In April Wright‘s fascinating documentary Back To The Drive-In, we go behind the scenes to visit eleven unique family-owned drive-ins across the country to experience their passion and determination to keep their theaters alive. It’s a story of human resilience.
When the pandemic hit, drive-ins were suddenly the only safe venue in town, with press coverage about how drive-ins are “back,” and how they are thriving. But this documentary goes behind the headlines to learn the truth, spending a whole night with 11 very different drive-ins in 8 states all over the country, from preparations before the customers arrive, to selling tickets, opening the snack bar, and getting the movie on screen, we discover these family-owned businesses are actually struggling to survive.
This doc is about authentic drive-ins and the passionate people who run them, but more broadly it highlights questions about the future of the theatrical experience, and the challenges of many small businesses wondering whether they will survive and make it to the other side of the pandemic.
Check out our interview with April!
So first off, what inspired you to get into documentary filmmaking?
April: I loved movies and I had kind of a movie family, but I wasn’t really focused on documentaries. I had the idea– my very first documentary, not this one, this is my second one about drive-ins, but my very first documentary was about drive-ins, about the history of drive-ins. And I just really wanted to tell that story. And so, that’s what made me think it would make a good documentary. And I had seen a documentary, probably one of the first ones that made an impression on me was by Penelope Spheeris, who went on to direct Wayne’s World and a bunch of other movies, but she made a documentary called The Decline of Western civilization Part II: The Metal Years and she had made another one about punk, but I didn’t see the punk one first. I saw that one first and I saw it in a theater. And it just made me realize documentaries don’t have to be about boring subjects, you know, they don’t have to be heavy. And so that, I think, is one of the things that made an impression on me, that there’s different ways to make documentaries. And so basically, I was like, let me try it with this film and now I’ve made four documentaries.
That’s awesome. You mentioned that this is your second documentary about drive-ins. What initially sparked your interest in drive-ins enough to make two documentaries?
April: I went to them growing up. I grew up north of Chicago. And there were three drive-ins in the area that I went to really often with my parents when I was a kid, and even later in high school. There was the Kenosha Drive-In, the Grayslake Outdoor and the Keno Drive-In, which was across the border in Wisconsin. And as I got older, I realized a lot of drive-ins were shutting down and going away. The Kenosha closed and got demolished and so did the Grayslake. And when I lived in Chicago in the city, there were a couple drive-ins just kind of standing abandoned that I would go visit and look at and even when I first moved to Los Angeles there were drive-ins still standing here that we’re not using anymore and I could not figure out why these are not still open? Why, who let them get in such terrible condition, what happened? Because we still love cars and still love movies. So I just couldn’t understand why they weren’t still open. I wanted to go to them. And so that’s what started me on my research. And it was even before I started making films, I looked into it and there were about 1000 drive-ins left at that time, and that was probably like, the end of the 90s or early 2000s. And then when I seriously was like, maybe I’ll make a film on this topic, I looked into it and there were under 500 left, and I was like ‘whoa, they’re going kind of fast.’ And so that’s when I first got on the road in like 2005, 2006, 2007 is when I shot my first one, because I was like, ‘I better go get these before they’re all gone.’ And then it took me a while to do post production and then that movie finally came out 10 years ago in 2013. But it just was something that I couldn’t understand. I really wanted to do the research and cover the topic thoroughly to show what really happened to them.
I’ve never been to a drive-in. What am I missing out on?
April: Where are you at in the country?
I’m in Ohio.
April: Well, Ohio has a lot of drive-ins. You can probably find some near you. The states that have always had the most drive-ins and still do are Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, which you wouldn’t think because of the winter and the cold climates for part of the year, but they actually have the most. What are you missing– so when you go to a drive-in, as opposed to watching a movie at home, or even a regular indoor theater, I think it’s just more of an experience. It’s not just about the movie, it’s about the whole environment of the drive-in– you’re outside, the stars are above your head, if you’re watching a horror movie or something, there might be trees rustling, right? You know, to the side of you like who’s gonna jump out of there. It’s just, it’s a more visceral experience, but it’s also that you’re spending time with your family and friends and you’re isolated in your own group. So, it does have that social distancing piece, and you can talk to the people you’re with, you’re not going to disturb anybody. So, it’s just more of an experience, it’s more social and it’s just a good time. Everybody I talked to that’s been to drive-ins, they remember what they saw and what drive-in they went to. So it really implants a memory in a different way than just seeing a movie.
That’s awesome. Yeah, one of the ones that you featured in this documentary is in Columbus, Ohio, which isn’t too far from me. So I’ll have to check it out.
April: Yeah, you definitely should.
Now COVID plays a big role in your documentary. Was this the original plan for this documentary?
April: No, it wasn’t. I actually, because they’ve made the first documentary about the history, I wanted to make a follow up to show more of the people behind the scenes because pretty much all the drive-ins that are left are family businesses. And so each drive-in kind of takes on the personality of its owners a little bit. And so I wanted to pick like three drive-ins and just really go into depth: what they do you know, how they have second jobs, all the things they do to keep their drive-in going. And I literally was at the Driv-In Owner’s Conference in February of 2020, like a month before COVID, telling them I wanted to make this follow up movie and asked who might want to be in it. Then COVID hit and so I didn’t get on the road to shoot it because everything was kind of uncertain at first about what might be open or what’s going to happen. But then, you know, obviously COVID happened and then drive-ins kind of got in the spotlight. There was a lot of attention and press about them, so it added a layer to the story. And that’s when I realized I kind of need to expand it because I want to show more of a variety of drive-ins and points of view to really examine what the effect of COVID has been. And so that’s how it moved up to being 11 drive-ins in eight states. I wanted to show a really old drive-in, a brand new drive-in, you know, single screen, seven screens, in a city, very rural, like all these different factors. And so it expanded. And then I got on the road, summer of 2021, drove across the country and back to shoot it and yeah, so it’s kind of like a little bit of the aftermath of COVID is really what the film shows. That even if they got a little bump, it’s not like they were printing money, there were still all these challenges going on that they’re trying to navigate, but they’re very, very determined to keep their places going. And I just wanted to show how much hard work goes into it and the resilience of the families that own it.
Yeah, one thing that I really liked about your documentary was that even though these people were talking about the challenges and the hardships, there was just an overwhelming sense of optimism.
April: Yeah, I think that comes across too, like you just really want to root for them. You really want them to be successful. They have so much passion and they are dealing with a whole bunch of different things coming at them from all sides, whether it’s the weather or, you know, not being able to get nacho cheese or whatever it was, they’re just determined to get through it. And I like messages and stories like that where there’s an underdog, but you want them to win.
What was something that surprised you the most while working on this documentary?
April: I think the main thing was what I was just telling you, how I tried to pick all these different types of drive-ins and I thought they would tell me different things and then I would be able to patch work together the story, you know, like, ‘oh, big drive-ins have this challenge in a city,’ I thought it would be all different. But as soon as I got to three or four of them, I realized they’re all telling me exactly the same thing. They’re all having exactly the same challenges, you know, maybe slightly different but the themes are all the same, the problems are all the same and so I didn’t expect that. I thought the effect of COVID would be different by state or by region or by whatever and it turned out that they were more alike than different. I also really liked that message, once it became really clear that that was what was coming through. It didn’t matter who they were, where they were, how big, how small, how old, how new, they were all struggling through the same thing together. They’re all in it together.
How did you settle on Back to the Drive-In as the title?
April: That was very easy, because I had made a documentary about drive-ins already. So, for me, I was going back to the drive-in to revisit it but also because of COVID, a lot of people went back to the drive-in. It became a thing to do again, a lot of people that hadn’t been maybe for decades went back. Everybody went back to the drive-in and it was the only thing you could do. So, it just seemed like the right title.
Yeah, that makes sense. So, in your opinion, is the drive-in platform here to stay?
April: It’s a great question. I think that the movie exhibition, a theatrical experience overall, is in a time of change. With all the streaming stuff and you know how easy you can watch things at home, and especially during COVID, we definitely got into that pattern of just watching things at home, not leaving the house. And also the studios had a chance to try that model out. You know, ‘what if we only send our films to our streaming platform,’ and I think because they had a chance to try that experiment, they’ve realized that movies do a lot better when they play at theaters first. So, I think this year we’re going to see a lot more movies going into theaters. There have not been that many the last couple of years, not like there used to be, but it’ll be interesting. I mean, I think it’ll take a little while for things to shake out, but I am optimistic about drive-ins. A lot of drive-ins are changing hands, some have closed but others have found new owners who are younger owners or just bringing some new things. And there’s also a fair amount that have been rebuilt and are reopening, so there’s definitely some fresh blood coming into the industry. And I think it will be interesting to see if that brings about any new ideas or approaches, but it’s gonna be a tough couple of years kind of coming out of COVID, for the theatrical business in general. But because drive-ins are more of a destination and an event and an experience, it has a few advantages to just seeing a movie because it’s about more than the movie.
Do you think that you’ll continue to work with drive-ins in the future for documentaries?
April: Yeah, I might actually. Last month I went to that same drive-in owner convention, and they actually made me an honorary member of their organization. This is the United Drive-In Theater Owners Association. So that was a really big deal and was so nice about to just recognize that I’ve kind of become part of their family even though I don’t own a drive-in I’ve spent so much time at them. So I really appreciated that. And I probably will do more films or maybe, you know, if I could, even a TV series if I have that opportunity because I do feel like the story is still evolving. And if we check back, you know, in a year or two there’ll probably be some different things going on. Or there’s other drive-ins that I didn’t cover in this film since I only picked 11. And they’re all pretty interesting, all the people that own them. You know, it takes a certain type of person to run a drive-in, so they’re all kind of eccentric, in a way, and interesting people, so I probably will.
That’s awesome. If people want to stay up to date with you and your work, where can we find you?
April: I do have a website, goingattractions.com. It’s actually not totally updated at the moment, with this movie, but I’m getting the changes out there really soon, because it’s coming out on VOD March 14, and more people will be able to see the movie when it releases. And I have Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and all that people can usually find me if they look.
