Narrative - Drinking Music
Narrative Feature
Title: Drinking Music
Page Count: 110 pp
Project Status: In Development
Logline
A struggling bluesman (and recovering addict) has 24 hours to find who took the money his band has raised to complete their album.
Synopsis
“Crafty Pat” is a down-on-his-luck musician and recovering addict who plays unpopular dive bars on the edge of New Orleans’ Frenchmen Street music district. In the aftermath of a fistfight with his bass player, Pat manages to raise the money needed to pay for the final day of recording his new album, his magnum opus. Alas, in a moment of weakness, he loans the money to his bass player's gal Georgia, who promises to pay it back in the morning. She vanishes with his money, forcing him to dive into a netherworld of drug dealers, sex clubs, two-timing hustlers, vindictive music studio owners, and femme fatale bartenders with only 24-hours to find the money or lose the album. As the storm around him escalates, his long dark night of the soul brings him face to face with the darkest aspects of his past and present.
Additional Project Information
For the last 16 years I have been writing scripts and making movies about the downtown service industry in the "lower" French Quarter (i.e. the unfashionable eastern side). My first feature film in this milieu, LAUNDRY DAY, is a cult favorite here in the Big Easy, placing on "Best Films of 2018" lists by two major New Orleans publications (our daily paper and Big Easy magazine). My follow-up, DRINKING MUSIC, is set in the Frenchmen Street music distric and follows a musician on a single night pursuing a single goal. The bones of the story are film noir but the people, places, and problems are woven from true stories unique to the slow-moving tragic-comedy that is New Orleans. In Dashiell Hammett tradition, the journey takes us from the lowest trenches to the highest reaches of this unique society, but at the same time the protagonist can't help but take us into ever-deeper personal places, personal conflicts, and of course personal demons.
Frenchmen Street has 17 music clubs packed into three blocks; most play live music 7/52/365 with multiple acts every night and no cover charge. The densest music district in the country if not the world. The screenplay is written for specific locations on Frenchmen Street and its area. Visually we will take you on a journey that reflects his deteriorating mental and physical condition (and the escalating stakes) while taking advantage of the authenticity real locations bring.
Team
DP: Josephina Gocman, Music: Alex McMurray, Cast: Joshua Burge, Michael Cerveris, Tony Frederick, Theodus Crane, Donna Duplantier. ExecProd: Hal "Corky" Kessler
Financials
Investments are tax deductible through the Federal 181 credit. Louisiana's tax incentives will apply to this indigenous production. Current budget is $1.9 million.
Seeking
Producing Partners, Investors, Production Company
Rights Available
All rights available. Pitch deck is available on our website.
Project Website
Contact
Randy Mack
310-435-5587