Billy Luther - Blog

Blog Transcript: Billy Luther

Billy Luther: It takes about a year, I think, to collect these items. I think the film, we follow three families, about a year, a little less than a year. There's a lot of buying items, a lot of trips to Costco and Sam's Club and usually there's a room in the house that's just for these items. Also, family members, maybe your neighbors or people in the community, will come by and drop stuff off as well. It really becomes this community. I think the film shows that. I hope you see it, it's a community working together to make this happen. I remember we threw one year and it was really, really cool.

Jo Reed: Tell me about it.

Billy Luther: We went, I don't know how many trips to Costco and I remember just asking my grandfather, when he was still living at the time, you know, I was, like, "Wow, this is so fun." He was, like, "Well, when I was a young boy, it was much different. We grew our items. We made our items. The things that we threw -- it wasn't a trip to these stores. Everything was homemade, home grown, and people just don't do that anymore." I think the only item that is made is the bread that's usually tossed in the beginning and, as you see in the film, the pottery. I think that, when you prepare yourself to do this, it's a commitment. It's a lot of money but also a lot of work. We saw family members donating items and I think the Grab usually lasts almost 45 minutes because you have so many items in laundry baskets. And you're tired. You're out of breath after throwing it for 45 minutes.