When Judd Apatow learned via Twitter that Sony was releasing "clean" versions of R-rated and PG-13 movies– including two he produced– he was not happy. He tells The Frame why these cuts of films should be created only if the filmmakers give consent. The Secret Sisters return to making music with their new album "You Don't Own Me Anymore." And we go for a run with the people in the new L.A. Film Festival documentary "Skid Row Marathon."
Running to recovery in the LA Film Festival documentary, 'Skid Row Marathon'
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig J. Mitchell often begins his work day before dawn, running with a group of recovering addicts and homeless people. Some of them might have been in his courtroom accused of crimes.
Mitchell is the founder of the Skid Row Running Club. The new documentary film “Skid Row Marathon,” which premieres June 17 at the L.A. Film Festival, tells their story.
When Mitchell sits at the bench in criminal court, he sometimes wears running shorts and shoes under his robe — the better to hit the streets quickly at lunch.
But on Monday and Thursday mornings for the past five years, he has come to Skid Row to run with anyone who shows up.
“We started out very humbly,” said Mitchell on a recent Monday morning just before a run. “On a good day, we'd have three or four runners.”
That morning, a boisterous mix of two dozen runners gathered in the traffic lane of 6th Street, in front of the Midnight Mission shelter. Some are addicts released to the judge from the confines of their rehab program for the hour-long run.
It’s a dicey venue for a running club. That morning, someone offered to sell the judge some meth. Last week, while trying to break up a fight, he got hit in the face.
Mishaps aside, Mitchell's group has grown in size and ambition. The judge has gone from putting a few Skid Row runners into the 2013 L.A. Marathon to training dozens of recovering addicts to run races in Africa, Asia and Europe.
“Skid Row Marathon” follows several runners as they try to stay sober and train together to run a marathon in Rome. Some of the recovering addicts featured in the film reunited with Judge Mitchell for their morning run.
“It's more than running,” said Ben Shirley, a heavy metal bass player and member of the club. “For me, it's meditation.”
Shirley stands out from the crowd — he has blue stars tattooed on his face and neck. He had been through a few rehab programs, but it was the Skid Row Running Club that finally made a difference.
“This is camaraderie,” Shirley said. “It goes beyond just running. It's trusting somebody, like the judge.”
When Judge Mitchell gives the signal, the runners head out. They tear along through truck exhaust, dodging potholes in the right lane of 6th Street. They leave the sidewalks to the many tents and shopping carts and tarps, each a reminder of L.A.’s growing homeless population.
“I was very standoffish and I did not like Judge Mitchell,” said Shirley, recalling the start of the club. “[But] the more we ran ... the more it was beaten into me that I had to change or I'd be right on the street again. [This is] one of the best things I've ever done in my life.”
Gabriele Hayes, producer of the "Skid Row Marathon" documentary, had a table waiting a block from the mission. There was coffee and home-baked brownies for runner Rafael Cabrera, who served 29 years on a murder conviction.
The treats speak to the bond the producer and her husband, director Mark Hayes, have with the runners over their years of filming.
Initially, Mark Hayes couldn’t accept Judge Mitchell’s view that a person’s life cannot be defined by one bad act — even murder.
“But over a period of now four years, I’ve accepted [Cabrera] and I’ve forgiven him,” the director said. "And I understand that. Everybody is better served if he’s out of prison.”
The documentary started small and local.
“Four years ago in March, just before the L.A. Marathon,” recalled Gabriele Hayes. “We were really intrigued by this judge who started a running club on Skid Row. I am a runner myself and I thought, My God, [this] would be really an interesting story. He’s changing lives.”
Gabriele and Mark Hayes took on roles far beyond filming as the runners trained for their international marathons.
“Everybody’s skeptical at the beginning,” said Gabriele Hayes. “Going on the trips, organizing the trips to Rome to Africa, trying to pay bills, trying to sponsor people, trying to fundraise ... It’s a big commitment.”
Gabriele and Mark Hayes were not only making their film, they were helping make the trips happen.
“When we went to Africa, it was only four runners,” said Gabriele Hayes. “But going to Rome, we were 25, and you're looking at a bill of over $70,000 dollars.”
Mark Hayes says there’s no guarantee that everyone involved in the program will succeed. Several of the runners they followed relapsed into drug or alcohol abuse.
“Even though we’re kind of priming the pump, so to speak,” he said, "in a way, we still have no control over what happens.”
But Judge Mitchell is hopeful the documentary will shine a light on their cause.
“We hope that people who watch the film realize that putting lives back together is a worthwhile enterprise,” he said.
The Skid Row Running Club has recently been incorporated as its own nonprofit organization. Filmmakers Mark and Gabriele Hayes hope their documentary helps raise money to make the group self-sustaining.
"Skid Row Marathon" screens June 17 at noon at the Arclight Santa Monica as part of the L.A. Film Festival.
The Secret Sisters are playing by their own rules now
UPDATE: The Secret Sisters' album, "You Don't Know Me Anymore," is nominated for Best Folk Album at the 2018 Grammy Awards.
ORIGINAL STORY FROM JUNE, 2017:
Sisters Laura and Lydia Rogers — known as The Secret Sisters — had an auspicious start to their career.
After landing a record deal in 2010, the singing and songwriting duo from Muscle Shoals, Alabama released two albums — 2010's "The Secret Sisters" and 2014's "Put Your Needle Down." Both were produced by the legendary T-Bone Burnett. The sisters were also in demand as an opening act for the likes of Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Paul Simon.
But creative differences with their label, Universal Republic, led to a series of problems, including a lawsuit from their former manager. Laura found herself cleaning houses and Lydia was forced to file for bankruptcy.
But the story of The Secret Sisters didn't end there. Following the advice of singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, the sisters turned to their fans for support and launched a crowdfunding campaign via PledgeMusic.
The sisters are back with a brand new album, "You Don’t Know Me Anymore," that speaks to the resilience they've built up over the past eight years of their tumultuous career.
When the Secret Sisters stopped by The Frame, Laura talked about why they parted ways with their old label:
I think in the early, early stages … with the first record cycle … a lot of choices were made that maybe had good intentions, but not a lot of longevity. But then, of course, when everything fell apart and we found ourselves completely alone with no label and no management — our entire team had just disintegrated — that was when we really started saying, You know, if we’re going to rebuild this and do it again we're doing it our way — we're wearing what we want to wear, we're playing our songs that we want to play.
The beauty of this new record is that we were not signed at the time that we made it. We crowdfunded the whole record. There was no label standing there [saying], You need a radio single, you need a hit song that you need to put on a TV show … We just allowed the music to be what it was.
Lydia says that launching a crowdfunding campaign for their new album was an important decision they made following the suggestion of singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, who helped produce the record:
[The crowdfunding campaign] was so integral to everything we did. Brandi was actually very helpful in helping us do that. We did two shows with her — opening for her — in Seattle, I think it was late 2015. That's when we started having conversations about making a record together. Even when we weren't touring with her, she would call and check on us and give us advice. And then when we went through the bad part — we went through bankruptcy and weren't really feeling creative — she was the one who checked on us and told us that we had to continue.
That's really when she put the idea in our heads to look at crowdfunding. And we were very intimidated by that for a long time. We were afraid we wouldn't raise the money in time or it would make us look weak in some way. But our fans just came together and it established a really true connection. And I am so thankful that we did it because it was crowdfunded within two weeks or so.
The sisters talk about how growing up in Muscle Shoals, which was home to two studios that produced a lot of classic R&B and soul music in the 1960s and '70s:
LYDIA: It didn't really influence us that much when we were really young. We actually grew up around a lot of bluegrass music and gospel music. We were always going to a lot of bluegrass festivals with our dad and spending a lot of weekends doing that. I think when we were very, very young we weren't even aware of the legacy that Muscle Shoals left. But when we got older we realized that it had a huge impact on music. And we're still finding out things about it that we never knew.
LAURA: It's a really interesting place geographically because it's kind of right in the center of a lot of different styles of American roots music. You have country music coming down from Nashville, you've got Appalachian music coming down from the mountains, you've got blues up in Memphis, you've got Cajun style next door in New Orleans. So I feel like there's just this really cool music that just kind of mixes together all in the state of Alabama ... We're always cautious about trying not to imitate anyone and to try to forge our own way, but also keep in the influences there that are kind of hard to resist.
Another big influence on their sound was church music. Lydia talks about how they learned to sing at church:
[Church music] was absolutely critical. It was really all of our influence growing up. We grew up in a church that didn't use any musical instruments whatsoever. And so when we would sing together, there wasn't a choir, there wasn't one person singing. We were all singing as a congregation. And so we would get out our songbooks and learn how to harmonize that way, without realizing that we were learning how to sing. And we can really attribute all of our sound to that.
The sisters agree that, despite the twist to their Cinderella story, these experiences shaped their new record. But they had to write about them in ways that could be relatable for their audience:
LAURA: The things that were inspiring the record — the bankruptcy and getting dropped from our record deal and finding ourselves in a lawsuit — those are not things that your average music consumer is going to be able to identify with ... In writing the songs, we knew that we, for our own sake, had to express the emotions behind what we had endured. But we also realized that the music had to have a space for our listeners to find themselves.
["Tennessee River Runs Low"] was actually the very first song we wrote with the hope of making a third record. I think that river — the river that runs through our home town — is just mythical in so many ways and so it felt right to write about it, especially after all the tumultuous rough current that we found ourselves in.
LYDIA: Yeah, a lot of those emotions we tried to personify them in a lot of ways — whether it was through a lover or from the perspective of a river. So I think in that way we were able to make it more relatable.
To hear John Horn's conversation with the Secret Sisters, click on the player above.
Judd Apatow learned of Sony's plans for 'clean' versions of his films via Twitter — He wasn't happy
When Sony Pictures announced its "Clean Version" initiative last week, some filmmakers took to Twitter to voice their concerns.
Actor and filmmaker Seth Rogen released a tweet that said it all:
Holy shit please don't do this to our movies. Thanks. https://t.co/0lpoESaIQd
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) June 6, 2017
Though Rogen has no films currently included in the movies with clean versions already available, he has worked with Sony on several projects including "Pineapple Express" and "Sausage Party."
The studio's initiative would allow consumers to receive a sanitized version of a movie, which has been edited for violence and adult content, when they purchase the original version on a digital service. These edited versions are often used for viewing on airlines or broadcast television.
The films with clean versions currently available for purchase on platforms like iTunes, Vudu and FandangoNOW include "Hancock" and "Easy A."
The move was a surprise to many in the film community, notably the directors, who often have a final say in editing different versions of their movies. The Director's Guild of America said in a statement on Tuesday that the initiative was in violation of the guild's basic agreement with the studios.
Dennis Dugan, director of the Adam Sandler vehicles "Grown Ups," "Grown Ups 2" and "Big Daddy," all originally included on Sony's "Clean Version" program, was surprised when he heard about the initiative just a few days ago.
I spoke with somebody at Sony and they said they were going to plan on releasing these clean versions of the films and I expressed my dismay about not having been contacted about it. And they said they were sorry but, that being said, would I agree to it? And I said, 'No, I wouldn't.' And they said, why? And I said, 'Because we make these movies the way we make them. They're works of art, and we don't feel like we want anybody editing them except Adam Sandler and myself.'
Dugan says he works with the studios on editing airline and television versions of his films. But for Sony to provide those edited versions to the public on a different platform is another story.
To just say Oh yeah, you know what, these are clean versions— which I object to completely— these are clean versions, so people have the choice of getting a clean version. Well here's the thing: I'm not a fan of horror movies. They scare me. So here's what I do. I don't watch them. So if somebody isn't a fan of a movie I make or if they feel that I make movies that are too dirty, then you know what they do? Just move on and watch something else.
It would be like [me saying] I want to go to Florence and see the statue of David, but I don't like my children seeing a naked man 25 feet high. So could they do me a favor and put pants on him when I come in? That would be ridiculous, correct? So it's ridiculous to say Why don't we make your movie into something that it isn't to make some people happy? Just go watch Cinderella.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a rep for Adam McKay, director and co-writer of "Step Brothers" and "Talladega Nights," both included on the list of clean version films, said he was not aware of the initiative and that he would not have agreed to it.
Judd Apatow, a producer on "Talladega Nights," tweeted similar sentiments:
This is absolute bullshit and @sony and @SonyPictures is gonna get hell for FUCKING with our movies.Shove the clean versions up your asses! https://t.co/UhRUP0ZIlz
— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) June 13, 2017
When Apatow spoke with The Frame, he explained how he first learned about Sony's initiative:
I think I learned about it on Twitter and my reaction was, That's crazy. It's certainly very offensive to all of the filmmakers. All you care about when you make your movie is that when you're done, nobody's going to screw with it. And it's the most basic agreement you have with the studios. So it was pretty shocking.
And I know how these things happen. I think that all studios are looking for every possible way to monetize these movies. But the versions of movies you see on airplanes or on television are bastardized versions of the movies. We hate that these versions exist. It's part of the business that existed before we entered it. But it's certainly not something we want mass distribution on. We want to send people to a platform where they can see the movie the way the director intended it.
Apatow explains that directors have a say in edits for broadcast and airline versions of their films. But the process to "clean up" a movie can be tricky, especially when the cuts are not part of the original vision for the film:
A lot of it has to do with how much time you want to put into it. They consult with the directors and, if you're organized and thoughtful about it, you could do a massive recut to your movie so it's not awful when it's seen on network television or somewhere where they need to edit it. Sometimes in my films, I'll go through the dailies and instead of just bleeping out words or doing bad word replacements I'll look through all the dailies and see if, Did we do any jokes that we can get approved and are clean enough? And on a few movies, I've done, you know, big recuts so that I wouldn't want to kill myself when these movies are on network TV. But they're still pretty far from your original intentions.
Apatow says editing a clean version of a film isn't all that bad. The filmmaking team just needs to be involved:
If the collaborative team that makes the movie thinks there's a clean version to be had, I think that's fine. But it really is about the director and the whole team wanting to release that version. You certainly can't do it without permission and that's really what this is about. You know, if Martin Scorsese wants to make a clean version of “Wolf of Wall Street” that's 17 minutes long and is intended for 9-year-olds he should be allowed to do that. But certainly the studios shouldn't decide to do that and not ask his permission.
In a response to the backlash, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment President Man Jit Singh released a statement on Wednesday: “Our directors are of paramount importance to us and we want to respect those relationships to the utmost. We believed we had obtained approvals from the filmmakers involved for use of their previously supervised television versions as a value added extra on sales of the full version. But if any of them are unhappy or have reconsidered, we will discontinue it for their films.”
In a statement to The Frame, the DGA said, "While we’re pleased that Sony is acknowledging its mistakes in this area, the DGA has notified Sony that it expects the immediate removal of all "clean" versions of the affected films from availability until Sony secures permission from each and every director, and provides them with an opportunity to edit a version for release in new media – consistent with the DGA Agreement and the directors’ individual contracts. These are hard-fought for rights that protect a director’s work and vision, and are at the very heart of our craft and a thriving film industry. As we have throughout our history, we are committed to fighting the unauthorized editing of films."
After all that has been said and tweeted, Apatow says there is a lesson to be learned here for the studios and artists alike:
I don't think that there are people who are looking to do something shady. You know, somewhere it got sloppy. Either sloppy follow-ups to get approvals or sloppy thinking that they didn't need the approvals. And, you know, that's fine, as long as they're responsive to everybody's outrage, there's no harm there.
But I think it's very important that whenever these situations happen that all the artists say, Wait a second, you can't touch this. Just like you can't hand over The Sopranos to somebody and cut out all the violence and make it, you know, great for a fourth-grade class. That's not the intention of the work. And even if you could make money on it, you shouldn't do it.
A list of clean version films is available on the website cleanversionmovies.com. Apatow and Dugan's films are no longer included.
To hear John Horn's conversation with Judd Apatow, click on the player above.