When Prince George liquor baron Cameron Thun published a collection of real-life short stories that documented his time as co-owner of a strip club/brothel/car wash in the Dominican Republic, he had no idea his book was about to spark the interest of Hollywood film producers intent on making it into a TV series.
But apparently it has.
The book - The People of the Dominican – has inspired two scripts written for a film production – Down Low in the D.R.: Just Another Day in Paradise - based on Thun’s adventures in the booze and sex industry in the Caribbean and the colourful characters his bar attracted. The project includes elements of Thun’s own life in Prince George, working for his parents in their downtown hotel and bars, which could bring filmmakers to the city to shoot the series.
“I’m dying to bring production back to Prince George, and we would have already been there but COVID stepped in the way,” Thun said. “I want to bring economic development back to Prince George. I’d love to see film crews come in and Tammy and I be responsible for millions of dollars coming through Prince George and it’s right there. It’s so close to being done.”
In 2003, while on their honeymoon in the Dominican, Thun and his wife Tammy got the idea to buy a nightclub, which they remodeled into a 400-seat venue they called The Maneater Club. Thun found out the bar was for sale while golfing in Punta Cana, where he met famous golf course designer P.B. Dye. Dye’s high-profile position led to a chance encounter for the newly-married couple with former U.S. president Bill Clinton.
Having grown up in Prince George as the son of Al and Pauline Thun, owners of the National Hotel on First Avenue, Thun has been familiar with the liquor industry since he was eight years old. By the time he opened the Maneater, he already had decades of experience as the holder of six permanent liquor licences for liquor stores and pubs in the city.
At the Maneater, the twin runways of stripper stage were built into the shape of the male anatomy and the bar became famous for its live sex shows. He and Tammy endeared themselves to the club’s staff, mostly Dominicans and Haitians, and improved working conditions by paying for their health care and providing lodging and food.
But after 18 months of dealing with prostitutes and their customers, machine gun-toting thugs, police bribes, corrupt politicians and narcotics agents, and some questionable behaviour from Thun’s business partner, a Colombian he refers to in the book as Snake #1, the Thuns decided to get out of the business. Cam and his mother sold their half-interest in the club for $100,000 US to an 85-year-old Colombian man (Snake #2), who gave Thun a $30,000 deposit.
The business deal went sour when the prospective new owner tried to keep Thun from returning to the country. The man used falsified documents and accusations to trump up eight fraud charges, which were tested in court and proven to be groundless. Eventually the club was bulldozed to make room for a four-lane highway and Thun never received the $70,000 he was owed.
“It’s so corrupt over there,” said Cam. “I was extorted, there was mafia, we’ve got crooked government, drugs, weapons, prostitution, everything you could think of in this, and it’s all true.”
Down Low in the D.R. also draws material from Thun’s first two books about his life in Prince George - The People Upstairs (about his experiences cleaning rooms in the National Hotel) and People in the Hood (about the characters who frequent the First Litre Pub he owns in the city’s VLA district).
“It flashes back into my other two books and me growing up, like how did I get that mentally messed up, and they go backwards to the First Litre and everything,” said Thun. “The main character has seven vehicles, and I have all seven vehicles sitting in the garage here. I have the house that I grew up in and I still own the First Litre and they can film there.
“They get a 35 per cent tax break when they film in Vancouver and when they come north they get another six per cent, plus they get the exchange rate. About 13 different Hollywood people have looked at these books and every single one of them say it’s a home run. They’re talking seven to 10 seasons.”
The idea to make a film version of Down Low in the D.R. grew out of chance meeting two years ago with TV producer Chris Nasiff and his girlfriend while on vacation in Palm Springs, Calif., which at the time was hosting an international film festival.
“I said I’ve got these three stupid books, and I gave them to him and he didn’t read them but his girlfriend did,” Thun said. “She called them ‘gold’ and they’ve written two scripts and they’re pitching them to Showtime, HBO and Netflix.”
Richard Brandes, a producer, director and writer whose films include Jeepers Creepers 3, Ugly Betty, Penny Dreadful, Out For Blood and Dead Cold, is Nasiff’s business partner and after meeting the Thuns he was sold on the idea of bringing life to the stories behind Down Low in the D.R.
“It’s a pretty wild tale, obviously,” said Brandes, from his home in Los Angeles. “We’re not interested in checking it all out to confirm every detail, we just primarily wanted to explore and exploit the crazy nature of it and the potential of it to be an ongoing series.
“This couple goes to the Dominican Republic on their honeymoon and they end up running a brothel and a bar and a car wash and hijinks and mayhem ensue. I went to Palm Springs and spent an evening talking with Cam and Tammy, getting familiar with what the story was and I just said this thing’s got great potential. I saw in it a little bit of (Netflix series) Ozark and a little bit of these other far-fetched stories that are supposedly true and are always fascinating for people. The audience out there loves that stuff.”
Brandes scrapped the original script and rewrote it about a year ago. He showed the new script to a friend, a hotel owner in the Dominican, whose own business dealings were strikingly familiar to that of the Thun’s and he told Brandes he wants to get involved in filming the project in that country once the pandemic threat ends.
“COVID pretty much put the brakes on a lot of things,” said Brandes. “The coronavirus hit the industry pretty hard in terms of keeping things on track (but) the intention’s still there and we’re working in spite of it to pull it together to where we can get it into production after the first of the year.
“I have some good friends and associates who are in the series world, they have a number of series on Netflix and various other venues and they expressed an interest in it and being involved and that’s kind of how things work, you just try to put the pieces of the puzzle together to try to make it happen.”
Brandes, an executive producer of Watchtower (aka Cruel and Unusual), a 2001 movie starring Tom Beringer shot on Vancouver Island, says Canada has done a better job than the United States to contain the virus and with its better exchange rate and tax incentives that makes the province cost-effective for film productions. He confirmed Prince George is on his radar.
“It makes a lot of sense to shoot it there, I don’t know what would behoove us not to do that,” Brandes said.
The real-life characters depicted in Thun’s books leave no shortage of material for Brandes to work with developing his scripts.
“It almost writes itself,” said Brandes.
“You could sustain a series for a number of years with all the characters in that particular setting. A place like that lends itself to all kinds of behind-the-scenes craziness and drama. The girls (of the brothel) and their lives and what they’re going through and what they do to try to make their lives better, there’s a lot there to try to shine a light on that and make them sympathetic and help people understand who they are and what motivates them. Then you’ve got the antagonists, the corrupt politicians and cops and the crazy tourists and drug cartels, it’s just on and on.”
With its increasing potential to reach mass audiences, more A-list actors are taking on projects for television and streaming platforms and Brandes is confident the characters of Down Low in the D.R. will draw some big names.
“Sam Rockwell would be great to play Cam, that’s who I’ve seen in that role since the beginning,” said Brandes. “Cam is obviously a very colourful person with a unique personality and Sam Rockwell is great at those kind of roles. I think he could bring across the craziness of it all but also make it a very sympathetic and relatable. (Thun’s) background and how he grew up is going to factor in. That’s the fun of it.
“I love the fact his mother’s there, working with him and helping him. I could see Kathy Bates playing her and she’s someone we could interest in the role. For Tammy, it would be nice to have Reese Witherspoon. I’m obviously aiming high, but there’s no reason not to nowadays.”
Local filmmaker Norm Coyne of Barker Street Cinema was approached by Thun for his advice on how to sell Down Low in the D.R. and Coyne is convinced it has the potential to be a hit.
“Right now especially, if you look at what’s killing it as far as content and everything like that, it’s true stories,” said Coyne. “Documentaries are bigger than they’ve ever been. Look at Tiger King, and Cam’s story is in the same vein as Tiger King. It’s ground in fact and it actually happened.
“Cam is a larger-than-life character and I’m not surprised so many people have responded . As far as authenticity goes, he’s non-negotiable on that, this has to be filmed in Prince George and that’s attracting the industry here. It’s a super-big deal.”
Prince George was last featured in a major Hollywood movie when the Stephen King horror flick Dreamcatcher was filmed in the city in January and February 2002. Those weeks of shooting brought millions of dollars to the city’s economy and Coyne says Down Low in the D.R. could have a similar effect.
“It’s a huge win for the city,” said Coyne. “When film production companies come here, they’re occupying hotel rooms, they’re eating in restaurants, they’re buying gear from the stores. Beyond that, there is a very palpable civic pride that is attached to having a film production in your city, and we’ve seen that. When Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron and everybody was here for Reindeer Games, everyone was pumped. There is a very tangible excitement that is completely undeniable and that gives people a pride of place.”
