Cobb Field

As of about 11:00 PM last evening, we officially have a rough cut! We’re less than 15 seconds off of our 56:46 PBS standard length, so a few little adjustments along the way and we’ll be good.

Monday of this past week saw the recording of the narration, and Jeff Lynch carried the day with just the right tone and attitude. His excellent suggestions, along with those from his delightful wife Stacia, have made this a very tight script. One of my favorite parts of this whole process, by the way, is both the finding of exactly the right voice, and then writing specifically for that voice.

In our last documentary, An Uphill Climb, a great friend of mine, Kevin Cranston, was the narrator. His voice was the glue that held the entire story together. We looked very seriously into having him repeat that role for this film, but in the end, his voice is just too young. Maybe next time.

As I watched the rough cut last night, I’m struck by how beautiful this film is visually. Hope that doesn’t sound too full of myself. I had three other camera people who shot for this documentary, and their work is a key part of the whole thing. I have not tired a bit of looking at the images that we shot in Montana. They’re just stunning. I’m very excited about sharing that look with the rest of the country.

Next up is the addition of the 14 or so seconds to make the show the right length. By the end of the week I’ll be hip deep in writing the music. That will be another large undertaking. My goal is to have that process complete by sometime early March so that musicians and studio time in Nashville can be scheduled.

This music score will be quite a bit different from what I’ve done so far. Different musicians, music that will demand better performance skills than I have myself, and a studio I’ve never worked in before. Exciting.

It’s been nearly a month since I last wrote, but lots has happened. Except for a very important chapter on the history of the Mustangs, we have a rough cut! We’re very happy with the way most of the documentary flows, and very happy with the test viewings we’ve had.

We’ve employed a split screen of sorts during a healthy portion of the film, and that helps both with pacing and our desire to use as much of the great footage as we can. It’s a lot more work editing, though-when you’re using three or four shots at a time it really adds to the time it takes to make sure everything is in the right place.

I had a meeting with Gregg Lohman recently, a good friend and Nashville musician. It looks like we’ll be recording most all the music in Nashville, with musicians who are cohorts of Gregg. I’m really looking forward to both the experience and the resulting music. Should be fantastic.

Matt Passalacqua, a rising country singer, has also agreed to allow his music to participate, and I couldn’t be more excited about that. He’s a great guy, a fantastic musician, and a wonderful writer.

It’s been suggested to me that this is the perfect time for a documentary like this one. With so many clouds hanging over baseball, it should be a real breath of fresh air to see something that celebrates the essence of baseball. When you think about it, baseball is about family, it’s about sights and sounds, it’s about dreams, and it’s about a game that invites deep thought. I agree-this is a time that we should all be reminded why we love baseball, and I can’t think of a better illustration of that than Cobb Field and the good people of Billings, Montana.

This film will be unashamedly positive, and will be unapologetic in its warmth and enjoyment of the minor league baseball experience. We’re not denying the problems elsewhere in baseball, we’re just focusing on what is right and good about the great American past time.