It's All About The Music

For as long as I can remember, Music has been an extremely important part of my life. When I was a very young kid I used to rummage through my older sisters' box of record albums (some of you still remember LP's, right?) and played them on the turntable with my head as close to the speakers as possible. She had somewhat sophisticated, mellow tastes - so I was exposed to Broadway Cast Albums like Camelot and groups like The Kingston Trio & The Letterman. Buried in her collection was a single Neil Diamond album called Touching You...Touching Me, which set the stage for my forthcoming lyrical and musical inspirations and my love and devotion to all things Diamond (fueled early on by Neil's riveting Hot August Night Live album). My older brothers' LP collection was, thankfully, full of Beatle albums, Santana, the Stones, Dylan, Van Morrison, Beach Boys, etc. I loved listening to 60's pop/rock growing up and was thrilled, later in life, to present Ringo Starr, The Beach Boys, The Rascals, The Grass Roots, Tommy James & The Shondells, The Association, Three Dog Night and many other favorites of the era in Concert.

As a teenager I experienced how listening to my favorite songs could lift me up and out of any negative vibe I was feeling. As a concert promoter I experienced how an entire audience can be moved emotionally by the sheer power and force of a live performance. And now, as an independent film producer, I am anxiously waiting for the time when the Soundtrack from a movie we're creating here in Sarasota washes over its audiences like a giant wave and propels the storyline of Beautiful Noise. We have an interesting Tale, wonderful actors and crew, and a beautiful, tropical locale to shoot the movie. But it's a Musical-Drama, so in the final analysis - the Music will make us or break us.

There are many variables involved, many puzzle pieces to fit together for a movie to work. We've all seen films with wonderful casts loaded with A-list stars, guided by terrific directors and written and produced by some of the greatest names in Hollywood history...that have flopped miserably at the box office...and you walk out of the theatre shaking your head and griping about the dough you spent for the tickets, popcorn and sodas. We've all been there. Then we search for redeeming qualities of the film to justify the expense and the time spent. For example, though I dearly loved the book, I would have walked out of Jonathon Livingston Seagull after the first 15 minutes had it not been for the incredible film score by Neil Diamond. The JLS soundtrack sold many millions of copies and is one of my all-time favorite Diamond albums, but even Neil's great songs and score couldn't save that movie. The flip side of this is when you experience a film you love and realize how much the songs, score and incidental music added to your enjoyment. There are countless examples of this and we all have our favorites. My earliest memory of this phenomenon was when I first saw Lawrence of Arabia. The soundtrack of that film swept me up when I was a young kid and added immensely to the impact the movie had on me...then and now.

So you get my point...the Music moves me...and that's the #1 reason I believe that Beautiful Noise has a chance to become something very special. And all the music producers who have helped me create the Soundtrack at SRQ's Top Secret Recording Studios feel the same way. When you consider the fact that 20 of the 21 songs in the film are all original tunes (Joni Mitchell's classic Free Man In Paris being the sole exception) - and that most of those were written by our films' co-stars Kimber Cleveland, Chester See and Chris McCarty - and that there are at least 4 or 5 that could become breakout hit singles, as sung by the composers and their fellow co-stars Jay White, Danielle White (no relation btw) and Twinkle - well, it's nothing short of amazing. For more details on how these songs came to me click on the latest NEWS on this website and read the Creative Loafing feature story by writer Tim Sukits.

I'm blessed to have the very best Team of people any Producer/Director could ask for working with me on the movie, no doubt about it. And we have a really cool Story to tell with this ambitious indie film. How the filming all turns out, well, we'll all have to wait and see how the better angels within us guide our crew to produce our best effort. But as for the Music you'll hear in the movie - take it from me right here and now. We have a dead-bang winner of a Soundtrack as the foundation for Beautiful Noise, filled with a variety of songs sung by a relatively unknown Cast of performers and songwriters who are surely destined for great things. Some extremely talented producers and musicians have been in the studio working with them for months now. Believe me. You're gonna love 'em all

We're already posting song snippets here and there along the way on our "Beautiful Noise Movie" Facebook page - and at least one of the songs from the Soundtrack will be released this Fall ahead of the movie premiere and album release. I'll keep you posted.

Steve

CREWING UP

During my concert promotion days of yore, it was a relatively simple matter of hiring a quality production crew to work with you for one day to put on a single show. From set up to tear down, I always had experienced people working away, ensuring me of having a smooth show production-wise, regardless of whether I was presenting big concert events like Beatle Ringo Starr or The Beach Boys, or smaller ones like Rockapella.

That was then. This is now.

Prepping to shoot a feature length indie movie involves working side by side for many weeks with your key department heads to hire a great crew and secure equipment to make the film and create a work-flow that helps everyone do their very best when principal photography commences and for when post-production kicks into gear. On any given day we'll have 30 or more people on the set for 21-25 days in the heat of a Sarasota summer all working together to create "Beautiful Noise" followed by weeks of editing and scoring the movie. From production coordinators to makeup/hair stylists; from sound mixers to the cinematographer's camera team; from catering and lodging needs to wardrobe; from assistant directors to casting extras; from special effects and editing to stunt people and production design; from the Cast to the art director and prop master; and that's before we start talking about producing a Soundtrack with 21 great songs! It's a small army of dedicated people dealing with every detail of every sequence of every scene in the screenplay. Pre-production is a daunting task, given the logistics involved, and one I could not do without the help of incredible people like co-producers Alex Rotella & Victoria Rowett and my co-music producers Mo Kateraee and Roger Hughes, who are all Sarasota-based professionals. As it happens, the Suncoast is populated with film and music pros who choose to live in our tropical paradise, but who are forced to travel to out-of-state locations to work in the movie biz. Our film enables them to work their craft here in their hometown and, along with other film productions who will hopefully follow our lead and start making movies here on a consistent basis, generates an economic stimulus of sorts for the community.

My Team is going out of their way to hire production crew members and actors who reside locally, and I'm certain that they will all do a terrific job. And in addition to the experienced crew joining our troupe, we have talented, up and coming filmmakers who are top students at the Ringling Digital Film School and the State College of Florida who have been asked to work on the film and earn their first real-world film production credits. It all makes for an upbeat, energetic vibe on the set - which is so important when you're working with a low budget and a tight shooting schedule. There's little room for error or delays, so a happy crew led by an organized and efficient team of producers gives us all a chance to focus on creating the magic you'll hopefully see on a theatre screen near you.

The Mission is to (a) turn great Stories I write or acquire from other sources into entertaining Movies; and (b) produce each film here in Sarasota and the surrounding area with the same loyal group of professional filmmakers who believed in our dream and who were with us from the beginning.

We're off to a great start.

Steve

Twinkle, Twinkle - a Sarasota Star!

So here I am...a long-time resident of Sarasota...a current indie film producer/director and a past, well-traveled concert promoter...and I'm just now getting up to speed on a Suncoast music legend known simply as - Twinkle. Part singer/songwriter, part modern-day free-spirited hippy - all embodied in a high-energy, spiritually alive human being who I'm proud to say is now a member of the Supporting Cast in "Beautiful Noise". I've seen, heard and presented a lot of terrific artists in concert in my day, but the 10 minute mini-concert Twinkle performed for me and co-producer Alex Rotella last Saturday afternoon in Epicure Restaurant in downtown Sarasota simply left me and everyone there awe-struck. What an incredible spirit. What a fabulous addition to an already talent-loaded Cast!

In the movie, you'll hear Twinkle's vocal on the amazing David Poe song - "Joy". I know for a fact that we have a hit music Soundtrack in the works...and I know that the legion of fans in Twinkle's hometown of Sarasota and all around the world won't be surprised at my prediction that her version of "Joy" will be one of the breakout hit singles from our fantastic movie Soundtrack.

Check out the new pics of our Supporting Cast here on the website. We're proud to have all these talented, dedicated actors and performers helping us bring you our little musical-drama.

Steve

Locking The Screenplay

It's true that writing is rewriting. That is to say, you can tinker with a script forever and never be completely comfortable that you've really nailed what you wanted to say. But today is the day I'm locking the screenplay after I make some adjustments that were inspired by excellent notes from our DP and co-producers. Little things really, but they'll make such a big difference in the final product. And even though I know we may opt to add/subtract while we're shooting on the set, today just seems like the day I need to polish Beautiful Noise off with one final pass and then offer it up to the masses. All the signs are there for me. It's a rare overcast, rainy day in Sarasota; the wife was called into work; the kids and grand kids are busy doing their post-holiday weekend stuff; the dog is asleep on the couch and the laptop sits alone on the table...beckoning. So there's really nothing left for me to do except take the screenplay out for one last spin around the block. Tomorrow it will be time to organize and coordinate the final preproduction and actor rehearsal details required just prior to principal photography. So, the Writer's cap comes off today and the Producer's hat will be set firmly in place...all leading up to the time I get to wear my Director's baseball cap non-stop for the upcoming 19-day shoot.

It's a sad farewell as I've loved every moment of writing (and rewriting) this Story. It's like sending your kid off to college or giving your daughter away at her wedding - hoping and praying that you've done all you possibly could to prepare them for what's to come. But hey, it's gotta be done. The caravan moves on. And yet, thankfully, just at the most excruciatingly painful moment when I feel the deepest pangs and anxiety of this departure, the Writing gods lift my spirits by reminding me that three other heartfelt Scripts of mine are patiently waiting for my current obsession with this Musical-Drama to ease just enough to allow my focus to drift, if only for a minute or two, to the wonderful work ahead on the new Stories I will turn to next.

I know that a good movie must first have just the right combination and variety of Words and Action expressed on the pages of a script before it has a chance to break through and become the kind of film worth an audience's time and money - so I hope that the screenplay titled Beautiful Noise inspires and enables our Cast & Crew to create something both entertaining and memorable. It was Mine alone, once. Now it's Ours - and if our Production Team works hard in the coming weeks and is very lucky, our movie just might find a new home with You and Yours someday.

Steve