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Carey and Sterling Fiock, the married producers of new docuseries On Location, weren't originally interested in reality TV. Since assuming control of Road's End Films, a production company formerly owned by Carey's parents, the two have shifted their focus from commercials and industrial shorts to scripted content—they even own a soundstage in Wilsonville.
A few years ago, though, the pair began considering the appeal of an outdoor adventure program set in their relatively unexplored home terrain that would star Sterling and his Scottish terrier Dogmatix. "Oregon's terra incognita for the networks," Carey explains. As the Discovery Channel's Destination America begins broadcasting On Location to nearly 60 million households each Saturday, WW asked the couple about the unexpected delights and peculiar dangers they've encountered while filming escapades in every corner of the state.
WW: How did On Location get started?
Carey Fiock: A couple of years ago, we developed the idea of a docuseries hosted by a very identifiable everyman's man with interesting people doing interesting things. We're not into creating drama for drama. Plenty of reality TV already does that. We're looking for the authentic—very much like a Mike Rowe or an Anthony Bourdain type of show—where you can live vicariously through somebody that a lot of people will identify with. Sterling gets along with a lot of people, and he's done enough different things throughout his life to have a sort of Renaissance Man vibe.
What was filming like and where do you take viewers?
Sterling: The show really focuses on action-adventure alternatives to your couch. If you can walk and talk and want to do things, we're going to show you some options right outside your door and give you some background on how they happen. That could mean driving rally cars, or hiking five miles down the Pacific Crest Trail. We went rock crawling on four-by-fours. We flew kites at a Newport festival and kiteboarded on Floras Lake. We fished for bass on the Umpqua, stepped it up to salmon fishing on the Rogue River and then went halibut fishing commercially. Throughout the episode, adventures escalate along the same path to where we're doing related things, but they're harder—further away from most people's comfort zones. So, by the end, I might be doing something a little risky, a little dangerous.
Were you ever concerned about safety?
Sterling: Not for anything that we went and did. I bounced off plenty of things, but I didn't really get hurt much. I started with a bunch of stitches already. It's just who I am. I've broken my knees three times, so I was a little hesitant about parachuting, but that went totally fine.
Carey: He's known as "Captain Safety" among his friends, which is kind of funny because he's actually kind of accident-prone, but he heals pretty well. No joke. He's almost kind of a mutant, and he's up for doing lots of different things.
But you did require medical attention at least once during filming, right?
Sterling: This four-and-a-half inch angle grinder exploded when I was underneath a trailer, and I caught it with my off-hand before it hit my face. It cut through my glove and shattered, but didn't hurt, so I thought that was OK until I pulled the grinder out and realized you could see the inside of my hand. And that was the day before mountain biking.
Carey: And the funny thing is, he still helps with the trail restoration work—moving big boulders, pushing heavy equipment around, practically falling down a cliff.
Sterling: I come up with a pitch for something I want to do, and then they tell me to make changes because it's too dangerous and they need me to survive. That's what I want for the title of season two: "Hope I Make It!".
SEE IT: On Location airs on Destination America, various times on Saturdays.
