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Denny Tedesco on Spending Twenty Years with 'The Wrecking Crew'

By Tom White


George Harrison (center) in a session with Wrecking Crew member Joe Osborne (right). From Denny Tedesco’s 'The Wrecking Crew'. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

As we all know, documentaries are a labor of love—sometimes a long labor of a whole lotta love. And given the circumstances, some docs test our perseverance, commitment and dedication. There’s money to raise, there are forces majeures, and there’s the disruptive force of life itself that takes us out of the lives we’re documenting. We’re well familiar with the benchmarks: Hoop Dreams took seven years to make, Betrayal, 23. And the dearly departed Albert Maysles’ long-in-the-works train documentary will finally premiere this April, at the Tribeca Films Festival.

And then there’s Denny Tedesco’s The Wrecking Crew, a celebration of the session musicians—including his father, Tommy Tedesco—behind some of the greatest hits and greatest artists of the modern era. Twenty years and many shooting and editing formats after he first embarked on his project, Tedesco will finally bring The Wrecking Crew to theaters through Magnolia Pictures, starting this Friday, March 13.

The journey reached a cul de sac in 2008, when, after premiering at SXSW and screening at IDA’s DocuWeeks Theatrical Documentary Showcase, Tedesco faced the daunting task of clearing all the wonderful music in his film. And during this time, such music docs as Twenty Feet from Stardom, Muscle Shoals and Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me (Campbell got his start as a Wrecking Crew musician.) played in theaters.

We interviewed Tedesco in 2008, in conjunction with his DocuWeeks outing. Excerpts from that interview appear here, along with new reflections from the filmmaker.

 

What inspired you to make The Wrecking Crew?

I grew up in Los Angeles during the time my father, Tommy Tedesco, was one of the top session guitar players in town. When I was growing up I heard stories about conquests and disappointments in everyone’s musical careers. The stories showed a group of musicians who had so much fun and respect for each other. When my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1995, I made it my goal to record his history as well as that of his friends. My dad was so well known behind the scenes among musicians and composers, but I realized that his accomplishments, as well as the work of his peers, were completely unknown to the general public. When I looked at his discography, I realized the sheer magnitude of the range of music he had played on over the years.
 

Tommy Tedesco, as featured in his son Denny Tedesco’s 'The Wrecking Crew'. Courtesy of Denny Tedesco

What were some of the challenges and obstacles in making this film, and how did you overcome them?

Time was a challenge at the beginning. My father was very sick and I wanted to make sure I could put him on film while he still felt and looked well. On our first shoot day, I put together the roundtable discussion with my father, Plas Johnson, Carole Kaye and Hal Blaine. I knew this would be the best way to start the film by just letting them reminisce and tell stories to and about each other. I didn't know at the time that some of the other guys were sick too.

The other major issue, as it is with most filmmakers, was finding money to complete the film. We made a great 14-minute teaser when we first started. I hoped it would help find the money, but it didn't. So I continued to shoot and build my interviews until we had to finally start the edit. Over the years, my wife Suzie and I have taken out loans and maxed out our credit cards. When we hired editor Claire Scanlon; within a week she understood the story and was able to figure out what I was looking for. But then she got a paying job, and we shut down for a few months until she was able to continue with us.

I believe the main reason it was so difficult to find someone to finance the film while we were making it was the fear of the cost of the soundtrack. We have 120 songs in the film and 110 of them are huge hits. People were afraid of the costs and reality of this situation. One person suggested that I pick only 20 songs, but that wouldn’t work. The whole point of the story is that these musicians could go from Frank Sinatra to the Chipmunks to the Beach Boys in one day. I felt I had to be able to illustrate that by hearing the original music.

Over the years, the record companies were aware of the film and were very supportive, but we weren’t ready to make any sort of deal until I had a locked film and knew exactly which songs we needed. That took quite a while. We had a fantastic music supervisor, Micki Stern, who would not take "No" for an answer and persevered to make a great deal for all the music.

Wrecking Crew members Joe Osborne and Carol Kaye. From Denny Tedesco’s 'The Wrecking Crew'. Courtesy of Denny Tedesco

You have spent much of the past six years clearing the music for theatrical release. What were the central challenges?

When I went into the film festivals, I negotiated a deal for the festivals but also pre-negotiated a deal for the music once the film was released. At that time, the publishers and labels would be paid another agreed amount. When we drafted the distribution part of the deal, I really felt we could raise the money—especially with the success we were having in the festivals. But the reality was the same: It was a music documentary and no one wanted to talk to us unless all the music was licensed and paid for.

So in 2010, one of the publishers said to me, "Denny, you’re going to have to re-negotiate with everyone if you want to see this film get released." She told me to draft a new license request and send it to her. I sent her the letter and she turned around and re-wrote it to make sure I was covered this time. The terms were better for me. She signed it and then said, "Now go and get everyone else on board."

When we started this film 18 years ago, DVDs were just coming into the market. Streaming was for fisherman, not filmmakers. So now you need to make sure everything that is possible is cleared. If I was buying something, I wouldn’t want to have to go back and clear everything again in five years. So we needed to make sure it was for world perpetuity.

So the next four years, I had to call everyone back and start begging again. Even though we had better prices, we still had to raise the money. Between the labels, publishers, stock footage and the musician’s union, we still needed to raise over $500,000.

So we started taking donations. We went to the IDA and applied for fiscal sponsorship. I started showing the film around the country to audiences to raise awareness, beg for donations, and more importantly, grab email addresses so I could build up a fan base.

When donations came in, I quickly paid off a label or publisher. Four major funders helped us reach our goal. Two of them were Jerry Moss and Herb Alpert.

Herb Alpert (left) with Wrecking Crew member Julius. From Denny Tedesco’s 'The Wrecking Crew'. Courtesy of Denny Tedesco

Did you launch other crowdfunding campaigns?

For a few years, everyone kept saying we should use Kickstarter. But I was shying away from it until I felt we were ready.

There were four main bills that had to be paid: Publishers, labels, stock footage and the musicians union. We knew exactly how much the publisher, labels and stock footage were. But we had no number on the union. What people don’t understand is that the union musicians don’t get paid if a song they recorded goes into movies, TV or a commercial. So if the song sells millions of copies, they don’t get that extra dime. But they can make more if it's a different intended purpose.

My initial meeting with the American Federation of Musicians was in 2006. I told them that my goal was to get this story out, but as a producer/director, I need the best price possible. But as a son and friend of the musicians, I want to make them as much as possible.

The union had to go through all the paperwork and come up with a price that was affordable that we could pay.

It wasn’t until 2013 when I get a final number. We needed to pay $200,000 that was split among all the contracts on the songs in the movie.

Then we decided to go for Kickstarter. I knew we needed more than $200,000. I still had more licensing and post costs, but I had to figure out what I could raise. Only one percent of all Kickstarter drives for over $100,000 have ever reached that goal. Many people thought I was nuts to go for it, but I felt I couldn’t keep coming back over and over again asking for more money. So I went for $250,000; $50,000 would cover the expenses of the rewards and shipping.

But we did better; we raised $312,000. So the extra money allowed us to add a Leon Russell interview in the last cut, as well as a 5.1 mix. The reason I felt somewhat confident was the fact we had a finished film and an audience that was chomping at the bit. Those emails that we were collecting were a huge help. We have a big Facebook presence of 40,000 fans.

Wrecking Crew member Leon Russell. From Denny Tedesco’s 'The Wrecking Crew'. Courtesy of Denny Tedesco

How is the version that will be released in March different from the SXSW version from 2008? Did you have to cut scenes as well as songs?

The funniest thing about this film is the folks who have seen it multiple times. Sometimes within a couple of months, they’ll tell me that I added something new and they like the new cut. Most of the time, nothing had changed. What I realized watching the film with audiences, when the music comes on, they start thinking about that song and sometimes forget about the scene that follows.

If I had released the film in 2008, it wouldn’t have been the same film as it is now. We added interviews with Al Jardine and Peter Tork. With a few pieces that we found within the last year, it really was the frosting on the cake. We found footage of the guys during the "Good Vibrations" sessions and a Mamas and Papas session. That was so cool to finally see them in the studio.

But the cherry on top is Leon Russell’s interview that I did in 2013. Leon didn’t want to do the interview for years. But his guitar player convinced him to do it. And I’m so glad he did. I flew to Nashville hoping it would go through, and it was awesome.

We cut little things that no one would miss, but we didn’t cut any songs. We actually added one more song in the credits, so we have 110 songs.

 

How would you advise filmmakers who are intent on making a music-oriented documentary?

Understand that music is not free. Don’t assume you can use it for fair use and get away with it.

But you need to reach out and build your supporters. If you can get the musicians behind you, that’s a start. But most of them do not own any of their masters. They might own some publishing.

Be persistent, but don’t be a pest. They don’t have to license anything to you; they always have the upper hand.

Sometimes when I had an issue with a publisher or labels, I would make a QuickTime of how the song is being used and share that with them. Sound supervisors can be very key to getting you in the door, but you are the one who needs to win them over.

 

The Wrecking Crew opens in theaters March 13 through Magnolia Pictures.

Tom White is editor of Documentary magazine.