Having been born in 1951 America today does not seem like the America of my youth. As a child there were movies like The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur and as a teenager The Sound of Music. When in college the Vietnam War was raging and the sexual revolution just getting rolling.
Today we have a president hanging sexual revolution flags from the White House. Boys are competing in girls sports. We've had lockdowns and mandates. What they want to teach my grandchildren is depraved. It seems we're in a culture war and Hollywood is committed to opposing my beliefs.
Where are the movies for the masses who want to see more traditional American moral values?
I see this as a target audience wide and deep, that even expands beyond our borders. There are protests around the world against globalism and cancel culture. I got hungry to serve this audience with something fun and uplifting.
When writing a script you need a hook. You need to make a character audiences can love and throw him into a challenge he never dreamed of facing. Movies need conflict to maintain interest. I needed my hero to take on cancel culture in a bold and exciting way.
The idea came for a folk singer, famous for an anti-war song from the 1970s. This would be someone loved by liberals of old. I'd have him get canceled for something and take on cancel culture with new folk songs addressing various woke concepts.
One of the great ironies is that I was not a liberal anti-Vietnam War student in college. They had riots on my campus. They were on the news. I fell for the pitch about containing the spread of Communism. Only much later did I learn of all the dishonesty involved.
I set out to write an anti-war song for my liberal hero of thet period. What came out was beyond my hopes. I've written hundreds of songs and what I put into words is one of my very favorites. It opens with:
No mother wants to send her son
to kill or to be killed
in wars arranged by profiteers
who want their pockets filled
No farmer wants his precious farm
a gruesome battlefield
where blood is shed and men are dead
with no crop left to yield
No girl wants the boy she loves
To come home in a bag
No wedding ring upon her hand
just a soldier’s tag
Let there be no more war
Let the guns cease their roar
Let the soldiers all come home
Let peace bloom and grow
And our joy overflow
As the soldiers all come homeI decided to have my hero and some friends be on a farewell tour of Ivy League schools. I needed two more anti-war songs. That was fun, but I still loved my hero Art Rogers' song best. Their concert at Harvard sets up the story. They are loved and honored as heroes of the old liberal days. That’s their normal world about to get shattered.
Art goes on a late night talk show to discuss the old days and promote his tour. He’s asked what he would write a new protest song about today. Art indicated he was very supportive of the civil rights movement back in his youth when schools were separated. He indicates that he has seen such amazing progress, but doesn't like the racial hatred being stirred up today. He says, "I believe God made only one race: human."
Art appears unaware of the landmine he just stepped on. I'll admit this scene is me putting myself in my character. I grew up in segregated schools. They were integrated when I was in high school. I’ve seen astounding progress. I accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and I came to the conclusion God loves every human being in a colorblind way. I think racism is DISGUSTING regardless of the color of the person promoting it.
The one race line triggers BLM to attack Art’s Yale concert. All the tickets were sold, but the auditorium is nearly empty. Word got out there would be trouble. The police laid low. Art was so violently attacked he had to leave the stage. In the world of scriptwriters this is called "an inciting incident." When I wrote it I didn't have worked out where it would take my hero. Sometimes I write a story outline first, but not in this case. In this case I simply imagined, "What would I want to do in that situation?"
I had Art go on a very popular podcast (like Joe Rogan) and describe his experience of being canceled. I had him go on the offensive by singing his new song Black Lives Matter/ It begins:
If you think that black lives matter They should matter in the womb They should matter on the streets where young men die They should matter in the classrooms Where they learn what’s right and wrong The should matter when their father says goodbye If you think that black lives matter You should call for love not hate Call for peace that helps a young man thrive. If you think that black lives matter Call for love, not hate If you think that black lives matter Call for love
It's a song calling for love, but Art knew it was a declaration of war. He gets disowned by his agent and blasted in the media, but his closest friends stay true.
Here's where I faced a problem. If every venue is terrified to let him sing, where does he go sing?
I see the movie as a musical comedy with great conflict and emotion. Because it’s a FICTIONAL story I decided to have some fun. I don't have to be realistic. Do you think Star Wars is realistic? I decided to have Art's friends talk him into running for president to protest against cancel culture and sing new folk songs on the campaign trail. They didn’t expect him to get many votes — just to get to make protest statements in song.
As a writer with some journalism experience in politics this was so much fun. Art gets to draw crowds other candidates are jealous of. The more he takes on woke culture the larger the crowd gets. People actually want to vote for him which throws serious opponents into panic mode. I got to write a lot of fun songs on climate change, gain of function research, immigration and conspiracy theories while constantly stepping up the dirty side of political warfare. Art wins some primaries, but gets accused of some horrible things he never did. The movie has a classic turning point where the bad guys begin to crush Art. As I near the conclusion Art shifts from attacking liberal cancel culture to calling out for Americans to stand for truth and turn back to God.
This is where I found a home for a song I wrote ten years ago. I didn't write it for a movie. I dreamed of it being sung at big 4th of July celebrations. It's one of my handful of favorite songs. This year I finally found someone to sing it. I’m very grateful to Brydon Fox for singing it.
My vilian's son winds up exposing his father’s slander of my hero who then wins the nomination for president. In his acceptance speech he sings An American Dream which opens:
An American dream is one of peace It’s not a dream of war We dream of freedom for mankind It’s justice we adore We dream of opportunity From sea to distant sea With rights that God has given us To be all we can be Our dream has a foundation In God we put our faith That with his wisdom we can leave the world a better place An American Dream An American Dream From the Mayflower 'til today Is a dream of faith and freedom Where God shows us the way
I wanted to conclude the story with this victory without any question left about what he would do beyond this point. God is good to me. The song An American Dream ends with the whole crowd chanting "Wake Up. Wake Up." The scene shifts to my hero in bed on his farm being shaken by his wife saying, "Wake up." The movie gets to actually be an American dream. Art gets to wake up to go feed his animals wanting to buy a guitar and learn to play it (In a dream you don’t have to get approved signatures to get put on a ballot).
If the movie never gets made I will still have had the tremendous fun of writing it.
I really do believe it could be very popular. I think it could make a lot of money worldwide. Do you have any idea how many people around the world wish America would wake up and be a good role model?
One of my goals as a scriptwriter is to give audiences a sense of euphoria as they leave a theater. I want them to really love my hero and delight in a great victory. I want them to tell friends they have to see the movie. The greatness of any victory is measured from the depth of the pit someone is thrown in to the pinacle of the mountain he stands on in the end.
It's not work to be a scriptwriter when you dearly love a project you're working on. It's almost like reading a great novel. You want to know where it goes next and to find out you have to write it.
The work is in getting anyone to make it into a movie. I’m still working on that.
This new David Outten Productions Substack is an effort to build a community of those who want to see better movies made, not just my own. I welcome a discussion among writers, producers, directors, actors, crew and the many fans who love good stories.
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