YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Ken and Danny Mizicko have been immersed in daredevil sports – skateboarding, BMX riding, snowboarding, motocross riding and wakeboarding – for two decades and have captured all of the action on film.
The brothers got started while growing up on their family’s 300-acre farm in Vienna, where there was room to soar off barn roofs and just about anything else.
Danny has been the man behind the camera and has gone on to become a professional videographer and filmmaker.
His footage has built the brothers’ brand – Stuck In Ohio – which now has a cultlike following across northeastern Ohio.
But while Danny has captured the exploits of Ken, himself and their high-flying colleagues on video over the years, they have never told their own story. Pushy self-promotion has never been their marketing plan. The brothers stayed behind the scenes.
But that will change with the release of their film “The YO,” which will premiere at 5 p.m. Aug. 30 at Stambaugh Auditorium.
The documentary includes – for the first time – interviews with the brothers.
It tells a story that they say is 20 years in the making.
Both Ken and Danny are graduates of Mathews High School and Youngstown State University.
Ken, who has a degree in accounting, owns Small Business Management, an accounting and tax preparation firm in Vienna.
Danny, who earned a degree in telecommunications, has worked for the National Basketball Association and did contract work for many top-tier brands. He moved back to his hometown a couple years ago.
Ken handles the business end of Stuck In Ohio while Danny does the creative side.
Danny has always let word of mouth do the talking about his Stuck In Ohio videos. He never seeks attention on social media or mainstream media outlets, which lends a mystique to their brand.
“Our faces don’t even show in the videos, and that’s the point,” Danny says. “We always just hand out stickers wherever we go, and that is the extent of our marketing. People might see it and go to our website. We keep it that way.”
He finally shares his passion for action sports, his career and his other interests in the film.
“It’s a full-circle picture of my journey, starting with making music videos for local artists and expanding it to my career,” Danny says. “I thought it was time to pull back the curtain. This is my love letter to Youngstown. I am telling my story through the lens of young people.”
The 70-minute film delves into the origins of Stuck In Ohio.
“There are a lot of our adventures, but there are also other people featured in it,” Danny says. “It’s not just us. There’s the other top talent from the area. I tried to film the best people in the region.”
The film is replete with eye-popping action at locations that will be recognized by people familiar with the Youngstown area. It has ground-level footage of snowboarders racing down landfill slopes in the city, riding motocross motorcycles in industrial areas and skateboarding on downtown parking decks.
Danny also includes his more personal video pursuits in the film, including footage of crows flying in coordination as a flock.
“I’m obsessed with crows,” he says.
Danny’s career as a video production specialist includes over 15 years of experience as a cinematographer, director and editor. He has done work for celebrity athletes, artists and TV networks, including NBC, CNBC, ESPN and Bloomberg. He has also worked with many national brands, including the NBA, Red Bull, Garmin, Pepsi, Fiat, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Time Magazine.
Based in the Youngstown area now, he travels frequently across the nation for freelance jobs.
Danny manages his filmwork business at his own website, StuckFilms.com.
“I do a lot of freelance work out of Cleveland and Akron,” he says. “The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame brings me on board [to shoot] their induction ceremonies.”
His current clients also include the energy drinkmakers Red Bull and Rockstar.
How It Started
“The YO” is actually the second attempt by the brothers to showcase their action sports exploits in a film.
“We were working on another movie [a long time ago],” Ken recalls. “It was going to be Dan’s showcase piece – his résumé to skip town and join that [filmmaking] world out west. And then our dad passed away suddenly. He was kind of the glue that kept everybody together.”
Danny changed his plans after the funeral. He decided not to leave the region and instead took a position in Cleveland.
It was their father who was at the root of the brothers’ love for outdoor sports and adventures.
“Our dad got us into it,” Ken says. “Our family grew up outdoors. We used to go skiing at Peek’n Peak and Boston Mills in the winter, and then be on the lakes in the summer, water skiing, wakeboarding and stuff. It became second nature to us.”
The two had been pulling off daredevil stunts on their farm, but found a whole new world of urban locations when they started attending YSU.
That was when they got serious about filming their escapades.
“We began jumping off stuff on campus, and then branched out into Mill Creek Park and abandoned factories and other places,” Danny says.
After they graduated from college, the two reserved their weekends for action sports.
“We were still filming, trying to grow the brand,” Danny says. “Then some of the awards and accolades came in, and bigger contracts started coming along, so we kind of made a go of it.”
All of their action can be viewed at StuckInOhio.com. Tickets to “The YO” can be purchased at the site and a trailer for the film can be viewed there.
While their brand name, Stuck In Ohio, might give the impression that the brothers wish they lived elsewhere, nothing could be further from the truth.
The name was chosen almost as a joke at first, and they figured it would be changed later. But the name was catchy and it became permanent.
“We had made a little home video [in the early 2000s] on our farm, snowboarding and stuff,” Danny recalls. “There was at that time a punk rock song called ‘Stuck In America’ [by Sugarcult] that we edited [the video’s scenes] to. Since our video was based in Ohio, we just called it Stuck In Ohio. And then we kind of became known as the Stuck In Ohio guys, so we ran with the name and it snowballed from there.”
Their marketing, he stresses, is always positive toward the Buckeye State and has a spirit of making the best of whatever situation you’re in.
“We’re not complaining,” Danny says. “We love it here.”
Another View
Jon Paul Robles of Struthers is handling the audio mixing on “The YO” film. He co-owns Sima 343 Media Group in Youngstown with his wife, and has also done audio work on Danny’s previous video works.
The two met when they were attending YSU. “We have a really good partnership,” Robles says. “Anything Dan needs, I’m there, because whatever it is that he’s working on, it’s going to be top notch. He’s a master creator, a master of his craft.”
The film, he says, expresses the truths that are at the core of Stuck In Ohio’s philosophy.
“Danny, his brother, his family and their work are a wonderful representation of what makes Youngstown what it is,” Robles says. “They embody this sense of resiliency, creativity and exploration. They really bloom where they’re planted.”
The film, he says, celebrates their roots in northeastern Ohio.
“When we say Stuck in Ohio, I don’t think people know exactly the deep meaning behind it, which is, you can find joy no matter where you’re at,” he says. “And also, that you can have your identity rooted [or ‘stuck’] in this community.”
Danny, he notes, is the perfect person to make the film.
“He is an anomaly,” Robles says. “He’s at the intersection of extreme sports and creative filmmaking.”
Robles is not an action sports practitioner but has learned to see the art in it from Danny’s videos. He is a musician, however, and some of his music will be part of the soundtrack.
The soundtrack for “The YO” will also include songs by some rock bands with Youngstown roots, including The Zou and Munnycat.
Danny will submit “The Yo” to film festivals after the Stambaugh screening. His 2005 short film “Skate Rat Since ’88,” about Cleveland skateboard ace Kristian Svitak, was showcased last year at the Cleveland International Film Festival, and can now be viewed on YouTube.
“I idolized him when I was growing up,” Danny says. “That film was my first time in the film festival scene, and it did pretty good.”
While the excitement stirring around “The YO” is high, it’s only one of two projects Danny is about to unveil.
He is in the post-production phase of his first feature-length documentary, “Angel in Amish Country.” It’s a personal film about the late Perry Reese Jr., the beloved basketball coach who shaped championship teams in Ohio’s Amish country.
The film was shot in rural Holmes County, Ohio. Reese left an indelible mark on that area as the basketball coach of Hiland High School.
“Angel in Amish Country,” which will be released later this year, has the potential to reach a nationwide audience. A trailer for the film will be shown before the screening of “The YO,” and can also be viewed at AngelInAmishCountry.com.
“I have two big projects that I’m working on simultaneously,” Danny says. “‘The YO’ is my fun project. ‘Angel in Amish Country’ is the one I’m trying to get to Hollywood. I’m shooting for the stars with it. It’s been a five-year project but I’m at the finish line.”
Pictured at top: Danny Mizicko flies over the Youngstown sign in Wean Park. The stunt was shot while he was shooting footage for “The YO.”
