To Draw A Horse offers an intimate portrait into the life of self-proclaimed perfectionist Bob Butler, a home designer who strives to find the balance between creation and contentment. The film catches Bob a few months after he shuts down his highly successful architecture firm in order to take on a personal project.

Stephen’s Vision

I’ve always been interested in the stories of other creatives. What pushes them? What does their creative process look like? How do they deal with the balance of work and passion? It’s always been therapeutic for me to have these conversations because most likely, even though our creative disciplines may be different, we tend to have a lot in common.

And when Brent approached me about Bob, his story just struck me as incredibly unique. A photographer turned self-taught home designer that built a successful architecture company from the ground up only to shut it down at the height of its success.

I just felt like I wanted to dig deeper into why? Why does he create? Why did he shut down his company? From the outside looking in, Bob seemed like he had it all together. He was at the top of his game. Everyone wanted him to design their homes. He lived in a big, beautiful home. But as we continued talking, a lot of that success had led to an isolated, unfulfilled life. I think, as a filmmaker and a creative, I wanted to dig into the reasons behind that.

Brenton’s Vision

I met up with Bob after pitching him a rough idea through an Instagram DM. I had a list of questions prepared and I really thought the story was going to be about how he taught himself to design, build, and develop. That is certainly a big part of the story, but after learning more I was starting to see patterns in Bob’s life. I immediately called my co-Director Stephen, and our DP Logan, who then joined Bob and I at our next meeting. After hours of talking we felt the story had more to do with going against the American Dream in a way. It’s so easy to get caught up in the rat race, to burn ourselves out in pursuit of wealth and success. The striking thing about Bob is he has found success several times throughout his life, but when those efforts start to rule him instead of bringing him joy, he moves on. Bob isn’t precious about his achievements, he isn’t squeezing tight to success if it’s not feeding his soul – he’s able to let go. I find that very inspiring.