Historical Story

"LEADER OF THE BAND"

Written by

Peter Walton and 

Rebecca Viazzo 

CAPTION: “I’m just a living legacy to the leader of the band.”- Dan fogelberg 

INT. JIM’S STUDY- NIGHT. THE YEAR IS 1958.

JIM is sitting at his desk. There are stacks of paper scattered all over the place. He rubs his eyes from stress and exhaustion. His daughter, JAMIE (9) runs into the office. She accidentally knocks over a stack of papers.

JIM

Could you please be more careful? 

JAMIE

Sorry, Daddy. I was just wondering if you’re going to my piano recital tomorrow? 

JIM

I have a big meeting tomorrow, but I’ll do my best to make it. 

JAMIE

Okay.

She has a disappointed look as she exits the study. JIM’S wife, DONNA enters.

DONNA

Are you coming to bed, Jim?

JIM

I can’t. The board meeting is tomorrow. If I don’t have any ideas, I’m finished. And so far, I’ve got nothing.

DONNA

Well, maybe you’re not looking in the right places. Don’t stay up too late.

DONNA kisses his cheek. Then she starts to walk out.

DONNA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

And don’t forget about the recital tomorrow. 

JIM sits back in his chair. He rubs his hands down his face. Then he stares at an old trumpet lying in the corner of the study. 

CUT TO:

INT. A NIGHT CLUB- EVENING. FLASHBACK TO 1936 (TWENTY-TWO YEARS AGO).

JIM is playing the trumpet at a night club. Once he is done performing, a man walks over to Jim.

MAN

That was a pretty impressive performance.

JIM

Oh, thank you sir.

MAN

The name’s Mercer. Johnny Mercer. And you are?

JIM

James Conkling. But you can call me Jim.

MERCER

Well Jim it seems you really like music, huh?

JIM

Oh yes, sir. It’s my life.

MERECER

Say you know? I”m over at this record company right now. Capitol Records. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it. But we could use a guy like you. What do you think? 

JIM

Wow, I... I don’t know what to say.

MERECER

Tell you what. Here’s my card. If you’re interested, just give me a call. Great to meet you Jim.

MERCER exits. JIM continues to stand speechless. He looks down at the card. The card reads. “Capitol Records: Johnny Mercer, President.” He flips the card over. The card then reads, “Capitol Records: James Conkling, Vice President.”

CUT TO:

INT. JIM’S NEW OFFICE. FAST FORWARD TO 1944 (EIGHT YEARS LATER).

JIM looks up from the card. He gazes around his new office. MERCER knocks on the door and enters.

MERCER

Hey how are you liking the new office, Mr. VP?

JIM

It’s perfect, Johnny.

JIM turns and sees a picture of his wife, DONNA.

MERCER

Yeah and the wife seems to like it too. 

JIM

Yeah she sure does.

JIM looks up at an empty wall behind his desk. 

MERCER

Oh that reminds me. Here’s a little something you can add to that wall there.

MERCER pulls out a large frame from his briefcase and hands it to JIM. Inside the frame is a picture of Nat King Cole with a signed record underneath.

JIM

You mean?

MERCER

Yeah he signed on with us. And Jim this guy’s going to make it big. And he’ll have you to thank for that.

MERCER exits. JIM hangs the picture up.

JIM

Well, Mr. King Cole. I look forward to working with you. Tell me, do you know anyone else who would be interested in sighing on with us?

MONTAGE: Jim signing on more musicians and putting their signed pictures and records on the wall, along with a framed sheet of newspaper, which reads, “MR. JAMES BREWSTER CONKLING: THE NEW PRESIDENT OF CAPITOL RECORDS. JIM teaches JAMIE how to play the piano. The wall keeps filling up until there is only one space left. JIM sitting at his desk, crumbles up a piece of paper, throws it in the trash. This repeats. Newspaper headline reads, “Is Capitol Records in Danger?”  

INT. JIM’S OFFICE- EVENING (FOURTEEN YEARS LATER).

JIM is standing glaring at the blank space on the wall then looks down and see a “For Closure” notification on his desk. A young man named GEORGE AVAKIAN walks into JIM’S office.

AVAKIAN

Jim, you wanted to see me?

JIM

I got nothing, George. They’re expecting ideas tomorrow and I got nothing. 

JIM sits down at his desk.

JIM (CONT’D)

What am I supposed to do? The company could go under if I blow this.

AVAKIAN

Jim, it’s going to okay. Just look at the wall. You’ll think of something. You always do. 

JIM nods his head but doesn’t say anything. AVAKIAN exits. JIM looks up at the wall and focuses on a picture of him playing the trumpet at the night club from 1936. The picture fades out and the trumpet in Jim’s study fades back in.

INT. JIM’S STUDY- MORNING

JIM is asleep with his head on the desk. He wakes up and sees a note. He picks it up. The note says, “Good luck today, Daddy! Love, Jamie.” He notices a picture of him playing the piano with JAMIE. He then looks down at his watch, quickly gathers his things together, and rushes out the door. 

INT. JIM’S CAR- MORNING

JIM is driving fast as he constantly checks his watch. He then approaches a red light leading to a fork in the road. He looks at the photo one more time and then turns right.

INT. AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AUDITORIUM- MORNING

JIM runs into the school and then quietly enters the auditorium. An usher hands him a program. He folds it up and puts it in his jacket pocket. An announcer is presenting the next performer.

ANNOUNCER (O.S.)

And now, from Grammy Elementary School, Jamie Conkling. 

JIM sits down next to DONNA. DONNA looks surprised. 

DONNA

Jim, what are doing here? What about the board meeting?

JIM

It can wait. I don’t want to miss this. 

They watch JAIME perform a beautiful piece of music on the piano. 

ANNOUNCER

What a terrific performance by Jaime Conkling. Her teachers would like to give her this award for doing such a great job today. 

The ANNOUNCER hands JAIME a small trophy. JIM begins to clap slower and sits there thinking. He then quickly gets up and runs out of the auditorium. 

INT. A LARGE CONFERENCE ROOM- AFTERNOON

JIM enters the room. He’s out of breath.

AVAKIAN

Jim, we’ve been waiting. You better have a good reason.

JIM

I’ve got it. An awards ceremony...

For musicians. 

HEAD BOARD MEMBER

I’m sorry Jim. Could you repeat that for us?

JIM

You know, the Oscars recognize film. The Emmys honor television. I’m thinking we have a similar ceremony focusing solely on music. What do you think?   

HEAD BOARD MEMBER

Interesting. Very interesting. What would we call this awards ceremony?

JIM takes out the recital program from his jacket pocket and looks at it for a moment. He notices the name Grammy.

JIM

How about the Grammy Awards? 

The HEAD BOARD MEMBER sits there for moment in silence. Then he slams his hand on the table.

HEAD BOARD MEMBER

I love it! You’ve got a deal.

The board members break out in applause. 

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. A LARGE STADIUM- NIGHT

A video clip of the real JIM receiving an award.

ANNOUNCER #2 (V.O.)

This Special Achievement Award goes to James Brewster Conkling for creating one of the most celebrated awards programs in music history. 

INT. JIM’S OFFICE- DAY

The award is sitting up against the wall of JIM’S office. Focus slowly shifts to the many pictures and awards hanging on the wall. Then focus moves in on the empty space. The picture of JIM and JAMIE playing the piano fades in and fills the spot. 

FADE TO BLACK.

THE END

Artist Statement

When coming up with an idea for our historical story we both turned to family stories; our first thoughts turned to the experiences of our grandfathers. We based our story around Peter’s grandpa’s past and his journey in creating the Grammy Awards Show.  After reading “Vivian, Fort Barnwell” we were fascinated with the fact that the picture Canin thought was his mother was actually his grandmother.  His childhood imagination took over and a story was made. Even though the story was only a made up tale, he believed it was true.  Perception is everything. We felt that because of this we could use our own creative freedom.  We found the facts, but added our own voice and style; we had to embellish our script to hold our audience’s attention.  In our workshop Melissa and Adam suggested we add a bit about how the Grammys was named.  We took their advice and incorporated the name into our story. We then thought back to the movie The Blind Side, the true story of an ordinary woman changing the life of a young boy born into unfortunate circumstances. Although it was about an average woman, there was a theme and a message attached to it.  We knew we had to incorporate a theme into ours as well.  Thinking back to the beginning of this process, we both agreed that family was important to us and we wanted the story to focus around that.  With the facts Peter researched about his grandfather, we made an inspiring story about a man having trouble at work. But because of the inspiration he found by supporting his daughter, he was able to come up with what we know as the Grammys.   It was a learning experience taking family history and adding our own twist and theme to it.