Reservation Dogs

Two Gaylord College graduates - Micah Floyd and Carleigh Foutch - were members of the team that created “Reservation Dogs,” which premiered on FX on Hulu in August. 

According to FX’s website, the show is “a half-hour comedy that follows the exploits of four Indigenous tennagers in rural Oklahoma who steal, rob and save in order to get to the exotic, mysterious and faraway land of California.” The show was co-created by Sterlin Harjo, who studied art and film at OU, and Taika Waititi. It was filmed on location in Okmulgee. 

Floyd, a 2020 creative media production graduate, was a set production assistant for the show, while Foutch, a 2017 graduate who earned a dual degree in professional writing and human relations, worked in the office as the production secretary. The two recently answered some questions about their experiences on the show, why they wanted to be involved with the production and more.

What drew you to working in television?

Micah Floyd - “I started doing photography while I was like 12 or 13, and then from that just started doing some video stuff for school projects. I made my first film when I was 15, and then just started making stuff throughout high school. When I got into college, I wanted to do film and music production. In Gaylord we started learning about all film production, doing sound work and everything. It wasn't until about my senior year when I started looking at television more than film. I had just been so movie-obsessed growing up, but as I got older, I realized that I like TV just a little bit more because you had to have a little bit of a longer story with some more chapters. You also get more in-depth on the characters, which I really enjoy, so kind of a long process to get here I guess.”

Carleigh Foutch - “Yes, I agree that it is a long process, and I was kind of similar. I have always loved TV and film and stuff as a kid. Whenever I became a professional writing major, it was mostly to write novels, but every time someone would ask me what I wanted to do when I graduated, I said I didn’t really think novel writing was for me, that I enjoyed it but it just didn’t feel like the right path. It wasn't until my capstone when we had this project where we were supposed to collaborate with all of our classmates. Our professor was like, ‘You all probably hated that assignment,’ and I was like, “Wait, no, I really liked that assignment.’ He told me I would probably do well in a writers room. That’s kind of when everything clicked. From there I realized I needed to look at TV a little bit more than film.”

Why was “Reservation Dogs” a show on which you wanted to work? 

Floyd - “I'm Native American, so the show is important to me because growing up, it was a little rough watching movies and TV because there was never a huge Native American figure that I could really look up to on the screen. So having a show that was all written, all produced, all directed by Indigenous people is really awesome. I've even told some of the actors they are the people I needed to see when I was 10 years old on the screen, to have some representation up there. I think that the main why for me was just to be able to be a small part of bringing Native American stories into a bigger spotlight.”

Foutch - “That’s a perfect way to put it. Being in Gaylord, it's always drilled into us that representation in media really matters. That's why I loved it too when I heard about it, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is really gonna mean so much to so many people.’ Even making the show, we had a lot of Native people on the crew, and I think it's like the highest number of people on a crew that's ever existed, which is awesome. So, I love that.”

What has the experience been like to be part of such a well-received show? 

Foutch - “Honestly, it feels like a weird fever dream … Sometimes I'll be like wow, like, I can't believe we really made that or like people just love it so much and I love it. It really makes me emotional sometimes because it's so cool to see. Everyone worked really hard and you can tell so much love and care went into the show, and I love that people seem to like it.”

Floyd - “All of us knew it was very special, and the Native American community knew it was going to be really special, but I definitely didn't see it going as big as it did. We have had all these celebrities who are tweeting about it and stuff like that … It was like we were making history in television at the time, but nobody realized that because we were just going in and making something that we were all passionate about, telling a story that we knew needed to be told. And like Carleigh said, it all came from a place of love, and just seeing that reflected all around has probably been the best payoff, I would say for me.”

How did Gaylord College prepare you for your future career? 

Floyd - “I think for me it really showed me how to work with other people and build community inside the industry. I had been making stuff since high school, and going into college, I was a very just do it all myself type of person. I feel like Gaylord just really opened up just like here's like a variety of people that you can work with. ... The other thing that really helped me especially with the film industry here in Oklahoma is Gaylord to show me how much talent there is in the state that we don't really see. From an industry perspective, we're thinking people in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, those are all the top people in the industry. So being able to work in Oklahoma, starting off in Gaylord and then moving into production with local crew, it was just really awesome to see wow there's a lot of creativity, a lot of hard work going on in the state. I feel like Gaylord just kind of opened that door and stepping stones for me.”

Foutch - “I do agree with him about the collaborative effort. You do really learn that in Gaylord, you kind of have to work with everyone, and all these different moving parts and it's awesome to know how to do all of them and to have an understanding of what other people do, even if maybe you yourself don't understand it. I think Gaylord does give you a good opportunity of being like, ‘Oh, I've never tried video production before, maybe I should go try that.’ I did kind of see that on Rez Dogs too where it was like, ‘What does the set decorator do? I want to go talk to them and see what they do and learn more about what their job entails.’”