Microbudget dramedy based around the founding and necessary failure of a band.

Logline:

An extremely talented but isolated musician, Jazz (18), works in a music store and supports his mother. On discovering that a band lasts on average only ninety days, he decides to put one together. With fake musicians and singers, Youtube, an old roadie, and his own exceptional musical talents, The Accidents become a hit, but in the depths of his well-manufactured deceit, will Jazz  be able to find his own genuine life and musical path?

Synopsis:

Jazz, Jeremiah Zachariah Paulson, (18) is from a mining town. His mother is a professional quilter and a tech-phobic shut-in. Jazz’s neighbor, Martin (64), is a former roadie and a Beatle’s fanatic.. Jazz spends his time putting music lessons up on his own youtube channel. He is an exceptional musician jumping from guitar to banjo to balailaka with ease. By day, he works in a music store and gives music lessons. He is young, exceptionally talented, and a little bored.

At a book signing, the author of Never Start a Band provides a detailed analysis of bands in the music industry concluding the average band existed for only ninety days. This changes his life.

The next day, Jazz decides to form a fake band, puts out the notice for ‘FOUR PEOPLE – badass with good hair – and makes very specific criteria based on the book. They all agree to $20 per song. The band is not real. Jazz is the puppet master and musician. He controls everything. He has no expectations because the band will last only ninety days.

The countdown clock begins. On day one, the band is formed. Clady, the crazy drummer, Mathis the angry narcissistic guitarist, Vasquez the bedrock bass player, and the lead singer who can be anyone but must be someone you want to punch in the face. On Day two, they try to record but need a name. They settle on The Accidents. The closet is his studio.  Jazz makes a video and uploads it. By day four he has found innovation, 90,000 hits and a check that he immediately invests into making a studio.

On Day Four, a girl shows up. Maisie the tambourine player and most dsytopic singer ever to walk in, blackmails her way into the band. She wants to sing; Jazz must let her but gets her voice dubbed. One more deceit.

As Jazz records the songs and orchestrates videos to keep up the pretense, he becomes more creative. He uses the book to create fake dissent and fake controversy. He wants to record in a mine. He continues dubbing Maisie and having the band lip sync.

He gets to a point in a band’s rise where he needs help with a controversial video. He turns to Martin, constant supplier of outrageous stories of his life as a roadie, and only person he knows who could help him pull it off. Martin, has a price, a date with Jazz’s mother.

The band is outraged at the video script, Youtube’s decency monitor is set off, and changes must be made but The Accidents upload an obscene hit. Their success continues. Jazz and Maisie record a duet in a mine – it’s poignant, meaningful, and of course must be dubbed – the video is hated but the song is a hit.

The band’s progression continues. Jazz gets genuinely closer to Maisie and they record a country song. Day ninety approaches and they do their final concert. Maisie challenges Jazz and his whole pretense. She challenges his fakeness in the face of his real talent.  Thereafter, the fake singer and the fake front man announce they are quitting the band and that they are in love with themselves and each other and they must move on in search of their own reality TV show.  Like the book said, ninety days is the average. Although Jazz knew it was all fake and limited, he learned a real lesson that might help him chart a genuine musical future with the last person he ever expected to be able to trust.