In 2000 she made her pro debut at the Ms. Fitness International, finishing eighth. Later that year, she qualified for the 2000 Ms. Fitness Olympia by placing second at the Jan Tana Classic. Adela has won several professional titles, most notably the 2004 and 2006 Fitness Olympia, and the 2004 and 2006 Fitness International.

For several years, she was married to Brian Friedmansky, and competed as Adela Garcia-Friedmansky. She was engaged to bodybuilder Lee Priest.[1] According to his column in Muscular Development Magazine, Adela and Lee Priest are no longer together and have parted on amicable terms. She is known to have the best pair of buns in the Fitness industry only rivaled by Abby Eyre a semi professional Figure Model.”

I expect to shoot for about a year, it takes that long to get enough material to make a good documentary, IMO. We’ve already shot some preliminary interviews about Adela’s past and some workout footage. We’re getting some good stuff but I always say that’s it’s not a documentary until someting BAD happens. There has to be a monster or an enemy or something to overcome. And now we have it.

Our “monster” is Adela’s own body. Her knee to be exact.

To be continued…