Delivery Men
From extreme sports to extreme filmmaking
Words by Hannah J Phillips Photos by Shelby Bella
Producer and director Joe Simon shares how he got into film and why he chose East Austin for his growing film company.
Soaring over the handles of a BMX bike as a teenager, Joe Simon never set out to pursue a career in film. However, when he started shooting his own promo material to attract international sponsors, they not only noticed Simon’s BMX tricks but also his talent behind the camera. Now, his East Austin-based production company, The Delivery Men, is taking over the world, and it all started with a used bike and a cheap camera.
Simon spent his early teen years in Los Angeles. In 1994, a friend invited him to check out a local racetrack, sparking Simon’s interest and spurring him to buy a $14 bike from a neighbor. His parents helped update his ride, and he raced competitively for a few years before venturing into the world of freestyle BMX.
By 1997, Simon had graduated high school and was already picking up international sponsors to ride professionally. The next year, while working part-time for Best Buy, Simon bought a camera that he got with his employee discount to create his own footage.
“It’s a little different now because everyone has a phone,” he says. “Back then, we had pagers, so if no one lived in your area, you had to shoot your own promo shots for the full-length DVDs that sponsors would sell around the world.”
Simon quickly went from collecting footage to actually making several full-length films. Meanwhile, BMX competitions sent him all over the world, traveling through countless countries, sleeping on couches and eating hot dogs in gas stations.
“It’s a lot like being in a band,” he laughs. “I started traveling in 1998, and I think I’ve been traveling ever since.”
His travels frequently brought him through Austin, already a BMX mecca in the late 90s. Simon says BMX professionals flock to the Texas capital for its milder winter weather and well-known skate parks like Duncan Park near 9th Street and Lamar. Eventually, Simon settled in Austin himself; he created his first production company back in 2000. Later, he relocated to East Austin and started The Delivery Men in 2012.
“As you start getting older, you realize it’s not financially or physically sustainable to ride professionally. You get tired of the injuries; I saw that not only could I make money with my films, but I also just loved telling the stories.”
Using a small crew is part of what allows The Delivery Men to produce high quality films for clients across the globe. “People see us as a travel company,” says Simon. “Wherever we are in the world, we always ask how we can captivate [viewers] with a client’s story—and at the same time, how can we work quickly, with an efficient crew size, and with a quality you’d expect to see on broadcast TV.”
Simon attributes that scrappy pragmatism to his early BMX days, learning to frame the perfect shot and piece a wow-factor film together by himself, with no formal training. He dedicates the same level of painstaking care to both his clients and his personal pursuits. Whether shooting wild landscapes and fly-fishing adventurers for a Toyota 4Runner commercial or bringing a poem to life in a passion project on 16mm film, his goal is to deliver beautiful stories.
But beauty manifests itself in different ways, eluding any one definition
or expression:
“A sunrise is beautiful,” but he says, “so is a gritty Egyptian alleyway. It’s all about the composition and light, mixing those visuals together with the story we’re telling.”
As both the company and its client base grows, Simon hopes to keep pushing that creativity to the next level, always looking to do more narrative work, short films and personal projects.
“The overall agenda is always ‘let’s make some cool shit,’” he laughs. “It’s a beautiful process to watch an idea grow through post-production and see that final story unfold… It’s been a fun ride so far.”
Did You Know?
Simon chose East Austin for its accessibility and creative community. He and his wife love riding their bikes to nearby restaurants or walking around the annual East Austin Studio Tour. He’s worked hard to make his own studio a creative hub—for himself and for the freelancers he contracts with on projects.
Contact:
(888) 575-7453
the-delivery-men.com
info@the-delivery-men.com
