Bear Frazier – From Music Journalist To MMA Film Director

The Well Versed: Readers may not be quite familiar with who you are, give a little insight on who Bear Frazier is and why you are one of the more respected journalists in your field.

Bear “Fucking” Frazier: I am a 26-year-old journalist who has been published in a wide assortment of entertainment, music and mixed martial arts magazines including The Source, XXL, Outburn, Metal-Edge, GIANT and FIGHT! Magazine. I’ve been going hard with the ink since 2004, so that means I’ve been writing in your favorite rapper’s rap magazines since before it was even legal for me to buy Sam Adam’s Octoberfest at the gas station.

The reason why I’m probably one of the more respected journalists around is because everyone knows I have an impeccable work ethic – I sleep, work, drink Starbucks, work and repeat the process on a daily basis. Also, another reason is because I haven’t limited myself to one specific type of journalism. For example, I have reported extensively on hip-hop – being one of the main writers for The Source for a very long time – while simultaneously writing features and cover stories for hard rock publications like Metal-Edge and more alternative-oriented ‘zines like Outburn. So I think my diversity, passion and ecstatically positive attitude has earned me love within many circles.

TWV: How did you make the transition into MMA?

BFF: Well I was always a fan of the sport. I watched a few of the earlier UFCs, but back then, it wasn’t on much and I was a big WWE head. Anyways, in 2001-2002, I noticed it was on pay per view and I’d buy them when I could, and once The Ultimate Fighter premiered in 2005, I was excited because I could watch it weekly on free TV after WWE’s Monday Night Raw. Like I could always catch the UFC because now, Zuffa had something they never had before – a television deal and a weekly timeslot. It was destination programming and it allowed a lot of fans, myself included, to reconnect with the sport.

In any event, back in like October 2006, Urban Latino Magazine was doing a sports issue and then-Editor Zayda Rivera, who is a mega cool chick, looked to me for a few ideas. Immediately, I thought Diego Sanchez would be perfect for the issue because he had just won The Ultimate Fighter a year earlier. Plus, I wanted to introduce a fighter from the sport I was so impassioned by to an audience who wasn’t that all familiar with mixed martial arts. So after four weeks of chasing Sanchez around the world like Carmen San Diego, I was convinced this interview wasn’t gonna get done and I was pretty down about it because I really wanted to interview a UFC fighter, especially Sanchez because dude is a beast. No matter how many agents or publicists I hit up, I was always a day late in getting him on the phone. It’s like when Edward Norton chased Tyler Durden – he was always a day late.

The next day, out of the blue, I get a call from Mexico and it’s Diego Sanchez. He said the ATM machine ate his ATM card and that he had to buy an international calling card to do the interview.  And for the next thirty minutes, we’re talking about him wrestling in high school, meeting his trainer Greg Jackson and his endless love for the Ninja Turtles. The feature came out great and months later, I read about a new magazine on the rise – FIGHT! Magazine. I picked up the first issue with Matt Serra on the cover and was real stoked because here is one hella classy publication focusing on a sport I want to cover. So I checked the website, hit up the generic looking contact page and introduced myself. I expected to hear nothing back. I mean, who hears back from those places?

Turns out, the next day then-managing editor Matt Brown (who is now at Heavy.com) enthusiastically emailed me back and requested some clips. I received a follow-up email from Editor-In-Chief Donovan Craig. So I hard copy mailed the guys some writing samples, including the Diego Sanchez feature I previously wrote, and they loved them.

My first assignment: a “Where Are They Now” piece on Ricco Rodriguez. Guess where Ricco Rodriguez was at the time of my interview? Croatia. Yeah …  here we go again!

TWV: How does a music journalist become a screenplay writer? How different is the process as opposed to music journalism?

BFF: Well in the middle of 2008, I was pretty much burnt out on journalism. I was penning 12-18 semi-lengthy articles a week between eight publications and the pay wasn’t necessarily great. One magazine in particular would enter bankruptcy and never pay me the thousands I was owed. So I was real down in the dumps and … back in 2002, I bought a screenwriting book and thought it would be cool to try out. I remember passing by the New York Film Academy in Union Square every time I walked to my internship at The Source, which at that time was located on Park Avenue South. And so one day, I was re-calling all these memories of screenwriting and it made me happy. I saw what Kevin Smith had done, and I’m a huge Kevin Smith fan, and I thought, “Why can’t I do that?” So I thought about it for a week, talked to some friends who urged me to give it a try and applied to a workshop at the New York Film Academy. I was accepted the next day and that fall was the most fun I had in a very long time and made me realize that screenwriting is a path I want to pursue.

Screenwriting and music journalism are really two worlds apart. In music journalism, a “responsible” journalist needs to write or includes the facts in a creative matter, and also they have a certain interview subject or trend they need to report on. It’s like, “This is your story. This is the topic. This is the subject. Don’t stray from it.” At times, there is even very little creativity there – especially is you’re just reporting the news. That’s bare bone facts. With screenwriting, you’re writing a story from your mind. You’re tapping into your imagination and you entirely dictate the story. You’re in control and you don’t have an editor to answer to. It’s more for entertainment than it is purely knowledge or gossip.

TWV: Can you talk about “The Bam Theory” a little bit for those who have no clue what we’re talking about here?

BFF: Sure.

The Bam Theory is a Mixed Martial Arts Dramady that follows the life of 23-year-old Bam Thomas, a fictional fighter who has immense talent. The small town college dropout of a mixed martial artist is extremely hesitant to chase that dream because of the tragedy that has stricken him over the past two years of his life – be it his father’s suicide, his ex-girlfriend reminding him weekly that he is a failure or the dead-end job he works to help his mother – a warmhearted part-time maid – pay for an outrageous market in a economically depressed housing market. Really, Bam feels as if God has completely abandoned him and the dreams for the common folk aren’t achieved.

But with the support from his friend DeAndre (who aspires to launch a non-profit), his sexually-curious trainer Kiwi (who desires to brand his upstart gym) and his art nerd o a love interest Lily Ann (who wants to become the next Van Gogh), Bam finds the motivation to compete in regional mixed martial arts.

Truthfully speaking, it’s not just Bam who fights. It’s everyone around him. They are all fighting for the only thing each of them have left – hope. The hope for something better in life and on the real, that’s the only thing most of us are clinging onto nowadays.

TWV: It’s obvious that the current stream of films about mixed martial arts end up becoming pretty bad big screen bombs, why do you think that is?

BFF: At the end of the day, I’m led to believe it’s either one of two things:  either these mixed martial arts films aren’t a well-thought out story or because it’s constantly fighting, fighting, fighting. The script is important. It’s virtually the blueprint and needs to have storylines – great storylines – that interlink with one another. From what I’ve seen, the focus is solely on the main storyline, which in most cases is, “Johnny is a struggling fighter who owes a debt and competes in an underground tournament for money, respect and a really cool trophy.” Not to knock any of those films – they’re great as far as intensity and fighting – but a lot of them tend to mirror one another. There have been films for ages that depict some sort of illegal underground tournament with ties to organized crime. It’s been done quite a bit and I can’t help but to think to myself, “Why isn’t there one that presents mixed martial arts as an organized sport that doesn’t include some low level mafia?” So I think there is a lack of an innovative story and I don’t think people want to go to a movie theatre and just see an hour of choreographed fighting. If somebody wants to see a fight, they can go to Buffalo Wild Wings and watch the UFC pay per view.

Look at Rocky Balboa for example. The reason why that did so damn well is because it was original, modern and Rocky was faced with many problems – be it Adrian’s death, his deteriorating relationship with his son, Paulie being an emotional mess or Lil’ Marie from the old neighborhood working as a bartender to put food on the table for her son. Yeah, there was that element of, “Does Rocky still have it,” but it focused mostly on Rocky being comfortable with his own skin and trying to rekindle the love he has for various people in his own life who struggle with their own issues. It was original and offered something different, and it grabbed your soul. That’s what I’m looking to do with The Bam Theory and I think it will set the new standard once it’s wings can open and fly.

TWV: In the release, “The Bam Theory” is dubbed as “Rocky” for the new generation.  Can you elaborate on that a little bit?

BFF: Most definitely. Rocky was an incredible movie series that focused on a fictional boxer who deals with many interpersonal and intrapersonal problems as he was trying to live out his dream of being the heavyweight champion of the boxing world. It was a movie franchise that put out six chronological films and had the ability for growth.

I look to The Bam Theory as something similar. I’m taking this younger fighter who has so much talent, so many issues and such a lack of self-confidence. The dude hates his life and feels his dream of being in the UFC is merely a pipe line dream. So what I have done is build this from the ground up. I’m touching on all aspects of the culture and show the growth of the human spirit. There are so many elements in mixed martial arts that aren’t covered – be it getting sponsorship, clothing lines, the sacrifice it takes to transform into an elite athlete and all of that jazz. Not only do I want to entertain the masses, but also educate people on all facets of mixed martial arts and there is certainly no way it could be done in one hour and a half movie. Plus, this isn’t the 1970’s or the 1980’s. We’re in the  2010’s. We’re dealing with new issues and an entirely different sport. The culture has changed and it’s a different generation. The world needs a new version of Rocky, so The Bam Theory is the series that will get the job done and will probably help the sport grow.

TWV: You’ve launched a campaign to raise funds to shoot scenes from the film in hopes of partnering up with a studio to shoot the film. Speak on that a bit and who has shown up to support the making of this movie.

BFF: You mean other than TheWellVersed.com? A lot of support has gone from this movie. I’ve spoken to Jake Shields and Carlos Condit, two UFC Welterweight Contenders who are incredibly awesome fighters. I hit them up, told them what I’m looking to do and what The Bam Theory is all about. I also asked if they could donate some autographed memorabilia as reward incentives, and within hours, they hit me up saying, “Yes. Let me know what you need me to do” and that’s a big thing. If these guys didn’t like the idea, they could have immediately said, “This is terrible. I’m not sending you anything and don’t you even utter my name with your project, Bear Frazer.” But they didn’t. They seem to support it enough to hit me back and send me some cool stuff. Same with Five Finger Death Punch. Same with In This Moment. Since launching the project, I have been contacted by CEOs of clothing lines who want to get involved somehow and want to direct me towards some producers who could help make this dream come into a reality. A lot of journalists – some I never even met before – are reporting it, re-posting the press release and have even pledged towards it. FIGHT! Magazine is behind it, and while it’s easy to say they would have shown love no matter what due to my affiliation, that certainly isn’t the case. If they didn’t like it, they could have said, “We’re not gonna help you out.” But they didn’t. It’s been three weeks – three weeks – since we’ve launched this campaign and for three weeks, I’ve been building a lot of awareness and meeting people who believe in this and want to be apart of this movement. There are others too, but it’s all in the developing stages. I mean, if this is just the first three weeks, imagine how much support there could be in three more.

TWV: What has the response been so far?

BFF: The response has been overwhelmingly positive. In three weeks, we’ve raised nearly half the money to fund the three scenes/pitch film I’m putting together. I’ve had clothing lines reach out, fellow journalists who believe so much in this and not only fighters, but music artists who want to get involved. I mean, I’ve gotten autographed memorabilia from Five Finger Death Punch and In This Moment. My buddy from Suicide Silence is in love with the idea. I spoke to Jamey Jasta from Hatebreed who wants a cameo. FIGHT! Magazine and a lot of the MMA Media are trying their best to help this come to light, and we’ve landed features with online publications without even doing the casting call thus far. It’s truly a blessing and it says to me that, “Yeah, you’re doing something right BFF.”

TWV: Speaking realistically, do you think you’ll get this film made and why?

BFF: There’s always a chance it might not be made. I’ve heard Hollywood is a sketchy business, but I’m going with the mindset that this film will be shot in its entirety and be in theatres one day. I’m the most motivated and confident I’ve ever been in my life, and I feel The Bam Theory can relate to any gender, race and – to a degree – sexual preference. The elements and storylines in this movie is very universal, and as long as I continue to make smart decisions and form strategic partnerships with the right people and/or companies, there is no doubt in my mind The Bam Theory will be shown globally. I can’t think otherwise and I can’t slow down because if I did, not only would it be a disservice to myself and my art, but also a disservice to the people who invested five minutes into hearing what I have to say. There is no slowing down; just moving forward and I’m giving it my all.  I know it’s a long road, but it’s one I’m willing to walk. I know some sacrifices will have to be made along the way, but again, I’m ready to do what it takes to make this movie without fucking anybody over in the process.

TWV: Any last words?

BFF: Other than you’re wonderful Andreas Hale, no homo, then nope. We’re set and thanks for giving me the opportunity to banter.