James B Brandt

Series Title

“The Machine”

          

Genre

Reality, Documentary, Travel – Television Series

 

Logline

People really can turn music into gold…

 

Short Pitch

The Machine looks at the environments that created the biggest stars in music and the way those same conditions are shaping today's emerging talent and tomorrow's stars.

 

The Hook

People are fascinated by the stories behind the big names in entertainment. The Machine looks at the history of the locations that produced the people who are the headliners on the world music scene and how those same influences are impacting the younger generations. The audience will be attracted but getting a "first look" at unsigned talent from around the country, seeing the places that shaped the careers of their favorite stars, and the informal interviews with existing musical giants as they talk about their musical roots.

 

The Machine

Turning Music into Gold: The Machine travels to the locations where the pop music of today has its roots, looking at the people and locations that shaped the beginnings of Chicago, Kansas City, and New Orleans jazz, the San Francisco melting pot that brought about the first psychedelic, country-rock, grunge, and other unique music styles, and the small recording studios that populate Memphis and Nashville, Texas and California and Ohio and the Louisiana Delta and the other places where music styles were born and flourished.

 

In later seasons, the show will look at the foundations of music outside the US that created the British super groups, the bands from Germany and Denmark that have made it big worldwide, and the unique pop music coming from the Far East, South America and other locations.

New Orleans: Series Opening: Best known for its jazz and Bourbon Street, New Orleans has also spawned several other musicians, including Aaron Neville and the Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint, Better than Ezra (a band the producer helped promote in 1986), Sherrie Bias,  the Dukes of Dixieland,  the late Fats Domino,  Harry Connick, Jr, and over 120 other prominent local bands. Also from the local area are Hank Williams Jr (from Shreveport), Jerry Lee Lewis (from Ferriday), Britney Spears (from nearby Kentwood), allowing for some excursions into the countryside.

 

Besides music, New Orleans is an iconic American city with the images of Bourbon Street familiar to most television viewers.  The Preservation Hall and the many clubs in the French Quarter offer a visually rich location and opportunity to discover how the flavor of the area influenced the music that flows forth. Speaking of flavor, New Orleans has the added benefit of being one of the top food destinations in the country, offering some additional value to the location as an opener for the series and a site that may be returned to on other occasions as the series grows.

 

Series Environment

The Machine will be shot entirely on location. The bulk of the shooing will be at the recording studios where the "stars" made their starts. However, there will be some programs shot at the venues (bars and clubs and whatnot) that showcase new bands and that, if still around, housed the early career of popular artists.

 

It is anticipated that additional footage will be shot at the homes or businesses of established performers. We will be looking for intimate interviews with "name" acts covered by B-Roll as they discuss their beginnings and early careers.  Early discussions with Alice Cooper, for example, indicate shooting an interview at his home and spending some time at his club and at the recording studios where he made his first demo reels. We will also talk to bands that are producing in the same locations today, looking for the unsigned gems that will generate an audience buzz and the social media chatter about seeing them on The Machine before they were a national name.

 

The New Twist

Most of the reality shows on today feature contests between bands. That is not The Machine, though the producers are planning on a viewer voting program that will lead to selection of groups from various shows to appear in special televised concerts a few times a year. The new bands will headline for an established act that was also interviewed during the year, though that act will be selected and not voted on. The concert may be tied to a charity event.

 

What is new about The Machine is simply that no one now is taking the time to get to know the new bands, to look at the history of the existing name acts, and to tie that together with the environmental influences on their music. Perhaps the most interesting part of Eminem's movie 8 MILE was not so much the story but seeing the environment that shaped that story. That is what we are looking for with The Machine.