"The River” - A Little Story about My Journey with The Film

The River

A Little Story about My Journey with The Film

By: Steve Taggart

August 26, 2026

(This has been edited for the mobile view. If you are on a desktop, it might not all line up perfectly. Apologies…I am new to this blog writing.)

WOW!! Here at last.

What a journey it has been.

This little write up, with some pictures I have taken along the way, is just my experience with the film. I’m sure each of the main characters (there are four - Dan Plummer, Sherri Resti Thomas, “Shell” Dufton, and Moi), the main film crew ( Andrew Ackerman and Jonathan Hiller), and everyone else involved, has their own story.

So...here’s my story.

Without further ado...

I’m Just filling space to get to the next paragraph.

Sorry, I started this at 3am, being silly.

It all started on Friday, April 27th, 2018, at FUDR’s One Bug banquet. In the parking lot of the Old Bat Factory.

It was a cold April day. I had clients and thought I would be late to the dinner. But, the river was high, and the fish hunkered down, so I made it to the festivities just in time to see Dan at work!

Walking up to the building, I saw Dan being followed by a man with a camera, Andrew. Dan was in character, wielding a knife as I approached. I didn’t know what was going on, so I added to the theater some inappropriate banter about Dan’s attire. Then he informed me he was making a film while Andrew laughed In amusement, or horror, at our interaction.

There was a lot going on at that year’s banquet, and I didn’t hear more of the film till that June’s kids camp.

That year’s camp was running light on kids.

I was fortunate that Dan reached out to me about the openings.

I enrolled my daughter, Aly, and my two nephews, Michael, and Ethan.

I helped teach at the camp that year, and every camp since. On Tuesday, entomology and casting day, Dan informed me he had some guys coming to film. I met Andrew once again and met Jonathan for the first time. I don’t have any photos of the guys filming, but they captured some cool footage of our late dog, Curly Shirley. It made the final cut.

Dan invited me over to his cabin on the river the next day to fish.

This after shot is all I have of the day. Jon on guitar.

When I got there, Dan was being interviewed on his porch facing the river.

When they finished, they asked if they could mic me up for the fishing session. This was a surprise to me. I had no clue. What came of that filming, is sure to make some people laugh at my expense.

After filming on the river by Dan’s, they asked me if they could come to our camp, Busy Beaver Lodge, to interview me.

If I remember correctly, they said they wanted to interview me because, they thought I was “interesting.”

They interviewed me on August 27th, 2018. It was about 90 minutes. As we were wrapping up, they asked me if I had anything to add, as this was, “The last time I might be on film.

Well, on October 10th, they were back at BBL for a second interview.

It was about another 60-90 minutes.

These interviews were like a therapy session. I talked about everything in my life from childhood, all the way up to that present moment. It was slightly intimidating to be on camera, but Andrew and Jon made me feel at ease. They are kind souls. Genuine.

The interviews really got me reflecting on my life. I started writing soon after.

I started on a memoir, which I hoped to have finished by now, not even close, and I have written 56 published stories for the Hancock Herald, and the Catskiller.

In February of ’19, my wife and I planned a date night at the lodge. The one and only time we tried to have a night at camp alone with no kids or guests. Michelle had it all set up for us to leave on Thursday the 21st, right after the Dylan’s bus left. Then the ice storm happened with a two hour delay.

There was also another wrench thrown in. Andrew flew back from Colorado for some winter shooting, and they requested my presence on that evening for a few hours.

Michelle had a nice dinner planned. Well...after filming at Dan’s cabin, I was very late. She ate dinner by herself and drank most of the wine. I was probably slightly overserved from Dan also.

The next morning we were all a little slow. I chipped one of the boats out of the ice for an impromptu float.

The float came about from the fireside chat we had. We floated from Stockport to Buckingham. I handed Dan a rod with a tiny woolly bugger. We didn’t even check knots. He lost two fish and landed one in the three hour float.

It was a cool scene in the film, but it did not make the final cut.

I think me and Dan air casting in his cabin did make it.

We had a greasy lunch at the Circle E Diner, and Michelle and I made it home just in time for the kids.

It was her dream-date-getaway.

Fox’s Bowling Center is now in two films. It was recently in the blockbuster Marty Supreme.

Andrew and John came back in July 2019, for a big week of shooting. They brought another crew member, I forgot her name. I should have kept a journal.

I never thought of keeping photos and notes together. I was just living moment to moment. Between my job at the fire department, guiding, the FUDR kids camp, family, and random shoots...it was a pretty intense period of time...but exciting.

I hoped that I could piece this whole thing together by going through my photos, but I didn’t always take pictures, and the Cloud, or my back-up practices let me down on some I did take. I lost a whole week from a wet phone that got fried. More on that in a bit.

So, if my memory serves me correctly, that week we shot the fireworks scene at Sherri’s house, fireworks at the East Branch Fire Department field, bowling at Fox’s, our group float, and about an hour of shooting at our house before the float.

Some cool scenes came from that week of filming. It was a nice bonding week for all involved.

Some photos from the group “characters”, and families float. 7-7-19

We floated from Long Eddy to Soaring Eagle Campground on the Main Stem of the Delaware River.

Curly was getting older and needed help getting back in the boat.
Dylan was having his snack before hamming it up for the camera. His big swimming scene.

The Viaduct above Basket Creek. One of our favorite stops on our family floats.

Andrew looks like a natural at the oars.

Aly looking happy with the film crew in the background

Aly took a nice picture of Michelle, with me on the oars, and the gang upriver.

At the start of that week in July, Jon asked me to think of a special place along the river where we could do another interview.

I knew Jon liked to hike, so I picked a place that has the most beautiful view of the river. A view of a place that is very special to me. I have floated through that pool, and walked through its waters, more than 500 times. Lots of memories.

We hiked up there on July 8th, 2019. We looked for rattlesnakes along the way, but no luck.

There were some camp counselors relaxing when we got up there. After we set up, they moved to the adjacent ledges.

I think we shot a powerful scene.

We hiked out with headlamps.

On March 7th, 2020, John and Andrew were back East from Colorado again for more filming.

We lost Curly the fall before and added Nova to the family. The boys had some fun with her.

I took her for a walk while they were setting up, and she was tired.

This was the third interview at BBL. It was about 90 minutes and covered a lot of my personal life from childhood onward.

As I stated earlier, these interviews were pretty reflective, almost therapy like.

This one way very much so. I spent a lot of time thinking on my training rides about what I wanted to say.

They asked great questions and were easy to talk too.

I do remember getting pretty deep in this one. A lot of emotion went into this film. From me, and all of the main characters.

All of this reflection got me started on a memoir.

Maybe I can finish it by 2028.

The day after this, I was at the firehouse still coming down from the interview, they were on their way to Washington D.C with Dan, Sherri, and FUDR staff as the country was shutting down due to COVID.

I believe Capitol Hill was nearly a ghost town when they were there

On June 25th, 2020, Andrew and I floated from Long Eddy to Callicoon.

Andrew filmed some wildlife along the way. We talked about the ’04 flood and my experience in Hankins in the aftermath. The loss of my boat, camper, and a lot of gear and belongings.

He wanted to stop and do a short interview there, but the light was still a bit harsh.

I told him that Pine Flats usually has nice evening light.

Some clouds rolled in and the gray light was beautiful.

I took a seat on a rock along the riverbank, and Andrew shot the toughest scene for me.

It wasn’t planned. It just turned out that way.

I love the grey muted light. I didn’t know what we were shooting. It was powerful…

Every time I float past there I think of that day. I can feel that moment in the air

One of my favorite shoots was a b-roll float on June 30th,2020. Dan had Andrew in his boat, I floated John. I took some cool shots of the men at work. Right before a thunderstorm, I asked John if he could film me casting, just for my use. He did, and the clip is back in the film after not making the first cut.

After the storm hit, I fried my phone and lost all of those cool photos as mentioned above.

You can see the storm coming in the background

Storm clouds in the background…it was closer than we realized!

After that float, Jon put a little clip of my casting scene to the music of A River Runs Through It for fun. It ended with a nice shot of the thunderstorm, with a lightning flash and thunderclap, that happened minutes after the casting. That whole scene took place just around the upriver bend that is visible in the picture above of John setting up the camera on the ledges. It’s a special place! The shots of me casting and the rain are stills cropped from the clip

Cool shot of the rain that did my phone in.

The last bit of filming that I have a picture of is from August 23rd, 2021.

John and I did some driving around while I talked about my job at the firehouse. I had drove up that morning after getting out of work to attend a meeting at FUDR’s office.

John looking happy as always…and he grew his hair out!

The very last time I think I filmed with the guys, was a scene with Dylan along the Beaverkill. I’m not sure, but it was most likely in August ’22.

In all, I probably spent 6 hours or so under the camera lenses of Andrew or John.

I am thankful that Dan invited me to fish that first day, which he said was part of the plan, it was a special journey. A journey that I didn’t expect. I can’t speak for the other main characters of the film, but I bet they didn’t expect it either.

A lot has also happened in my life since Dan started this project, and a lot has happened in his. In the last 8 years I’m sure a lot has taken place in all of our lives.

A year and half ago I suffered a TBI at the firehouse. It has changed my life quite a bit. I am doing well but still recovering. Looking back on this journey makes me smile.

Afternoon drinks after some nice morning exercise. A few hours before film premier.

This March 24th, Dan, Sherri, and I were in Durango Colorado to see the film on the big screen for the first time. It wasn’t a full size theater screen, but perfect for the venue we were in, The Durango Arts Center. Andrew and his wife live there and are involved with the Center. We had a great crowd of around 75 people.

It was a quick trip. We landed 4:30 the afternoon before, had a nice dinner and visited the hot springs. The next morning I rented a gravel bike and rode up into the San Juan Mountains. I met a lady on the trail, she came to the movie! The gang went for a nice walk along the Animus River while I rode

After the ride, we met up for great Mexican food and Margarites.