This Is Our Slaughterhouse Transcript, This Is Our Slaughterhouse
This is our Slaughter House
CAST:
Adam Kleshinski - Narrator
Chely Broerman - Mother and also owner of Broerman Poultry Processing
Clarence Atkinson - Customer of Broerman Poultry Processing
Debra Maddox - Customer of Broerman Poultry Processing
Dustin Neer - Worker in Broerman Poultry Processing
Earl Spain - Worker in Broerman Poultry Processing
Elaine Zins - Customer of Broerman Poultry Processing
Jim Yancy - Customer of Broerman Poultry Processing
Julius Broerman - Father and owner of Broerman Poultry Processing
Kim Hollar - Worker in Broerman Poultry Processing
Matt Broerman - Son of Julius and Writer, Director, and Editor of "This is Our Slaughterhouse"
Matt Torok - Worker in Broerman Poultry Processing
Michelle Gregg - Worker in Broerman Poultry Processing
Mike Broerman - Son of Julius
Patty Livingston - Worker in Broerman Poultry Processing
Raina O'Cobb - Worker in Broerman Poultry Processing
Rod Meyers - Customer of Broerman Poultry Processing
Sarah Broerman - Daughter of Julius and worker in Broerman Poultry Processing
Thomas Adams - Customer of Broerman Poultry Processing
Trent Wine - Son-in-Law of Julius and worker in Broerman Poultry Processing
This is Our Slaughter House Transcript:
[MUSIC]
(Text appears on a black backdrop)
Text: A MATTHEW BROERMAN FILM
(Fades Out)
00:06
(Shot of Sarah Broerman fades in as she speaks)
SARAH: Chickens are raised to be eaten, just like cows are raised to be eaten.
(Changes to shot of Debra Maddox and Clarence Atkinson)
CLARENCE: People nowadays seem to think everything is a pet.
(Changes to a black and white shot of Julius Broerman, carrying a turkey to be slaughtered)
CLARENCE V/O: That's not true, everything has a purpose. You raise animals for produce, just like you raise a crop in a field, for produce, you know?
(Julius hangs the turkey up, slits its throat, and throws it in a machine)
CLARENCE V/O: I mean I'm not saying they're the same though, but they both come to the same means.
(Video fades out, replaced by a title on a black backdrop)
Title: THIS IS OUR SLAUGHTERHOUSE
(Title fades out)
[MUSIC ENDS]
00:44
(Shot fades in to show Julius, sitting down in front of a fence)
MATT O/C: What'd be the reason that you'd start this particular business?
(Text appears beneath Julius)
Text:
JULIUS BROERMAN
OWNER
JULIUS: Well, as I mentioned, uh, we needed money.
(Text disappears)
JULIUS: I mean, the depression of the 80's just about slammed us.
(Changes to a black and white shot of a worker hanging up a turkey)
CHELY V/O: I have to say that when Julius said he wanted to get into the processing business I was the first one to say-
(Shot changes to show Chely Broerman, sitting and talking)
CHELY: - "No, I don't want to do that"
(Shot changes again to show Julius, talking)
JULIUS: Well, Chely was adamantly opposed to it -
(Shot changes to black and white footage of a pile of turkey heads lying on the floor)
JULIUS V/O: - because there was a very peculiar odor up there, it wasn't the cleanest facility in the world.
(Shot changes again to Chely sitting)
CHELY: And I was probably the last one to,-
(Text appears beneath Chely)
Text:
CHELY BROERMAN
OWNER
CHELY: - to jump on the bandwagon, it took a little bit of sweet talking to get me to do it, but, (text disappears) now it's just like any other job.
(Shot changes to black and white footage of workers talking and smiling)
CHELY V/O: You just come to, come to get used to it.
(Shot fades out)
01:24
(Text appears on a black backdrop)
Text: POULTRY PROCESSING
ADAM V/O: Every weekend, for the past twelve years, people have lined up here, at-
(Text fades out, replaced by black and white footage of the processing building)
ADAM V/O: Broerman Poultry Processing, to have their chickens slaughtered.
(Shot changes to Rod Meyers, sitting and talking)
ROD: I was ninth!
(Text appears beneath him)
Text:
ROD MEYERS
CUSTOMER
ROD: I've never been ninth! I'm normally first, second, third, fourth.
(Text disappears)
(Shot changes to Jim Yancy, sitting and talking)
JIM: We rolled out at two-thirty-
(Text appears)
Text:
JIM YANCY
CUSTOMER
JIM: - this morning to, well, my wife was up at midnight because she was so excited she couldn't sleep. Hahaha, ha, it's quite an adventure.
01:53
(Shot changes to black and white footage of chickens in a cage being carried through a door)
ADAM V/O: At seven A.M., the first birds are carried into the plant, and the day begins.
(Shot changes to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: And, either myself or another gentleman will do the killing. And, if that's the case, we take and strap an apron on, go up and get a razor, and we take and we hang-
(Shot changes to show black and white footage of chickens being strung up)
JULIUS V/O: - these birds on shackles, five at a time. And we take them and we put them on a rail, kind of like an assembly line rail. And then we take them, and put five of them into the kill claws,-
(Shot shows Julius grabbing a razor)
JULIUS V/O: -I'll go get a razor,-
(Shot shows black and white footage of Julius slitting the chicken's throat)
JULIUS V/O: -and I'll take and I'll slit there throats.
(Shot changes to show Julius sitting and talking again)
JULIUS: Interestingly enough, when you slit a chicken's throat, you don't take and go like that (takes his finger and traces it along his own throat, ear to ear), because what you're trying to do is just to hit a jugular (traces his finger along only one side of his neck). You're not trying to go clean across, the reason being is that there's a nerve in there, (traces his finger again) and if you hit that nerve-
(Shot changes to show black and white footage of Julius killing another chicken)
JULIUS V/O: Then obviously that chicken's gonna flop right there.
(As Julius cuts the chicken's throat, it flops just as he had described)
JULIUS: Hey! Get you're ass in there!
(pushes the chicken into the machine)
(Shot changes again to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: Well, you know, it's just like if they were dragging you and gonna hang you upside to butcher you, you know. I bet you would be flopping and squawking and squabbling too-
(Shot changes to more black and white footage of a chicken being strung up)
JULIUS V/O: -well, they are too, so no difference about that.
(shot shows chicken squawking and flapping hysterically)
02:58
(Shot changes to Jim, sitting and talking)
JIM: Y'all's method of processing his very humane, as far as slitting the throat, and the bird just goes to sleep, and it's no big deal, there's no trauma involved. That's kind of important, I think, somewhere along the line is have a little respect for the critters that you're eating. Not only how you raise them, but how you dispatch them, and, uh, y'all show a lot of respect for the animals, that's, that means something to us.
(Shot goes again to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: And it's about the most humane way, that I know of, to do this, and if you're, if you're in the business of eating meat you're gonna have to
(Shot changes again to black and white footage of the processor)
JULIUS V/O: -kill them somehow.
(Shot shows Julius killing a few more turkeys, before pushing the rail through the machine to Dustin)
JULIUS V/O: Dusting Neer is the little boy on the other end, and, but what his job is is that he is to take and dismantle the birds from the shackles after they're dead, he can throw them into the dipping machine-
(Shot shows dipping machine rotating the pile of bird in steam)
JULIUS V/O: -that prepares them for the defeatherer.
(Shot shows Dusting taking the chickens out of the dipping machine, and throwing them in a barrel shaped container)
JULIUS V/O: And then, once they get through the dipping machine he picks them out of there and puts them over into the defeathering machine.
(Shot shows the chickens jiggling as the bottom of the barrel rotates quickly, the blades there slicing off feathers)
JULIUS V/O: Once they get through the defeathering machine, then it's his job to throw them through the window to, to be for the, to be eviscerated.
(Shot changes back to show Julius, sitting down and talking)
JULIUS: Then Trent, my son-in-law's on the other side, he runs the hot gun.
(Shot changes to black and white footage of Trent at his station, clipping limbs off of the birds)
JULIUS V/O: Nobody can beat Trent at all when he's running a hot gun. He actually sings when he's doing that job, he's just, he's just on cloud nine.
04:26
(Shot changes to Earl Spain, sitting and talking)
EARL: Mr. Trent? He is just a bundle of joy!
(Text appears beneath Earl)
Text:
EARL SPAIN
KILLER
EARL: I tell you what, that guy is,-
(Text disappears)
EARL: - uh, I mean he could be intimidating if you saw him at a distance because of the man's size, but he is just a (shakes his head, smiling), he is just a pussy cat, he really is, he's just sweet as apple pie.
(Shot changes to Jim again, sitting and talking)
JIM: But to demonstrate the attitude that your personnel have here, you know, uh doing the difficult job that they do is quite extraordinary. They're professionals, and, and it shows.
(Shot fades out)
04:56
(Shot changes to black and white footage of the processing assembly line)
ADAM V/O: After the feet and head have been clipped off by the hot gun, the birds are again shackled on an assembly line.
JULIUS V/O: The first position on the assembly line track... is Raina.
(Shot changes again to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: Raina's job is to take the crop out. I didn't know if you knew this or not, but the chicken doesn't have any stomach, it stores its food right here in the crop (points to the side of his neck). And when it gets ready to be processed it goes through the gizzard and does kind of a munching, crunching, grinding process. But anyway-
(Shot changes again to black and white footage of the assembly line)
JULIUS V/O: -her job is to take that crop out, and the crop lays right alongside of the neck, there, just before you get to the breast. Once that's done, then my daughter Sarah, she takes and does, makes the butt cut.
(Shot changes to Sarah, sitting and talking)
SARAH: You grab the, the bird, and you make a slit around the intestine-
(Text appears next to Sarah)
Text:
SARAH BROERMAN
BUTT CUTTER
SARAH: because you know how your intestine hooks into your... your butt? (laughs) I don't know what to call it!
(Shot changes back to the black and white footage of the assembly line as the butt cut is made)
SARAH V/O: Okay, so you make a cut around that, and then you make a slit down the stomach, to open it up.
(Shot changes to Trent, sitting and talking)
TRENT: (smiling) She can really cut a butt hole out of a turkey, boy, she, or a chicken, she keeps them -
(Shot changes to black and white footage of the chickens going on the assembly line)
TRENT V/O: -keeps them rolling on the line.
6:00
(Shot changes again to Sarah, sitting and talking)
SARAH: It was kind of assumed that I would have the job, once I was old enough, because it's a family business.
(Shot changes to Chely, sitting and talking)
CHELY: There aren't too many kids in college that will give up their Saturdays to come home and butcher, and she views that, and, there, I know there's times that she doesn't want to do it, there's times she wants to go out on a date, or go do something with friends, but she, she looks at it as a responsibility.
(Shot changes again to Sarah, sitting and talking)
SARAH: It's alright, it's just another job, I mean... I don't love it, by any means, but, I get through it because my family needs me, and... I make a decent amount of money.
(Shot changes to show Patty disemboweling a bird)
JULIUS V/O: Then, it goes on down the line a little bit further, and Patty Livingston stands there, and what Patty does, or Michelle Gregg will do, depending on who's there, they will actually eviscerate the bird. That is, take and pull the entrails, the entrails inside out.
(Shot changes to Elaine Zins, sitting and talking)
ELAINE: Somebody has the job to pull the guts out. (laughs)
(Text appears beside her)
Text:
ELAINE ZINS
CUSTOMER
ELAINE: Is that the price they pay for living out in the country? (still laughing) Ooooh.
(Shot changes to Patty, sitting and talking)
PATTY: You know, I guess you could say pulling out the inside is probably the worst job-
(Text appears beneath her)
Text:
PATTY LIVINGSTON
GUT PULLER
PATTY: -and, and, I don't mind doing it, so, um, I would never want to kill them, -
(Shot changes to black and white footage of Patty, pulling more entrails)
PATTY V/O: -so, I just, I just kind of, you know, clean them out a little bit. I'm not the killer.(laughs)
07:17
(Shot changes again to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: Then it goes back around the corner, and on the other side, is, um, Matt Torok,-
(Shot changes to Matt T., cleaning out the chickens with a tool)
JULIUS V/O: -now what Matt does, is he runs the lung gun. About that size in diameter,-
(Moves to shot of "lung gun" cleaning out inside of chicken)
JULIUS V/O: -and (makes sucking noise) sucks out the entire inside of the bird, -
(Shot moves to show Matt and another worker as they dismount chickens and rinse)
JULIUS V/O: -and he also takes it and gives it a, a rinse. And then he takes it and dismounts it from the rack and puts it in the appropriate tank.
(Shot goes to a tank filled with chickens floating inside, as another is thrown in)
(Scene fades out)
07:46
(Shot changes to a little boy, Thomas Adams, sitting and talking)
THOMAS: It is pretty hard for them.
(Text appears below him)
Text:
THOMAS ADAMS
CUSTOMER
THOMAS: Cause they have to, make sure every thing's clean and all that, and... (Text disappears) But, I bet they like it.
(Shot changes to Rod Meyers again, sitting and talking)
ROD: I just think it's very tedious, one after another and-
(Shot changes to sped up, black and white footage of the assembly line going through chickens)
ROD V/O: -just, they don't stop! Watch them! They just go. Tough job.
(Shot changes to Earl again, sitting and talking)
EARL: But I'll tell you what, there ain't too many people in the world today that got the work ethics like we got down here. Uh, you, you work for what you get down here.
(Shot changes again to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: You bring me a chicken that's full of feathers, and full of guts and everything else, and an hour later I'll give you a chicken back, bagged up, iced, and ready to put in your freezer.
(Shot changes to more black and white footage of poultry on the assembly line)
JULIUS V/O: That's a pretty valuable service, I think.
(Shot fades out)
08:33
(Text appears on a black backdrop)
Text: FEEL LIKE FAMILY
CHELY V/O: It started out as a family operation, just the kids were involved, and Julius and I, and-
(Text disappears)
(Shot changes to Chely, sitting and talking)
CHELY: -as the kids have gone on to college, and, um, gotten married, and done other things, we've had to, to pull other people in.
(Shot changes to Trent, sitting and talking)
TRENT: They're... busy people-
(Text appears beneath him)
Text:
TRENT WINE
SON-IN-LAW
TRENT: -they've got a lot of iron's in the fire. And my, and my (text disappears) iron's kind of smoking, now, too, since I'm working for them, I mean, I gotta really, uh-
(Scene changes to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: Work is therapy for me. I enjoy work. I enjoy what I do.
(Scene changes to Sarah, sitting and talking)
SARAH: He's my dad, of course I love him! Of course I think he's... (pauses as she swats away a bee) great.
(Shot changes to black and white footage of Julius, Patty, and others working)
PATTY V/O: He cares about his employees, you know, he cares about his family.
JULIUS V/O: You feel real close to them.
(Shot changes to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: And, if there was a problem that arose in their lives, we most certainly would respond to that, and help them out in any way that we could, including financial help. You feel responsible for them, making sure that, you know, you got enough birds lined up that when they come down here, you know, that they're gonna have enough money, to make it worth their while. But yes, you very definitely feel close to them.
(Shot changes to Chely, sitting and talking)
CHELY: And, even though we have to have extras in, they kind of feel like family because they're friends and they've, we've kind of gotten attached to them, and you know, we're invited to their weddings and their birthday parties and all that stuff, so they're, they're kind of like family too.
09:49
(Shot changes to Kim Hollar, sitting and talking)
KIM: I'll never have -
(text appears)
Text:
KIM HOLLAR
WORKER
KIM: - a family oriented type of business, uh-
(Scene changes to black and white footage of laughing and joking on the assembly line)
KIM V/O: - I'll never have a place where I work hand in hand beside my parents. So that, that has changed me in a way that I, I looked at the bigger picture, and how life could be, and then I see, as a teacher, how life is for some people, and how life is for myself, and it's a way to make comparisons.
(Shot fades out to black)
10:20
[MUSIC]
(Shot fades in to black and white footage of hands cutting meat on a razor)
JULIUS V/O: There is that danger, and there is no second chance with that saw, and there is no second chance with that hot gun, it's off.
[MUSIC ENDS]
(Shot changes to a picture of a finger with a deep cut)
(Shot changes to another picture of a finger with a large, open cut on it's side)
(Shot changes to Julius, sitting and talking, with text alongside him)
Text:
JULIUS BROERMAN
OWNER
JULIUS: All of a sudden, Chely says -
(Shot changes to Chely, with text alongside her)
Text:
CHELY BROERMAN
OWNER
CHELY: I've just cut my finger off, call 911.
(Shot changes to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: We all looked, couldn't believe it. Then I saw the finger, I believed it.
(Shot changes to Chely, sitting and talking)
CHELY: I immediately picked the finger up, and held it, together, with my other hand.
(Shot changes to Patty, sitting and talking)
PATTY: That was tough. Uh, it was, it was kind of hard to actually see it happen, uh, because-
(Shot changes to black and white footage of Patty cutting meat with the saw)
PATTY V/O: I was aback with horror when she cut her finger.
(Shot changes to Trent, sitting and talking)
TRENT: My jaw dropped open, I was like... and I just stood there for a couple seconds, and I see everybody kind of going to chaos around the room, and -
(Shot changes again to Chely, sitting and talking)
CHELY: It's a really strange sensation to look down and see part of your body, that's supposed to be attached to you that isn't, and, you know, to pick up part of your body.
(Shot changes again to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: And she said it didn't hurt at all, she looked over, and, my God, there's my finger, that belongs to my body, what's it doing over there, that's just how fast this stuff happens.
(Scene fades out)
11:16
(Shot changes to Sarah, sitting and talking)
SARAH: I'm sure she's upset about it, and upset that she can't come down and help, and upset that, you know, her finger's going to take so long to... recuperate itself, but... I'm sure she's thinking better her then anybody else.
(Shot changes to Earl, sitting and talking)
EARL: You kind of, you kind of feel like family about the thing, and it's, it's, it's almost like it happens to you when it happens to your family, you know?
(Shot changes to Chely, sitting and talking)
CHELY: I do a lot of things with my hands, and so, my first thought was, you know, all that just went down the tubes. Um, I, I don't think that's the case, I think it's going to take a little bit of time and effort to get the hand back working again, but I do think I'll be able to do those things again.
(Shot switches to Kim, sitting and talking)
KIM: You know, the day that I found out everything happened to Chely, I called the Broermans, and I said "You know, I'll be there every week. Whenever you want me to be there", just because they're always there for me, um, to make sure that I'm doing fine. If I ever had a need, I know that I can call them.
(Scene fades out)
12:09
(Text appears on a black backdrop)
Text: BREAKFAST, LUNCH, AND DINNER
JULIUS V/O: What a person raises on his own farm, (text disappears) or on his own property -
(Shot changes to black and white footage of turkeys in a pen)
JULIUS V/O: - is something you cannot buy in a store.
(Shot changes to Elaine, sitting and talking as text appears beside her)
Text:
ELAINE ZINS
CUSTOMER
ELAINE: Oh they are such pets! (laughs)They were crying in the car. (Text disappears) Jonathan, who is six, was just really crying, because (laughs again) they're in the butcher house!
(Shot changes to black and white footage of Turkeys being strung up)
ELAINE V/O: (narrating a conversation between herself and her son) "Do you think we'll be the only ones here crying, and telling them-
(Shot changes to Elaine again, sitting and talking)
ELAINE: -that they had really good personalities?" And I said, "Yeah, probably" "Well isn't there anyone else in the world that names their chickens?! (laughs)
(Shot changes to Thomas, sitting)
MATT O/C: So you didn't like, name any of them?
THOMAS: No, unless, (chuckles) unless breakfast, lunch, and dinner is good enough.
(Shot changes to Debra and Clarence, sitting and talking)
CLARENCE: That's the idea of farm raising.
(Text appears)
Text:
DEBRA MADDOX & CLARENCE ATKINSON
CUSTOMERS
DEBRA: Yeah. Yeah. You should know where your food comes from, (text disappears) and, you should realize that they're giving up their lives for us to have food. It's just like a deer hunter going in the woods, and hunting like he does (points to Clarence). He thanks the deer.
(Shot switches to Jim, sitting and talking)
JIM: I don't want to rank on people making a living raising chickens, uh, in factory houses, but, I think I will rank on them. They're very unhealthy, uh, you know, the, the processing is not sanitary, uh, they rinse birds out with, uh, contaminated water, uh, the machinery is, (shakes his head) has no finesse, and besides that, the birds are raised just in horrible conditions, and pumped full of all kinds of chemicals that we don't want to ingest.
(Shot changes again to Debra and Clarence)
CLARENCE: Young people today, see the store as... a food source, rather then where it comes from, naturally.
DEBRA: They don't realize, yeah.
CLARENCE: They don't realize, that...
DEBRA: (talking over Clarence) You have to kill something to eat it.
CLARENCE: Somebody had to kill it to eat it.
DEBRAH: That's right.
CLARENCE: You know, why not do it yourself and know where it comes from, and what's in it.
(Scene fades out)
14:02
(Scene fades in to show Chely, sitting and talking)
CHELY: When we originally bought the processing equipment, it was just to process our own. People wanted us to do theirs, so we did, and it just kind of expanded from there.
(Shot changes to black and white footage of different barns and buildings within the farm)
CHELY V/O: And then we decided, "Well, we've got the equipment, maybe we should raise our own turkeys."
(Shot changes to the turkeys again)
CHELY V/O: And that's been a really good business for us, so...
(Switches to a different, black and white shot of the turkeys)
ADAM V/O: It's now the weekend before Thanksgiving. Each year, the Broermans raise around seven hundred turkeys. It began in mid-summer, receiving the chicks at just two days old.
(Shot changes to a close up, black and white shot of the chickens feeding)
ADAM V/O: Under their care, the birds have gone to weigh twenty pounds each, -
(Shot changes to a different view of the turkeys in the pen)
ADAM V/O: - and are ready to be butchered.
(Shot changes to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: Thanksgiving here is hell week.
(Shot changes to black and white footage of a truck pulling up to the farm)
JULIUS V/O: Now we get up at five o'clock in the morning, -
(Shot changes to the truck backing up it's attached trailer to the turkey pen)
JULIUS V/O: - go over and load two loads, and then bring them in, and we start processing.
(Shot changes to Matt and Mike, picking up turkeys in the pen to be thrown into the trailer)
JULIUS: Then we have two people that are catchers. My boy Matt and my boy Mike. They go over, and they catch fifty in one trailer, bring them over, by that time the trailer that was left here is empty. They take that over, and they get another trailer loaded thirty five, and we keep that rotation going.
15:14
(Shot changes to Julius, sitting and talking)
MATT O/C: Is it important that your family comes back to, to help you out?
JULIUS: Oh yeah. Sure is. That's everything, I enjoy that. Now hopefully, that they enjoy that too. It's work,-
(Shot changes to Mike, leaning on a bar and smiling)
JULIUS V/O: - but there's a lot of camaraderie there.
(Shot changes to sped up, black and white footage of the turkeys being loaded)
ADAM V/O: The day continues on, as trailer after trailer is loaded with turkeys, and driven down the road to be butchered.
(Shot changes to a black and white shot of the slaughterhouse)
ADAM V/O: Inside the slaughterhouse, it's business as usual for the workers.
(Shot switches to Trent, sitting and talking)
TRENT: You know, they're ready to be butchered. Well, I don't know if anybody's ever ready to be butchered, but I, I, you know.
(Shot switches to Sarah, sitting and talking)
SARAH: We have six hundred and fifty chickens, or turkeys, -
(Shot switches to Julius, slaughtering a turkey)
SARAH V/O: - to butcher the week of Thanksgiving, or the weekend -
(Shot switches to someone with the hot gun, removing the turkey's limbs)
SARAH V/O: - before Thanksgiving.
(Shot changes to the assembly line)
SARAH V/O: Um, each turkey's about five chickens, so in essence, we're doing about three thousand birds.
(Shot switches to Patty, sitting and talking)
PATTY: Oh yeah, you know, they're, they're bigger you know, a chicken's five, six, seven pounds, um, on average a turkey's going to be anywhere from twelve to twenty.
(Shot changes to a bird going in the defeatherer)
PATTY V/O: You know, you have to man-handle these, these humungous birds.
(Shot switches to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: Well at the end of the day, when you're finished processing, you don't want to do anything. You want to get cleaned up, you want to go in and maybe have a nice dinner, a little drink, whatever it is like that. It's kind of like if you stepped in the ring and went three rounds with Mike Tyson, and just, and you just stood there and let him beat you up. It's that demanding, it really is.
(Shot changes to Sarah, sitting and talking)
SARAH: Yeah, it's... I just hate it just because I know how hard it is, how exhausted I'm going to be, how I can't do anything else that weekend, at all. How everything's focused on the chicken ring.
(Shot changes to black and white footage of a packaged turkey being handed up to a man)
[MUSIC]
TRENT V/O: When Thanksgiving comes, you know, that's when you, -
(Shot changes to the man putting it in the trailer)
TRENT V/O: - you get rid of them, and, it's time to move on to the next year.
16:55
(Shot changes to a black and white shot of a car, coming up the road)
ADAM V/O: Today is Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. Once again, the workers arrive early, but this time not to butcher.
(Shot changes to black and white footage of Trent opening a door for two others, as they walk inside the building)
ADAM V/O: Today they're here to help the two thousand customers, who come for their Thanksgiving turkeys.
(Shot changes to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: And people like our product. They're happy with it, it's an excellent product, you can't find a better bird, a better turkey any place.
(Shot changes to Chely, sitting and talking)
CHELY: And then, the rest of it's kind of fun, because the rest of it we get to meet-
(Shot changes to show customers mingling with employees in the building)
CHELY V/O: - with customers and sell the product, and help people and hand turkeys out, so.
MATT V/O: You like, you like the people aspect of the work?
CHELY V/O: Oh yeah, yeah, we all like the people aspect of it. You know, meeting the people and getting rid of the product.
(Shot changes to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: And, I guess I enjoy being able to persuade somebody to do something for themselves that is healthful and beneficial. Healthful for them, and beneficial to me.
(Fades out)
17:44
(Shot changes to show Trent and Julius loading turkeys into a man's trunk for him)
MATT V/O: Were there things that you didn't anticipate about the business?
JULIUS V/O: Yeah, good things. I never thought there'd be this volume! I swear to God, I don't think anybody buys chicken in stores anymore. I mean, I know that's a stretch, but, but, it just amazes me.
(Shot changes to Chely, sitting and talking)
CHELY: When Thanksgiving comes, like I said, we're sick of turkey, we eat prime rib. We try not to make any major arrangements for that weekend, because we're usually worn out, we usually just want to hang around, and, and, and be quiet and do something quiet with the family, so... Yeah, we're always glad when that week's over with.
(Shot changes to Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: It's time to do something else.
(Fades out)
18:23
(Text appears on a black backdrop)
Text: AFTER THANKSGIVING
JULIUS V/O: Yesterday was a rest day, I did absolutely, totally nothing, except eat. Today, now, we're in the process of, you know -
(Shot switches to black and white footage of the empty slaughterhouse)
JULIUS V/O: - getting the turkeys worked and getting things cleaned up so we can process here a week from Saturday.
(Shot changes to Julius, sitting and talking)
MATT O/C: How much longer do you, uh, plan on butchering?
JULIUS: Me personally? Maybe another year or two.The plant will go on, Trent will take it over.
(Shot changes to Chely, sitting and talking)
CHELY: The fact that Trent wants to do it, and, you know, some of our family wouldn't want to do that. It's not something that they would enjoy keeping up with, or, or trying to do. The fact that Trent wants to do it gives us a good, good alternative for, you know, for us to get out of there if we ever choose to do that.
19:08
(Shot changes to the empty turkey pen)
ADAM V/O: 2002 was the last year Broerman Poultry Processing remained open. Julius kept all the equipment, and now with Trent managing, he's focusing more on his own turkeys. Together, they continue to develop a wider range of turkey products, beyond the traditional Thanksgiving meal.
(Shot switches to Trent, sitting and talking)
TRENT: You know, I don't see him wanting to retire, he, he likes to stay busy too much I think. I think he'll, he'll want to stay right down here and help, he doesn't seem to, you know, he's a ambitious kind of person, so I don't really see him... You know, if somebody's working on Saturday morning, he's gonna get out of bed and do it too, I think.
(Shot goes back to Julius again, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: The thing I like at my age is I kind of like to be able to prove to myself that I can still... cut it. That I can still get up in the morning, go on down or set things up, run that whole show for that day, and although I'm tired physically, I can do the work, I can do the killing, I can slam the chickens, I can do all that. And at my age, I think that's a compliment, I feel good about that. And I feel that if you ever stop, and became a couch potato, that's when age gets you.
20:13
(Shot changes to show black and white footage of a car driving away from the farm)
ADAM V/O: The rest of the employees return to their usual weekend routine, and although they don't see each other as often, they all remain close.
CHELY V/O: It's, it's been a, it's been a different business,-
(Shot changes to show Chely, sitting and talking)
CHELY: I'll say that. I can't really say it's been an enjoyable business, though I think as the years have gone on it's become enjoyable because of the repeat customers, because we have a lot of people that we've, kind of, you know, have become friends and come back year after year after year.
(Shot changes to show Julius, sitting and talking)
JULIUS: Believe it or not, even in a processing plant butchering chickens, you kind of become a family. I don't mean a family of chickens, I mean like you are a family, you know, you are interested in each other's lives, what's going on then during the week, how they're going, how their families are, are they healthful, is the job going okay, all that. It's, you know, you inter-relate with all of that. And that's the part of you get to know people. And under those circumstances, you get to know a lot about people. Working under those conditions, because it's very very hard work. Some people respond exceptionally well, some people maybe not quite so well. But you get to know people very well and those people are important to you.
(Fades out)
21:20
[MUSIC]
(Credits appear on a black backdrop)
Text:
WRITTEN &DIRECTED BY
MATT BROERMAN
(text disappears, replaced by new text next to a clip of Julius being interviewed)
Text:
PRODUCED BY
MATTHEW BROERMAN
ARIANA LIAUGMINAS
MATT: Does the gore ever bother you?
JULIUS: Oh God, no. No, I've lived in gore all my life.
(New text appears)
Text:
NARRATED BY
ADAM KLESHINSKI
JULIUS: I was born and raised on a farm, this is nothing.
(New text appears, and the video of Julius is replaced by one of Sarah)
Text:
MUSIC BY
KEVIN DIPPOLD
SARAH: I got some bile in my eye, couple weekends ago.
(More new text appears, and the video of Sarah is replaced by one of Trent)
Text:
FEATURING
JULIUS BROERMAN
CHELY BROERMAN
SARAH BROERMAN
TRENT WINE
TRENT: I mean, like I said, I don't think it's really rocket science. I think you can teach a monkey how to do it if, you know.
(The video of Trent is replaced by one of Sarah)
SARAH: What if? What if? What if? I don't think those are fair questions.
(New text appears)
Text:
FEATURING
EARL SPAIN
PATTY LIVINGSTON
KIM HOLLAR
DUSTIN NEER
(The video of Sarah is replaced by one of Kim)
KIM: Dude, you've got to edit that a lot! (laughs)
(The video of Kim is replaced by one of Chely)
CHELY: I'm a mom, and, you know -
(New text appears)
Text:
FEATURING
RAINA O'COBB
MICHELLE GREGG
MATT TOROK
CHELY: - I try to keep things healthy, I'm not big into killing.
(The video of Chely is replaced by one of Jim)
JIM: Tonight I think I'm gonna have some -
(New text appears)
Text:
FEATURING
DEBRA MADDOX
CLARENCE ATKINSON
ROD MEYERS
JIM YANCY
JIM: - fried chicken!
(video of Jim changes again to one of Kim)
MATT O/C: And that, that, that's the end!
KIM: (laughing) Whoohoo!
(New text appears)
Text:
FEATURING
ELAINE ZINS
THOMAS ADAMS
MATT: That's it!
(Video disappears, and new text fades in)
Text:
EDITED BY
MATTHEW BROERMAN
(New text appears)
Text: FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE DISC OR ITS CONTENTS CONTACT MATTHEW BROERMAN.
WWW.BROERMANDESIGN.COM
(Text disappears)
[MUSIC ENDS]
22:17