Over the last year we have been working on the film we are always asked the same few questions by folks who were in the scene:  “How did you pick the bands?”, “Why did you pick those bands?” or  “Why not my band?”.  Before I address those, let me say that we have hours and hours of footage, so if your band isn’t in the feature there is a high chance it will be in the DVD extras or in other content surrounding the film where people can hear your story.

The fact of the feature is that the bands kind of chose themselves as the movie developed an story arcs took on a life of their own. We started out interviewing and talking with friends of ours from back in the day. We had a list of 30 names that we wanted to talk with, and we made sure to include people in the media and local music industry that would be more impartial. In fact, at first the only interview we knew we had to have was with Tom Colletta.

To my surprise, it was the guys like Tim McCoy that we interviewed for close to 2 hours that spoke about so many of the other musicians and bands that got Michael Venn and I excited to interview people that we didnt previously think of before, like Jon Nolan. I never got to see Say ZuZu back in the day, and to my delight the interview with Jon Nolan was one of my favorites. Not only did he talk about some of the great new talent in the area, he spoke of a few more musicians from all the genres who have gone on in their careers beyond The Seacoast, making a name for themselves and enjoying their success. It was because of Jon that we discovered the focus of the film – “redefining your definition of success” – and our title as one day after reviewing a very early promo edit he said “Yeah, we were all in danger of being discovered”.  How I wish cameras were rolling!

Jon was our 3rd interview and because of Tom, Tim and Jon plus meetings and emails with hundreds of people our interview list was over 125 people long! With each interview requiring an average of 10 hours worth of time including planning, coordinating a professional crew, doing the interview, importing the footage into the computer, logging the footage and financing all of this out of pocket (and out of the love of the scene) we did have to limit the amount of interviews we did. We feel we got a cross section that helps to tell a story that viewers around the world can relate to.

There are also people that did great interviews for us but perhaps said the same idea as many others that were already helping to tell another part of the story. We had to make the tough decision to not include someone in the feature and perhaps use their footage in the extras –  as documentary filmmakers we need to be true to the subject of the film and if we don’t find the story that a large audience can connect with then no one outside Portsmouth will see our film or hear your music and story. Michael, Karlina, Jon and I (the producers) want this film to reach far beyond the Seacoast and bring our passion to the world.

We hope our film is the first step in bringing attention to this great music scene and that everyone feels how this story resonates as much as we do!