June 3, 2025 • 25 mins
In this episode, I spoke with Joe Sentell and Steve Maddox regarding the movie "Joe's War Record" that Joe and Steve cowrote. Doug Hess is the host!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Ernie Pole World War
Two Museum Podcast, your podcast of Ernie Pyle, the voice
of the American soldier during World War Two. My name
is Doug s. And if you're tuning into the Ernie
Power World War Two Museum Podcast for the first time,
what we do on this podcast is share with you
pieces of Piles life from this humble beginning on an
(00:35):
Indiana farm to becoming a Politz Serprise winning an American journalist
and correspondent court war correspondent who is best known for
his stories about ordinary American soldiers during World War Two.
And today we have a two very special guests with
us today. Uh, Steve Maddox and Joe's Sintel tell me
(00:58):
that correctly, and that is great. Well good. They're going
to be here talking to us about a project that
they're working on, and Joe, I'm going to kind of
turn it over to you and let you kind of
share what that project is to our listeners.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, sir, we have a movie, we have a movie
screenplay that we are trying to get funded and out
to the cinemas for everybody to enjoy. And it's called
Joe's War Record. And what it is. It is a
lighthearted drama. That's what I call it, a lighthearted drama.
(01:35):
As war movies go, this one's a little bit on
the lighter side, is the best way for me to
put it. And hopefully this will be in cinemas all
through the US as quickly as possible.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
That's what we're hoping for, sir.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Jos War record in the UK.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
That is right.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
That is absolutely right, end in the UK. Thanks Steve.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Before I get to Steve, though, I just want to
ask you for our listeners, Joe. It's more interesting you're
the one that actually wrote this screenplay, is that correct?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
That is correct, sir. I wrote this story.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I wrote this story, and I did it just in
story form and with Steve's help, he has been my
co writer with the screenplay and we now have it
in screenplay form and it's pretty fun. It's it's really
a fun little movie and I think a lot of
people is going to enjoy this.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Okay, and Steve, maybe introduce yourself and what your role
is in all this. You bet.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
My name is Steve Maddox.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
I'm an ep on film and executive producer and the
co writer and for the screenplay for use. I've been
in TV and film for a long time, for well
long time. I caught a long time, it seems like
a long time, for about twelve years. And I live
in a town called El Reno, Oklahoma. And in fact,
(03:04):
whenever you guys watched Twisters, one of my jobs as
I was I'm a former film commissioner, and one of
my jobs was to get big films in And the
climax of Twisters was done in our town.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
So and just a few miles momore I'm setting right now.
So that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
Joe came to a gentleman named Nick Coleman from his
company's Coleman TV. For they do I think it's plane
restaurant history is createdst aircrafts. They do the documentaries on that,
and so Joe got in touch with him, and Joe
(03:41):
reached out and Nick, I'm sorry, Nick Coleman reached out
to me.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
I wanted to know if I could help him with
the script and help him.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
You take the idea and form it and do something
really creative with it. And so Joe and I got
together and we started going over it, and Joe was
a little rough around the edges on uh, you know,
learning kind of how the industry works and how to
create is a screen a screenplay, and how to make
it engaging.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
That's you know, anybody can write a screenplay, but you
got to make it engaging.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Sure.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
And I was able to work with him through a
lot of different meetings, a lot of different ideas, and uh,
we got to a point and level where we thought,
you know what, this is really really good.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
It's a new way to tell a war story.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
It's it's it is lighthearted, but it drops on a
good message of using music to be able to touch
people and touch people who are going through the absurdities
that can that can occur in war, especially on the
front lines, and taking some music to them and giving
them a little a little piece of a little piece
of home.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
You know.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
I think that's what Joe came to realize, the way
that I read Joe's character came to realize as time
goes on that because of his mission, which all that
Joe explained here in a few moments, it really really
drives home how important it is to at least give
somebody a little bit of peace that are going through
such a horrific time.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
And I think in the end. That's gonna be one
of those gripping things that people are going to love
about Joe's world record.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
It's just such a delightful story for that and its
fighty parts. It's got some part it's hard, it's a
hard watch and some points. But I think you want
all that, you want to be able to kind of
reach out to everybody. So Joe kind of explain to
everybody what happens. How does Joe get in so much
trouble all the time and end up on this particular mission.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Well, trouble seems to find Joe no matter where he goes.
He just can't seem to get away from it. And
that seems to be the live story for a lot
of people, if you know what I mean, right, But
the whole premise of the story is our hero did
get into trouble. Oh my gosh, it's big trouble. You
just don't know how much trouble he's in. And he
(05:58):
gets sitting on this crazy and his mission is to
take a V disc and a wind up gramophone and
go play music to the troops on the front line
and an effort to build up their morale. But one
thing he finds out is that no matter what he plays,
somebody gonna want to hear something else because everybody got
(06:20):
a different opinion. And it just goes from there, from
the characters that he meets, and he travels from place
to place, town to town and meets different characters from
machine gun nests to artillery batteries to our hero is
Army Air Corps. I just kind of want to mention
(06:40):
that a lot of you know, we had the the
uh Air War. What was that movie Mini Siries came
out just a little bit ago. That was the big hit.
My mind has gone blank, Masters of the Air. Oh
all right, anyway, where else going with this? Our hero
is Army Air Corps and he's put out in the
field with everybody else, but this is going to make
(07:00):
him special services because he's special and uh, it's just
uh what it would be like to the different characters
and the different places that he comes to playing music.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
That's about what I got.
Speaker 5 (07:15):
Okay, well, and and that's that's That's a really way
to describe it. There's a there's an element of a
buddy comedy in it between Joe and uh and his
buddy that Yeah, that that that gets in there. Uh
kind of regrettingly they began the journey that they get
(07:35):
into the along the way, they pick up a dog,
and uh they have that story right, Oh god, yeah,
you got to have the dog. And uh, but then
the funny interactions with town folk all over bringing them music.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Bringing them music and saying, you know, we like what
you're doing.
Speaker 6 (07:52):
And then, uh, the the unfortunate position that the thing
that occurred with Glenn Miller and the way that Joe
came up with the story.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Uh, the.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Joe Glenn Miller hears about what's going on.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
With Joe, and Joe's Joe's mission to go across the countryside,
you know, help him morale. So then Glenn Miller says,
you want to want to bring my first record out
to him? And uh, then he's on his way to
do there, and Glenn Miller never makes it. And so
then a lot of the soldiers and other people start thinking, Okay, now, Joe,
(08:30):
this is your fault. And then as as Joe, as
Joe was written in the script so so nicely says,
and our heroes in trouble again, you know, because it
happens that way.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Right right, But then again that I just want to
mention that record is just a rumor, because you know
how rumors were in World War Two.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
It was just a rumor.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
We can't confirm or deny at this point any record
from Glenn Miller. But uh so, so.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Far, well, I wanted to ask you, I'm glad you
brought up Glenn Miller because it's my understanding. Correct me
if I'm wrong. But you have support or a letter
of support from the Glenn Miller Foundation, along with the
Ernie Pole because Ernie Pyle is uh has a I'm
going to say cameo. Those are my words, not yours
(09:19):
cameo appearance in the film, and both organizations, the Ernie
Power World War Two Museum, along with the Glenn Miller Foundation,
I believe has written letters of support for this project.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Is that correct? That is correct? We are right now.
The support is verbal from the estate of Glenn Miller.
And I'd like to mention Dennis Sprague hasn't been involved
in this and if you if you look up Dennis Bragg,
you'll see that he is very informative on mister Glenn Miller.
But yes, we do have support from the Glenn Miller
(09:57):
estate as well as the Ernie File museum, and I
have to quickly interate I am extremely honored for that,
both for Glenn Miller and Ernie Pyle. I mean that
is uh, that's that that means that's incredible, you know
what I mean? That is absolutely I mean I've read
(10:17):
Ernie's books. I just love Ernie. Me and Ernie are friends,
and uh and everybody was Ernie's friends, but uh, I
just I can't.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
I'm very honored. I just want to.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Say that to anybody that who else is friends with
Ernie up there, I am.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
I'm honored and humbled.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
And yes, Glenn Miller the estate they want to see
this produced as well. And uh, hopefully the support we
get from the two organizations will be I know they
will be extremely beneficial to us and for Steve moving
forward into the future.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Stee.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
I might add that the cameo for is it's wonderful.
It does it right, it adds a little bit of humor,
his personality is picked up in it. I thought it
was just masterful the way that it's done, and you know,
and it's it's a little bit more than a cameo.
There's there's like a five to ten percent screen time.
(11:16):
So that was really good. I'm really really excited for
people to see this, and that's why you know it's
particular honor to be on your podcast.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Well, Steve, let me ask you this question. A lot
of people hear executive producer and they may not truly
understand what an executive producer does when it comes to film.
It's something like I said, we hear the word a lot,
but we probably a lot of people don't truly understand
what that means. Do you mind just maybe explaining a
little bit of what what an executive producer is for?
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Yeah, no, none at all. Mainly what we do is
somebody comes to us with a film project.
Speaker 5 (11:53):
We evaluate it, we read it, and we think about it,
and then if we like it, then we begin in
times because we start trying to figure out how on
earth we're going to do it and get through the
first couple of minutes of it.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
And Joe, Joe knows this as well.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
But you know, after you know, you kind of get
a outline done, you lay a foundation, you have a
relationship you start working on and we had to go
the extra mile because we had to take the idea
but to do it a screenplay or I could do
anything with it. Sure, And so one thing that that
that an executive producer will do is, you know, primarily
(12:30):
you're going to go out and get the investments.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
You're going to bring the money in to to be
able to produce it.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
You get you know, see, if you have a one
point five million dollar budget, you wait till you've got
like one point twenty five before you really start making
moves or doing anything. And you have to navigate SAG
which a Screen Actors Guild. You have to navigate union
requirements to be able to shoot. Then you have to
find locations, setting budgets, you know, try to understand especially
(12:56):
you know with with war Birds, you know how difficult
that can be. Now we're to shoot this in Norfolk
and Coleman TV will be involved in it.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
You know. At this point I mean that that that
that can change in the future, but at this point
certainly the direction that we'll want to go.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
In fact, before the end of the podcast, I'll tell
you guys a vocation met Neil and you can actually
see a proof of concept that was put together. It's
a little ten minute or I don't know, maybe it's
a bit longer than that, but it's a proof of
concept to where you can see what, uh the general
direction is for the film, and and we'll give people
a really good feel for it.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
I think everybody will like it. It's free, you.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Know, so Uh then after that, I'll begin, if forget
the budget worked out, Uh, I'll begin sitting in people's
offices begging for money and uh yeah exactly.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
And then you know, then then we'll we'll locate.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
Assets and then we'll we'll work with casting agents and
get some some good cast in there, someone that that
that brings a lot to it, begin looking at pre sales.
There's so many different things that you do, and you
know that's why it's a stress job, but it's a
high reward. That's the best part of it in this story.
Getting the story out there and knowing that people will
(14:07):
be able to see a kind of light art to
take on a very serious subject I think is something
that the world's meeting right now. Just a little bit
of kindness coming out of a film is good right now.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Absolutely so any timeframe on this. I know that's kind
of a loaded question and probably sitding we really don't
want to talk about, but maybe just kind of walk
us through that process. It's not an overday success. I
understand that, no exactly.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Well, again, as the EP what I'm doing right now
is I've I'm breaking each scene down and establishing the budget,
trying to work out, you know, mainly what kind of
talent we want, what kind of production value do we want,
because you can go for the production value of you know,
undred million dollar movie, but then that's studio level.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Most Indian movies are fifteen million dollars in less.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
So I think we're probably going to fall in, you know,
in that that category or much lower, depending on what
direction we go. We also, I've had a conversation with
a high profile company about potentially looking at doing this
as a mini series rather than a movie, because Joe
wrote it very very eloquently in a episodic format, so
(15:19):
it lends itself to you know, and you can have
some that a little more comedic than others. You know,
there's a lot of different interesting things that occur on that.
So that's one way that we could pivot with it.
And so the first couple of things that we'll be
doing right now since we've got the script completed is
finding the you know, the locations that we really really
(15:42):
like the Belgium Hill is very very important. Obviously, you
want the authenticity of the war birds. You'll see if
you do watch the proof of concept in Norfolk that's
kind of that. That's where the history comes from. They've
they've got it there, so that's why it makes a
lot of sense to be able to shoot there. So
in a perfect world, we'd like to shoot maybe in
(16:02):
spring or summer of next year. We could get off
our ducks in a row by then and then maybe
come out in the following spring or the fall with
a comedy. I'd like it to come out in the summer,
So obviously this summer is outreach.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
So you know, we've got many, many different options we're
going to.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Look at and try to get a theatrical run on it,
So there'll be some negotiations on that if we go
that direction to it's actually created as a film rather
than a mini series or limited series.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Sure, Joe, when you wrote this story first and then
transformed it over to a screenplay, right in terms of
was that difficult to once you have written it to
turn it over into a screenplay.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
No, sir, it was not. It flowed. It just flowed,
and it was because I knew this story. I knew
the story by heart, and basically Steve gave me a
quick concept in the screening play for him. He shold
me how to use specialized filmmaker software. And well, I
(17:12):
became somebody then. But it just flowed naturally. And I
do want to say thank you Lord. There's a lot
of divine intervention that came into this. This inspiration just
did not come out of nowhere. It just I struggled
with the ending. I had an ending that was okay
and the movie made sense, and I had this ending
and I said, well, I wonder if I could put
(17:34):
my character in this situation. And then somehow, just like
I said, through divine inspiration, it just came to me.
And when I put it to a screenplay, I just
happened to have a little free time. But it just flowed.
I mean, it just flowed naturally. Because I knew the
story by heart, I knew where our character was going
to go.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I do what he was going to say.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
But what happened was was the fun part. Like Steve mentioned,
we have Vinnie or supporting character. Oh my god, Vinnie's
character came to life. I mean, if you needed quit
wit and some smart alochy. This was the guy to it,
and some of his lines all of a sudden just
(18:17):
came out and fit so naturally. I mean, it just
fits so naturally. And there's so many parts to this
I'd really like to mention, but I don't want to
give no nothing away.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Sure, but.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
You know, just like our hero is Army Air Corps,
you know he may see a lot of B seventeen's
and P fifty one movies. Well, I'm proud to say
that ours is going to have a C forty seven
or two and just put us a little bit different there.
But yes, it came together real well, it flowed naturally.
(18:51):
Steve's a great mentor, a good friend, and he helped
me out tremendously and it flowed and I didn't.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I reached out.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
That's how it how it began reaching out. Somebody mentioned
Nick Coleman. I was on a group Facebook film site
and I was just asking questions. Somebody said you might
contact Coleman Television and I did and Nick called me
and I had my first ever zoom meeting then with Nick.
(19:19):
Oh my godness, I was running around and going, I'm
be in a zoom meeting don't bother me, all right,
my time is valuable. I'm it's a zoom meeting. I'll
call you when I get done. And it just went
from there. Nick's a great guy, he's a good friend.
We flew out to England. We did shoot this demo footage.
It was a real I don't want to say quick,
(19:41):
but it's a mini version of the long story. And
England was just incredible. Nick was a great host. I
had such a blast over there. And it's not like
Oklahoma in the summer. They're at seventy two degrees and
they don't even have screens on their way those because
they don't have bugs. And here I just left Oklahoma
(20:04):
and it's one hundred and five degrees and you can't
even go outside. So yeah, I'd say going to England
to shoot the movie would be a real nice thing
to do.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Well, gentlemen, I know we're getting close here on time
for this episode, but you know, how did how did
Ernie Pole make it into this film? Joe? I know
you said you and Ernie are really good friends.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Yes, we're real good friends.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
But was that something that was always part of the
plan or did you just kind of happen to add
em in later, maybe just talk to our audience a
little bit about that. Well, I will.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I don't know how to actually explain that question, because
I worked on this plot this movie for a few years, okay,
and I would get I would get an idea here
and a piece here, and I would say, well, that
piece works with this. But I don't know if I
can honestly answer, was he there from the beginning or
(21:07):
he fit naturally? He fits so naturally to the story
and to our character. And you know, if you've ever
read anybody anything by Ernie, he had so many friends everywhere,
no matter where he went. I mean dog faces in Italy,
(21:28):
you know, combat engineers and sicily pilot, everybody was his friend.
But our hero just runs into him accidentally, got you.
It's kind of like the Trouble always finds him. Well,
Trouble didn't find him here, but uh, Trouble made the
(21:50):
past cross and it just came so naturally.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
It really did. And of course, and.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Of course any World War two movie that has any
media of any kind has to have Ernie just has to.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Well, we appreciate that coming from the Early Problem Museum,
so we really do. Steve kind of give you the
last word here to kind of wrap things up. Maybe
give the audience or listeners a chance to go out
to that site and see a little bit of the
teaser of the film.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
Absolutely. If you go to bad Newman dot com, that's
my production company. Newman is my real life dog. You're
sitting in my feet right now, and so you'll see
a picture of Newman there. But if you look at
our projects, you'll see Joe's world record. And at the
bottom of it, I'm a I'm also an AI developer,
and so I've done a lot of different analysis that
(22:47):
breaks it the movie down, breaks the script down, compares
it to other movies, does financial projections. It really gives
you a lot of information I think people would like
to see. I think I think a lot of people
just get a kick out of getting in there and
read that and get seen a little bit of insight
and what goes on in film, and you know this
level of production, you know whenever we're still pre production.
(23:09):
And then underneath that link is the link to the
proof of concept, and then there's a little more information
in there. If anybody wants to get involved, we certainly
welcome that, even just to sit and talk about it
is great because I mean, we're going to want to
be able to create buzz and get.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
A little bit of traction with it.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
I've got my own ways to go out and raise money,
but in a movie like this and with the subject
matter of this, I think, you know, getting as many
people involved this would like to be involved with it.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
You know, we can somebody can.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
Come in and we can make them an EP and
executive producer, and you know, there's a lot of different
ways that it can be done.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
If somebody wants to get involved, we'd absolutely welcome it.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Joe, I'd like to mention, I'd like to mention real
quick though, yeah, that we also have a Joe's War
Record Facebook okay, which is and also we will be
implementing our Joe's War Record website should be coming online
pretty soon as well. So, but Steve, most of the
communication is true, Steve and the Bad Newman website that
(24:16):
he gave you earlier. And I guess we all got dog.
We all got dogs in the movie business. I got
Willie Steve as Newman. Yeah, I'm sure you've got a
dog right there too, Doug.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
I do have a golden doodle, and he's my buddy.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
That's why we got a dog in the movie named ru.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah, at least my dog. You know. That's one reason
we have a dog. You know. He never talks back
to you. He always listens to you, and you don't
get much feedback from him. But that's all right.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
So there's a reason why mine is named bad Newman
dot com.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
But we'll talk about that later.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Steve, Joe, thank you so much for coming on spending
a few minutes with us today about this project, Joe's
War Record. We really look forward to hearing more about
it as it develops and comes to the silver screen,
we hope, and I know the only Pile Museum is
proud to be to write your letters important, to do
(25:19):
whatever we can for you obviously wonderful as well. We
wish you, gentlemen, nothing but the very best, and hopefully
when it premieres, we can have you both back on
and we can talk about it and more.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Than you got it.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Yep, absolutely well, thank you, I appreciate it, Thank you
gentlemen so much, and again wish you nothing but the
very best.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
All right, thank you, Doug, thank you
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Ernie Pole World War
Two Museum Podcast, your podcast of Ernie Pyle, the voice
of the American soldier during World War Two. My name
is Doug s. And if you're tuning into the Ernie
Power World War Two Museum Podcast for the first time,
what we do on this podcast is share with you
pieces of Piles life from this humble beginning on an
(00:35):
Indiana farm to becoming a Politz Serprise winning an American journalist
and correspondent court war correspondent who is best known for
his stories about ordinary American soldiers during World War Two.
And today we have a two very special guests with
us today. Uh, Steve Maddox and Joe's Sintel tell me
(00:58):
that correctly, and that is great. Well good. They're going
to be here talking to us about a project that
they're working on, and Joe, I'm going to kind of
turn it over to you and let you kind of
share what that project is to our listeners.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, sir, we have a movie, we have a movie
screenplay that we are trying to get funded and out
to the cinemas for everybody to enjoy. And it's called
Joe's War Record. And what it is. It is a
lighthearted drama. That's what I call it, a lighthearted drama.
(01:35):
As war movies go, this one's a little bit on
the lighter side, is the best way for me to
put it. And hopefully this will be in cinemas all
through the US as quickly as possible.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
That's what we're hoping for, sir.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Jos War record in the UK.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
That is right.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
That is absolutely right, end in the UK. Thanks Steve.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Before I get to Steve, though, I just want to
ask you for our listeners, Joe. It's more interesting you're
the one that actually wrote this screenplay, is that correct?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
That is correct, sir. I wrote this story.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I wrote this story, and I did it just in
story form and with Steve's help, he has been my
co writer with the screenplay and we now have it
in screenplay form and it's pretty fun. It's it's really
a fun little movie and I think a lot of
people is going to enjoy this.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Okay, and Steve, maybe introduce yourself and what your role
is in all this. You bet.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
My name is Steve Maddox.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
I'm an ep on film and executive producer and the
co writer and for the screenplay for use. I've been
in TV and film for a long time, for well
long time. I caught a long time, it seems like
a long time, for about twelve years. And I live
in a town called El Reno, Oklahoma. And in fact,
(03:04):
whenever you guys watched Twisters, one of my jobs as
I was I'm a former film commissioner, and one of
my jobs was to get big films in And the
climax of Twisters was done in our town.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
So and just a few miles momore I'm setting right now.
So that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
Joe came to a gentleman named Nick Coleman from his
company's Coleman TV. For they do I think it's plane
restaurant history is createdst aircrafts. They do the documentaries on that,
and so Joe got in touch with him, and Joe
(03:41):
reached out and Nick, I'm sorry, Nick Coleman reached out
to me.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
I wanted to know if I could help him with
the script and help him.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
You take the idea and form it and do something
really creative with it. And so Joe and I got
together and we started going over it, and Joe was
a little rough around the edges on uh, you know,
learning kind of how the industry works and how to
create is a screen a screenplay, and how to make
it engaging.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
That's you know, anybody can write a screenplay, but you
got to make it engaging.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Sure.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
And I was able to work with him through a
lot of different meetings, a lot of different ideas, and uh,
we got to a point and level where we thought,
you know what, this is really really good.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
It's a new way to tell a war story.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
It's it's it is lighthearted, but it drops on a
good message of using music to be able to touch
people and touch people who are going through the absurdities
that can that can occur in war, especially on the
front lines, and taking some music to them and giving
them a little a little piece of a little piece
of home.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
You know.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
I think that's what Joe came to realize, the way
that I read Joe's character came to realize as time
goes on that because of his mission, which all that
Joe explained here in a few moments, it really really
drives home how important it is to at least give
somebody a little bit of peace that are going through
such a horrific time.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
And I think in the end. That's gonna be one
of those gripping things that people are going to love
about Joe's world record.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
It's just such a delightful story for that and its
fighty parts. It's got some part it's hard, it's a
hard watch and some points. But I think you want
all that, you want to be able to kind of
reach out to everybody. So Joe kind of explain to
everybody what happens. How does Joe get in so much
trouble all the time and end up on this particular mission.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Well, trouble seems to find Joe no matter where he goes.
He just can't seem to get away from it. And
that seems to be the live story for a lot
of people, if you know what I mean, right, But
the whole premise of the story is our hero did
get into trouble. Oh my gosh, it's big trouble. You
just don't know how much trouble he's in. And he
(05:58):
gets sitting on this crazy and his mission is to
take a V disc and a wind up gramophone and
go play music to the troops on the front line
and an effort to build up their morale. But one
thing he finds out is that no matter what he plays,
somebody gonna want to hear something else because everybody got
(06:20):
a different opinion. And it just goes from there, from
the characters that he meets, and he travels from place
to place, town to town and meets different characters from
machine gun nests to artillery batteries to our hero is
Army Air Corps. I just kind of want to mention
(06:40):
that a lot of you know, we had the the
uh Air War. What was that movie Mini Siries came
out just a little bit ago. That was the big hit.
My mind has gone blank, Masters of the Air. Oh
all right, anyway, where else going with this? Our hero
is Army Air Corps and he's put out in the
field with everybody else, but this is going to make
(07:00):
him special services because he's special and uh, it's just
uh what it would be like to the different characters
and the different places that he comes to playing music.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
That's about what I got.
Speaker 5 (07:15):
Okay, well, and and that's that's That's a really way
to describe it. There's a there's an element of a
buddy comedy in it between Joe and uh and his
buddy that Yeah, that that that gets in there. Uh
kind of regrettingly they began the journey that they get
(07:35):
into the along the way, they pick up a dog,
and uh they have that story right, Oh god, yeah,
you got to have the dog. And uh, but then
the funny interactions with town folk all over bringing them music.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Bringing them music and saying, you know, we like what
you're doing.
Speaker 6 (07:52):
And then, uh, the the unfortunate position that the thing
that occurred with Glenn Miller and the way that Joe
came up with the story.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Uh, the.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Joe Glenn Miller hears about what's going on.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
With Joe, and Joe's Joe's mission to go across the countryside,
you know, help him morale. So then Glenn Miller says,
you want to want to bring my first record out
to him? And uh, then he's on his way to
do there, and Glenn Miller never makes it. And so
then a lot of the soldiers and other people start thinking, Okay, now, Joe,
(08:30):
this is your fault. And then as as Joe, as
Joe was written in the script so so nicely says,
and our heroes in trouble again, you know, because it
happens that way.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Right right, But then again that I just want to
mention that record is just a rumor, because you know
how rumors were in World War Two.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
It was just a rumor.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
We can't confirm or deny at this point any record
from Glenn Miller. But uh so, so.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Far, well, I wanted to ask you, I'm glad you
brought up Glenn Miller because it's my understanding. Correct me
if I'm wrong. But you have support or a letter
of support from the Glenn Miller Foundation, along with the
Ernie Pole because Ernie Pyle is uh has a I'm
going to say cameo. Those are my words, not yours
(09:19):
cameo appearance in the film, and both organizations, the Ernie
Power World War Two Museum, along with the Glenn Miller Foundation,
I believe has written letters of support for this project.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Is that correct? That is correct? We are right now.
The support is verbal from the estate of Glenn Miller.
And I'd like to mention Dennis Sprague hasn't been involved
in this and if you if you look up Dennis Bragg,
you'll see that he is very informative on mister Glenn Miller.
But yes, we do have support from the Glenn Miller
(09:57):
estate as well as the Ernie File museum, and I
have to quickly interate I am extremely honored for that,
both for Glenn Miller and Ernie Pyle. I mean that
is uh, that's that that means that's incredible, you know
what I mean? That is absolutely I mean I've read
(10:17):
Ernie's books. I just love Ernie. Me and Ernie are friends,
and uh and everybody was Ernie's friends, but uh, I
just I can't.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
I'm very honored. I just want to.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Say that to anybody that who else is friends with
Ernie up there, I am.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
I'm honored and humbled.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
And yes, Glenn Miller the estate they want to see
this produced as well. And uh, hopefully the support we
get from the two organizations will be I know they
will be extremely beneficial to us and for Steve moving
forward into the future.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Stee.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
I might add that the cameo for is it's wonderful.
It does it right, it adds a little bit of humor,
his personality is picked up in it. I thought it
was just masterful the way that it's done, and you know,
and it's it's a little bit more than a cameo.
There's there's like a five to ten percent screen time.
(11:16):
So that was really good. I'm really really excited for
people to see this, and that's why you know it's
particular honor to be on your podcast.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Well, Steve, let me ask you this question. A lot
of people hear executive producer and they may not truly
understand what an executive producer does when it comes to film.
It's something like I said, we hear the word a lot,
but we probably a lot of people don't truly understand
what that means. Do you mind just maybe explaining a
little bit of what what an executive producer is for?
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Yeah, no, none at all. Mainly what we do is
somebody comes to us with a film project.
Speaker 5 (11:53):
We evaluate it, we read it, and we think about it,
and then if we like it, then we begin in
times because we start trying to figure out how on
earth we're going to do it and get through the
first couple of minutes of it.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
And Joe, Joe knows this as well.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
But you know, after you know, you kind of get
a outline done, you lay a foundation, you have a
relationship you start working on and we had to go
the extra mile because we had to take the idea
but to do it a screenplay or I could do
anything with it. Sure, And so one thing that that
that an executive producer will do is, you know, primarily
(12:30):
you're going to go out and get the investments.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
You're going to bring the money in to to be
able to produce it.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
You get you know, see, if you have a one
point five million dollar budget, you wait till you've got
like one point twenty five before you really start making
moves or doing anything. And you have to navigate SAG
which a Screen Actors Guild. You have to navigate union
requirements to be able to shoot. Then you have to
find locations, setting budgets, you know, try to understand especially
(12:56):
you know with with war Birds, you know how difficult
that can be. Now we're to shoot this in Norfolk
and Coleman TV will be involved in it.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
You know. At this point I mean that that that
that can change in the future, but at this point
certainly the direction that we'll want to go.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
In fact, before the end of the podcast, I'll tell
you guys a vocation met Neil and you can actually
see a proof of concept that was put together. It's
a little ten minute or I don't know, maybe it's
a bit longer than that, but it's a proof of
concept to where you can see what, uh the general
direction is for the film, and and we'll give people
a really good feel for it.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
I think everybody will like it. It's free, you.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Know, so Uh then after that, I'll begin, if forget
the budget worked out, Uh, I'll begin sitting in people's
offices begging for money and uh yeah exactly.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
And then you know, then then we'll we'll locate.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
Assets and then we'll we'll work with casting agents and
get some some good cast in there, someone that that
that brings a lot to it, begin looking at pre sales.
There's so many different things that you do, and you
know that's why it's a stress job, but it's a
high reward. That's the best part of it in this story.
Getting the story out there and knowing that people will
(14:07):
be able to see a kind of light art to
take on a very serious subject I think is something
that the world's meeting right now. Just a little bit
of kindness coming out of a film is good right now.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Absolutely so any timeframe on this. I know that's kind
of a loaded question and probably sitding we really don't
want to talk about, but maybe just kind of walk
us through that process. It's not an overday success. I
understand that, no exactly.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Well, again, as the EP what I'm doing right now
is I've I'm breaking each scene down and establishing the budget,
trying to work out, you know, mainly what kind of
talent we want, what kind of production value do we want,
because you can go for the production value of you know,
undred million dollar movie, but then that's studio level.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Most Indian movies are fifteen million dollars in less.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
So I think we're probably going to fall in, you know,
in that that category or much lower, depending on what
direction we go. We also, I've had a conversation with
a high profile company about potentially looking at doing this
as a mini series rather than a movie, because Joe
wrote it very very eloquently in a episodic format, so
(15:19):
it lends itself to you know, and you can have
some that a little more comedic than others. You know,
there's a lot of different interesting things that occur on that.
So that's one way that we could pivot with it.
And so the first couple of things that we'll be
doing right now since we've got the script completed is
finding the you know, the locations that we really really
(15:42):
like the Belgium Hill is very very important. Obviously, you
want the authenticity of the war birds. You'll see if
you do watch the proof of concept in Norfolk that's
kind of that. That's where the history comes from. They've
they've got it there, so that's why it makes a
lot of sense to be able to shoot there. So
in a perfect world, we'd like to shoot maybe in
(16:02):
spring or summer of next year. We could get off
our ducks in a row by then and then maybe
come out in the following spring or the fall with
a comedy. I'd like it to come out in the summer,
So obviously this summer is outreach.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
So you know, we've got many, many different options we're
going to.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Look at and try to get a theatrical run on it,
So there'll be some negotiations on that if we go
that direction to it's actually created as a film rather
than a mini series or limited series.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Sure, Joe, when you wrote this story first and then
transformed it over to a screenplay, right in terms of
was that difficult to once you have written it to
turn it over into a screenplay.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
No, sir, it was not. It flowed. It just flowed,
and it was because I knew this story. I knew
the story by heart, and basically Steve gave me a
quick concept in the screening play for him. He shold
me how to use specialized filmmaker software. And well, I
(17:12):
became somebody then. But it just flowed naturally. And I
do want to say thank you Lord. There's a lot
of divine intervention that came into this. This inspiration just
did not come out of nowhere. It just I struggled
with the ending. I had an ending that was okay
and the movie made sense, and I had this ending
and I said, well, I wonder if I could put
(17:34):
my character in this situation. And then somehow, just like
I said, through divine inspiration, it just came to me.
And when I put it to a screenplay, I just
happened to have a little free time. But it just flowed.
I mean, it just flowed naturally. Because I knew the
story by heart, I knew where our character was going
to go.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I do what he was going to say.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
But what happened was was the fun part. Like Steve mentioned,
we have Vinnie or supporting character. Oh my god, Vinnie's
character came to life. I mean, if you needed quit
wit and some smart alochy. This was the guy to it,
and some of his lines all of a sudden just
(18:17):
came out and fit so naturally. I mean, it just
fits so naturally. And there's so many parts to this
I'd really like to mention, but I don't want to
give no nothing away.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Sure, but.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
You know, just like our hero is Army Air Corps,
you know he may see a lot of B seventeen's
and P fifty one movies. Well, I'm proud to say
that ours is going to have a C forty seven
or two and just put us a little bit different there.
But yes, it came together real well, it flowed naturally.
(18:51):
Steve's a great mentor, a good friend, and he helped
me out tremendously and it flowed and I didn't.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I reached out.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
That's how it how it began reaching out. Somebody mentioned
Nick Coleman. I was on a group Facebook film site
and I was just asking questions. Somebody said you might
contact Coleman Television and I did and Nick called me
and I had my first ever zoom meeting then with Nick.
(19:19):
Oh my godness, I was running around and going, I'm
be in a zoom meeting don't bother me, all right,
my time is valuable. I'm it's a zoom meeting. I'll
call you when I get done. And it just went
from there. Nick's a great guy, he's a good friend.
We flew out to England. We did shoot this demo footage.
It was a real I don't want to say quick,
(19:41):
but it's a mini version of the long story. And
England was just incredible. Nick was a great host. I
had such a blast over there. And it's not like
Oklahoma in the summer. They're at seventy two degrees and
they don't even have screens on their way those because
they don't have bugs. And here I just left Oklahoma
(20:04):
and it's one hundred and five degrees and you can't
even go outside. So yeah, I'd say going to England
to shoot the movie would be a real nice thing
to do.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Well, gentlemen, I know we're getting close here on time
for this episode, but you know, how did how did
Ernie Pole make it into this film? Joe? I know
you said you and Ernie are really good friends.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Yes, we're real good friends.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
But was that something that was always part of the
plan or did you just kind of happen to add
em in later, maybe just talk to our audience a
little bit about that. Well, I will.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I don't know how to actually explain that question, because
I worked on this plot this movie for a few years, okay,
and I would get I would get an idea here
and a piece here, and I would say, well, that
piece works with this. But I don't know if I
can honestly answer, was he there from the beginning or
(21:07):
he fit naturally? He fits so naturally to the story
and to our character. And you know, if you've ever
read anybody anything by Ernie, he had so many friends everywhere,
no matter where he went. I mean dog faces in Italy,
(21:28):
you know, combat engineers and sicily pilot, everybody was his friend.
But our hero just runs into him accidentally, got you.
It's kind of like the Trouble always finds him. Well,
Trouble didn't find him here, but uh, Trouble made the
(21:50):
past cross and it just came so naturally.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
It really did. And of course, and.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Of course any World War two movie that has any
media of any kind has to have Ernie just has to.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Well, we appreciate that coming from the Early Problem Museum,
so we really do. Steve kind of give you the
last word here to kind of wrap things up. Maybe
give the audience or listeners a chance to go out
to that site and see a little bit of the
teaser of the film.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
Absolutely. If you go to bad Newman dot com, that's
my production company. Newman is my real life dog. You're
sitting in my feet right now, and so you'll see
a picture of Newman there. But if you look at
our projects, you'll see Joe's world record. And at the
bottom of it, I'm a I'm also an AI developer,
and so I've done a lot of different analysis that
(22:47):
breaks it the movie down, breaks the script down, compares
it to other movies, does financial projections. It really gives
you a lot of information I think people would like
to see. I think I think a lot of people
just get a kick out of getting in there and
read that and get seen a little bit of insight
and what goes on in film, and you know this
level of production, you know whenever we're still pre production.
(23:09):
And then underneath that link is the link to the
proof of concept, and then there's a little more information
in there. If anybody wants to get involved, we certainly
welcome that, even just to sit and talk about it
is great because I mean, we're going to want to
be able to create buzz and get.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
A little bit of traction with it.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
I've got my own ways to go out and raise money,
but in a movie like this and with the subject
matter of this, I think, you know, getting as many
people involved this would like to be involved with it.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
You know, we can somebody can.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
Come in and we can make them an EP and
executive producer, and you know, there's a lot of different
ways that it can be done.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
If somebody wants to get involved, we'd absolutely welcome it.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Joe, I'd like to mention, I'd like to mention real
quick though, yeah, that we also have a Joe's War
Record Facebook okay, which is and also we will be
implementing our Joe's War Record website should be coming online
pretty soon as well. So, but Steve, most of the
communication is true, Steve and the Bad Newman website that
(24:16):
he gave you earlier. And I guess we all got dog.
We all got dogs in the movie business. I got
Willie Steve as Newman. Yeah, I'm sure you've got a
dog right there too, Doug.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
I do have a golden doodle, and he's my buddy.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
That's why we got a dog in the movie named ru.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah, at least my dog. You know. That's one reason
we have a dog. You know. He never talks back
to you. He always listens to you, and you don't
get much feedback from him. But that's all right.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
So there's a reason why mine is named bad Newman
dot com.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
But we'll talk about that later.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Steve, Joe, thank you so much for coming on spending
a few minutes with us today about this project, Joe's
War Record. We really look forward to hearing more about
it as it develops and comes to the silver screen,
we hope, and I know the only Pile Museum is
proud to be to write your letters important, to do
(25:19):
whatever we can for you obviously wonderful as well. We
wish you, gentlemen, nothing but the very best, and hopefully
when it premieres, we can have you both back on
and we can talk about it and more.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Than you got it.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Yep, absolutely well, thank you, I appreciate it, Thank you
gentlemen so much, and again wish you nothing but the
very best.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
All right, thank you, Doug, thank you
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