Pie Lady of Pie Town

“Pie Town, I thought, was a joke” says the pie-loving biker chick in Pie Lady of Pie Town. She echoes what I thought many years ago when I saw “Pie Town” listed on a mileage chart in a gift shop many miles away. “What’s in Pie Town? I asked the clerk. She paused, leaned forward on the counter, looked me square in the eye and said ”pie.” Pie Town. No stop sign, no motel, no grocery store….it felt as though I walked onto a movie set. We shot in Pie Town four different times throughout the year, staying in a dusty little room within the pie shop just steps away from all the pie we could eat. The local characters were only slightly cautious but always gracious. Kathy Knapp, the pie lady herself, has become a dear friend. I could not have asked for an easier group of people to work with. At the end of every working day I felt nothing but gratitude. One of the biggest challenges was the unpredictable New Mexico weather. At any given time a fierce wind would kick up, disrupting the sound or sweeping away the drone. As we were filming the pie eating contest at the Annual Pie Festival, it decided to rain on the RED, a costly camera indeed. The biggest challenge of all was self control. Can you imagine what it’s like to be in a pie shop with “the best pies in the universe” and having to choose between Cheery Cherry, Starry Starry Blueberry Night, Chocolate Cream, Coconut Cream, Chile Apple Pie, Peachy Keen, Pear and Lemon Ginger, Pecan Oat, Very Merry Mixed Berry, Apple Cranberry Crumble…? We maneuvered around this obstacle by not thinking of it as an obstacle at all but rather an invitation. We did the right thing, erred on the side of diplomacy, and sampled every single pie there was to be had. All in the name of research of course….