Really Good! Fresh Jerky

Directed & Produced by: Cami Buckman

Stage:
- Production
Location:
- California, United States
Updated: May 5, 2026
Project Type:
- Short
Project Style:
- Biographical,
- Essay film
Theme Subject:

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Logline

Gus loves three things: his family, his town, and his famous beef jerky. But a new highway threatens the legacy of all three.

Clips

When a new highway bypasses the tiny desert town of Olancha, one family’s popular roadside jerky stand faces an uncertain future. "Really Good! Fresh Jerky" follows this community as they fight to protect family, legacy, and some really good, fresh jerky.

Synopsis

...

Along Highway 395, tucked beneath California’s Eastern Sierra Nevadas, lies a forgettable town with an unforgettable roadside pitstop.
The town: Olancha. The business: Gus’ Really Good! Fresh Jerky.
With its unmistakable billboards, sticker-covered walls, and sample-ready products, this tiny jerky shack became a California staple for travelers headed to Mammoth Mountain.
It was built by none other than Gus, an Argentinian immigrant who was drawn to the desert’s freedom and quiet country life. Gus and his family transformed a forgotten stretch of highway into a landmark. In 2021 Gus’s youngest daughter Nancy opened her own jerky shop in San Clemente, CA. She brought a taste of the country to the city, and a dash of the desert to the beach.
For a while, this felt like the American dream. But all good things must come to an end.

For years, Olancha lived under the threat of a highway bypass that would divert traffic and isolate the town. In 2024, that worst-case scenario became a reality.

Today, Olancha is a ghost town, and the fate of Gus’s iconic jerky shop hangs in limbo. This is a short documentary about legacy, and fighting to preserve the people and places we love. It reveals the unseen forces shaping a town, and the quiet battles waged beyond what a tourist sees driving by. It’s a love letter to California’s lesser-seen spaces, offbeat roadside pit stops, and the people who run them.

…It’s also a story about some really good, fresh jerky.

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Background

Really Good! Fresh Jerky invites audiences to be a part of the story, and the fight to save it. Today, viral moments and grassroots campaigns can revive struggling mom-and-pop institutions. This film taps into that energy, rallying not just the built-in fanbase, but anyone who believes in protecting places that matter. This is a real-time vanishing act. The bypass is built. Olancha is drying up. The clock is ticking, and the time to document, reflect, and preserve is

...

At its core, this is a portrait of the American dream under threat. Gus built a legacy from nothing, but like so many rural communities, Olancha faces quiet erasure in the wake of state infrastructure projects built for ‘progress.’

This documentary offers a rare, intimate look at the human cost of those decisions. This film is a love letter to a disappearing California, and a disappearing America.

This isn’t just a story for fans of Gus. It’s for anyone who's ever had a favorite roadside stop, and knows what it means to lose it.

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Participants

Gus

Participant

Gus

Meet Gus. The brains and the brand. Gus is the beloved patriarch whose unwavering humor and optimism shines through even in the face of life’s greatest challenges. Gus is the heart of this project.

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Nancy

Participant

Nancy

Meet Nancy. As the youngest of Gus’ daughters, Nancy is the bold visionary fighting to keep her father’s dream alive. She’s forging her own path, and trying to save the town she loves in the process. Through her, we see Gus beyond the billboards, the family behind the famous jerky, and the deep roots that make this more than just a business. For Nancy, jerky is personal.

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Vasie and Terry

Participant

Vasie and Terry

Meet The Neighbors, Vasie and Terry.
Vasie is a lifelong Olancha resident and Gus’s best friend. Vasie’s roots in the region run deep, his family has lived here for generations. He’s watched the town change and become shaped by state policies that few locals had a say in.
Terry is a retiree who arrived in Olancha more than a decade ago. He finds solace and community in the quiet desert town.
Together, Vasie and Terry’s perspectives offer a powerful window into California’s overlooked rural communities.

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Style & Tone

The visual style of Really Good! Fresh Jerky leans into the spunky, unpredictable spirit of Gus, and the gritty charm of the California desert. We use a mix of carefully framed interviews, verité moments, and slice-of-life scenes that let humor, style, and honesty shine through.

The film weaves in archival footage from California landscapes, and personal family photos.

Our approach shifts between stylized shots and raw, candid moments. The framing is real, and lived

...

The film weaves in archival footage from California landscapes, and personal family photos.

Our approach shifts between stylized shots and raw, candid moments. The framing is real, and lived in. Wide desert landscapes are paired with intimate close-ups, offering viewers a unique look at both Olancha and the people who live there.

We embrace the desert’s textures, both in look and feel, with a soundscape and color palette that echo its grit and stillness. The film pulls artistic inspiration from retro California ads and old cowboy films.

Juxtaposing visuals (old and new, beach and desert, faded and bright) echo the story’s themes of time and legacy.

Really Good! Fresh Jerky is visually driven by the offbeat, rugged world it lives in.

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Team

Cami Buckman

Director & Producer

Team

Cami Buckman

Director & Producer

Cami Buckman is an Emmy-award winning documentary producer with a background in print and broadcast journalism. She has produced for traditional newsrooms, network television, and popular digital platform shows. Her reporting and short-documentaries have been seen in VICE, HBO, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Youtube Originals. Her work blends humor, history, and people-centric storytelling. Cami was proudly born and raised in Los Angeles. When she's not working you might find her making homemade pizzas for friends or writing comedy sketches.

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Chris Pieper

Director of Photography

Team

Chris Pieper

Director of Photography

Chris Pieper is a cinematographer and camera operator with a strong background in narrative, documentary, and commercial work. He was a participant in the prestigious ASC mentorship program under Michael Bonvillain. His short films have been recognized on the global stage, with screenings at the Cannes International Film Festival. His commercial portfolio includes work with clients like Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, A24, Google, and Spotify.

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Sean Brandt

Editor

Team

Sean Brandt

Editor

Sean is a director and editor whose body of work ranges throughout several narrative, documentary, and commercial projects. Sean’s work has screened on national television as well at the Cannes International Film Festival (with Chris!). Brands he’s worked with include Stanley 1913, CASETiFY, and Nike Air Jordan. But Sean’s favorite projects are ones with friends about small offbeat stories with a lot of heart and a lot of flavor.

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Rita Carmona

Sound Designer

Team

Rita Carmona

Sound Designer

Rita is a skilled sound designer with a passion for crafting immersive audio experiences in both production and post-production. A graduate of UCSC with an MFA in Social Documentary, Rita has worked on numerous short documentaries and fiction films. Her background as an organizer in Chicago has shaped her approach to filmmaking, focusing on underrepresented stories and the power of community collaboration. She currently is freelancing as a sound designer and post production mixer.

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Budget

This section includes information about this project.

Team award narrative doc director festival visual doc camera editing. Independent film team production production cinema director impact project festival project project producer independent journey.

Grants & Awards

2026 Switchboard Short Grant Winner

Stills

Our Ask

Really Good! Fresh Jerky is a story about family, small towns, and the worlds you pass when you don’t stop to pull over. It’ll make you laugh, cry, and maybe crave some jerky.

Production is done, and now we need help fundraising to the finish line. We are raising $12,000 to complete this film and share it with the world. Stay tuned for our Seed & Spark campaign launching June 2026, or email the director if you'd like to make a contribution before then.

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Really Good! Fresh Jerky

Logline

Clips

Participants

Gus

Gus

Nancy

Nancy

Vasie and Terry

Vasie and Terry

Team

Cami Buckman

Cami Buckman

Chris Pieper

Chris Pieper

Sean Brandt

Sean Brandt

Rita Carmona

Rita Carmona

Budget

Grants & Awards

Stills

Our Ask