From Bakersfield to Hollywood

CSUB alumnus Ian Nelms turns love of movies into career as filmmaker

By California State University, Bakersfield

October 19^th, 2021

California State University, Bakersfield alumnus Ian Nelms and his brother, Eshom, watched a lot of movies together while growing up in the small community of Woodlake in Tulare County. As adults, they’re now getting to make their own films.

Ian has written, directed and produced several full-length, theatrically released films with his brother over the course of a nearly 20-year career, their latest films being 2017’s “Small Town Crime” and 2020’s “Fatman,” starring Mel Gibson as Santa Claus.

“We love movies. We love telling stories,” he said. “We’re having a blast and we’re working really hard.”

As kids, the Nelms brothers would rent out VHS movies from the video store in Woodlake, becoming enraptured by films such as “Indiana Jones,” “Predator” and Clint Eastwood westerns, among others.

“We watched everything you could imagine. We basically rented out this little video store in Woodlake,” Ian said. “We were so deep into their catalog that we started renting things out of the Spanish language section because we ran out of English movies to rent.”

While Nelms has harbored a love for film since he was a child, he didn’t seriously consider a career as a filmmaker until college.

Nelms came to CSUB in the late 1990s on a wrestling scholarship and was on the Division I wrestling team during his time on campus. He ended up graduating in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in theatre.

“It was a great time at CSUB. I really enjoyed it,” he said. “Bakersfield is a big wrestling town, so we felt a lot of support. It’s one hell of a program.”

Nelms had planned on becoming a teacher and being a wrestling coach. However, he said he watched two films during his senior year at CSUB that ultimately put him on a different path — 1987’s “Barfly” and 1997’s “The Real Blonde.”

“The thing that was different was the curtain was pulled back a little bit. You got a feel of how they were made by just watching them,” he said.

Nelms called his brother, who was enrolled at the Kansas City Art Institute at the time, to talk to him about the movies and learned that Eshom had also just watched them and was also inspired.

“We had the same paradigm shift and decided we would work on some scripts together, move to LA and really make a run of this,” Ian said.

An 'incredible' journey

Two years after moving to the Hollywood area, the brothers released their first film, 2004’s “Squirrel Trap,” about a group of college students on a weekend camping trip. The movie was filmed in the Sequoia National Forest on a $1,500 budget.

“We learned how to do everything on that movie — writing, directing, producing and cinematography,” Ian said.

After that film garnered some attention on the festival circuit, the brothers went on to make 2013’s “Lost on Purpose” and 2015’s “Waffle Street,” which both earned awards, including Best Film and Best Director.

When working on a film, the brothers largely tackle responsibilities together. However, the brothers said they each have areas they’re stronger in. Ian enjoys the writing process more, while storyboarding — a visual outline of a film made up of a series of images — is handled by Eshom, given his art background.

“We complement each other in a lot of ways. Where I’m deficient, he has strengths, and vice versa,” Eshom said. “After all this time, we’ve picked up on each other’s speech cadence. We finish each other’s sentences. It’s kind of scary at times. We’re not even twins!”

Ian said they will do their own writing and editing and then re-write and re-edit each other’s work before coming together to decide what works best.

“We’re very different people, but we’ve curated a very similar taste. We understand what the other one likes,” he said.

Eshom said his brother doesn’t hold back his feelings on whether something works or not.

“Ian is utterly and uncompromisingly candid with me,” he said. “We can really just say what we think and not worry about hurting each other’s feelings. He’s always there either lifting me up or giving me a kick in the fanny. There’s an accountability aspect there.”

As each project can take years to come to fruition, Ian said getting to see audiences respond to his films is very rewarding.

“The most fun part of making a movie is once you finish it and you get to show it to an audience, and they’re laughing at all the right moments, feeling at all the right moments,” he said. “Even if somebody watches something of ours and gets fired up, that’s also fun because you know you’ve affected them and they’re thinking about it even if they’re upset by it.”

Looking back on his career, Ian said he is proud of what he and his brother have been able to accomplish thus far and is excited about what the future will bring.

“It feels amazing. For us, it feels like we just took these gradual steps, but when you look back, you realize how far you’ve come,” he said. “When I sit here and look back at where we started and where we hoped to be, it’s incredible. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities we’ve had.”

The brothers are currently in various stages of progress on multiple projects, with hopes to also make a sequel to “Fatman” in the near future.

“I really like the ball-juggling — it leaves a lot of room for improvisation,” Ian said. “You don’t know what’s coming, and that’s a fun thing. The possibilities are endless.”