From Behind The Mic To In Front Of The Camera

We spent a moment with Carolyn McDonald, an award-winning writer, producer and director who recently made the move from Hollywood to Nashville.  Carolyn came to Nashville with an amazing list of credits under her belt, including a ten-year stint as Danny Glover’s partner at Carrie Productions where she was responsible for numerous Glover vehicles, including FREEDOM SONG, BUFFALO SOLDIERS and AMERICA’S DREAM.

She connected with Nashville when she debuted her short film, P.N.O.K.  at the Nashville Film Festival.  The film, about two soldiers on Casualty Notification Detail, was well received in Nashville, and Carolyn saw potential in “Music City.” 

“Nashville artists have so much to offer, and not just with their music,” she contends.  In fact, one of her first projects in town was executive producing a humanitarian documentary called “Bearing Light” for Big Kenny of the country supergroup, Big & Rich.  The film aired on the National Geographic Channel.

“I have been wowed by the talent in Nashville.  The artists here have so much to offer.  I also believe some of these musicians could be great in front of the cameras.  I’d love to explore that.”

Her next project could take advantage of some of that talent.  “LIVE FROM BNA is an ensemble dramedy about a group of musicians pursuing their dreams despite personal crises,” she explains.  “The story will explore the working class musician, not those you see in the pop/country spotlight or in the TV series.  There are far more interesting stories to tell.“

Carolyn is acutely aware of how much the right music can add to a project. She worked very

Jason Luckett

closely with composer Jason Luckett, to assure that the music in P.N.O.K. would be just right for the film. “I loved working with Jason!  He had a vision that related to mine and was able to create amazing sounds that worked perfectly with the visuals.  The subject matter was so poignant - the longest day in the lives of two soldiers who happened to be messengers of death - and Jason was able to reflect that emotion, from their initial detachment and isolation, to a chaotic, climatic crescendo that just could not have been presented through words or visuals.”

She’ll be looking for that same level of musical reinforcement as she gathers the music for LIVE FROM BNA, both on the soundtrack and on the screen.  “I’m looking for strong musical performers with true screen presence, who could carry a film project.  And I’ve seen a lot of local artists that would be perfect for this film!”

I can’t wait to see this one!

A Little Help From Some Well Connected Friends

The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is a music industry trade organization dedicated to the needs of the independent music community.  Working with the organization is like having a good friend in high places. They represent the interests of independent artists and labels in the marketplace, in the media, and in Washington.   The group is headquartered in New York City, but has chapters in Los Angeles and Nashville.

The organization recognizes that independents make up nearly 35% of the industry’s domestic market share, but does not receive an equitable share of industry receipts.  A2iM’s goal is to help independent labels compete on a level playing field with the majors. 

One of the ways they do this is by introducing new areas of commerce and monetization.  According to A2IM president, Rich Bengloff, label can no longer make money by traditional means – touring, albums and merchandise -  he recommends diversifying the revenue streams.

“Access and getting noticed is harder because everyone has access,” he says and suggests that artists – and labels- think outside of the box.  He noted that a recent study determined 42 different revenue streams available to musicians, including teaching, speaking engagements, fan funding, acting, session work, and synch licensing. Helping artists and labels avail themselves to these revenue streams is a big part of the group’s mission.

They recently hosted a “Licensing Day” event here in Nashville, bringing in music supervisors Frankie Pine and Russell Ziecker to discuss the ins and outs of licensing music for the show "Nashville." Allison Jones of Big Machine, the label that distributes the show's soundtrack albums was included in the panel discussion.  In addition to those panel discussions, the musical stars of the show and some of the songwriters behind their TV driven hits took the stage at the 3rd & Lindsley night club, to perform and talk about how their songs made it to the screen.

Randall Foster of the Nashville chapter has organized several similar events encouraging collaboration between Nashville’s music creators and the national film community.  During Film-Com he organized an A2IM Synchs & Drinks cocktail mixer at the Hard Rock featuring Lions For Real.  This event helped establish relationships between film and television producers and Nashville musical artists.

Organizations like A2IM and Film-Com are useful tools available to independent entertainment creators.  TAKE ADVANTAGE!

When Dreams Are Big and Budgets are Tight

As part of an assignment for my graduate studies, I had to explore Ted.com, and the infamous “TedTalks” and find a motivating speaker who added inspiration to my entertainment industry career.

I was excited about a Canadian filmmaker named Martin Villeneuve, whose experience and advice would be useful to any creative person in this business, regardless of the medium.

“If you have some crazy ideas in your mind, and people tell you that it's impossible, well, that's an even better reason to want to do it,” mused the Montreal-based screenwriter, director and producer. “Because people have a tendency to see the problems rather than the final result.”

Villeneuve’s final result was his award-winning debut feature film, "Mars et Avril." The futuristic sci-fi flick is the kind that usually costs several million dollars, with first class special effects and innovative visuals.

“When American producers see my film,” he continues. “They think that I had a big budget to do it, like $23 million. But in fact I had 10 percent of that budget. I did "Mars et Avril" for only $2.3 million.”

And just how did Mr. Villeneuve make his big budget feature on his limited working budget?

 He surmises that if you don’t have the required funds, you need time and love to get the job done.  “When you don't have money,” he admits, “you must take time, and it took me seven years to do 'Mars et Avril.' The second aspect is love. I got tons and tons of generosity from everyone involved. Every department had to rely on our creativity and turn every problem into an opportunity.”

And therein lies the secret of his success.  A living example of the adage, “necessity is the mother of invention,” Villeneuve found imaginative ways to get what he needed, including giving others the “opportunity” to work on his project.

He was able to convince his busy star, Robert Lepage, to commit to the project by re-writing his character as a hologram, and allowing him to shoot the dialogue for all of his scenes at one time.  And the character was bigger and bolder than he would have been, if shot conventionally.

Villeneuve had a vision of futuristic musical instruments inspired by women's bodies that would be an integral part of the film.  He had to find a way to turn his vision into reality. “I woke up one morning with a pretty good idea. I said to myself, ‘What if I have somebody else pay for them?’ So I found my way to Guy Laliberté, Cirque du Soleil's CEO, and I presented my crazy idea to him with sketches and visual references, and something pretty amazing happened. Guy was interested … because I came to him with a good idea in which everybody was happy.”

“He took a leap of faith," Villeneuve continues.  "And the artist, Dominique Engel, a brilliant guy, was happy too, because he had a dream project to work on for a year. And obviously I was happy because I got the instruments in my film for free, which was kind of what I tried to do.”

“If you don't have money to offer to people, you must strike their imagination with something as nice as you can think of.  So this is what happened on this movie, and that's how it got made.”

A lesson for all of us with big dreams and small wallets.

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