Nearly two years ago I got the pleasure to meet Brad Phillips via online conversations. One thing I liked about Brad right from the start was his love of the sport. He is dedicated to the media and entertainment aspect of ATV racing. Since that time Brad has produced two films in the Carpe Diem series. Both have great riding footage and some slapstick parts.

Brad has a couple new movies currently. His third installment in the Carpe Diem series (Trailer for CD1 - Trailer for CD2 - Trailer for CD3 ). And a new video documentary about the lives of riders trying to make it on their own. His newest film is called 'Beating The Odds' and the trailer is amazing! Check it out! If you are interested in order a copy be sure and check out his order site. After reading this Q&A with Brad check out some photos ands at the bottom of the page and look for a couple vidoes in the article too!

So... Who is Brad Phillips?

Brad Phillips is a 24 year old male Virgo who likes long walks on the beach.  His daily life consists of working at Premis and just enjoying life, he lives by his motto, Carpe Diem, always trying to have fun and come up with new things.  He was born and raised in Iowa City, IA where he still resides.  He graduated from the University of Iowa May, 2006 with a degree in Business Management and Entrepreneurialism.  In 1996, at the age of 14, Brad began his racing career at the local level, by 17 he was following the GNC ATV national circuit racing both TT and MX (the series was still together).  At the height of his racing he was running in the top ten in the Open Pro-Am class.   By 2004 he became burnt out and tired of the politics involved with the GNC circuit.  He decided to form Premis to stay involved with the industry and help promote the sport while saving his body from further damage.

I was sitting at a local establishment, imbibing with a friend while we wrote possible business names on a napkin.  We had four napkins full of names when I saw a sign that said “no loitering on these premises” I kept saying premises over and over in my head, I wrote down “Premis” and the rest is history.  I even have a frame with the bar napkin and my company logo.  The actual logo came from my brother; we spent two months designing the full logo.

With ATVs since I was 10, I have been heavily involved in ATV racing for about 10 years.  I was never involved in video making until I formed Premis in November, 2003.

What set’s your Carpe Diem movies apart from the others on the market?

We feel there are several things that set our movies apart from the others.  For one we    are content driven, our cameras rarely turn off.  We don’t want to make a pretty collage set to music; we want to show what it is really like to hang out with the racers.  We try to show a true behind the scenes feeling.  We know our core market we are focusing on and we try to make an entire movie for them instead of a chapter for everyone just to maximize our profits.  Behind the scenes, the Carpe Diem movies support the sport, we not only promote many up-and-coming racers who need the promotion but we also support the pros in our movies financially, something no one else does.

My love for the sport and the people involved in it.  Simple as that.  Contrary to many peoples belief, this is not a money making venture yet, hopefully it will be.  What keeps me plugging away are the people who tell me how much they love our films and all of our racers who I know we are helping.  I have so many good friends in the industry and if I don’t keep Premis going I will probably rarely see them again.

I wouldn’t say I push the envelope by what we do, maybe by what I put in the films.  A lot of people do the same crazy stuff we do; I’m just not scared to show it.  Our films are meant to be an experience.  Not everyone can go hang out and travel with the pro racers, they don’t get backstage passes and invited on their houseboat vacations, that’s where we come in.  There is a lot of stuff we don’t show, trust me.  I have hours and hours of footage that can’t be shown (a majority of it comes from Skyler).  We never put anything in the movies that is illegal or would jeopardize any of our riders sponsorships or reputations.  Bottom line, a lot of these guys are still young and boys will be boys.  I still think we got an unfair beating with the helmet thing.  We had 3 shots totaling about 4 seconds where Bam jumped a small jump without a helmet.  Nearly every video is a lot worse (look at Charge, they have a guy riding a wheelie going the wrong way on the interstate without a helmet). Besides that, Bam is just plain crazy.  Our movies are meant for a wide audience, but it is still up for parents to decide what is appropriate for their children and teach their kids right from wrong. 

The helmet segment, that was brought to light by one of my silly rants. It was not meant to head in the direction it did but once again you caught the lump end of a bad deal. Did it at least make you more aware that people are actually watching your work and respecting it for being great instead of just mindless stunts?

There is no such thing as bad press.  I am honored that my work even gets reviewed by major media journalists, I am honored to be doing this interview, and I’m honored that I raised such a debate…in a way.  I do feel that I was unfairly singled out, but that will happen from time to time.  I don’t regret putting the scene in the film, and trust me, it was an issue we raised while we were editing it.  We felt the appearance of an “A” list celebrity outweighed the 4 seconds of helmet-less action.  And to be honest, some of our stuff is just mindless, random, and spontaneous.

There were a lot of people involved in that, A LOT! It started with someone asking us to light and throw a mortar up in the air, something we had done a hundred times before.  So we did it.  I’m not sure how the porta-potty was introduced, and I’m not saying it wasn’t our fault, I don’t even remember who was involved.  But, like I said before, there was close to 50 people sitting around and it was the 4th of July.  After the porta-potty a 50 gal barrel with 5 gal of race gas was introduced, Brock got the bad end of that deal.  We did not supply the fireworks but we were there rolling film (as always).  Because we used that shot in our film everyone assumed we were solely responsible.  No one got hurt and it was just good clean fun, well, clean until the porta-potty blew.

With some first hand knowledge I am aware that most of the antics were not your idea nor Brocks. It was a pretty huge group gathered 50 may be a reserved number. Do you think they just  needed a scape-goat to point the finger at?

I hadn’t heard of the stunt causing a problem until one of my riders said that Doug Morris claimed that was why I didn’t get to film the GNCs this year.  That was just an excuse for the ATVA and the rest of the GNC mafia, they used the fact that I was present at the scene as an excuse to cut a deal with another film company to give them exclusive rights to the series.  It was a blessing in disguise, like I was kicked off a sinking ship.  I went to the WPSA and couldn’t be happier!

Do you think there is a new generation of racers and racing families that desire a little more flash and show at the big events? I think that with the introduction of WPSA it will never be the same.  There is finally a future in this sport; that means competition.  Simple supply and demand, certain number of factory spots and thousands trying to get them.  I think it has brought a new generation of riders that entered the sport at the right time.

What do you think is the most controversial thing in our sport today? And why?

At the micro level, the GNC and their mafia like tactics and the ATVA support of it.  Anyone that knows about the series and has been around as long as I have knows this.  They have done everything they can to keep the best thing to happen to quad racing, the WPSA / ESPN series, from making it.  They have called and threatened tracks that were going to host WPSA events, claiming they would lose all their dirt bike qualifiers and GNC nationals if they had a WPSA event.  And they have forced major companies to pull sponsorships of racers and race teams that run the WPSA series.  The GNC series is a group of 5-6 people who are all “in bed” together and are out to maximize their profits and not the sports exposure.  I could write a thesis about this subject but there isn’t enough room.  Maybe I’ll write a book sometime.  At the macro level, it’s the constant fight between responsible ATV riders and environmental groups who are trying to ban ATVs for “safety reasons.”  It has been a constant battle and one that will probably never end.

It is something we have been talking about doing for a long time, Skyler and I threw around the idea in March 2005.  We planned on doing it during the 2006 indoors series, but then they got cancelled.  So we shot half of it in March with Cale Downen, Sage Baker, and Chad Wienen.  But then I was told that there was no room for me in the GNC bed and I was not allowed to film at the GNC races or use any footage I already had from the series.  When the WPSA series came it was a blessing, they were all for it, so we started to re-shoot the film using Chad, Sage, Cale, and Cody Grant.  We choose to do a film about this because it fits very well with our business plan, promote up-and-coming racers and the sport.  We wanted to show everyone what it’s like to be a privateer, I think a lot of people will be surprised at how difficult it is.  It’s something that has never been done before, and that’s what we are known for, re-inventing how things are done.

I know of one in my home area, Adam Jaspering, I took him to his first national at Red Bud last year and he placed 3rd in the 4-stroke A class.  He just doesn’t have the means to get to all the races.  I’m sure there are several of those out there, and I think the WPSA will bring them out.  There is finally light at the end of the tunnel.

They definitely have a passion for the sport, Vanilla Ice especially.  Bam happened in a round-about way.  We filmed with pro skateboarder Kerry Getz, he is a huge fan! He told us that skating is his job but riding quads is what he does.  He introduced us to Bam who rides a little but is too busy to do much.  He still knows about the sport and appreciates it.

A LOT! I will spend around 3-4 months on the road every year filming, we usually stay for longer periods of time so we can live the life of the racer with them.  To give a better idea, I put 61,000 miles on my truck in the last 16 months, and that is about 90% business travel.

It is difficult to get the exposure and publicity we need as a business, advertising is too expensive and doesn’t work well for us.  Also dealing with the politics is a pain.  It just seems like there is always a thousand things to do and half the time to do it in.  But I still enjoy it.  The travel also gets very hard, I have been trying to cut down due to concerns from my girlfriend.  I just don’t want to miss anything so I always want to go.

If it was only going to be one weekend, Skyler for sure.  But I couldn’t handle more than 3 days straight with him; I would need a party break.  Skyler is always going and will do anything, he is definitely a good time.  If I were to spend a week with a group I would make my own consisting of Cody Anderson, Chad Wienen, Sage Baker, and Cale Downen.  Throw in wrenches like Paul Turner and Allen White and you have a good week.  We could ride all day and still have fun at night.

They aren’t a new game, they are the game.  The WPSA is the best thing to happen to ATV racing. Period.  They will phase out the GNCs in a matter of 2 years.  Next year you will see the WPSA surpass the GNC in rider turnout and it will go from there.  Look at the numbers, at Muddy Creek, the first GNC after the first WPSA there was only 14 pros! Plus the telecast of the WPSA race was 2nd in its time slot (world cup soccer was number 1).  And it has 3 times the viewers as snocross.  WPSA is the future.