His story was all too common during the early years of the recording industry, and the interviews he did with Edward before his passing in 2011 brought our director into contact with other members of Norman's generation who had endured similar hardships and unfair business practices. The Music Never Dies now seeks to raise $33,000 to bring several of them together as a band to tour and perform overseas. The tour will allow them to share their stories of decades on the road, and expose them to international markets and a new audience of fans who may actually know much of their music already, but not yet their faces live on stage.
The Funding Plan & The Tour
The Music Never Dies has secured a deal for post-production services with DBCom Media, our co-producer in Montreal, and as such, will be sufficiently funded through to completion once principal photography has been completed. The funds raised here on IndieGoGo will go toward 5 days of shooting in New York and New Orleans as we interview and rehearse with the band, and subsequently take them and our production crew on a two-week tour overseas that will make up the remainder of our narrative.
We have booked a 300-seat venue in Helsinki, Finland, as our cornerstone venue, and as of the publication time of this campaign, we are securing deals for smaller club dates in nearby countries.
Apart from the expenses directly connected to carrying out the tour, the funding raised here will also go toward the web design team behind our film's homepage.
The target amount of $33,000 would cover us for a tour of three to four cities (depending on variables like shifts in airline prices, shifts in currency exchange rates, etc,) One great part about a documentary that is also a live stage tour is that we'll earn performance fees while on the road, allowing us to pick up $500 - $2,000+ on show nights, depending on the country, the venue, and in some cases, revenue from ticket sales. This source of income will not cover the ongoing expenses of the tour, however it will offset unforeseen expenses that affect either the performance revenue, flights, or accommodation promised to our band that must be covered by the production.
The Perks
The Update List - We look forward to sharing as much of the experience of making The Music Never Dies with our backers, by publishing a series of e-mail updates for all backers offering a minimum $1 contribution to the film.
The Digital EP - During our tour, we will spend a huge amount of time surrounded by music, both in rehearsals and when our band is in front of an audience, so we thought that a great supplementary experience to the film itself would be sharing some of the strongest performances we experience on the tour and turning them into an EP. There will inevitably be rights issues connected to the content of the EP given that our band is set to perform covers, but we will be sure to offer the eventual EP in a manner that clears all legal obligations.
The Completed Film - The film will take a few more weeks to shoot and some months to edit, but by summertime of 2015, we do expect to have the final product. Our perk list includes packages that offer digital downloads of the film, as well as a limited edition DVD signed by our director, Edward Hillel.
The Limited Edition Photo Stills - Our director and our producer are both have a long background in art gallery photography, so another perk on our list is a series of limited edition photographs, both from prior shoots for The Music Never Dies, as well as future shoots in New York, New Orleans and our overseas tour. In multiple sizes of framed and unframed photographs, we will be able to offer an array of action shots and portraits suitable for the decoration of your home or office.
Meet the Band and the Crew - We look forward to connecting our backers both voice-to-voice and face-to-face with the creative team and the musicians, so we have also set up perks like a phone call from our director, the chance to meet the band for dinner in New Orleans before the tour gets underway, and even travelling with us and hanging out at our tour gigs (when we're not shooting of course) while our live dates are in progress.
The Crew
Director - Edward Hillel grew up in Montreal and attended McGill University in Canada, where, he won the Golden Sheaf Award, given to the country's most promising young filmmaker. His film projects have since screened at museums and international festivals, and have been broadcast on PBS, Channel Four (UK), CBC (Canada), ARTE (France/Germany), Fuji TV (Japan) and others.
As a photographer, he has participated in more than one hundred exhibitions internationally, had his work in such editorial publications as Time and Esquire and has published several books, most recently "125th: Time in Harlem", a collection of photos of the Harlem, New York neighborhood where he has maintained his studio since 2004.
Producer and photographer Jason DeBose is a native of southern California and an alumnus of the film school of Connecticut's Wesleyan University (known for, among other names, The Avengers and Buffy the Vampire Slayer director Joss Whedon and Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (Cinderella Man, A Beautiful Mind). DeBose's production experience includes action films for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and network television comedy at Warner Bros. Television (The Drew Carey Show, George Lopez). His professional experience in documentary films began in 2002 with Burbank California's Morningstar Entertainment (The History Channel's Modern Marvels, A&E's Biography).
As a photographer, DeBose’s artwork, drawn from his travel through more than 25 countries, has won five grants and has been collected and exhibited in California, Texas, and New York, in addition to Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Finland and Estonia.
Co-Producer
Nicolas Boucher has been involved in the creation of more than 200 documentaries broadcast in more than 100 countries. His Montreal based production house DBCom Media operates shooting facilities, 25 image and sound studios, and works with a talented roster of producers, directors and editors,
Boucher has written and directed a 26-part series, Backstage, revealing the driving elements of today’s independent music industry. His most recent project, Waterfront Cities of the World, a 78-hour documentary series on the culture of seaport cities around the globe, is currently being broadcast in more than 100 countries through TV5 Monde, Arte, Discovery Asia and many more.
Further Considerations
If we are to fall short of our goal, we expect to supplement what we raise with a number of U.S.-based grants for the arts for which we are eligible. Exceeding our goal by a healthy margin would allow us to extend our tour to other destinations where there is a market for live jazz performance. We are considering shows in cities like Chicago, Illinois, Nashville, Tennessee; Dallas, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; various locales of the Mediterranean Sea, and more.
We certainly value your sharing of this project on social media and in any settings where the music or themes of The Music Never Dies may find favor with an audience as yet unfamiliar with our project. Let us know of your post, and we will be happy to thank you in an a future update!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAQ:
Q: I am not from North America. Is it still possible to contribute to this campaign?
A: Yes. Paypal, Visa, Mastercard and Discover users can contribute from anywhere in the world.
Q: I would like to contribute to this campaign, but I would prefer not to use my credit card over the web. Is it still possible for me to make a contribution?
A: Yes. For instructions on contributing by check, or other means than those mentioned above, please send a message here to our producer Jason DeBose, via his IndieGoGo profile, or via e-mail at jason@musicneverdiesmovie.com .
Q: Is a contribution to this campaign tax-deducitble?
A: Unfortunately, no; as The Music Never Dies is not affiliated with a 501(c)3 entity, we cannot offer our backers documentation for a tax deduction for their contribution.
Q: I am not in a financial position to back this campaign. Is there a way I can still contribute to the efforts of the film?
A: Absolutely. We expect our that plenty of the users who might most enjoy the content of our film may not be active on the web or on social media. If there are web users in your life that primarily use their web connection for e-mail and you expect that The Music Never Dies could be of interest to them, please do share the campaign's URL with them via e-mail or simply let them know about it in person, and perhaps even share some our video or other materials via your own desktop or mobile device.
More to come here in the FAQ as the campaign unfolds.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you; we look forward to hearing from you and perhaps meeting you in the months ahead!