EP240: Stuntman on Fire with Chuck Borden
Join veteran stuntman Chuck Borden as he shares insights from over 400 productions. From Hollywood to Europe, learn how he turned risk into innovation and built a creative career through resilience and leadership.
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What a Stuntman Taught Me About Innovation, Leadership, and Resilience
Reflections on my conversation with Chuck Borden
Every once in a while, a conversation leaves a lasting impression. My recent interview with Chuck Borden was precisely that. Chuck is not your typical guest. He has been set on fire, dangled from helicopters, and survived hundreds of high-speed crashes, all to bring stories to life on screen.
But beyond the physical feats lies a much deeper story. A story about persistence, personal reinvention, leadership under pressure, and a commitment to mastering your craft. In this article, I want to reflect on a few of the most powerful lessons from our conversation on The Jens Heitland Show - Human Innovation. These insights apply far beyond Hollywood. They speak to anyone interested in innovation, entrepreneurship, and personal growth.
From Sports and Speed to the Movie Set
Chuck didn’t grow up with industry connections or formal film training. He was simply an athlete with a passion for speed, competition, and adventure. That passion eventually led him to the film world through a serendipitous meeting with a professional stuntman. One visit to a movie set, and Chuck was hooked.
What followed was not an overnight success. It took more than three years of relentless work. To stay close to the action, he did everything from working as an extra to hauling equipment. Eventually, the opportunity came, and Chuck was ready.
Lesson learned: Innovation starts when you act on your curiosity. Successful people are often willing to do the hard, unglamorous work that builds a foundation for bigger opportunities.
The Science of Controlled Danger
What struck me most about Chuck’s stunt career was the level of precision involved. This is not chaos. It is controlled danger. Every movement is planned, rehearsed, and designed to protect everyone involved. Whether Chuck is crashing a car, falling down a flight of stairs, or coordinating a helicopter sequence, his top priority is safety, not just for himself, but for everyone on the set.
Chuck shared stories of stunts gone wrong and the lessons he learned from them. He explained that trust is everything in the stunt community. You need to trust that the people around you know what they are doing because split-second decisions can mean the difference between success and serious injury.
Lesson learned: Trust and communication are not optional in any high-performance environment. They are foundational to innovation and risk-taking. Great teams are built on mutual respect and the ability to adapt quickly together.
Climbing the Ladder from Performer to Leader
Today, Chuck coordinates major stunt sequences and directs second unit teams for major film productions. He leads teams that design and execute some of the most complex and dangerous scenes on screen. As a leader, he now sees the importance of trust from a different perspective.
He told me that when he hires a stunt performer, it is not just about talent. It is about whom he can trust to keep himself and everyone else safe. As a coordinator, his reputation is on the line. If someone makes a mistake, it can jeopardize the entire production.
Lesson learned: Leadership is about taking responsibility, not just for results, but for people. In the context of innovation, it is not enough to have great ideas. You also need to create conditions where people can perform at their best.
Reinventing Yourself Again and Again
Chuck is not slowing down. After decades of performing and coordinating stunts, he is now moving into writing, directing, and producing. He pitched one of his scripts at the American Film Market in Las Vegas and is preparing for the European Film Market in Berlin. What I admired most was that despite his incredible experience, he still shows up with humility and a learner’s mindset.
He is building pitch decks, sending resumes, and following up with production companies. Even with hundreds of credits to his name, he approaches this next chapter as if just getting started.
Lesson learned: Reinvention is not about age or experience. It is about staying curious, open to learning, and willing to start fresh. Innovation lives in those who are never done growing.
The Invisible Power of Mentorship and Grit
Throughout our conversation, Chuck emphasized his desire to mentor and inspire others. People need role models who demonstrate work ethic, responsibility, and resilience. Chuck never set out to be famous. He simply committed to doing excellent work and helping others grow.
One of the most powerful things he said was that he built his entire career without special privileges. No shortcuts. Just effort, consistency, and belief in himself.
Lesson learned: Mentorship and grit are often undervalued, especially in our world of work-life balance. Everyone wants quick wins, but few want to do the foundational work. Chuck’s story proves that consistent effort over time still works.
Final Thoughts
Chuck Borden’s journey is not just about stunt work. It is about showing up daily with discipline, courage, and a deep commitment to personal growth.
Innovation does not always look like a tech startup or a business breakthrough. Sometimes, it seems like a man rolling down a staircase or jumping off a rooftop, trusting his team and his training to make it out safe. Chuck’s story reminded me that human innovation is not just about what we build but how we live, lead, and show up for others.
Highlights:
00:00 Weekend Fun and Stuntman Brotherhood
00:44 Journey to the Netherlands
02:45 Becoming a Stuntman
05:06 Learning the Art of Falling
08:15 Dangerous Stunts and Close Calls
12:52 Behind the Scenes of Famous Movies
18:15 From Stuntman to Coordinator
19:30 Behind the Scenes: Working with Cynthia Rothrock
20:37 Pitching at the American Film Market
22:13 European Film Market: New Opportunities
23:39 Diverse Scriptwriting and Directing Ambitions
26:17 The Instagram Challenge and Social Media Growth
28:17 Keynote Speaking and Business Lessons from Hollywood
31:18 The Importance of Hard Work and Persistence
36:58 Looking Ahead: Future Goals and Mentorship
Guest Links:
Chuck on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckborden/
Chuck on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0096119/
Chuck on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/borden_chuck/
Jens Heitland Links:
Website: https://www.jensheitland.com/
Business: https://www.heitlandmediagroup.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jensheitland/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JensHeitlandofficial/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jensheitland/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jensheitland
X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/jensheitland
Newsletter: https://www.jensheitland.com/newsletter
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jens-heitland
Subscribe and listen to The Jens Heitland Show Podcast here:
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Transcript:
Jens: Welcome, Chuck. Great to have you.
Chuck Borden: glad to be here.
Jens: Tell us a little bit about how you ended up in the Netherlands. Let's start with that and then we go deeper into that rabbit hole
Chuck Borden: Okay. Well, how I ended up in the [00:01:00] Netherlands. I was grew up in Los Angeles in Hollywood area. Decided I'd had enough of Los Angeles and this is around 2000, 2001, maybe, decided I needed to move to Las Vegas, just be close enough for work, but away from the craziness of Los Angeles. And then when I met to the Las Vegas, I met my now wife who spent almost her entire life traveling the world. We met up on the strip and dated and lived there together for about a year and went back to California for a short time and then decided to start a family and she wanted to come back to the Netherlands, which I was open to.
And when I got here, I was just like, wow, this place is amazing. And you know, I've never looked back. I moved here and still have my career in America, but you know, I live in the Netherlands now out in Rauta, out in the countryside.
Jens: Nice. Since when are you living in Europe?
Chuck Borden: I officially came here around, I want to say [00:02:00] 2011. But I started coming here. My daughters were born in 2005 and then we got married in 2006 here. But what I found out is because my wife had been traveling her whole life. Once I applied to stay here, they wouldn't grant that because the immigration laws said she couldn't support me because she traveled.
So she didn't have a set job. I literally came back back and forth from America here to see my kids and see my family and stuff like that for 5 years before I found a loophole. That would allow me to, to move here permanently. So now I'm a permanent resident. I have, the option to get my Dutch citizenship, but that was never really a huge concern of mine.
I just want to be able to be here and raise my family and, and, uh, live here.
Jens: Nice. So Professional career. You are a professional stuntman as one parts of what you do So I would love to dig further into that. How did you decide to be a stuntman? How did that [00:03:00] happen?
Chuck Borden: Well, it was kind of a strange story. I was an athlete growing up my whole life. I've been into sports. I just love to compete. I love athletics and I would literally jump from sport to sport. I was racing, dirt bikes, BMX. I was racing go karts. I was competing in baseball. I was actually an all star pitcher for baseball. And I got to high school and still didn't have a focus on what I wanted to do. At that point I was racing go karts and I was working at a go kart track, out there in Point Hill's mall area. And, the assistant manager was a very dear friend of mine. And, we would take the cars out after we'd close up on a Friday or Saturday night and just play around in the, in the parking lot and stuff. And he said, Oh, my God, my best friend, Mike Drell would love this. He's a stuntman. And like, I just clicked, like, he's a what? he's like, you got to meet him. It's like, I would love to. So it was on my bucket list. I had a list. I want to be an astronaut. I wanted to be a race car driver, of course, sports, anything sport and stuntman was on that list.
So now I meet him and I get to talking [00:04:00] to him and then said, I got to ask you, what's it take to be a stunt man? And he said, well, why don't you come to the movie set with me and see what it's like and see, get a feel for it yourself. And I went to the set with him. My first movie set was a movie called fast times.
Ridgemont high. It was a huge cult classic. And it was the football sequence that they did and I was there all night helping them pull pads around and being a guest on the set and it was hooked from day one. And so the end of the night, we get ready to go for some breakfast and stuff.
And Mike turns to me and says, well, what do you think? I'm like, this is what I do on weekends for fun and you're getting paid for it. Hell yes, is what I want to do. And I was from that point on. The seed was planted and I wanted to be a stuntman and he then he trained me for a very short time. And then he got divorced. He moved away. I lost track of him. But, like I said, the seed was planted and it was something I really wanted to do. So, I just pursued on my own. I was an extra. You know, production assistant, whatever it took to get on the movie set, I would do until I can get that opening to show that I could be a stuntman. And it took me [00:05:00] about three and a half years and I finally got an opportunity and, uh, and I've never looked back.
Jens: Fascinating. So there, there's, at least at that time, you didn't go to the Stantman University and did all the classes to get into, you just started doing it, if I understand you right.
Chuck Borden: Yeah, this is true. I did attend some stunt classes and stuff. There's really not a school to learn stunts. There's some people that will teach you here and there, but there's no like accredited school. You can't get a certificate, said I'm a stunt man. You got to know the right people. And that's really what it comes down to.
It's, it's all about networking. It's all about connections. And if you have the talent, great. If not, then see you later. But you know, they've got to trust you. And now that I'm a stunt coordinator, I'm a second year director more so. I understand that more now because safety on the movie set is my job as a stunt coordinator. So anybody I bring in to work for me, I need to trust not just for their safety, but for the crew safety and for everybody's safety. So it's really [00:06:00] hard to find that mix. You gotta be able to trust this person and he's going to make you look good because if he, if he does a bad job, I'm not going to get hired back again. it's really a big trusting. It's funny because we always say it's a family. It really is a family. All about, trusting each other and, and believing each other. So that's kind of where it comes down to.
Jens: Yeah. I was watching a couple of clips from you and, and as well, pieces of movies where I, I've seen what, what you have been doing. It's, it's crazy. Like, I have seen things for those that like, like the normal stuntman stuff, obviously, but it's like with helicopters, like burning cars, yourself burning, um, obviously falling from stairs and flights of stairs, even, um, like having, uh, like fights and it's like, how did you get into learning Not hurting yourself or did you hurt yourself quite a lot?
How is that working as a stuntman?
Chuck Borden: [00:07:00] you do kind of hurt yourself from time to time, but it's, it's funny because I always laugh at people. I tell people it's like, there's an art to falling down and, and people
Jens: Yeah,
Chuck Borden: that there's definitely an art to falling down where you can do it. I can do a really big fall and. It's going to hurt a little bit, but it's not going to hurt as much as somebody that doesn't know what they're doing is going to break their back or they're going to do something. So it's about training and it's about learning from other stuntmen, the higher ups. And that's what I do now is higher ups will teach you, okay, you got to fall down these stairs. This is what you got to keep your chin and you got to watch your head. So you don't smack on the stairs. You get to roll off this thing. Things come into play You know, it's just not normal and, you know, get hit by a car. It's you can't just do it because you got to know what you're doing and somebody will instruct you and somebody will walk you through it. And then once you've done it, it's like, okay, I can do this better.
I can do this differently. There's no real method to it. You just kind of go and sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes you think, Oh, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do something different, I'm going to jump over [00:08:00] this wall and stuff, and it just doesn't work and you know, you end up in the hospital or, you know, get hurt.
Sometimes it's just minor, but you know, it happens. That's the nature of the beast. That's why we do it and not an actor because there's a, there's skill and there's a chance you're going to get hurt.
Jens: so can you share any stories where one one part is like you made it through and and you didn't hurt Yourself too much, but the other side I guess happened as well where you hurt yourself properly and were injured afterwards
Chuck Borden: Yeah, I can give kind of two examples. The helicopter sequencers you were talking about. That was a movie called Dark Man and I came into, actually, the first day I came in was just to do some driving stuff because I'm more known for my driving and I just happened to be exact right size for Liam Neeson. And so they needed somebody to double his regular double got hurt. And they needed somebody to fill in and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and said, Hey, would you go up and do this one little shot quick shot with no big deal? And I did it. And the next day I get a phone call.
It's like, Hey, [00:09:00] can you get back on set? We need you. And it's like, okay, great. So we did this whole huge self helicopter sequence. Now, this is one of those things you say, how do you train for this? You don't, how do you train to hang from a helicopter? You don't, it's
Jens: exactly Yeah,
Chuck Borden: do it and hope for the best. it went great. And we did it for like four weekends in a row, going through the buildings in downtown LA and swinging all over the place. Now I'm locked in a harness. I can't get released accidentally, or I can't drop off of it. But if something goes wrong with a helicopter, I'm going down with it.
So there was a lot of that stuff that was really, you know, You had to watch for it. And of course, hanging from that helicopter, there's a big industrial hook on the bottom that I start with my foot and I'm supposed to be sliding down this thing. So eventually it's at my knees and as I'm swinging through the scene and we're doing about three and a half cheese, this cable is whacking me on the legs.
And at the end of the day, I would just have big slashes. Look, I got whipped by a, by a dungeon master, you know, on the legs and just went crazy and I had bloody bloody marks on my legs. That was just the thing. And that was, that's a [00:10:00] minor problem. And then I turned around and I did a car chase, where I'm playing a policeman and, I'm chasing Richard Rico on a motorcycle and I'm in a cop car and we're chasing them and we get to the point where I have to crash the car.
And it's going to be a car, big car flip that you see in like the A team and stuff like that. So we prepped this and I had done hundreds of these things by this time. And for whatever reason, it came down, it hit the ramp. It came down wrong. It came down the back and slapped it on the top, the roof, which is, I'm upside down at this point.
And for however it happened, it popped my shoulder out of the harness and my helmet on my head came forward and we had put a camera inside the car and built it into the roll cage. And it was in the crash housing. My helmet hit that thing and shattered my helmet. I don't remember any of the crash. I woke up. Four or five hours later in the hospital at USC Medical Center with, my head all bandaged up and stuff. And everybody's telling me the story of what happened. should have killed me. It [00:11:00] should have split my head wide open and I was really lucky that it didn't. But again, this is a stunt I had done many times and this one time it just something didn't click and yeah, it's, it's the risk.
Jens: That's a tough and dangerous job. And then as well, if you see it, like everyone knows the movies and we will go a little bit more into a couple of movies where you have been in is you're, nobody knows that it is you, at least for most of the things. So,
Chuck Borden: that
Jens: kind of like you hurt yourself.
Yeah, so you hurt yourself and then other people are getting the fame out of this because people think it's the actor doing it.
Chuck Borden: Exactly. And I've been in positions. We had to do a fight and it was one of my stuntman friends. We had to do a fight with an actress and this guy is supposed to be, it's a training session. So these people are morphing out of the wall and a sci fi movie. And this girl was a dancer. She kept [00:12:00] insisting.
She wanted to do this spin kick in this and that. And it's like, it really doesn't work for this. If you want to do it, that's fine. But she kept moving in. I said, you can't be that close. You're going to kick him in the face for real. And so. We finally got her to move back and I would always reposition her at the beginning of the shot and, one take is like she did, she stepped in, she does a kick and she slipped and she went to reset and stuff like that.
We didn't stop the camera and she's reset and she did it anyway. Now she's a step closer and she kicked him with these military boots right in the head and just split him open. And, of course we had to cut and it's like, oh God, I got to send him to the hospital for stitches. And it's like, well, we got to do this scene.
So it's like, George, get in here, put the, put the ski mask on, you're in now. And he's like, Oh, wait, what? He's just sent somebody to the hospital. And so here's this, we're on the second stunt, man. We don't get that recognition and stuff like that Here's a guy that had to go get stitches and he wasn't even in the shot now anymore
Jens: Yeah, that's crazy. So tell us a little bit more about the interesting movies you have been in. [00:13:00] Yeah,
Chuck Borden: i've been in uh, everything from star trek the tv series, uh, next generation beast based on a voyager I was one of the regulars on that show I was also accused on double on that show. I've been in hitman's bodyguard. I've been in uh, dr to sleep Um, eraser with Arnold Schwarzenegger, uh, the haunting Hill house I coordinated and of course fast and furious. So i've been in a lot of movies that everybody's seen I'm, not like one of the key people or i'm a bodyguard that gets beat up I come out and I get shot or something like that.
So i'm in it for a whole five seconds you know me, that's fine. I I didn't get in the industry to be famous You
Jens: yeah,
Chuck Borden: I like to let the actors do all that stuff. I think I've told you the story about I doubled Val Kilmer for many, many years and that we became friends and we were in New Mexico on a movie set and he needed to go into town for something while we're shooting.
He's like, and he didn't want to go by himself. And so he saw me and we're dressed alike. I was doubling him at the time and he says, Hey, Chuck, I [00:14:00] gotta get something from the store real quick. Could you go with me? I was like, yeah, sure. So I'm walking down the street. And of course, as soon as we get off the set, A bunch of kids, you know, mob us and they want autographs and pictures and stuff like that.
And they're going to vow. They're all over them and stuff like that. Now we're dressed exactly like we look exactly like this point. And Val's laughing and he tells the kids like you can't get a pitch with him He's more famous than I am because he's in a lot more movies than me and the kids looked at me They looked at Val and they just like went right back to him.
It's like yeah, see this is it you're famous I'm, not so much. I can go to the store. You can't
Jens: it's fascinating. I, to your point, I was just talking to my wife the other day, in the evening, and was talking about you. And I was saying, we need to watch all the movies and try to find him. Because, like you said, I'm pretty sure if I know you are in the movie, I will find you somewhere.
Chuck Borden: And sometimes it's so quick My wife doesn't even know sometimes sometimes I don't know because we shoot so many [00:15:00] different scenes And you don't know what they're going to use and what they're not going to use You
Jens: Yeah.
Chuck Borden: times we were just watching Fast and the Furious 9 on TV. What a month ago or something like that and all of a sudden it gets a car chase.
I tell my wife's like, oh, here's here's the spot we did in uh, into greasy George and all of a sudden as soon as I said that The, what do we call the armadillo, the big armored truck and her cop car slides into in front of us and it goes sliding in and it's chasing them and there's a guy hanging out the window shooting at him.
And it's like, that's me. And it was literally a split second. And by the time we realized it, it's like, wait, wait, wait. So we had to rewind it back. And sure enough, you go around and it's a second and a half shot. But from the back of my head, you can see it's me. And it's like, nobody else will know that.
You know, I knew it because I was there. Oh my God, I remember this. Oh,
Jens: So how is it, I mean, I, I've seen a couple of movie sets, but I've never seen this, the stunt part of it. How does it work when, if we talk about this car chasing, [00:16:00] especially in Fast and Furious, I, how, how do you shoot this sliding in? Like, how does that work? I guess it's still like you're moving, but how, how does that work for people that have never seen it?
Chuck Borden: No, it's it's it's real. We're really sliding the cars around. If you've ever seen a drift event, a drift car racing,
Jens: Yeah.
Chuck Borden: where they're sliding the cars, it's controlled. It's controlled sliding we're doing the same basic thing, and we did this 30, 40 years, maybe more ago, before drifting was popular
and for us, it was just coming around, sliding the corner, and you do a little fishtail, and you keep going It's just a trick that you learn. Because I was racing when I was so young, it was an easy, an easy transition for me
Jens: Yeah.
Chuck Borden: used to being behind the wheel and being slightly out of control. What looks like it's out of control, but really I'm, I know what's going on. That's just knowing it and practicing it and stuff like that. But it's, it's all planned out when we do a shot like that and stuff, we'll sit down before we ever start. And and laid all out with little matchbox cars and this is how how it goes and some people have seen behind the scenes and [00:17:00] you'll see us setting it all up and we'll put cars out and these are all the cars in the shot and this one's going to go here. He's going to slide this one that's going to slide there.
He's going to go between them, whatever it might be. So that way everybody's on cue. The stuntmen are usually already on cue because we know each other and we know what to do. And even if something changes, we know how to adjust. Just that, that's that brotherhood, uh, sisterhood, whatever you want to call it, um,
Jens: Yeah.
Chuck Borden: we work together and you adjust literally on a split second, uh, notice.
Sometimes, you know, something goes, uh, they, they go out as the guy spins out and then you got to scramble to go around him and you got hit man's body guard. When we did in Amsterdam, you know, we'd go around the corner. I'm in the car. So I'm, I'm easy because I've set the pace. I was a spin out, I've got four or five cars behind me that have to avoid me and avoid each
Jens: Yeah.
Chuck Borden: So it's, luckily we didn't have to do any of that stuff, but, you know, just knowing what to do really is, is part of the trick. And that's just comes with time and practice.
Jens: Yeah. Fascinating. And I guess like, it even helps [00:18:00] in normal traffic, maybe not in the Netherlands because it's very slow traffic, but compared to Germany, at least.
Chuck Borden: Yeah. True. True. And America, especially, oh my God, he has some crazy drivers in America.
Jens: Yeah. So from then from stuntman to being a stunt coordinator and producer, how did you do that shift over time? Yeah.
Chuck Borden: maybe it goes back to my sports background. I was always kind of a leader in that end of it. You know, when I played baseball and stuff, being the pitcher, I was kind of of the team at the moment, even though there wasn't a boss, but I would say, Hey, this is what we're going to do.
Or, or like a quarterback in, in football and stuff like that. He sets the plays up. That was natural for me. So when I started doing stunts, I really quickly learned, okay, I know how to do the stunts. And I can see how they're doing the stuff, but I think I can do it better. So I started on some smaller shows and I worked my way up.
I built a resume. And, uh, before you know it, I'm, I'm coordinating the [00:19:00] second year, directing some, some fairly large shows. And a knowledge and it's, it's paying attention, asking questions. You would do in just about any business, any, any atmosphere and stuff like that.
You gotta learn, you gotta put your time in And eventually somebody will give you a chance to move forward. And then once you move forward, you just keep stepping up. And now I've come to the Netherlands and decided, okay, I've been second year directing, I've got like 20, 20, films. I've been second year director on, and some of them pretty decent. And so it's like, why am I not directing first unit with the actors and stuff like that? I've done that. I've, I've worked with some of them and I've actually had some of them where I did a scene, we had to do pickups. On a fight movie and, I had to do some pickup shots and, I had the two actors and it was a scene had no stunts at all.
It was just, we need a scene of the dialogue around this tree and like, all right, cool. And so Cynthia Rothrock was one of the stars and I had known her for a while. And so we went through and I explained what they were doing. And we did this whole sequence. And at the end of it, she says, Oh my god, you gave me more information than the regular director [00:20:00] did the whole show well, isn't that what i'm supposed to do?
And she's like no, thank you as it helped me a lot because I understood what you guys wanted to see So that's just me. That's just a natural progression. It's like, okay, let's move up to producing. Let's move up to directing And in my case, I wrote these scripts because i've read so many scripts This isn't difficult and i'm creative anyway, so I wrote scripts and people read the scripts Dude, this is good.
Like, okay, let's make it. So now I'm getting interest on some of my scripts.
Jens: So tell us, tell us more. And that's, that's a bit how we got to, to know each other as well. So one of the things
Chuck Borden: Right.
Jens: maybe, maybe start with like, what was the thing that, where you pitched in the U S in the end of last year.
Chuck Borden: Yeah, it was, November in Las Vegas. One of the big, there's three big conventions for film markets, the American film market, which is the one I went to. And that is usually in Los Angeles and Santa Monica and this or last year, it was in Las Vegas for the first time. And I just actually [00:21:00] got an email.
It's going back to Los Angeles again. And I'm like, But that was the American film market, and I was selected, I got involved with a group called Largo AI, and it's a script analysis programming, platform, and so I got involved with them, and submitted some of my scripts, and the scripts, it analyzes likable it is, it guesstimates where it analyzes compares it to other films and how much they project it will make and they were all really positive.
These scripts are really positive. So. From that, they selected me to present, do a pitch on stage in front of 400, 500 investors slash producers, distributors. Now this is the first time I've been in front of a group that big schools and stuff like that, talking about movies or talking about some different things, but never anything official. AFM was the first one I really did. And it was quite exhilarating. It was perfectly comfortable because I've been in front of crowds and it'd be in front of the camera. It didn't scare me or anything like that, but getting the message across like, okay, this is something new to me that I've [00:22:00] never done.
And that's where kind of we came into the thing. It's like, as soon as I did that, like, I can do this. This is kind of cool.
Jens: So what, what happened? Do you have any outcome already from that pitch?
Chuck Borden: I've got some interest and, the follow up to that is now there's the European film market, which is next month in February, February 13th through the 18th or 19th, something like that. And so I got invited back to do
Jens: Nice.
Chuck Borden: So I've got another script that I'm pitching there. I've already gotten the, the first time I went, I didn't know anybody because this is a new realm I went knocking on doors at AFM for four days. I just went and meeting with people and just showing up. And it's like, do you have an appointment? It's like, no, I was just trying to see if I can maybe set something up or drop a business card off. And before, you know what they just asked me, if they look at my business card, of course, it was really flashy.
Cause it's got a burning car in it with a helicopter chasing it. And it's kind of cool. And they like, like, Oh, what stuntman right away. And so it opened that door to dialogues and out of that, [00:23:00] I've gotten probably six or eight that I didn't have. They're now going to the European market and they've emailed me and said, Hey, can we set up a meeting?
I'm like, great. So when I went to America, I had zero meetings set and now, and I've already got, I've got four right now and it's still three weeks away. So
Jens: Nice.
Chuck Borden: we'll, we'll see.
Jens: That's cool. Where is that in the, in, in Europe?
Chuck Borden: It's in Berlin. It's
Jens: Huh? Nice.
Chuck Borden: I'm hoping
Jens: I.
Chuck Borden: up with Frank while I'm there.
Jens: Yeah, well, I was about to say, yes, you mentioned that you're going to Berlin. That's cool. Now, yeah, wishing you definitely huge, huge of luck. So what are other projects that, that you're pursuing right now, which goes more into directing, do you have, like, are you still building more scripts and, and, and more potentials to, to build projects and, and kind of go directing?
Chuck Borden: Yeah, I've, I've actually written, I've got concepts for about [00:24:00] 20 different scripts. I've written about 8 of them. I believe I got 4 of them completed 100 percent completed that are ready to go that I've put pitch decks together to present them. I've got budgets for 3 of them. And I've got a different genres
I'm trying to mix it up because everybody looks at me obviously for the action. It's like, okay, action is going to be my specialty because that's my background and stuff. But I
Jens: Yeah.
Chuck Borden: that I can do sci fi. I want to show that I can do horror stuff. My horror background for as a stunt coordinator goes, it's deep.
I mean, I got so many horror films that I've done, especially lately between like, Haunted Hill House, Doctor Sleep. Hush. Big stuff. Gerald's game was a Stephen King, novel. I've been around that. So I want to be able to show that I have some diversity. I can do different things.
It's not just action. Of course, I can take an action film and I can make it spectacular because that's what I know. But I think because I'm creative that I can do other stuff, and that's what I'm trying to show. I've got some comedy stuff that would be phenomenal. I've gotten a [00:25:00] lot of love for the scripts.
Now it's just convincing somebody. It's like, I'm the guy that can put it together for you. Trust me. Partially that's where I came to you it's like, okay, how do I present this to people? How do I get this message out? You know, this is not normal for me.
Jens: Yeah, but I mean, I see it happening. It's just a matter of time now. It's definitely going to happen. Yeah. Because I mean, that's, that's what, what I admire about you since we, me met first time last year, like even with all the huge things and the credibility you have built, you're, you're, you're still a workhorse in a positive way.
Like someone who, who really gets things moving very, very quickly. And that's not normal in a lot of industries. And in the end, that's what I have seen. Yeah. Sorry.
Chuck Borden: No, it's good. As I was just saying, thank you. That's, that's a compliment coming from you because you've seen a lot of people and you've seen a lot of things. So, you know, I'm glad that comes across that [00:26:00] way.
Jens: No, a hundred percent because I mean, you directly put things into action. Like even just the small things like we have started this 30 day challenge in the, 30 days video challenge in the community. And you're, you were one of the first ones, like, of course I'm in let's do it. And then now you do tell us, tell us about the other challenge you do on Instagram.
It's maybe a fun one as well for, for people.
Chuck Borden: Before we started the third day challenge, I made, and this came from you, this came from some different concepts that you had is I decided it's like, all right, I'm going to do a post. I wanted to get a million views on Instagram in a year. And I'm probably not going to get that, but I'm, I'm actually doing better than I thought it would. And so I decided I'm going to do a post every single day of something and just put it out there follow my career, to follow my, my crazy world, whatever it might be. And so somewhere, and I think I'm, I'm 65 days into that now. And then you came up with a 30 day challenge. I'm like, this is right up my alley.
Let's go. [00:27:00]
Jens: The one million you will crack, 100%. I'm, I, I hugely believe.
Chuck Borden: haven't
Jens: Yeah,
Chuck Borden: I haven't looked lately, but I know, I think the first video that I did have like views or something like that. And then at 30 days was the last time I checked it. And at 30 days, I was getting five, 600 views. Just this only 30 days. I tripled what I was doing.
So I was like, this, this is good.
Jens: exactly. And it's, in the end, it's compounding and then it's accelerating with all of these things. I mean, imagine you would, you would do this videos on a movie set.
Chuck Borden: Yep.
Jens: like while you're coordinating a stunt and you just talk about, Hey, I'm just at this movie set and we're coordinating the next fight scene.
This directly has like 200 people more viewing it. And It's, it's, I really,
Chuck Borden: AFM, I [00:28:00] was in Las Vegas doing exactly that.
Jens: yeah. Nice. That's awesome. Yeah. That's, it's huge for everyone who is interested in Chuck. Check out obviously all his, his movies and as well, like his, his Instagram channel, but for everyone business wise. And that's, let's talk a little bit about keynote speaking because like, I see you on huge stages talking about, Like how, how, how business can benefit from what you have learned being in the movie world and specifically going through, let's say the hardship and understanding of, of stunts and action scenes.
Chuck Borden: Right. Right. I can see myself doing this and it's something that I've always thought about, never knew how to pursue it. But because the movie industry has such a huge following it's so prestigious and everybody especially loves to hear the stories behind the scenes this stuff can relate to anything in life. I can take a sequence and turn it [00:29:00] into pretty much any business, any factor and show that similarities on a scale that is exciting for people. And I think that that could be my ace in the hole, is using the background and using the credentials that I have over the past 37 years.
Show people, you know, what can be done. And in my case, I've already started playing a little bit, um, because I didn't come from anything special. I didn't start in the movie business. Nobody in my family is part of this world. I'm the only one still to date that is in this business. Um, I did it a hundred percent on my own. I had help from people that I met along the way, but family or no intimate friends it just happened. And. Because of that I can show it's like listen, I'm a normal guy. I'm not a poor poor guy I'm, not a rich guy.
I was middle class. I was straight across the line. I was just an athlete just getting by middle of the road grades, I was smart but not the smartest guy in the thing I wasn't the charismatic. I wasn't the most popular guy in high school i'm just a normal joe and I made it and i've been successful I've got [00:30:00] 400 film and television credits in 37 years few people can say that they've done that if I can do it, anybody can do it. I don't think I'm anything special. I've learned to master my craft and I think I can show people how to master their craft the same exact way. It's like, just believe in yourself and do this, do that. And you can do it. It doesn't matter if you're an accountant or you're, you're a skydiver. It doesn't matter.
Jens: Yeah. One of the stories that inspired me when, when I think it was one of the events where, where we've had this five minute keynote thing, was where you explained that you, that you just don't give up. Like you're keeping on knocking at doors or like early in your career, you was like, Hey, I'm just showing up.
And while you do this, and that's, that's, I think you still have that. And that's, that's for me, the, the thing, if we translate that to keynote speaking and business, that's what of missing in business where let's say people in large corporate, like I come [00:31:00] from that world. So I can say it. They're not hungry.
Like, you're still having this fire today. You're hungry and not hungry for, for the money, but hungry for success, hungry for, for showing that you can do and level up still. And I, that's fascinating to see.
Chuck Borden: absolutely. Yeah. Well, I use that as like, people think of this as like, okay, imagine you're going to find a job, say the corporate world and you finally get a job. You're going to be at the job for five years, maybe longer, you know, 10 years, whatever. Every movie I do, it could be one day, it could be one week, it'd be 10 weeks, as soon as it's done, I got to go look for another job. So there's times when every week I'm looking for a new job. I'll do something. I'll do two days and now I want to employ it again. And you gotta be hungry. You gotta go out there. You gotta be aggressive. You got to get your faith out there. You know, we have a saying that we talk about. It's like out of sight, out of mind. As soon as people don't see you, they forget about you and you don't get called for stuff. So you gotta be hungry. You gotta get out there and, [00:32:00] and promote yourself. I've been doing it long enough. I I've done an okay job.
And. Today, I, I sent out 12 resumes to production companies I've never worked for just to introduce myself, this is what I got to offer and see if it's a good fit. I've already gotten one reply back. So, yeah, you got to, and in my industry, it's more so than normal. And maybe that's what that shines out. But I think if everybody had that same, same feeling, that same hunger, sky's the limit.
Jens: Agreed, 100%. That's, that's, that's maybe getting us to the end. I think that's something missing right now in society where everyone is kind of not, not saying lazy, but it's, it's, it's kind of that the hardship is not, it's not the normal anymore. It's like. I just see it with the kids on the street or the youngsters right now, where not everyone is hungry and willing to put the work in.
Some people are already after five days of working, they're already, you know, [00:33:00] I need two weeks of holiday. And I think that's something we need to bring back, at least my personal opinion. It's like, hey, it requires work. Like, I have been working the last couple of years ridiculously different and way more than in big corporate.
Because I know what it takes to, to get to a level and now doing this for myself is, is, is as well. It takes time to get to a certain level, but if you don't work on it, if you don't push through, it's not going to happen.
Chuck Borden: No, that's absolutely true. And I see it that I see it more in America than I do here, but I see it here now as well. I'll go to the grocery store and there's kids that are still in school they're working and they'll be there a week and then just disappear. And there's a new set of kids and I feel the just generation. Feels that it's owed to them they're owed a job. They're owed a living it's like when, when I grew up, you weren't owed anything. You know, I had to go to work at 15 years old because my father moved [00:34:00] out and left the family and it was all on my mom's shoulder and she couldn't do it.
She was working two jobs. She was working at the bank during the day and then tending bar at night. And so at 15 years old, I went and worked at a bakery, cleaning off, cleaning up after the, the, the baker cleaned all the stuff up. And, uh, I don't mind hard work it's never bothered me, but man, I would come home at the end of the week and make maybe a hundred, 200 and I'd give my check to my mom
and she would like, how much do you need? I'm like, I don't know. Give me 20 bucks I'm going to school. I don't need anything. And so the rest of it would go to helping the family was just the way I grew up. I think that's missing people. People don't, they just expect stuff.
They don't want to work for it. They just expect it. And that's sad.
Jens: Yeah. That's one of the challenges I try to teach my, my daughter, though that's very hard, I have to say.
Chuck Borden: Yeah No, I I have the same thing. I got I got twin girls They're now 19 and they're
Jens: Oh, yeah.
Chuck Borden: as a whip and uh, Thankfully, they're not following my my lead and stuff like that And one of [00:35:00] them is honing in learning law, which know where she got those smarts.
It wasn't definitely wasn't from me It's gotta be from my wife. Um, and the other one's gonna do management and tourism So I got two smart kids that I don't see The drive that, that I had when I was that age, when I was at age, there was a different drive. And even though they're eager and they, they move forward and they do the best they can, they'll do what they need to do.
And then it's like, okay, I did that. it was all for me, it was always, I got to do that extra. I got to go that extra mile. I don't see that anymore. Not, not just in my kids. I mean, I pick on it because they're my kids and I can, but I see that overall all the kids
Jens: Yeah.
Chuck Borden: I go in and they just no drive.
There's no passion anymore.
Jens: Agree. So getting to the end, how can people reach out to you? Where can people find you?
Chuck Borden: I'm on, on Instagram, I'm on LinkedIn, under my [00:36:00] name Chuck Borden. I also am the founder of Faceplant Films, which is faceplant films.com. And I also have my own one that I'm working on now. It's, chuck borden.com. If you go into Faceplant films, it, my link is in there.
Chuck Borden: It's still there. If you go to face plant films and there's a link for Chuck Borden and it gives you a little brief thing. Um, if you want just to see what my credits are, there's a thing called IMDB international movie database that you can look up and, again, put my name in it and it's gonna show you everything I've done. Pretty much, not, not everything, but most stuff. They don't list commercials, they don't list music videos for the most part, things like that. But, any film, you know, anybody in the movie industry, you can look up what they've done.
Jens: yeah, the, the helicopter scene and so on is definitely there. I've seen it
Chuck Borden: Yep. That's a stunt reel from a handful of years ago, but it's Got it. It's pretty, pretty current. It's, it's, it's up to date. It's got all the fun stuff in it.
Jens: exactly. Yeah. So Chuck [00:37:00] 20, we're in 20, early 2025, where is your journey going? If we look like one or two years ahead.
Chuck Borden: Well, this year, my goal this year is to get one of my scripts made, not just finance, but made. I'm getting close to that. I've got interest, but I mean, some of these films are going to be, you know, three to 5 million and stuff like that. It's, it's hard to raise that kind of money when I don't have a track record as a producer, as a director, I have that.
I mean, I worked in fast and furious 350 million, but I wasn't in charge of 350 million. I was in charge of driving a car and crashing this stuff. So it's a, it's a different world. But I'm getting close and people are seeing that. It's like, I know what I'm talking about. I know what I'm doing. So it's just find that right person to to step up and say, I believe in you.
Let's do this. That's my that's my immediate goal is to do that. And then I got in touch with you and the rising stars program I have a that [00:38:00] I can share my story that maybe motivates other people. And that's what I want to do. I love being a mentor. I love being a role model because I think we're really lacking role models this day and age, for younger people that need a drive. think I can bring that to somebody and hopefully turn somebody's life around or get them on the right direction, whatever it might be. And that's why we got together is like. I think as a, as a speaker, I can go out there and share my message and maybe inspire somebody to, to do something on a, on a positive level.
Jens: Chuck, thank you very much for joining me live here today. And I'm really looking forward to being, being part of the journey and supporting you going forward. I think you, you definitely going to make it and it's going to be huge. And I'm, I'm looking forward to see you're succeeding. Thank you very much for joining.
Chuck Borden: Oh, you're, thank you for having me. And, I think we're going to do some big things together. I mean, we're going to meet here in another week or so, and, a couple of weeks [00:39:00] and, and we'll see, I look forward to being a part of this community as far as it'll take me.
