Hello!
Fractured Atlas came across my and my producer's radar when Dan Brawley, who works with the Cucalorus Film Festival in NC, recommended we look into Fractured Atlas as a potential fiscal sponsor for our independent short, Pop Screen.
The story is inspired by my time working for nearly 3 years as a night receptionist for a popular recording studio in Los Angeles and is an homage to the people who work behind the scenes in music - the engineers, studio runners, assistants - close to the stars but not one themselves.
Pop Screen's logline: The receptionist of a renowned Hollywood recording studio navigates a single night's recording session at the hands of a well-known and powerful music producer on a tight deadline.
We are currently in the financing part of the process. The location for the short has been graciously donated to us by Buddy Brundo, the owner of Conway Recording Studios, and shooting is scheduled for December. To date, we have secured a pledge of $20,000 and are putting together a promotional video that can help raise additional funds through crowdfunding. The total budget for the project lands at around $67k.
Below I have included a bit more on the origin of the project as well as those involved. Please let me know if we can provide you with anything else. I have included a link to the script as well as the original music tracks in the 'website' section and also have a detailed budget breakdown should you be interested in taking a look.
We appreciate your consideration and look forward to hearing from you!
Best,
Meg Steedle
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Project Description: Pop Screen - A Short Film
LOGLINE
The receptionist of a renowned Hollywood recording studio navigates a single night’s recording session at the hands of a well-known and powerful music producer on a tight deadline.
SYNOPSIS
Alex is the night receptionist at Conway Recording Studios, a well-known Hollywood recording studio that boasts quite the music clientele. At the start of her shift, she helps prepare Studio A for a session involving the collaboration of a well-known singer, Lily Beach, and the powerful and prolific music producer, Viggo. She helps the studio runners and engineer set up the room, even jumping onto the mic to test levels when the producer, Viggo, surprises them all by entering unannounced into the control room and witnessing her song. Alex, embarrassed, runs out of the live room and back to her desk having briefly neglected her duties of monitoring the car gate which controls who comes in and out of the campus at all times.
When Lily and Viggo get into an argument mid-session, Viggo grabs the talented Alex as a last-minute backup in order to meet his deadline. The song he is working on is for a major motion picture and must be completed by the end of the night. Alex jumps into the live room and onto the mic to complete some harmonies. As they work, she is in disbelief when Viggo takes a liking to her, asking if she would not only sing harmonies but the lead vocal on the song.
Just as Alex starts to have visions of success and finally making it as a singer herself, Lily returns with her manager to rejoin the session. It is unclear if Viggo ever really intended to put Alex on the song or if he just arranged the whole thing as a ploy to get Lily to come back, a power play. Alex is dismissed from the recording session and makes her way back to her desk. She sits there, the night playing out again and again in her head. So close and yet so far...
TOPIC SUMMARY
A few years ago when acting jobs were slow, I applied to a job listing on craigslist that was looking for a night receptionist for a recording studio in Hollywood. I wanted to get closer to an industry I have always loved and been fascinated by, especially since getting hired in my own industry at the time was proving few and far between. This was the second listing of its sort I applied to - the first of which turned out to be some sketchy guy’s personal studio (judging by the request for a full body photo) so let’s just say I didn’t have high hopes this second one was legit.
I emailed anyway. What came back was an interview to work at Conway Recording Studios, one of the hottest recording studios in the country and quite legendary: a quick google search pulls up a Wikipedia page that mentions Elton John and Stevie Wonder, and countless photos of chart-topping stars at work within their walls.
By another stroke of luck, I was then hired for what would turn out to be a fascinating job. As Conway’s new night receptionist, I was suddenly sharing space with songwriters, artists, music producers, and label execs I admired as they created tomorrow’s hit songs. I opened the gate for them, booked their studios, rented equipment for their sessions, got them food, fulfilled riders, and accommodated any request. Sometimes I even witnessed their brainstorming sessions and heard their songs months before a big release.
It’s a world that not many people see - the behind the scenes of the music we all listen to and dance to everyday - the soundtrack of our lives...
WHY TELL THIS STORY
For the two and half years I worked there, I had the opportunity to see behind the curtain of this industry that I love. Many of today’s top charting songs were recorded during my time at the studio and, in Zach (co-writer) and my late-night talks after long graveyard shifts, we started to see a narrative in these unexplored stories from the inside.
This is a fascinating world, one that has so much to do with who’s on the inside and who’s on the outside — emphasized further by the literal gate through which I monitored who came in and out of the studio lot. Even within the walls there is a clear social hierarchy at play — from the artists at the top, all the way down to the studio interns working just to be on the periphery of this exclusive world.
It is an industry stuck in a cognitive dissonance. Antiquated gender roles and firm tradition persist, despite the technical revolutions in everything from the sound of current music to the way it’s produced. Studio life has traditionally been run by men and continues to be so, even with the incredible female artists of the present day. The engineers are mostly men, the producers men, the studio runners men — there were nights when I was the ONLY female at the studio, with all the rooms fully booked and making music. It’s also an industry with no rules. There are no unions, no “set hours,” no HR team, and no standard for crediting. The result is a world rife with drama and we hope to bring the audience into this secretive, exclusive system.
Pop Screen is inspired by a run-in with a producer one of my coworkers had when she herself was working as a receptionist there and my own experience and observation of how much luck...and not hard work...determines who becomes a star and who remains in the shadows.
Who makes these artistic decisions that determine a life trajectory? What is the cost of staying on top in an industry that is obsessed with the next hot thing? Who are the people out of the spotlight who spend their lives in any industry to make sure “the machine” runs smoothly, and what do they want for themselves?
ARTISTIC APPROACH
● Filmed intimately - close ups and hand held camera almost in a documentary style
● Contrast of sound/silence, visually emphasized by whether you are inside or outside
soundproofed rooms
● Neon lighting and high tech of the studios themselves (which illustrates the modern relevance of the space and the artists within) vs. yellows and browns of the receptionist area that dates back to the 70s, creating a sense of history
● Film is seen through Alex’s perspective. Only what she experiences is visible to the audience.
● Whenever possible, long continuous shots that take us from one location to the next. Oners will be used as often as possible or edited together into a seamless experience of this particular night at the studio.
● A “backstage” perspective
