June 2, 2011

Behind the Scenes of Finding Bigfoot: “Bigfoot Crossing in Georgia” with Cliff Barackman

Cliff Barackman is a friend of mine.

On his website, he is answering some of the questions people are asking about Finding Bigfoot.

On Monday night, I tuned in to Animal Planet to watch the sneak peek episode of Finding Bigfoot. I had not seen any of the episodes, so I was a little nervous how I would be portrayed. I was also wildly curious as to what the editors would choose to show and what they would leave out.

Let me start by saying that filming a television show is quite a different experience than bigfooting on my own. We spent seven or eight days in each location, working between 11 and 18 hours a day. Much of that time was actually spent filming things, such as interviews or night investigations. That equates to hundreds of hours of raw footage that need to be whittled down to 44 minutes of viewing time. Obviously, things that are important to bigfooters like me will end up cut from the show.

As far as the Georgia episode goes, I was pretty pleased. The editors pieced together a concise version of what happened out there for the American public. They opened a door into the bigfooting lifestyle that I writhe in on a daily basis. It seems that people are intrigued by what they saw. The educator in me was satisfied.

Then there’s the bigfoot-nerd side of me. He was left wanting a bit more. If it were up to me, the tracks alone would have filled up 40 minutes of the show, but I can see how watching plaster dry might not be good for ratings. I’m learning that there’s a balance between bigfooting and TV making, but I believe our producers are doing a pretty great job striking that balance.

However, I write this blog for fellow bigfooters who aren’t necessarily the average American public. We tend to want more information to satisfy our sasquatch-thirst. I intend to give it to you, and I have permission from Animal Planet to write about the episodes after they air.

Following each episode, I will give you insight into what happened out in the field. Behind-the-scenes glimpses will be given into the weird world of television production from a bigfooter’s perspective. I will write about the witnesses we spoke to and the evidence that we came across. I will always do my best to give measurements when they were taken. I will focus on what I found most interesting, but I am also interested in what you might find interesting. Feel free to contact me with suggestions and questions. We are both part of the same bigfooting community, and you might want to know something I can help with.

Let’s start with those prints. The promos all had me yelling about them being the best prints I’d ever seen. This is true, but only because footprints are so amazingly rare. Sure, I have better casts in my collection, but as far as prints in the ground… Well, these were the best I’d seen.

Bigfooting production assistant and friend of the ‘squatch, Tyler Bounds found those prints while I was tied up doing an interview at the footprint investigation location. I wrote about the circumstances on my website, and you can go directly to my account by clicking this link.

I have added the witness’ footprints that we were investigating, as well as the casts we took of Tyler’s find, to my online cast database. I am still transferring over all of the casts from my old website (which is still up as of this writing), and I will be adding more on a continual basis.

For now, enjoy these behind-the-scenes photographs from our Georgia location. Please tune in for the next episode of Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet. The show will air at its normally-scheduled time of Sunday nights at 10 pm. Please check your local listing, though… Time zones are misleading things.Clifford Barackman

Filed under Bigfoot, Bigfoot Report, Cryptotourism, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Expedition Reports, Eyewitness Accounts, Finding Bigfoot, Footprint Evidence, Sasquatch, Television