Songwriter Blog #10

RED WHITE BLUE PART II - HEARING THE SONG - SO ALIVE

Waking up today was different. There really wasn't any pressure on me anymore. The film guys had already left to go and work on the last scene. I kind of just slowly walked around the wreckage of my house and tried to take in all that had happened. I took a pretty long shower- it was nice to have hot water. I decided that I would resist any urge to start cleaning the house. Even though I was done writing, we still weren't done with the project. I decided that I'd head over to Vibe 56 studio to see what Mark Heimermann and Red White Blue were doing with "So Alive."

Before I left I spent a minute with Vega and Mike - our dogs. I sat on the floor and let them come over and awkwardly pounce on top of me. They have a funny way of helping me take stock of things- I guess they in some ways act as my constant. I looked at Mike's leg and noticed that it hadn't gotten worse in the last 2 days of the project - perhaps the Doggy Prozak was actually working.

I got in my car and quickly scanned the house. I took a second to record a quick flip camera video.


The Writing is ALL DONE!

I started heading over to the Vibe 56. I was really excited about seeing Mark Heimermann at work doing his thing. Jenn and Jenny mentioned they were going to try and stop by the studio - this will have been their only chance to do so. So I stood outside the studio and got ready for the last time!


Outside Vibe 56 Studio.

Once I got in there, it seemed like everyone had a complete handle on things. They had actually progressed much further than I thought they would. Then again, I guess I should have assumed that. Mark and the Red White Blue guys are pros.

Ryan Pruitt made an immediate crack about how I gave the Red White Blue guys a CCM song. I smiled, considered a second slap, and moved on. The band and producer just seemed to dive right in and they seemed to have a great working relationship. It was a really nice fit.

Mark has a ton of energy in the studio. He projects a very distinct confidence but has a way of keeping things moving without pushing. Honestly, he's like a big kid. It was really cool to watch. You just kind of have immediate faith in him.

The Red White Blue guys were super relaxed. They weren't in the least nervous about tackling this project. They just kind of went at it. The first thing that stood out to me was that Beau started out the song with this really cool bass riff. When the vocals first come in, the entire band drops into the groove together. It was definitely one of my favorite moments of the entire album.


In the studio with Red White Blue.

I kind of smiled when Mark asked Josh and Beau who was going to sing the vocal. They both kind of looked at each other hoping the other would say "I'll sing it." Then, they just decided to both do it. In retrospect, I can't imagine the song without both vocalists. That simple quick decision became such a defining factor in this tune. I would later hear a rough version at the 12th South Taproom and would then fall immediately in love with it. Everyone nailed it. I don't just mean Mark and Red White Blue, but I mean EVERYONE that worked on this music. There's not a weak spot on this album anywhere.


Daily Vidcast Day 9 from The Nashville 9 on Vimeo.
The Last Video Blog.

I decided to head out and get ready for the wrap party. It was a Sunday, so the pace here in Nashville seemed in stark contrast to the frenetic pace of The Nashville 9. I thought about heading home, but Jenny suggested that we hop over to Broadway Brewhouse to grab a quick drink and catch the end of the Titans game. I obliged.



I sat in the booth and thought "Wow," this is how it all ends. It seemed so anticlimactic. It seemed so normal. Then I remembered, this is just the beginning...

Screenwriter Blog #10 - Story 9/Scene 3/Sony

Last day.

A year of planning was nearly over. A bittersweet moment. I was excited about finishing and excited about what we had accomplished, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready yet for it to end.

Regardless, there wasn’t much time for thoughts either way.

The weather had turned cold the past couple of days. This was November weather. For the first 7 days we had been basking in what felt like an Indian Summer. The chill and the gray and the wind of this day was more what I had been expecting. But the frigid load in and load out, there was little cause for concern, though. We were shooting almost entirely inside.

It was to be an odd shoot for me today. My regular job is at Sony Music Publishing. I work in Royalties. As I was scouting locations, Sony had always been on my list of potentials. The Tree building, one of the buildings I work in, has a long, storied past in the history of Nashville and the music industry. I had wanted to incorporate a conference or board room, focusing on the business side of Nashville, but hadn’t known just where.

Once again, Sony was always on my list of potentials. The Tree building has a great conference room - all wood, fireplace, long table, and best of all - I knew the people who controlled access to it. As it came down to putting the finishing touches on the locations, I contacted Angel, our HR representative, and she got me the okay to shoot.

To take a week off from work required me taking a vacation. That "vacation" was the Nashville 9. On Monday I would be back to work officially, but here I was now, on vacation, yet still at work.

Once again, we had a very secure location with minimal setup. I was feeling pretty confident. The actors in the scene today were 3 people who had already served much time with the Nashville 9. This was a Jordan scene, which meant Brandon. We also needed label representatives. We had decided to go with an A&R person and a label head. We decided to cast Missy as the A&R rep and Doug as the exec.

We had met Missy when we held auditions in March. We knew almost immediately we wanted to work with her. When the 48 hour project came along, we had gotten our chance. We had cast her, along with Michele and Brandon. The dynamics were great and so we were very eager to work with her again.

Unfortunately and fortunately, Missy had been tied up for the previous 8 days as part the story gathering team. As story gathering was over, we thought now might be the perfect opportunity to utilize her talents as an actor.

And then there was Doug. Aside from our surety that he could more than adequately play the part, I’m pretty sure we cast Doug for ulterior reasons; not wanting him to miss out on the nerve-wracking stress we had all experienced as actors. It’s amazing, you work under constant pressure and time constraints every day and don’t blink an eye. You get completely thrown for a loop and have to change a situation constantly and don’t blink an eye. You have a crew of people depending on you to make this movie happen and you don’t blink an eye. You have to say a few words on camera and that’s all you can concentrate on for the rest of the day.

Yeah, I think we wanted him to join that fraternity of pain.

We packed and headed off for the last time. There was an excitement in the air. There was a feeling we had accomplished something good.

I was a bit nervous as we arrived at Sony, though. At most of the other locations, someone had been there to let us in and to take care that the location was in order. That was my responsibility today. Sony has an alarm (which I never have to turn on or off) and I was just praying I wouldn’t set it off by mistake. I wore my Sony sweatshirt in case the alarm did go off; thinking it might help the credulity of my story as I told it to the police.

We arrived, though, and found that someone was in the studio and had already turned the alarm off. We entered and started setting up.

We only had one basic set up, but still had many problems to deal with. There were reflective surfaces encompassing most of the conference room. The huge table was glass, one entire wall was windows, and the marble fireplace showed just about every movement in the vicinity. Our angles were pretty much dictated for us, but we did what we could and prepared to shoot.

As stated, we really had Doug working overtime today. If he wasn’t getting into make-up, he was moving lights. If he wasn’t running lines, he was focusing shots. Still, he seemed adept at compartmentalizing and multi-tasking and if Doug ever wants to use me as a reference, I would be glad to say that to any potential employer.

Finally, we were ready to shoot. We rolled through several takes and everything seemed to be going well. We noticed, though, that Missy tended to inadvertently move her chair (they spin and roll very easily on the hard wood floors) a lot. To rectify the situation, we posted Nat on the floor, both hands anchoring Missy’s chair in place. Also on the floor, was just about anyone else in the room; trying their best to stay out of any reflective surfaces. We kept shooting.

We were nearly done with the scene when lunch arrived, brought by my parents. Although they had been here for the entirety of the 9 days, I had gotten to see them very little and any time spent was good.

We loaded the food in and then, as they had to drive back to West Virginia immediately after lunch, we said our goodbyes.

After lunch we went back to places to finish the scene. As we were setting up, we realized this was our last opportunity to tie up any loose ends. One item we were especially concerned with was how Sally went from Art Gallery patron in scene 2 to Executive Assistant in Scene 4. I think Tracy, one of the doc crew members (who had risked her life earlier in the day by taking a ride with Brandon on his motorcycle,) suggested we maybe have a phone call from Sally to Doug, her dad.

I thought it was a great suggestion and we went to working up the exact details of the conversation. It was decided that Doug (this had to be a one-sided conversation since Sally wasn’t on hand) would reference that Sally had spent her rent money on a piece of art and was desperately in need of more money. Doug would not offer her money, but would offer her a job with Mara Greene (the exec from scene 4.) It made perfect sense that a man in Doug’s position could pull those strings. It also complicated everyone's relationships a little more. John would now be involved with the daughter of the head of Jordan's label. Cue the organ swell.

This was great to me. This was exactly what the Nashville 9 was all about - solving problems and infusing loose ends with meaning.

To help with the validity of the phone conversation, Nat offered to get on the other end of the line. This worked great until Nat decided to change his reason for needing money to his/Sally being pregnant.

What was great was that none of us knew he had said this (in fact none of us but Doug could hear anything Nat was saying) until Doug burst into laughter, effectively ruining the entire take.

We let it slide and nailed the call in the next take. We decided then to move outside for our last shots - Brandon arriving on the motorcycle.

If you’ve never ridden on a motorcycle, you should. If you’ve never ridden on a motorcycle with Brandon, you definitely should. Brandon provides just enough skill and confidence to make you think there’s no way you might die, but takes enough risks to make you rethink your previous thoughts.

The first shot we needed was of Brandon arriving in the parking lot. As I watched Brandon leave on the bike, I noticed, to get into place, he drove the wrong way down a one-way street. My first instinct was to stop him, but I was soon informed he was only driving down the sidewalk.

Brandon drove in and we got the shot in one take. Our next shot was a medium shot of Brandon getting off the motorcycle and taking off his helmet and jacket. It was really cold. The coldest day of the shoot and we were all anxious to get back inside. It took us two, maybe 3 takes to get this one right.

And then we came to it. The last shot. Everything we had been building toward.

The last shot was Brandon walking into the building. Nothing dramatic. No fighting. No dialogue. Just walking into the building.

We got in in one take.

I remember, after calling the wrap, hearing Doug scream for joy and then myself being picked up and carried around by Nat. It was a good day.

It was cold, though, so we went back inside and started to pack up. As we got everything loaded we drove back to Luke’s. I dropped off a few things and then drove home - somewhere I hadn’t been in what felt like a long time. I was alone too. The first time since I first walked into Luke’s house at 5:15 on Halloween night. To be honest, I wasn’t really sure how I felt. I felt tired. I felt accomplished. I felt excited. I felt sad.

I drove home, took a nap, took a bath, and then headed out for the wrap party.