Samuel L. Pierce Discusses the Making of ‘Off The Line’

Samuel L. Pierce is an American actor, writer, director, and producer. He had always been fascinated with filmmaking, but his passion for filmmaking began the summer after fourth grade while attending a summer camp hosted by the Middle School Media Instructor. He took Samuel on as a student and helped him nurture his ambitions by making some early reels and working on filming technique. By age 13, he had written several full-length feature film scripts and soon after turned page to screen on his debut sci-fi movie The Future of Us (2021) which he produced through his newly formed production company Electric Shock Productions and released on digital platforms in 2022.

As a quadruple threat, Samuel honed his acting skills during his high school years at the Stadium High School Theatre Department. He is a 2nd Degree Black Belt, proficient in various stunts including combat and fight sequences, and has appeared in multiple plays and films.

Samuel’s filmmaking credits include the comedy feature The Get Rich Quick Scheme, distributed through Random Media, where he plays the lead protagonist Micky, the upcoming sport drama film Off the Line playing professional speedskater Mark Stevenson, and the sci-fi action movie Jack Harrison: Rogue Protocol, currently in post-production where he leads the cast.

For the first time, Samuel L. Pierce gives us an in depth look at how ‘Off The Line’ came to life, and why it was a story that needed to be told.

The Back Story:

From the moment we decided to make ‘Off The Line’ I knew we had a responsibility to make the skating sequences as realistic as possible, to show the excitement of racing fast on inline speed skates.

These skaters spend at least 6 hours a week on the rink training and countless hours land training with running, cycling, and weightlifting with the only reward being a medal or if you are one of the lucky few winning barely enough to cover your travel expenses as you fly around the country to meets.

I first discovered the world of inline speed skating in July 2019 when my orthodontist hosted a skating party for her patients at Pattison’s West Skating Rink and a few employees had these skates I had never seen before, like rollerblades on steroids. There was a demonstration from a current World Silver medalist who worked at the rink and a few other team members, and I was hooked. By January 2020 I had been accepted onto Team Xtreme, at the time the most winningest speed skating team in the US coached by Mike and Darin Pattison, Hall of Fame coaches.

When the rink went up for sale during the pandemic, it was a roller coaster ride for everyone with deals being accepted to close the rink, and deals falling through. Finally, El Centro De La Raza made an offer and wanted to keep the rink and its legacy alive. The first version of the movie was a standard save the rink format, but after it was saved, I pivoted it to be what speed skating could look like if it had more exposure with televised meets and more sponsorship. 

We were able to film the non-skating part of the movie and the indoor skating pretty easily, El Centro was generous to let us film on the 1 day a week they were closed to the public and we filmed during the annual Battle of Seattle meet hosted at El Centro Skate Rink. The challenge came with outdoor skating. Locating a track that would allow us to skate without paying exorbitant insurance rates, basically enough insurance to host a NASCAR race, turned out to be impossible. We located a local city park that allowed us to film, and then we had to find the skaters who would be available on a weekend (I was a senior in high school) who were willing to drive 20 miles south of Tacoma, coordinate Justin and his van cam availability, as well as a clear day in Tacoma in March.

The Preparation:

I consider myself someone who continues to learn after each project and getting better at the organization to schedule locations, and reasonable shooting hours per week, but it became evident there were going to be a few very long days to capture all the scenes in some of these locations with locations only having a single day of availability at a time. This was our most ambitious movie yet, and had more extras, crew, and cast than ever. We did our best to have the extras there for the minimum amount of time, but there are always delays and time-consuming camera change set ups. I am so grateful for the cast and crew who powered through. This film would not have been made without them. It was grueling packing gear, costumes, props, snacks and beverages every morning and unpacking every night.

The Beginnings:

The opening scenes of ‘Off The Line’ feature actual race footage from across the US at different meets combined with the 2024 Battle of Seattle footage. This was the first US inline speed skating movie – so we wanted to really grab the attention with some exciting action, before we got into the back story.

The Production:

The 16-day shoot was filmed over 3 weeks so we could have breaks between most of the long days and we had to postpone our outdoor skating and indoor meet skating to 6 months later. The outdoor skating was filmed over 2 days in March 2024. 

Shooting began with a single day in week one filming Hana arriving in her apartment and reflecting on her past skating success. We filmed in a Peer Space apartment in downtown Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood to give her apartment and urban loft feel.

Week Two we filmed for four days starting at Organically Grown Muscle in Tacoma and the next day Dash Point Park to film some training sequences for the two main characters Jake Flyer and Mark Stevenson. We rented a green screen space at Victory Studios back in Seattle to film the broadcasters so we could CG the outdoor racetrack behind them in post-production. Making it look like they were broadcasting track side. Final day of filming week two was a private residence garage that was my grandfather’s car shop. This location served as the workshop for Doran Danielson’s coach character.

Week Three was our busiest week with filming at El Centro Rink and bringing in over 25 extras/ stunt skaters. The next day we moved to Emerald Downs, which is a horse racetrack which is where our grandstand and executive office scenes were shot – by far the longest day on set. The next day we were back in Seattle at the Surf Incubator which served as NSC headquarters as well as Tropan headquarters. Surf Incubator is another Peer Space that has several offices, conference rooms, and meeting spaces which can be rented by the hour. This was a challenge because we had so many scenes to film here and we needed to change locations within the workspace, so set-ups became very efficient to wrap for the day on time. Thursday, we filmed at a local Italian Restaurant in Federal Way, WA that allowed us to film before evening dinner hours. The challenge here was capturing our scenes in between the staff prepping for the evening, so there would be random sounds like an ice machine which would happen at the worst time causing another take. Lastly, we sent some stunt skaters to the Red Parking lot of the Puyallup Fair to film outdoor training. This is where local skaters train in the off season, as you may have guessed, except for when the Fair is operating in September.

Week Four we had two more days of principle filming, 1 which was exteriors for training montage on random streets in NE Tacoma which garnered some strange stares from drivers as they passed. The crew was torturing me by making me sprint up that hill 5 times as there was always a car or plane interfering with the audio. The end scenes of the movie with Hana and Mark were filmed at Point Ruston in Tacoma on the waterfront. An area that had been a smelter and had to get toxic waste clean-up and now has been developed with a year-round farmers market, retail businesses, and high-end condominiums. That same day we filmed at the Silver Cloud Hotel right on the waterfront for the scenes between Winston, Tom, and Tom’s father Alex.

The Crew:

Our crew all worked so hard to make this possible. Some were seasoned professionals, but most were recent high school graduates or kids entering their senior year for high school. 

James Starlin (Cinematographer) was my first call. James is a cinematographer who worked with me on my last movie and had such great ideas about camera angles I knew he would have ideas about how we could film the skating. We rented a dolly and James filmed while on a skateboard. He also gave us Justin’s information as Justin has a van rigged to hold a camera in front and back of the vehicle.

Justin Michael Ladd (Camera van driver and operator)

Justin works in the film business and has equipped his Sprinter van with rigging to hold a camera on a gimble that can be controlled remotely from within the van. He generously drove from Seattle to the South End on three occasions so we could film outdoor skating.

Ian McGrath (Cinematographer)

Ian and I went to high school together and have worked together on projects since 7^th grade. Ian worked on cameras and helped set lighting for scenes.

Stephen Filippov (Production Coordinator)

I met Stephen when we were on a Tae Kwon Do Demo Team several years ago and have kept in touch. Stephen has always been creative and is an incredibly talented musician who has contributed to the movies by acting as a Production Coordinator. Handling extras, keeping me on schedule, and helping organize filming.

Daniel Schomber (Sound Engineer)

Stephen introduced me to Daniel when I needed an actor for my first movie “The Future of Us,” and it turned out he ran sound for his High School Theater Productions and took over audio while not acting.

Chris Noordman (Associate Producer)

Chris collaborated with me on my second film, “The Get Rich Quick Scheme”, and he is also a filmmaker. He helped keep me on track and helped organize the day’s filming as well as recruited extras for the film.

Doran Danielson (Associate Producer, Casting)

Doran led the casting and located actors as well as being the point person for cast communication.

The Music:

During my earlier work I learned how important original music is to a film. This time I worked with Enzo De Rosa to compose the score. Enzo is an award winning composer who currently lives in Montreal. We also added songs written by various artists to eventually have a well-rounded soundtrack.

These more upbeat songs were used for the skating sequences and training montages to bring the energy up and elevate the excitement. The soundtrack is now available to hear on Spotify and other digital platforms.

The Cost:

As a writer, producer, director and actor ‘Off The Line’ almost cost me being able to graduate High School. School was challenging enough for me with my dyslexia, but managing schoolwork, scheduling action sequences to film, editing a feature length film, locating special effects artists, collaborating with composers, designing posters, and hosting a Premiere at the Grand Cinema for 208 people was just hard to do, but I loved every minute of it. Well, most of it.

To Conclude:

To wear so many hats was my choice. I have met some amazing people who I am now collaborating with for future projects and learning how to better communicate my vision so others can see it and implement it as well.

Our crew was small but mighty and really committed to making this the best movie possible. Everyone felt invested and teamed up to power through harsh weather, long hours. I cannot thank them enough or acknowledge enough it was their dedication that made this movie possible.

Since this was my third independent project, post production was easier but certainly not easy. I am lucky enough to have some ongoing working relationships that I can contact and are used to my work style and extremely supportive.

‘Off The Line’ has been overall well received by the skating community and has a real chance to get the exposure it needs to move to the next level and possibly become an Olympic sport.

You can watch ‘Off The Line’ on digital platforms and on Amazon Prime Here

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