Spoon's Metal Detektor

For years I wanted to use The Sound of Sinners by the Clash during a tryout sequence in Calvin Marshall.  Even just imagining the "judgement day" chorus to our storyboards seemed too good to be true.  Joe Strummer's ironic wail and that driving gospel-tinged rock 'n roll?  It was a perfect match for this pivotal sequence where Calvin's inflated view of his ability hits an all time high.

This time around in post, the sequence worked as well as I had hoped.  During test screenings, many Clash fans who ignored Sandinista! we're intrigued by the track and revisited this underrated opus.  I had a long history with this song and now that I could see and feel the finished sequence, it was devastating to be forced to choose another song.

I won't lie to you, money was the primary reason we had to let it go. Six figures has a nasty ring to it on a small movie.  And besides, we had already set up a favored nation structure for licensing songs from the majors.  Even if we could afford the huge price tag, we legally couldn't go against the structure we set up.  A structure that was implemented so we could license several major label songs at the same low rate and comfortably stay under budget. 

Usually in filmmaking, if you stay open minded and positive, a situation like this will become a blessing in disguise.  Enter SPOON. They've played driving jangle rock 'n roll for years and their growing catalog immediately presented us with a number of cool options. Funny, now that I think about it, even Britt Daniel's vocals are in the same universe as Joe's.  Both impassioned with a slight gravel...

After listening to every album obsessively, I had a short list right away; Don't Make Me A Target and Utilitarian -- but I was most smitten with Sister Jack.  Amazing song!  But there was just something about the connotations of the lyrics while watching Calvin play that I didn't quite love...    

And more importantly, I was hoping for a song that had a long enough bridge so the brief bits of dialogue (Coach, Calvin, Murphy) would fit better between the vocals.  (This was actually a problem with The Clash too)

Long story short, Metal Detektor became the song that not only replaced an irreplaceable song, but exceeded it in the end.  The tone and pace were made to order and the lyrics were less on the nose than The Clash's "Judgement Day" chorus.  Calvin was, in a way, getting away with a crime.  The Metal Detektor was ringing and he was doing all he could to get through the door.

Now, months later -- all of us working on the film love this sequence and would never replace Spoon.  Even if the The Clash was the same price.

Tomorrow the scene will be online and I will link to it from here.

The National

One of the thrilling things about making a movie is the process of choosing needle drop music.  In our volleyball sequence that recently posted to YouTube, I originally wanted to use  Disorder by Joy Division.

But this choice was brainstormed at the script stage, when your imagination can often be as misguided as intuitive.

When we had a rough cut in the editing room, we realized something wasn't right about this pairing.  While the sequence had the right feeling (sort of), the tempo and the anachronisms of Ian Curtis were more distracting than I anticipated.  I remember being shocked at the time because this was one of the song choices I was most confident about going into post.

My favorite record of 2007 was Boxer by The National.   It was my personal soundtrack that year and marked my life the way great albums do.  Also at the time, John Askew (our composer and music supervisor) put together four CD's of random tracks that might be good for the film.  He included some older tracks from their CHERRY TREE EP and also included the track that jumped out the most -- Abel from ALLIGATOR.

ABEL had an irresistible spark. When we laid it down, the whole sequence came to life - it was electrifying.  It was one of those cool filmmaking moments, where you knew you had it right.  The only obstacle at that point was whether it was affordable.

Watching The National perform, you realize quickly they are a true band, each member in sync with each other and fully aware of the subtlety and weight of their own contribution.  I love watching them perform, so cool and unassuming.

Check them out playing The Apartment Story from Boxer.

Calvin Marshall Scene on YouTube

Thanks for watching and sharing with your networks!
VOLLEYBALL SEQUENCE!
Clip features Alex Frost, Michelle Lombardo, Josh Fadem, Steve Zahn and Abraham Benrubi.

Hybrid Distribution

It's a much better description for what's happening now in Independent film.

When you consider all the people you must collaborate with to release a film? Multiple companies and pros need to be in your corner and doing what they do best.  "DIY" just isn't accurate in most cases.

It's an exciting time to produce and release an independent film. There are so many tools in this evolving landscape that a producer can actually keep control of a property from script through release. For the first time, producers can split up the rights to their films and make multiple non-exclusive deals with major distribution companies.

The most exciting part?  More films will get exposure and make profits without turning the reigns over completely to major studios.   This means more and more film investors will see returns on their investments.

I expect private equity to flow into independent film again over the next few years simply because there will be enough filmmakers out there taking advantage of this extraordinary time.  And you can bet the producers left standing will build distribution expenses into future production budgets.

I don't want to come off overly optimistic here, but I do think this is an exciting time and there will be a lot of success stories.

Our producers have been consulting with Peter Broderick on the Calvin Marshall release -- who is quoted in this recent NY Times article.

The Coming Revolution in Indie Distribution