Purpose Built Films: From American Sniper Extra to Accidental Founder

Meet the filmmaker who had an arrow aimed at his crew in the Amazon, then inherited a business he never asked for. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/founded. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. "This young lad with his shirt off, with a bow and arrow, pulls it tight and aims it at Gus's head. And at that point, Charlie grabs the camera, yanks it down: 'Look behind you, mate. We need to get out of here.'" That's how this episode opens. It's one chapter in one of the most winding routes to running a business we've ever heard. Adam Laister was told to study something with a fallback because his parents didn't think he'd make it in photography. He failed at a sales job, tried to sell surf photos to tourists in Morocco until the locals ran him off the beach, ended up as an extra in American Sniper, and broke his leg two days before Christmas. Then a friend asked if he'd ever thought about being a runner. Seven years at Bristol's Icon Films took him from making teas to filming hippos fighting in Malawi, and on to shoots for Vice and National Geographic.