I was just up shooting climbing interviews at the Banff Mountain Film Festival with my brother, Jamie Clarke who was interviewing a number of rock climbers and Mountaineers.  Many of the interviewees confessed that they were just “dirt bag climbers” at heart.  For those of you that don’t know,  a “dirt bag climber” is,

“Piss-poor, unemployed rock climber who lives off scrounged food and sleeps, obviously, in the dirt. The pinnacle of climbing committment and idol of employed climbers. v: to ‘dirtbag it’: the act of living as a dirtbag” For more detail check out the urban dictionary

I think there are also dirt bag filmmakers.  Here is my own definition:

“Piss-poor filmmaker who makes super low budget, high ambition films.  The pinnacle of filmmaking committment and idol of  less productive filmmakers. Expects volunteer crews to work 16 hour days on their project.  Often will not feed their crew nor ensure crew has access to proper bathroom facilities.”

Dirt bag climbers only subject themselves to austere living conditions, the dirt bag filmmaker makes sure everyone on their shoot dirt bags it.  Is this fair?  Should you submit your volunteer skills to a dirtbag filmmaker?  As a filmmaking community can we all demand minimum standards from the dirtbags on their shoots?  And if so, what minimums can we demand?