Photo courtesy of Eric Shively Eric Shively and Jenna Boostrom sit in Milagros as part of the final chapter of his new documentary ‘Everyone but You,’ titled after one of his songs.

‘Everyone but You’ heads

to festival



By REBECCA VAN DYKE

ALAMOSA — Eric Shively had never used a video recorder until the day a digger broke ground on his land in Alamosa, marking the beginning of a new life and a new house in the San Luis Valley.

Four years later, his documentary has started to get some attention in the indy film circuit.

‘Everyone but You’ is Shively’s one and only attempt at film making. It began with him filming himself build his house. He planned on enriching the film with music from bands he enjoyed to help promote their musical efforts.

As building the house took longer and longer, a string of unintentional stories began to sneak into the film, leaving Shively with a film that outlines his life as he gives up a solid salary and home in Denver to build in the middle of nowhere and become a full-time artist. “You can never make money again, but everything else is really nice,” Shively said.

After receiving a degree in creative writing, Shively decided he wasn’t good enough to pursue writing. He became a software writer in Denver instead.

He was making a good salary, bought himself a home and a car, and was miserable. “I would ask myself, ‘Am I the only one who doesn’t want to do this’,” he said.

When he was in his early thirties, Shively picked up music and decided to start recording. “It’s dark western pop music,” he said. He set himself a goal to complete four albums, and then he would give up everything, sell his house, and immerse himself in his art.

After seeing a plot of land at the base of Mt. Blanca on EBay, Shively decided the San Luis Valley would be his new home.

He began the process of purchasing the land and planning the building, crunching the numbers over and over to make sure it all fit. “People kept saying ‘You don’t understand’,” he said. And after hearing it for so long, he began to think that maybe he didn’t get it.

But while sitting in his trailer on his new plot of land at 3 a.m. in 2005, waiting for the digger to be the first step to his new home, he had the urge to get a camcorder. “I got this cheap video camera; it’s like the coolest thing in the world. You’re totally set free,” he said. Shively began filming as the digger pulled the dirt up. “When it actually starts to happen, that’s when you believe it,” he said.

Shively tried to employ the volunteer efforts of friends from Denver experienced in film, and found quickly t his project would be done alone.

“The movie isn’t perfect. But for a first film - no, any film - it’s pretty darn close,” said a critic from CS Indy about the 2-hour documentary. Shively’s film will make an appearance at the prestigious Jackson Hole Film Festival June 5 through 9.

The festival will have a jury including some well-known and respected film industry gurus such as Greg Rhem of HBO, Bridget Moynahan, Bill Pullman, and Kattie Evans of National Geographic.

Shively was grateful the festival provided a hotel room for him. “Normally you’re sleeping on a volunteer’s floor,” Shively said.

Shively hopes his film brings people into the Valley to visit the places in his video and to show off other artists in the area. “I hope that people stop in to make up for the hours using Milagros’ wireless Internet for hours over a $2 cup of coffee.”