Having crafted the hard part in making his doc Song Sung Blue - about Neil Diamond cover artists Thunder and Lightning - filmmaker Greg Kohs arrived at Slamdance full of optimism. The lows, then highs, of what happened next are as unexpected as his film.

Please tell us what happened?

What happen next is not a simple story. So I have attached portions of my blog/diary from SLAMDANCE ’08:

SLAMDANCE - day 4

Today was an extremely stressful day. I camped out alone at the condo where emails and phone calls dominated the morning. As it turns out, last night our music clearance process hit a bump in the road. I had always known the music licensing process would be a long one. I also knew a film like SSB only had a chance of getting the proper clearances if the folks at the top viewed the entire film and were moved by it. So in September, after 8 years in the making, I locked the picture, submitted my music license requests, and shipped SSB to the SLAMDANCE Film Festival (on the last possible day for submissions).

That day back in September was the most surprising day of my 8 year journey to making this film. I had not anticipated the wave of emotion I would be hit with when the Fedx truck pulled away with my SLAMDANCE submission. I can only imagine what it will be like when my kids go off to college to fend for themselves.

Over the years, many asked me why I continued to make the film despite not having the music cleared ahead of time. My reasoning was simple; if this project was about a monetary return, I would have pursued the music clearances years ago, and they would have certainly been denied. However, the priority of this project, from day one, has been about creative, not commerce. Of course I would like to recoup my costs and compensate my talented and dedicated crew for their contributions, however, SSB has been almost like “creative therapy” for me. It has allowed me to balance the compromise of everyday commerce with a meaningful creative endeavor. My only hope of getting the music cleared was to finish the film.

So now after 8 years, the film is complete and the premiere is tomorrow. However, I need more time for my clearance requests to get to the top. That's the bad news. The good news is that over the last several weeks SSB has made its way to the individual that administers Neil’s publishing. This person screened the film and carefully considered it. I can not tell you how appreciative I am when someone watches my film. Anyway, he told us he would send our requests “up the flagpole”. As you might imagine, going up the “flagpole” does not happen in 24 hours and definitely does not happen over a long holiday weekend. However, getting to the “flagpole” is huge! For this opportunity I am so grateful, but today I have a decision to make - premiere the film tomorrow night without formal permission to use the music and risk ticking someone off, or postpone the screening until later in the week, and hope my film makes it to the top before then.

Last night when it became very evident the clearances were not going to happen before the premiere, I looked up a phone number I have had for nearly three years, but never called. Last night, I called Eddie Vedder to ask for his assistance in getting my film up the flagpole. Eddie plays an important roll in Lightning & Thunder’s story and has been a supporter of my film since he learned of it three years ago when I sent his management team a rough cut of a scene he is in. (you will have to see the film to fully understand). Several hours after leaving Eddie a message, he called back and told me that he and his manager would do what they could to assist me in getting my film up the flagpole as quickly as possible. We spoke about the humanity and soul of Lightning & Thunder’s story, and agreed to speak again the next day (today).

Around noon I got the heck out of my condo and met for a coffee at the Cow with my good friend Robby. Robby used to be my Executive Producer for commercials and has been a close friend and sounding board during the making of Song Sung Blue. He has spent countless hours reviewing rough cuts, discussing creative decisions, and just plain old being a good friend. Today he blew off a couple screenings to sit with me for several hours to discuss SSB again. I am so grateful for Robby’s support. He agreed that if Eddie’s efforts were not successful, I was correct to delay the screening.

After coffee (and an almond croissent), I headed up the hill to SLAMDANCE. During my walk I called Vince, my re-recording mixer back in Philadelphia. I explained the situation to him and asked if he could please mix out all the tracks in question, replacing several of them with instrumental tracks that Tony Dekker (Great Lake Swimmers) had uploaded from his most recent album. Tony wrote and performed the score for SSB. He is incredibly talented and was so gracious to make his entire recording library available to me during this difficult time. Vince said he would make whatever needed to happen, happen. Vince is amazing.

I arrived at the SLAMDANCE office to arrange for the postponement of my premiere. Sarah and Peter were extremely supportive and prepared a new screening time of Wednesday @ 10:45pm. They would await my call once I had heard back from Eddie.

So now the plan was in place, regardless of the outcome in the next several days, I will screen SSB on its rescheduled premiere date. If my music license request does not get up the pole in time, or is denied, I will screen a version with a new mix that will be a bit awkward in places, but the story of Lightning & Thunder will still be told.

Around 4pm Eddie called. He was sorry to inform me he had no news to report. He wished he had a business day to get to the appropriate people, but he said his manager and several other important friends would do their best to make Neil aware of the importance of my film. I expressed my appreciation for his continued efforts and briefly told him my plan to screen the film with the music removed until I could get the proper clearances. He encouraged me to keep the faith. I immediately called Vince and put the alternate mix in motion. I also retrieved the backup projection master and made arrangements to get it to Philadelphia counter-to-counter first thing Sunday morning. And then I called the SLAMDANCE office and pulled the trigger. My premiere was officially moved to Wednesday night.

Thunder, Rachel and Dana (the talent in my film) all arrived in town and checked into the condo I was staying at for the first three nights. Early in the evening I moved out of the condo to a house I will be staying at with all my family and friends for the remainder of the week. Andrea, the kids, my parents, in-laws, sisters, and several friends all arrived tonight. The stress of the day was muted by their arrival and the priorities of life fell into place.

Tomorrow will be the first big day of publicity for the film. Smile!

SLAMDANCE - day 5

No news on the music front today. However, today was our first day of SSB press. I stopped by Thunder’s condo around 4pm to say hello and choose the background track she would sing to on PARK CITY 17 television tonight. I also shared with her the music related issue I was dealing with, and assured her that though the premiere was postponed, Lightning & Thunder’s love story would still be shared with folks in Park City. We would just have to wait a few more days. She seemed pretty cool about it. Maybe it was that fact that now she wouldn’t miss any of the Packer’s game.

Tonight was our first time on TV promoting the film and I think the interview went well. Thunder performed “Crazy” on the air and then surprised the host when she stood up during the live broadcast and put a SSB pin on him. It was pretty funny to see the host’s face when Thunder took over. I was really happy to see Thunder getting attention and an opportunity to sing on TV. I think she was happy.

After the interview, our publicist, Jack Song encouraged me to smile. Apparently my smile was not so convincing. I’m not surprised, because as happy as I was to be promoting the film, deep down inside I was concerned for its future. I’ll have to work on that smile.

Apparently a lot of folks showed up for the original 9:30 pm screening of SSB tonight only to learn it had been rescheduled. I am told they all seemed pretty cool about it. The real bummer is the show was sold out long ago and now most of the ticket holders will be leaving town before the Wednesday premiere. I will have my work cut out for me to get people to the top of Main Street Wednesday night. Smile.

SLAMDANCE - day 6

Today was more SSB press. It started with an interview with NPR followed by a phone interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and then another interview with Dave Hoekstra from the Chicago Sun Times. Dave and I have kept in touch over the years, re: L&T. Dave actually did a piece for the paper on L&T many years ago that I used as research when I first began the film. Dave was one of the few press that received a screener of the film and will be writing a feature on SSB. Dave dug the idea that many of my decisions as a filmmaker were informed by my ten years making films with NFL FIlms. For that reason, I think they are going to run his story closer to the Super Bowl. I think his angle is pretty cool as I am extremely proud to celebrate my NFL Films roots.

Earlier in the day when I did the NPR interview, I couldn’t help but think about an episode of Fresh Air I had heard about two years ago just before Neil released his album, “12 Songs”. Terry Gross had asked Neil about the music clearance process for Urge Overkill’s cover of Girl You’ll be a Woman Soon for use in Pulp Fiction. Neil shared how he was initially against it given the disturbing nature of the scene it would accompany, but at the urging of the person that administered his publishing, he reconsidered, and from that point on, Neil said he has approached the use of his music in films differently. This gave me a some hope, that if he could only see my film, things might work out.

During the day, I spoke with my Graphics Designer, Penny Ashman back in Philly. She is in the process of changing the credit crawl to reflect the absence of many cuts of music. Penny, like so many that have worked on SSB, has been so dedicated and amazing.

The day finished off with Thunder, Rachel, Dana and I attending Slamdance’s Filmmaker Happy Hour. Jack (publicist) thought It would be a good idea to stay visible, smile and share Thunder with the Slamdance family of filmmakers. It was a great idea. I had the pleasure of making some wonderful new friends that include Jack and his Mom, Opel. Jack returned to Slamdance this year with a $99 Special called OUTHOUSE. Jack and Opel are real folks, as are most of the Slamdance family I have met. It was a lot of fun getting to know them.

I also got the opportunity to meet the Ron & Stewart, the Directors of PAGEANT, as well as their DP, Clay. They are very cool and I am excited to see their film tomorrow. PAGEANT caught my eye immediately when the slate of films was announced. I’m excited to go see it. PAGEANT will be the first screening I will get to attend this festival.

When I got back to the house, I spoke with Vince on the phone several times into the early morning. He was back in Philly at the studio trying to finish up the mix in time to layback and then get it on a plane in time for Wednesday’s screening. He felt good about much of the mix, but he and I were uncomfortable with several of the scenes that were completely music dependent. We agreed to not get too fancy, but I know Vince, and I know he is going to get real fancy in order to make sure the mix is the best it can possibly be. I also know he is not going to sleep in order to do it.

I arranged the counter-to-counter shipment of the projection master tape Vince was preparing. He had till 5am EST Wednesday morning to make the mix the best it could be before the screening. I would then receive the SSB master tape with the alternate mix around 6pm for my 10:45pm premiere Wednesday night. Smile!

SLAMDANCE - day 7

Today started with a game of Uno with my daughter and then I sat down in front of my computer to finalize the shipment arrangements of the master. Suddenly an email bangs on my screen from my music supervisor - I am to call her IMMEDIATELY - we are about to get all music approved. I am not kidding when I say I could not speak - and my hands shook so much while I was trying to dial my iPhone - before I could get the number dialed, Stephanie, my music supervisor (who had provided her assistance gratis for over 5 months) rang me and said she couldn’t talk now, but received word this morning that we were about to get the green light for ALL the music. She would share more with me later.

I hung up and bawled at the kitchen table. My family ran around the house screaming and crying and the world was good! The first thing I did was dial Vince and tell him to STOP working on the film. Layback what he had and STOP working on the film. Vince was so happy to hear the news. He laughed at me as I wept on the phone. He told me when I got back to town he was going to playback some of the voice messages I left him over the last couple days. He said I would get a kick out of them.

I decided not to run around telling everyone the music was cleared until I had it in writing. After all, the process of making this film has been a roller coaster just like the actual film I had made. For every high there has always been a low. All the paper work needed to be resubmitted and the process of clearing the music was now on the fast track. Something special had happened over the weekend. I am not sure what, but something special definitely happened. My fingers are crossed it can all happen before tomorrow night.

Shortly after “the call”, I left Eddie a message, pulled myself together and headed into town with my wife and sister.

We attended the PAGEANT screening and I really enjoyed it. Here we are on Day 7 and I am finally seeing a film. The movie was wonderful. Some of the cast was present and that made the Q&A very entertaining. And the place was packed. It was shot beautifully and very evident that Ron and Stewart were extremely passionate filmmakers. It was nice to finally dim the lights and screen a film.

After the screening we headed over to the Cow for a coffee. While there, Eddie called and we discussed the events of the last two days. I thanked him over and over for his efforts and consideration. He sounded genuinely excited that the process was moving forward. I have no idea what happened over the weekend, but I have to believe Eddie had something to do with it. Eddie is the real deal!

SLAMDANCE - day 8

Today was the Premiere of Song Sung Blue, and the single most amazing day of my entire professional career.

Around 1pm Great Lake Swimmer, Tony Dekker arrived to Park City. Tony wrote the score for SSB and performed a beautiful cover of Song Sung Blue for the film’s credits. Tonight he and Thunder will be performing a Cisero’s Night Club to help promote the film. But first Tony, Thunder and the rest of the crew did several photo shoots for Getty and Imagewire. Tony’s guitar never made his connecting flight so he had to swing a loaner from a local music store just in case it didn’t arrive in time.

Between photo shoots I was on the phone with Stephanie, my music supervisor wrapping up the details of the festival licenses. Things seemed to be moving forward quickly. Smiling was becoming a bit easier. Around 5pm Thunder performed several songs at the SLAMDANCE happy hour. Her voice was beautiful and she received lots of LOVE from the Slamdance filmmakers. I was happy to see her getting so much attention. CURRENT TV was in the house and interviewed both THUNDER and me as well. 

Following the interview we moved over to Cisero’s for dinner and Tony & Thunder’s performance. All my family and friends were there as well as many others that showed up to check out the show. Tony took the stage first and was sharing his amazing voice with us when Dan, the manager of Cisero’s, tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Greg, you have a phone call on line two at the bar, its NEIL DIAMOND.”....... and once again, I lost it.

Neil had called to let me know how much he loved the film and to wish us luck at the premiere tonight. He was incredibly kind and appreciative of how his music was used in the film, honored to have Lightning and Thunder share his music with others, and completely supportive of my 8 year labor of love. He went on to tell me that over the weekend he had been alerted about my project from Eddie Vedder.

For 8 years I had dreamt that one day this moment would happen. I knew the chances of it happening were not great, so I therefor challenged myself to make the best film possible in hopes that the film would speak to those that watched it, and that its message would resonate with Eddie, Neil and everyone else that watched it. It had. The process started many months ago, and now only an hour before the premiere, the endorsement I had hoped for came in on line #2 of the bar phone at Cisero's.

When I was done talking to Neil I went and grabbed Thunder so she too could experience Line #2, and once again I lost it. After 18 years of celebrating Neil’s music with so many fans across the midwest Thunder was speaking with Neil Diamond. I was so happy for Thunder. And while I wished Lightning could have had the same opportunity, he would be happy to know that he is responsible for Thunder’s happiness right now. It was truly magical. When Thunder hung up, she scooted back to the stage to perform a set of songs that concluded with Thunder and Tony singing Song Sung Blue. Thunder was so happy.

Following the gig we walked across the street for the Premiere. On the walk over Eddie called to tell me that he had heard that Neil and his manager loved the film. I told Eddie I had just spoken with Neil and heard the same thing. Eddie said, “no way” and went on to say how happy he was that this all worked out. I wish I could remember everything I said to Eddie but I don’t. I know I cussed a lot though. And I know “thank you” was incorporated into about every other sentence. And I remember all I kept saying to Neil was, “Thank you for watching my film.” Because in the end, thats all I really want - people to watch and experience the story of Lightning & Thunder.

I am so grateful that Eddie, Neil and the people they surround themselves with took the time to watch my film and allow me the opportunity to share Song Sung Blue with others in the form it was intended.

The lights dimmed and the film began, and when Lightning sang the first couple notes of Cherry Cherry about 2 minutes into the movie - I lost it. It was a wonderful screening. The Q&A with Thunder, Rachel & Dana was special. There was a lot of love in the screening room.

We went back to the house after the screening and my Mom, Dad and friend John all shared a couple bottles of red and a family size box of pop-tarts. The world was good - and I smiled.

SLAMDANCE - day 10

Today was spent shipping some family & friends off to the airport and starting to pack up. Around 7:30pm we headed over to the SLAMDANCE award gathering at the Treasure Mountain Inn. I had very low expectations in regards to SSB winning anything. As far as I was concerned we had all won when we screened the film for an audience for the first time. I was just so happy knowing I could share my film with more people in the form it was intended.

When the night ended, Song Sung Blue won both the AUDIENCE AWARD & GRAND JURY AWARD for BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE. It was nuts. I was very happy to share the attention with Nick (editor) and Jimmy (DP). I truly hope that wonderful opportunities come their way as a result of the dedication and skill they brought to the film.

Before I left the stage I made sure to thank EDDIE & NEIL for there support of independent film and hoped their actions would benefit other independent filmmakers with a dream.  And I also thanked my wife Andrea. Because there is no way I would have been able to make this film without her understanding and support. She is almost as amazing as Eddie & Neil. Just kidding! I love you Andrea!

Your relationship with Thunder and Lightning and their family appear consistently honest and intimate. Given the astonishing and often tragic events you recorded how did you, if you did, keep your filmmaking objectivity?

I filmed Lightning & Thunder is small doses. Many small doses. This ensured I remained grounded and objective and not swept up in the events that were happening around them. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to step in and out of the complicated world they were living in and as a result maintain an objective eye and attitude as a filmmaker.

How did you approach the filmmaking of Song Sung Blue?

I approached the filmmaking of SONG SUNG BLUE as a marathon not a sprint. One time while I was filming Lightning and Thunder driving to a gig, Thunder was a bit stressed because she thought they were going to be late. Lightning tried to calm her by saying, “relax, we’ll get there faster going slower.” My key filmmaking tools were PATIENCE and BEING A GOOD LISTENER. I strived to bring a captured not contrived vibe to the film. Real as dirt.

Tell us about the story you thought you were going to tell and how it adapted throughout your production?

I thought I would be telling the story of an underdog making a comeback. It soon became apparent that the real story I was telling was a powerful LOVE STORY.

Having completed Song Sung Blue what's the biggest lesson you have learned as a filmmaker?

Always do right.

Why did you become a documentary filmmaker?

I became a filmmaker to make goosebumps. The documentary genre currently gives me that opportunity.

Who or what inspired you to become a filmmaker?

That’s difficult to pinpoint. But my transition for stills to motion pictures came after watching an amazing open to one on NFL FILMS productions. I was channel surfing around 2am one morning and came across a scene of a team of Navy Seals preparing to jump out of a plane with a game ball for and NFC Championship game. The cinematography, editing, and sound of the ground to air radio’s it was amazing and right then and there I said this is what I want to do. Not jump out of planes, but tell stories. Real authentic stories with emotion.

What's next?

I have a couple documentary ideas I’m considering jumping into in the next couple months with topics ranging from frogs, dolls and cowboys. Stay tuned.

What is the Greg Kohs' rule #1 that filmmakers should always break?

What rules?

 

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