BUFFALO, N.Y. — Members of Bills Mafia in Buffalo, across the state and even the country understand there are a few things guaranteed with being in the club: a lot of excitement and a lot of compassion.
A local film production company has taken both of these things to another level.
"I'm a filmmaker and writer primarily, also a huge Bills fan. And I thought, you know, every city in it has its own mascot and its own flavor," said Pan-American Film Division's Travis Carlson. "And I thought it might be a pretty natural connection to put these things in a bit more of an exaggerated, imaginative space."
Carlson and Pan-American started with a very basic idea to show their Buffalo red, white and blue.
"So I yeah, as a writer, I thought, you know, the best thing I could offer is probably writing it and I created a blog every week," Carlson added. "Every game got its own little episode from the Kansas City Chiefs to the Steelers, and so forth."
First draft, a graphic novel set in the Wild West that the home team was loosely named after.
"The loose idea is a farm boy, Josh of Allen is recruited by General McDermott," he noted. "Sort of an 1800s, uh, you know, general of a Wild West show. And he meets the ragtag crew of other Buffalo Bills."
The call for local artists to contribute went out, one image per week, but the idea was growing too fast — from images to audio.
"Reading is one thing; I personally enjoy listening to podcasts and books. So we rerecorded it and did some audio takes of the story of the book," Carlson said. "That was great. And I actually really enjoyed doing all the sound design. It felt more like that was, to me, a stepping stone to another broader and more useful, more visual concept."
Eventually he landed on a physical manifestation: the ultimate coffee table book for one of the most diehard of local NFL fanbases.
"One of the biggest reasons we wanted to do this was so that we felt like our city had something of quality that like other markets weren't getting and it felt really good to keep pushing the envelope," Carlson said. "You know, with all of these evolutions we talked about, like how can we make something great that is worthy of our market and our people and, and shows us off?"
A blog, podcast and images have started to take full shape.
"You know, it's that the purpose isn't for it to just exist on your computer. So we, we had to find a way to make sure people knew that this awesome project existed."
That's where the over-the-top video comes in — no small feat.
"Sixty people on walkie-talkies, 17 different cues, all performing together and every mode of transportation, and that was really only possible because River Works is, first of all, an exciting campus," said Carlson. "But also the people here were amazing in collaborating with us."
In part, it's embodying what the fanbase is all about.
"It wouldn't be Bills Mafia if we didn't partner with a charity, so we reached out to a few different people to figure out, like, what really is the most Bills-featured, but also like it's going to do the most for our community," Carlson said.
That's where John Mika is at the teacher's desk.
"For Travis and the group, actually, Travis called me first hours. I was a little bit sketchy, to be honest. This film guy calls me and says they want to do a story. They were considering helping out the teacher's desk with it," Mika said. "But then we started talking about Pancho. I was absolutely at peace. I knew that it was something good."
Pan-American headed fill a bunch of Pancho Packs for kids in need of home and school supplies, a record 20,000+ this year. Some of the proceeds from fundraising for that coffee table book are also heading John's way for the kids.
"I don't know of any other city anywhere in the country that could do what this city does, not only for us, you know, crazy Bills fans, Bills Mafia, but in giving back to the community," added Mika. "Not only to the teacher's desk, but a thousand different ministries and groups out there that are in need."
Like the hype video, there's a lot, but Carlson and company want people to know one thing: "You can really do anything If you have a decent vision and you're willing to try and you get people on board, whether it's the project I did or what John's done with the teacher's desk, it's just incredible," said Carlson. "If you're doing the right thing in the right community, what you can accomplish."
The project has thus far raised $18,000 for development and production, and an additional $2,700 for the teacher's desk and almost 300 Pancho Packs.
For the latest on the project’s progress and to learn more about late Bills superfan Pancho Billa’s tie to the non-profit, head to panamericanfilms.com.