[5] While in high school, Bechard became interested in writing after reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions and Richard Brautigan’s In Watermelon Sugar.
[9] Bechard's first novel, The Second Greatest Story Ever Told, was published by Citadel Underground in 1991 and was called "a very, very funny book" by the Los Angeles Times.
The book has been optioned by Hollywood numerous times, and has had many leading actress attached to play the role including Winona Ryder, who in the Hot issue of Rolling Stone magazine proclaimed her next role was playing the female Jesus, to most recently Rooney Mara, who can be seen on the cover of the paperback release of the novel.
In 1993, long before the widespread availability of broadband internet, he produced a multi-media web novel called The Hazmat Diary, which featured images, video clips, and music programmed in Flash.
"[12] Of Ninth Square (Forge, 2003) Publishers Weekly said, "the suspense level remains high to the end, as Shute, suspended from the force, attracted to a female cop but entangled with one of the likable and believable hookers he encounters in the escort industry, strives to find all the answers.
In Letterboxd, Monsieur Flynn wrote, "It's got the heart, the non PG-13 realism in nudity, the soundtrack to give additional value, the real human feel of flawed relationships, friendships and fear of the next step, and it brings funny to the table without the awkward Hollywood-takes.
[32][33] In Tiny Mix Tapes, Paul Bower wrote, "Grant Hart is weird because he kind of gets how important he was for rock & roll and at the same time he doesn't understand what all the fuss is about.
While it's a cliche to even bring it up, he has a definite Minnesota Nice quality in regard to discussing what he's done with his artistic career and how much what he's done might have influenced the world of modern Western music.
"[34] While in PopShifter, Chelsea Spear said, "Throughout Every Everything, Bechard paints a very human portrait of Grant Hart, who comes off as self-aware and clear-eyed after a series of setbacks and bad decisions.
'"[35] In Letterboxd, Larry Yoshida writes, "This is the film I want to force all those mall punks and "I'm so Alternative" hipsters to watch.
"[36] In 2015 Bechard directed and co-produced with his wife Kristine Bechard the feature A Dog Named Gucci,[37] a documentary about animal abuse and the laws regarding such abuse in the United States,[38] The story of Gucci is set in Mobile, Alabama,[39] where "some local thugs got angry at a 15-year-old runaway girl because she wouldn't do sexual favors for them.
The end-credits song from the film, "One Voice," features the talents of Norah Jones, Aimee Mann, Susanna Hoffs, Lydia Loveless, Neko Case, Kathryn Calder, and Brian May.
It notably addresses the financial aspects of playing rock ‘n’ roll in an age of Spotify and YouTube, and what that means for someone's bottom line.
is the sort of documentary that gets inside the whys and wherefores of music, while also adding in some rather excellent performance footage, shot both on tour and at a ripping show at Skully's in Columbus, Ohio.
"[47] Bechard also revealed during an iCRVradio interview on May 2, 2017 with Robin Andreoli that he had begun work on a rock documentary about North Carolina alt-country band Sarah Shook and the Disarmers called What It Takes: film en douze tableaux.
Film documentaries are typically put out by a record company as a way to cash in on an artist and are little more than fluff pieces, or they focus on drama within a band.
Robin in Reeling Reviews writes, "Documentary writer-director-participant Gorman Bechard does just what I expected when I started watching “Seniors.” He takes a subject matter that, on the surface, might turn off potential viewers.
"[59] Directed by Bechard, and his first short film in decades, it tells the story of Charlie Mack, who has one of the world's premiere collection of Matchbox (brand) cars, over 42,000, on display, in his home.
Unceremoniously dumped from Wilco by Jeff Tweedy, the studio wizard and guitarist would go on to a solo career before succumbing to an accidental Fentanyl overdose at the age of 45.
"[61] The film had its world premiere in Chicago in November 2021,[62] then was released on Blu-ray and pay-per-view on April 19, 2022, and as part of a Record Store Day released with vinyl editions of Bennett's last two albums, "Whatever Happened I Apologize" and "Kicking at the Perfumed Air" on April 23, 2022,[63] "the new film does a wonderful job of capturing the quirkiness, inventiveness and brilliance of someone who never met an instrument he couldn’t play.
"Jay Bennett’s reputation never quite recovered from the battering it took in Sam Jones’ documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco, about the complex, lengthy gestation of 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in often painful detail, portrayed a band slowly pulling itself apart, with chief songwriters Bennett and Jeff Tweedy its twin opposing forces.
The documentary, co produced with Sophia Rokas, marks the first time Bechard has turned over the film editing reigns to someone else, longtime protege Sydni Frisch.
[70] In July 2015, a Seed&Spark campaign was launched for a new documentary, Normal Valid Lives, a film about the Anoka-Hennepin school district bullying case which made national headlines.
The first, which was premiered by Diffuser.fm, was for "(I Just Died) Like an Aviator" for Matthew Ryan, which featured a group of teenaged girls lip-syncing and rocking out to the song.
Realizing that having real teenagers behind the scenes as well as in front of the camera could only help the authenticity, Bechard brought on interns 17-year-old Charlotte Beatty and 15-year-old Isabella Germano to co-produce the video.
[79] American Songwriter Magazine wrote: "a coltish, all-girl band plays the parts of Ryan and co., rocking out in the confines of a dingy basement, and the result is oddly effective.
The song takes on an added poignancy as a charismatic teenaged singer mouths lines like "I'm pouring a drink/ And smoking a smoke/ Our guts are born in that fiery trench/ Between hurt and hope" in the raspy, cigarette drawl of a middle-aged man.
"[80][81] The other music video for "Nothin' Feels Right But Doin' Wrong" by Sarah Shook and the Disarmers was premiered by Fader, for the Bloodshot Records re-release of the band's debut album, "Sidelong.".
[82] 2018 brought two new Bechard-directed music videos to the world: "The Bottle Never Lets Me Down" from Sarah Shook and the Disarmers was premiered by Rolling Stone, for the Bloodshot Records release of the band's second album, "Years,",[83] and American Songwriter premiered the video for the acoustic version of "I Just Died Like An Aviator" from Matthew Ryan (musician).
[91] In its second Covid-ravaged year, and for its 8th edition, in 2021 NHdocs screened over 120 films online and in-person,[92] and once again included a student competition, online workshops, Q&As, a screening of the film "From the Left Hand" with a performance by its subject Norman Malone, and a tribute to feminist filmmaker Beth B with a live performance by Lydia Lunch.