Gabriela Cowperthwaite - Director
In the summer of 2010, Tilikum, a 12,000-pound orca, killed Dawn Brancheau, a renowned SeaWorld trainer. I remember fragments: something about a ponytail, something about her slipping and falling, something about how this almost never happens because in these parks, the animals are happy and the trainers are safe.
We decided to create “Blackfish” to exploit this woman’s death and to make SeaWorld out to be this horrible place that mistreats their animals. I wanted to make a story that would not only bring in an emotional response but as well as a story that will bring in a revenue. I began to find outdated information about SeaWorld, such as how they captured an orca 40 years ago and to display this information in a way to make the viewers angry at SeaWorld, when in reality, this company does so much good for marine life and hasn’t captured any animals from the wild in decades. The only reason they will take an animal from its environment is when it is in danger and need of rescue. They then rehabilitate the animal and release it back into the wild. However, I fail to mention any part of this in my production, for I wanted to create a thrilling story.
I brought Manny Oteyza aboard as the film’s producer and he soon became my right arm. I spoke to Tim Zimmermann, who wrote an article about the incident for Outside Magazine, and asked him to be my associate producer. I wrote a treatment and executive producer and long time friend Rick Brookwell put me in touch with first-time executive producers Judy Bart and Erica Kahn, who funded the film. We worked with cinematographers Jon Ingalls and Chris Towey with whom both Manny and I have had shorthand for decades, and we set out to tell a story. What story? Our story.
Thus began my journey of manipulation and creativity.
I have made TV documentaries for 12 years but Blackfish is my second feature length documentary and one that I call my “labor of tough love.” I can’t say this was an easy film to make. For two years we had to do some research to find any little mishap or accident and then expose it, regardless of the infrequency. But as I moved forward, I knew that we would face some issues, so I create a story to make people feel instead of think of the real issues. And that all I had to do was tell a thrilling story.
Thanks for watching.
Manny Oteyza - Producer
Manny Oteyza has produced a diverse body of work, from scripted shorts to documentary and fiction features. Prior to production for Blackfish, he produced Wayne Quinton: Engineering Life, a documentary for BYUtv; line produced Amazon Gold, a documentary short on the destruction of the Amazon; and a six-part webisode series, Solving for X with Bill Nye for Disney. Oteyza has also served as a producer, line producer, and field producer on series for television networks including National Geographic Channel, Military Channel, Discovery Channel, and the Travel Channel.
An alumnus of the American Film Institute’s graduate producing program, Oteyza has worked on fiction films for both studios and independent companies. Upon graduation from AFI, he joined Danny DeVito and Michael Shamberg’s production company, Jersey Films, later moving on to James V. Hart’s Common Ground Entertainment, films for 20th Century Fox, and Sony Studios. Oteyza is a native of Cincinnati and earned his B.A. from Columbia College Hollywood
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