Elias Buell and Nate Bull

This morning I woke up, took care of our animals, grabbed some breakfast, and settled into our writing lab to work on Circle B Productions' latest projects.

As I sat down, I came across an AI-generated image that most people would probably label a failure.

I had asked AI to create Elias Buell, an Oregon sawmill owner who, after the sinking of the SS Brother Jonathan on July 30, 1865, drove a buckboard wagon from Portland to Crescent City in search of the bodies of his daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren. There are no known photographs of Elias, so we are left to imagine the face of a father and grandfather carrying an unimaginable burden.

The image wasn't what I asked for.

Or was it?

Sometimes a creative "failure" opens a door you didn't know existed.

As I looked at the image, I realized I wasn't seeing Elias Buell.

I was seeing my late father, Nate Bull.

For those who know our story, my father was the editor of The Triplicate newspaper in Crescent City for many years. Long before Olivia and I began writing this documentary, he was researching the Brother Jonathan tragedy himself. It suddenly became clear that his face could become the face of Elias Buell in our film.

That unexpected discovery reminded me why we're making Brother Jonathan and the Dragon's Teeth.

This is not a treasure hunt for the gold that rests on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

It is a story about the people.

It is a story about duty before self.

A First Officer who remained at his post directing rescue efforts until the very end.

A Chief Engineer who stayed below decks, keeping steam in the engines so others might escape.

A father and grandfather who traveled hundreds of miles by wagon to bring his family home.

Those are the treasures our documentary seeks to recover.

Every revolutionary technology seems to follow a familiar path. First comes excitement. Then skepticism. Then concern about what it means for artists, workers, and society. Eventually, we learn how to use the technology responsibly.

For independent filmmakers like us, AI has become another storytelling tool.

Without it, telling the story of the Brother Jonathan with the historical authenticity it deserves would require resources available only to a major Hollywood studio. There simply are not enough surviving photographs, illustrations, or visual records to recreate much of what happened in 1865.

Will this image appear in the finished film?

No.

But it accomplished something far more valuable than generating a finished shot.

It helped me see a character in a completely new way.

If our documentary succeeds, I hope audiences won't remember what software helped us make it.

I hope they remember Elias Buell... Captain DeWolf... Hank Allen... Elijah Mott... the Rowell family... Martha Wilder... the citizens of Crescent City who rushed in to help... and the hundreds of passengers and crew whose lives have too often been overshadowed by stories of lost gold.

Because they were always the real treasure.

—Todd Bull

Circle B Productions LLC