March 2019 14 Mark Baugher has published seven novels in the C-Bar Ranch series. The first two made it to the big screen and won awards. Number three is now being scripted, cast and location scouting is underway. Let’s start from the beginning. Mark Baugher, who lives on a small ranch in central Arizona, says he woke up one morning and just started writing. He hasn't stopped yet. So far he has written a series of seven novels named C-Bar, for the C – ranch brand. The C-Bar Story is about an exceptional family that ran into a very, very bad situation, stepped up to the plate, and did what they had to do despite all the consequences. While Mark was busy writing the C-Bar series, Patrick Ball struck up a friendship with Aaron Newton, while both young men were attending Ball State College in Indiana. They were both studying film production and would earn degrees, Aaron with honors in video production. After graduation, Patrick and Aaron took that old advice, “go west young man" to heart. Upon arriving in Arizona and while looking for an old west story, Patrick came across the C-Bar series written by Mark Baugher. Patrick read the first novel and it had everything he liked in a story. It had action and it had violence but it also had a wholesome family feeling to it. The main character is Dockie Barnett, born into rough conditions but born a good guy forced to deal with the all difficulties that life bestowed upon him. It was the family structure that saw him through it all. By Bob Roloff, “The Arizona Duuude” You can follow Bob Roloff on Facebook. THE ARIZONA DUUUDE Patrick began to visualize the story on film. He had a feeling that Mark’s novels had real potential, so he contacted and had a meeting with Mark that eventually led to a partnership that included Mark, Aaron, and Patrick. The C-Bar stories take place around the 1880’s when things were still kind of lawless with a lot of danger around and that’s what makes the stories interesting. Arizona is full of wild places and great scenic spots. The hardest thing to find is good locations with correct buildings. Pioneer Village north of Phoenix is exceptional as they pride themselves in being a historic center. They have brought in buildings from all over Arizona. There is so much history in Pioneer Village, it’s just unbelievable, and without Pioneer Village it wouldn't have been much of a movie. Something that made this movie very easy for the crew to put together was the incredible number of western reenactors. Buck Montgomery has a western casting company and he brought people into the folds that have lived this life. When you're writing a novel, you're by yourself in front of a computer but when you are making a movie, you better surround yourself with the right people or you’ll end up wasting your time. Patrick says it’s a very relatable story and a “to the bone western” with period piece costumes, period piece guns, period piece homes, and locations that make the story come to life. He noted that “the cool thing about working with Mark is that he and I work great together. We always trust each other first and are always honest with each other. It’s a relationship that makes it so easy to get work done. We are consistently on the same page, and if we are not, we always get on the other person’s page and then agree with each other one hundred percent.” From the time of Patrick and Mark’s initial meet up it would be sixteen months with a lot of ten hour days and seven day work weeks until it was completed. A hundred people believed in Mark and Patrick enough to come forward and help with this project. They came from Florida, Texas, Phoenix, and Las Vegas and no one was paid. It was all at their own expense acting basically as volunteers. The film crew also came forward and worked pro bono. The Pioneer Living History Museum allowed them to film for twenty-one days, they didn't charge either. The premiere was at the historic Elks Theatre in Prescott, Arizona and the five hundred fifty seats sold out weeks ahead of time. There was a standing ovation at the end. The movie is now on Amazon Prime and it is being watched anywhere from five hundred to eighteen hundred times every day. There are twenty-six hundred western movies on Amazon Prime, and C-BAR is ranked third. That puts it ahead of a lot of big name people. C-BAR PRODUCTIONS CO. would like help getting a network contract. So if you can get C-BAR PRODUCTIONS a network contract, and a deal is made, you will own twenty-five percent of C-BAR PRODUCTION COMPANY. C-BAR has proven it can make a western movie that people like. Contact: markbaugher50@gmail.com Mark Baugher (right) says he just woke up one morning and started writing. Patrick Ball (far right), along with Aaron Newton, took that old advice, "go west young man" to heart. Their C-BAR movies are now ranked third on Amazon Prime and number three is currently underway. Cowboys Making Cowboy Movies