Episode 212: Interview with Dr. Alan Younkin & Michael Schelp

Some documentaries are built around celebrities, scandals, or headline-making events. Others succeed because they capture something far more relatable: a real life filled with unexpected turns, personal reinvention, humor, tragedy, and humanity. That is exactly what audiences can expect from Iowa Vet: Dogs, Cats, Corn, & Murder, the new documentary from filmmakers Michael Schelp and Bathsheba Monk centered around the life of veterinarian Dr. Alan Younkin.

In Episode 212 of The Savoir Faire Audio Experience, Dr. Alan Younkin and producer Michael Schelp sit down to discuss the deeply personal story behind the documentary, how their relationship shaped the film, and why a quiet veterinarian from Iowa became the perfect subject for an emotional, funny, and unexpectedly fascinating documentary.

At first glance, the documentary’s title immediately grabs attention: Iowa Vet: Dogs, Cats, Corn, & Murder. It sounds almost too strange to be real. Yet according to Schelp, that unpredictability is exactly what made Alan’s story impossible to ignore.

“I have literally over 200 anecdotes,” Michael explains during the interview. “That’s why it’s more… I just took all these anecdotes and interviewed him about them.”

Unlike traditional American biographical documentaries, which often focus on celebrities or sensational downfall stories, Michael wanted to create something different. Inspired heavily by Japanese television and storytelling formats from his years working at Fuji Television in Japan, Schelp approached the film almost like a layered collection of stories, memories, and observations.

“It’s very fact-based, lots and lots of facts with obviously some introspection and some context,” he says.

Michael’s own career is fascinating enough to deserve its own documentary. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., he studied Japanese in college before moving to Japan, where he worked at Fuji Television during a period when Japanese television was dominating ratings and pioneering what Americans would later recognize as reality TV.

He would later return to the United States and build a highly successful television career, helping bring Iron Chef to the Food Network while producing and developing shows for networks including ESPN, Spike TV, Discovery, Sci-Fi Channel, and Cooking Channel.

Yet despite decades in entertainment, it was Alan’s life that eventually became the story he felt compelled to tell.

The origins of the documentary were surprisingly simple.

“We met online,” Michael says, laughing as he recalls how their relationship began on Plenty of Fish in 2017.

What started as a dating app connection quickly evolved into a relationship and eventually marriage. Over the years, Alan would casually tell stories about his childhood, his veterinary career, and life growing up on a farm in Iowa while Michael quietly absorbed every detail.

“After a few years, he said, ‘I’m going to make a documentary about you,’” Alan recalls. “And I was like, ‘No, you’re not.’”

Of course, Michael eventually did exactly that.

What makes Alan such a compelling subject is not fame, but the sheer variety of experiences contained within his life story.

Raised on a family farm in southeast Iowa that dates back to 1863, Alan grew up surrounded by livestock, crops, and the rhythms of rural Midwestern life. His upbringing inspired a lifelong commitment to animal care that eventually led him to become valedictorian of the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

From there, he moved to St. Louis with his wife, Dr. Sybil Younkin, where together they built Bogey Hills Animal Hospital and raised four children.

For nearly three decades, Alan practiced veterinary medicine while simultaneously witnessing massive shifts in both agriculture and the veterinary profession.

“When I went to vet school back in the 1980s, my class was majority men,” Alan explains. “Now the graduating classes are like 80 to 90 percent women.”

He also watched the industry shift away from independently owned practices toward large corporate ownership structures.

“Veterinary medicine has gone from generally private practice ownership. Now more and more it’s corporate practice ownership,” he says.

The same transformation happened in farming.

“My dad had small tractors and farmed 160 acres,” Alan explains. “Now my neighbor farms my farm with big equipment, high-tech stuff.”

That theme of change became one of the central ideas behind the documentary itself.

“At its core, this is a film about change,” Michael explains in the official press materials. “Tracing the many transformations in Alan’s life across agriculture, the veterinary profession, and his own personal journey.”

But what truly elevates the documentary are the strange and deeply human stories scattered throughout Alan’s life.

One of the film’s funniest moments comes from a wealthy client who brought her itching dog into the animal hospital.

“I found fleas,” Alan says. “And she just said with a straight face, ‘Oh, that’s not possible. We live in a gated community.’”

Moments like these allowed Michael to build visual humor and warmth into the documentary while still exploring deeper emotional themes.

Then there are the darker stories.

The “murder” referenced in the documentary title comes from two real-life murder cases that directly intersected with Alan’s veterinary practice.

One involved the infamous Interstate 70 serial killer during the early 1990s, whose crimes occurred near Alan’s animal hospital.

Another involved a murder-for-hire plot where a husband arranged to have his wife killed while their yappy dog was away at Alan’s clinic for grooming.

“The husband had to get the yappy dog out of the house for the hitman to kill the wife,” Alan explains matter-of-factly.

The stories are shocking, but Michael is careful not to present them in an exploitative way.

“It’s a three-act play,” Michael says, describing how the murders serve as part of Alan’s larger life arc and changing world.

Perhaps the strangest aspect of the documentary involves Alan’s Iowa farmland and its connection to Mormon history.

According to some members of the Mormon faith, Alan’s property may sit near the ancient city of Zarahemla, referenced in the Book of Mormon as a place visited by Jesus after the crucifixion.

“There are a group of Mormons that think that Nauvoo was built there because it was directly across the river from the ancient city of Zarahemla,” Alan explains.

Michael became so fascinated by the subject that he began deeply researching Mormon history and theology to ensure every detail in the documentary was accurate.

“I really, really, really like to get facts right,” he says.

The documentary even incorporates stories about a drone Michael lost in a giant pine tree on Alan’s farm, jokingly referring to it as being “with Jesus,” only for the drone to mysteriously be recovered two years later immediately after Cinema Village agreed to premiere the film.

Whether coincidence or not, the story perfectly reflects the documentary’s tone: thoughtful, funny, strange, and surprisingly heartfelt.

Beyond all the unusual anecdotes, however, Iowa Vet is ultimately about adaptation, resilience, and family.

After the death of his wife, Alan’s life took another unexpected turn when he moved to New York and eventually married Michael, blending together their seven children into what they describe as a “modern family.”

That emotional evolution gives the documentary a powerful emotional center.

At a time when many documentaries chase controversy or spectacle, Iowa Vet: Dogs, Cats, Corn, & Murder instead finds beauty in ordinary lives shaped by extraordinary circumstances.

It is a story about reinvention. About love arriving unexpectedly. About how industries, communities, and people evolve over time. And perhaps most importantly, it is about the idea that every life contains stories worth telling if someone takes the time to truly listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-oue65nfy4

🎧 To hear the full conversation with Dr. Alan Younkin and Michael Schelp, tune in to their episode on The Savoir Faire Audio Experience, streaming now.