As the executive producer for "Late Show With David Letterman," Rob Burnett sees big-name musical acts on a nightly basis. But when it came time to compile a soundtrack for his feature-film directorial debut, "We Made This Movie," he chose to give emerging artists a shot through Red Bull Soundstage.
“It never made sense to have a gigantic soundtrack," Burnett explained in a phone interview. "It didn’t seem like it would fit.”
"We Made This Movie" is a coming-of-age story about five directionless high school seniors who embark on making a comedic film about their hometown and become rich and famous movie stars.
Burnett (pictured below on the right) said that he and his longtime writing and producing partner Jon Beckerman “always wanted to do a coming-of-age story. All these kids today want to become famous but do they have the talent to become famous? We wanted to explore this with normal kids trying to be famous.”
facebook.com/WeMadeThisMovieBurnett compared the style of the flick to "Blair Witch" or "Cloverfield," as far as the D.I.Y.-style goes -- these are kids making a film within a film -- but "We Made This Movie" is more real life. Enter Red Bull Soundstage.
On working with Red Bull Soundstage, Burnett commented, "[It] could be really exciting -- to get people just like the main character [to do the music]. Find undiscovered talent and get awesome original music for our movie.”
He thought he would get 20-30 songs. Instead, 1,200 submissions rolled in. Burnett listened to every single track before narrowing it down. Not only does the film have 22 original songs by Red Bull Soundstage artists on its soundtrack, but Burnett’s iPod “improved greatly because of this project.”
One of the artists, Of Gentlemen and Cowards from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, was picked by fans to appear on "Late Show" next month and show the world (and Paul Shaffer) what they can do.
Burnett added that he hopes the “grand experiment” can help all the bands in the contest, and not just the winner.
The red-carpet premiere of the movie is on September 20 in New York City. Of Gentlemen and Cowards play "Late Show" the Monday before the event. The premiere will be streamed free online, so you can watch from your couch, rooftop, local bar, etc. -- and then you can tell your friends to watch the flick and check out the bands on the soundtrack. It’s all about spreading the word, D.I.Y.-style.
Follow Red Bull Soundstage on Twitter for more news and updates.
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