M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

A Photographic Chronicle of Loss
Story and photographs by Kjirstin Youngberg

Editor's note:  Many Meridian readers have already heard the story of the fire that destroyed Mormon filmmaker Richard Dutcher's new office on March 30.  These photos will give readers a hint of the devastation.

Richard Dutcher had arrived.  His Main Street Movie Company was finally located in his hometown of Mapleton, Utah, and actually bordered Main Street.  It overlooked the park where scenes for his movie Brigham City were filmed.  He was ready to start the push for his latest film, States of Grace, soon to open in several cities nationwide.  He had been in the new location just twelve days, and workers were putting the finishing touches on his personal office. 

"The office had a feel to it, you know?" said Krik Myers, who was in charge of worker's finishing the oiling of cabinetry and the large exposed oak beams.  "Like a knotty pine cabin in the woods, it had this peaceful feeling.  Everyone was tired, their hands were cramped around their paintbrushes, but they kept going.  They did it for Richard.  It was almost finished, and they wanted it to be perfect for him, and it was..." 

At 7:25 the next morning, smoke poured from the building, shattering windows and waking neighbors who called the fire department.

Mapleton has an all-volunteer fire department, so though his office was, quite literally, a part of the same building that housed the fire trucks, nobody was available at the station to man them.  By the time they arrived, the newly oiled office was but charred cinders.

Copies of Dutcher's films, God's Army and States of Grace were damaged or destroyed, but can be replaced.   Elements of Dutcher's first film, Girl Crazy, were lost.

"Digital technology is saving my behind right now," Dutcher said.  "We're taking our original DAT tapes from production and putting them in an editing system.  It looks like most of our computers are in good shape, so hopefully we have the material in some form."

Dutcher and his team are optimistic about staying on schedule for the openings of States of Grace in Los Angeles and San Diego April 21 and 28.

"We had a screening in Las Vegas for an interfaith group, and afterwards, an African-American girl of another faith came up and asked if we could offer a prayer together," said Christopher K. Pratte, Dutcher's publicist.  "Here we were, in Vegas, and we all joined hands while she prayed and asked that States of Grace would be successful, and be seen by millions of people, and lead to a better understanding of God's love for us.  It was powerful."

The brick building was blackened, but held its integrity.   Damage was estimated to be just under a quarter of a million dollars.  Dutcher was not insured. 

Director Richard Dutcher sits contemplating what to do after his film offices were gutted by a fire early Thursday morning 3.30.06.


Dutcher speaks with fire and insurance investigators after the fire that destroyed the contents of his film office.  Note that his office is adjacent to the Mapleton Volunteer Fire Department.
 

Dutcher discusses the fire with an insurance investigator in front of a poster for his film, Brigham City, in which he played a small-town sheriff.  A major scene from this movie was filmed in the park across the street from his burned office.


Richard Dutcher examines the remains of items left on his desk.


Christopher K. Pratte, Dutcher's publicist, views the extensive damage to the newly finished office.


Workers scrub down the sooty walls of Dutcher's Main Street Production's office.


Dutcher examines what's left of several copies of his latest film, States of Grace, which was to have gone into national distribution this month.


Headshots and memories lay smoldering on the soggy ground outside Dutcher's new office, which was gutted by fire just 12 days after he moved into it.


Reels of his latest film, States of Grace, which will probably not make it into a theater near you.

The fire damage is not so apparent from the front of the building, which shows its proximity to the Mapleton Volunteer Fire Department.