This blog is part of our ongoing series of Creator stories, "The Day I Knew I Made It."
Last year, right before the pandemic hit, I had the opportunity to write and produce my very first music video for some friends of mine. A really awesome Nashville-based pop-punk-rock-whatever you want to call it trio called The Foxies asked for my production company, Moonscar Productions, to make the video for “Anti Socialite” off their upcoming EP in January 2020.
It was a daunting task, but I was really humbled to have been asked to write and produce for a group of friends who are special to me and my company, both on a personal level and in a professional sense. I soon realized I would be incredibly stressed out having never done a music video before and not really knowing the logistics that come with adding a musical component to a film production.
From managing a pretty massive budget, handling talent now amassing to over 20 people (including fifteen or so teenagers), figuring out a large-scale production with multiple cameras, and having one day to shoot with freezing rain on a holiday that also happened to be my birthday? Alright, no problem I guess. Not to mention, I decided to write a treatment to feature a celebrity cameo role. Why did I do this for myself knowing I was going to be in charge of casting and producing and probably also paying that celebrity? Who did I think I was, Steven Spielberg?!
I went through several different rounds of celebrity outreach, sounding like Oliver Twist asking for food — emailing and calling agents to consider an offer for the crazy role of a 1970s gym coach in a Revenge of the Nerds style teenager takedown by a bunch of tattooed punks. Seriously, you name a celebrity, I probably asked. Finally, it hit me that I needed to ask musicians and really lean into this storyline. When John Oates came to mind as a local musician with the coolest hair and mustache in the game, it kind of just clicked. I asked his agent over email and within hours I got a phone call...from John Oates himself! The rest is history.
The best piece of advice I can give before getting into the good stuff is: always trust your crew. Having a crew you can depend on to keep the time, pace, vision, coffee runs, and professionalism of the shoot are key. If the shots can keep going without you needing to manage, you’ve done the ultimate job as a producer in my opinion. I asked friends who I knew would be the absolute best Director, DPs, Gaffers, ADs, PAs, MUAs, etc. and it paid off. It could not have been a more perfect group of people to bring so much chaos into a mostly seamless day of shooting and definitely a seamless execution in the final result.
I knew it was a great video while we were shooting, but I didn't know it was going to be as big as it was until Alt Press was the one to debut it. It was kind of a pinch-yourself moment. I used to read Alt Press as a little nerd freshman in high school and now here’s my name in it. That seemed about as big as I thought it would get. Then, Rolling Stone tweeted about the song and video. Then, Billboard came. MTV even played the video on their daily music video round-up. By then I still couldn’t believe it, but I knew long before that moment we’d made it.
"Anti Socialite" by The Foxies
Months later, well after the pandemic was underway, I was in the gym in a different state from where we filmed, and the song came on while I was lifting heavy weights. I almost broke my spine from jumping off the machine after my mask fell into my eyes in surprise and excitement.
There are some projects that feel so special when you make them and you just know the piece you’re creating is good. Even imposter syndrome can’t get you. That was a turning point for me and a lot of us on that set. It was something so big in scale and we did it so well. I knew it would “make us” that day John Oates called my cell phone, but I didn’t know it would still be making me feel like anything is possible over a year later.
No project is too unimportant. I also learned that from this. If friends ask me to make something, I will do it as if it’s an Emmy or Oscar-winning production, because it could be the project that makes me or breaks me!
TLDR: Keep making the projects with people that are special to you and if it feels special while shooting, it probably really is. (And cast John Oates if you can. He’s awesome!)
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Note From Tongal: "John Oates Is on the Phone for You . . ." is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Tongal. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here and then Pitch us a topic you'd like to write about for the Tongal Blog!
