Oildale

The Producers

David Mueller - Director and Producer

An award-winning director, producer and writer, David Mueller began his directorial career with Universal Pictures on New York Undercover (Fox) and The Wright Verdicts (CBS) directing second unit action sequences on the streets of New York. He joined the Directors Guild of America in 1996 and has directed, written and produced dozens of documentaries, national commercials and feature films. He co-produced "Dalai Lama Renaissance" (2007 Horizon) narrated by Harrison Ford, winner of 12 Best Documentary awards; produced and co-directed "A Good Day to Die" (2010 Kino Lorber) with Dennis Banks, winner of 6 Best Documentary awards, which Ken Burns called 'wonderful, compelling and essential'; directed "Beautiful Wave" (2011 Starz/Anchor Bay) starring Aimee Teegarden, Patricia Richardson, Lance Henriksen and Helen Slater and produced and directed "Oildale" (2019). Mr Mueller has also produced, directed and shot for "Dateline NBC" in India as well as for the National Museum of Australia. He has degrees in Anthropology, International Education and Film from UCLA and NYU and studied drama and acting in London, Manchester and New York City at HB Studios.

Lynn Salt - Producer, Collaborating Director and Writer

Lynn Salt has worked in the motion picture industry for more than 25 years as a writer, producer and director. She has written more than 20 screenplays four of which have been optioned by A-list Hollywood producers. Lynn is Choctaw (American Indian) and was a member of the American Indian Registry for the Performing Arts (AIRPA) in Los Angeles. She produced and codirected "A Good Day to Die" (2010 Kino Lorber) with Dennis Banks, winner of 6 Best Documentary awards, which Ken Burns called 'wonderful, compelling and essential' and co-wrote and co-produced the dramatic feature "Beautiful Wave" (2011 Starz/Anchor Bay) starring Aimee Teegarden, Patricia Richardson, Lance Henriksen and Helen Slater. Lynn joined the DGA in 2010. She optioned her original screenplay "The Haworth Bells", based on the lives of the Bronte sisters, to Disney Studios and worked with writer-director-producers Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyer on script revisions and then with producer Fred Roos ("The Godfather", "Black Stallion") who optioned the screenplay for himself to produce. Lynn wrote the original screenplay for "Oildale" (2018) and produced the film as well. She collaborated with director David Mueller on all aspects of the filmmaking process on "Oildale" including casting, wardrobe, shot lists, coaching actors, editing, sound mix, sound design and music composition.

Making The Film

Behind the scenes

Director's Statement

At the heart of Lynn Salt's original screenplay "Oildale" are timeless, multigenerational themes of family, healing and sacrifice, themes which hearken back to an earlier more innocent time in America. "Oildale" is a story of what family and extended family means, of the effects of war on human beings and of the basic respect and kindness we find ourselves longing for in an age of increasing sarcasm and cynicism. As long-time collaborators Lynn and I find these themes both nostalgic and compelling, so we set out to make a movie that echoed the passing of an era in small town America.

Set in the Central Valley of California, where dustbowl refugees from Oklahoma and Texas planted the seeds of a brand new form of American music--a form that would eventually breed singer-songwriters Merle Haggard, Buck Owens and others of the "Bakersfield Sound"--"Oildale" is an homage to this music, to veterans and to the people of small towns everywhere. Our locations, cinematography, pacing and music were all chosen to communicate a collective American nostalgia for a more innocent time and place. The kindness of strangers, self-sacrifice, the unspoken anguish of combat veterans and the universal need to find a sense of "home" all live in the heart of "Oildale".

With an enormously generous and supportive cast and crew, we made an "oldfashioned" movie, steeped in nostalgia with six original songs that will speak to the hearts of all Americans. "Oildale" reflects on lives passing, on lives healing and lives moving forward with a sense of hope that even when we lose family a new family can always be found.

Actor Caleb Brown at the World Premier of Oildale in Bakersfield, California with is his Uncle Damon Bradley. a US Army veteran.

'For all those who support our veterans, maybe you are a veteran, or maybe you're related to a veteran, this is a must-see movie.' - Damon Bradley