Bringing It Home

Bucket list check off: Valley Mills High graduate Burch returns to Bosque County for premiere of his independent film "No Small Sacrifice" at historic Cliftex Theatre April 15

CLIFTON -- Two brothers Carl and Teddy are at odds about their family inheritance, primarily the farm their parents cherished. The men struggle with how, or if, to honor their family legacy, while battling their own personal demons and complicated relationship. This is the premise of Los Angeles filmmaker and voice-over actor Doug Burch’s movie.

Returning to his native Bosque County for a special red carpet screening of his new independent film, No Small Sacrifice, hosted by the Bosque Film Society and presented free to the public at the historic Cliftex Theater at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, it will be a sweet homecoming for Burch, who will be on hand to take part in a Q&A with the actor, writer and filmmaker following the film.

A 1970 Valley Mills High School graduate Burch, wrote the screen play based partly on memories from his own past growing up in Valley Mills and as such, the film’s storyline will be familiar to many with local roots and ties to the land. Additionally, the feature filmed in May 2024 near Alvarado, along with several Bosque County locations offers recognition in its landscape and images.

“This is truly a Bosque County movie,” Burch explained by phone interview from his home in California. “I wrote the script based upon people I knew and things I experienced growing up. I’m hoping all the dynamics among the characters will resonate with those who see the movie. It’s a tribute to the small-town people who aren’t often thought about, talked about or depicted on the screen.”

A few old friends appear in the movie, including Valley Mills bank President John Gilliam and Clifton native Will Godby, a charter member of the Bosque Film Society. The first preview for the film was hosted March 21 in Los Angeles for the cast and crew, and Burch looks forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones at The Cliftex public screening -- the movie theatre where he spent many happy hours with friends while growing up in Bosque County.

Burch’s roots run deep in Bosque County, born in the old Meridian hospital, the son of Homer “Red” Burch, Jr. and Nancy Hardwick. His paternal grandparents lived in Meridian, while his maternal grandparents called Valley Mills home. His younger sister, Kate, makes her home in Chicago.

Burch’s father was a master sergeant with the US Army, spending 30 years on Army posts throughout the world. Therefore, most of the child rearing fell on Doug’s mother, who worked for the First National Bank in Valley Mills for many years while her husband was stationed abroad.

Living in Bosque County and surrounded by family afforded Burch the typical childhood experienced by friends growing up in the 1950s and 60s. He excelled in sports but fell in love with the stage under the nurturing encouragement of a gifted high school drama instructor, Brenda Camp.

A standout in one-act plays, Burch caught the attention of a UIL judge and was offered a college drama scholarship to McLennan Community College in Waco. Upon graduation from Valley Mills High School in 1970, Burch’s passion for the stage continued to blossom under the mentorship of MCC drama instructor James Henderson.

“Until then, I’d always intended to become an architect not an actor,” Burch said. Transitioning to the drama department at nearby Baylor University in Waco was a natural step. There, Burch continued to hone his craft both on stage and off.

His many stage and crew credits, but almost always both, included such productions such as Falderal, I Never Sang for My Father and Arsenic and Old Lace.

Learning to build sets and working with lights and sound would become important parts of his theatrical resume. “They aren’t skills every actor gets to learn,” Burch said. “And being an actor, you’ve got to have more than one iron in the fire.”

At Baylor, the budding actor fell in love with fellow drama student and Dallas native, Sherry Willis. Burch graduated ahead of Willis and headed west to San Francisco, where he found stage work at night, and during the daytime worked building sets, making stained glass, or whatever odd jobs it took to pay the rent and put food on the table.

When Willis graduated Baylor, she chose UCLA for her master’s program, and Burch headed south to join her in Los Angeles. They have been married now for almost 47 years.

“Her career was really taking off then,” Burch proudly said of his wife, who landed major roles in two 1980s horror films, Final Exam and Killer Party. But Willis left acting to pursue her real passion as an educator, teaching first-graders until her retirement in 2021.

The Burch family grew to include two sons. Joshua Burch works as an illustrator while younger son, Zachary, is employed in post-production work. Zachary served as line director on No Small Sacrifice and hopes to attend the Cliftex screening with his parents. The family enjoyed frequent trips back home to Texas, where Doug’s father died in 2005, and his mother in 2014.

While most of his early work was on the stage, once in Los Angeles Burch said his career transitioned to finding television and film work. Acting television credits included Providence, The O.C., The Practice and Elvis Lives. Film roles followed with Massacre on Aisle 12, Jurassic Galaxy and Hornet.

Burch said he learned early in his career that making a living solely as an actor is rare in the industry. A casting director once told him, “You’re not a pretty boy, and you don’t have a strong ethnic look, but you’ll always work as you get older.” By that, the director meant Burch brought more to the table than acting skills.

While acting in film, he closely watched the directors, the cameramen, and the carpenters between takes. “It’s all a chance to learn and to keep learning,” Burch said. “Nobody’s going to give it to you.” Still, Burch said actors always dream. “Will this be the year I make a living solely working as an actor.”

Burch supplemented income primarily by “tool belting” for the studios, which includes carpentry and set building. While working on The Fabulous Baker Boys, a construction coordinator told Burch, “You’ll always find work because you’ve got a good attitude and your always sober and on time.”

While working on a play, Burch met a producer who suggested he try voice work, which would lead him to the work that would become “my bread and butter,” Burch recalled. Although most associate “voice work” as animation, that is only part of the craft. Voice work is an integral part of all television and film, and Burch soon found regular employment working in both. Voice actors early in his career worked under the Screen Extras Guild, which eventually merged into the Screen Actors Guild in 1992.

His vast voice work on television includes Matlock, I’ll Fly Away, Curb Your Enthusiasm, X-Files, Frasier, True Detective and Ozark. Film voice work credits include Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, L.A. Confidential, A River Runs Through It, Brokeback Mountain, Pearl Harbor, Fences, Django Unchained and Guardians of the Galaxy.

His voice work in animated films includes Finding Dory, The Lego Movie, Sing, Babe, The Simpsons Movie, Cars III and Happy Feet. Burch’s skills and reliability led him to a wide range of voice projects in big budget films and directors who repeatedly gave him work, including Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, Ang Lee, Quentin Tarantino, Michael Bay and John Frankenheimer.

One day, while picking up his sons at school, Burch met another father working in the industry, Sam Ingraffia, and the two not only became friends and writing partners but founded Little Dog Productions in 2005. “We wanted to develop films that weren’t all car chases or sci-fi with million-dollar budgets,” Burch said.

The company works to produce films, pilots, features, short films, and internet series that have won numerous awards. Works developed under Little Dog umbrella include the features Wages of Sin, The Lost One, and Midnight Mover. There were also corporate films, short films, and Night Walker, a six-part internet series.

At present, Burch is focused on final tweaks for No Small Sacrifice. He filmed his third full-length movie over several weeks in May 2024, and local filming took place in Valley Mills or local ranches. A few old friends appear in the movie, including Valley Mills bank President John Gilliam and Clifton native Will Godby, a charter member of the Bosque Film Society.

The first preview for the film was hosted March 21 in Los Angeles for the cast and crew, and Burch looks forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones April 15 at The Cliftex, where he spent many happy hours with friends while growing up in Bosque County.

“I’m looking forward to folks from Valley Mills, Clifton, and Bosque County seeing it,” Burch said of his latest project, which harkens back to the beloved people and places of his youth. “It’s really an homage to the people I grew up with and times I came from. It reflects a dying part of Americana,” he said. “To me it’s a modern day western.”

As for his future, Burch says retirement isn’t in the plans. “You do this because you love it,” Burch said. “It’s never really been work. I get to be around amazing people and there’s always something new to learn and hopefully to create something special if you’re lucky.”

Burch said the process of making No Small Sacrifice was no sacrifice at all. “It’s all very energizing. It’s what life is supposed to be. It keeps me going and it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”