ALUMNA'S FILM SCORES RAVE REVIEWS NATIONWIDE

Rock School editor Demian Fenton, producer Sheena Joyce '98 and director Don Argott under the marquee at South by Southwest Film Festival

In 2002, Sheena Joyce '98 quit her day job to start a two-person video-production company, forfeiting financial security to pursue a creative dream. Two years later, she and her partner, Don Argott, were accepting a standing ovation from the Sundance glitterati for their highly regarded documentary, Rock School.

Rock School, which opened to rave reviews in early June, explores the slightly warped world of Paul Green, founder of Philadelphia's Paul Green School of Rock Music. Green teaches students who range in age from nine to 17 — and in ability from virtuoso prodigy to rhythmically challenged wannabe — to perform the rock-and-roll classics he reveres.

The self-described frustrated rock star attains remarkable results by refusing to lower his expectations in consideration of his students' tender years. Nor does he demonstrate excessive concern for tender ears: his teaching method involves barrages of foulmouthed bombast and verbal abuse that are sometimes uproariously funny, sometimes disturbingly harsh, and nearly always very loud.

Joyce and Argott co-produced the film; Argott served as both director and cinematographer. The pair found the film's editor, Demian Fenton, at the school, where he was enrolled as a special adult student.

"He was trying to get a foot in the door by taking lessons there because he wanted to make a documentary, too," Joyce says. "When he found out that we were already filming one, we talked and decided to join forces."

Before the film opened in theaters nationwide, Joyce and Argott screened it on the film-festival circuit and at premieres in Los Angeles, New York and Seattle. Green's "all-stars" group entertained at postscreening parties, where the students were joined onstage by the likes of rock icons Alice Cooper, Jon Anderson of Yes, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and Ann Wilson of Heart.

"Eddie Vedder bought us pizza in Seattle!" Joyce exclaims. "We had a film at Sundance! We got two thumbs up from Ebert and Roeper! I don't think any of us imagined that the movie would go this far. At one point Demian said, 'This may be the most expensive home movie ever made.' We'd filmed 120 hours of digital footage and we had no way of knowing whether we'd even be able to sell it."

From Bryn Mawr College to Rock School

How did she get there? At Bryn Mawr, Joyce was an English major. After a creative-writing course in feature journalism piqued her interest in nonfiction media, she created an independent-study course on television journalism. Her research entailed internships in the news departments of two Philadelphia TV stations, and she produced a paper about women in TV news. The experience convinced her that a career in film and television was worth pursuing.

After graduation, Joyce worked for the Greater Philadelphia Film Office as an assistant to the executive director. The job gave her some solid production experience.

"Essentially, the Film Office acts, free of charge, as a local producer whenever a visiting production comes to town," Joyce explains. "We'd close streets, negotiate lodging for cast and crew, hire cops, deal with parking, make recommendations for hiring local artists and technicians, make restaurant reservations for the stars — just anything you can think of the production might need. Production is about solving problems."

She met Argott, who owned a production company with a business partner, through her work at GPFO. Joyce and Argott became romantically involved, and when Argott's former partner wanted to move the business to Los Angeles, Argott decided to stay in Philadelphia with Joyce.

"That's when we formed 9.14 Pictures," Joyce says, "and I committed myself to joining the company as a full-time partner."

Just a few weeks later, Argott zeroed in on one of the colorful posters that Green periodically plasters all over Philadelphia to advertise Rock School concerts. He returned home full of enthusiasm and certain he wanted to make a documentary. He took Joyce to one of the school's concerts.

"We're both ardent rock fans. About five minutes into the show, I turned around and told Don, 'OK. I'm sold.' We approached Paul in December of 2002 and started filming in January 2003," Joyce reports.

The team poured time and energy into the project over about nine months of filming. The first test of its commercial viability came at IFP New York, a venue where indie filmmakers can show works in progress. They submitted an 18-minute teaser that was accepted. When they showed it, response was overwhelming, Joyce says.

"Miramax was interested, Sony Pictures Classics was interested, all kinds of people were interested," she says. "That was exciting, but also kind of scary, because we had 120 hours of footage that we had to cut into a reasonable-length movie, and suddenly there was a lot of pressure to get it done."

The final cut showed first at the Los Angeles Film Festival, where it was the only film that sold; Newmarket Films picked it up. Joyce and Argott have spent the year since then learning their way through the maze of contract obligations and distribution.

"The film sold for a lot of money, but we had to use it to accomplish all of the physical and legal things that had to be done to get the movie into theaters. There are all kinds of enormous expenses — getting it rated by the MPAA costs. Getting it Dolby-mastered for theater sound systems costs. The music licensing is incredibly expensive, and printing a single film negative costs about $65,000. We basically broke even."

Nevertheless, she considers Rock School a remarkable success.

"It's just incredible that our very first film sold. And the exposure the film got has brought numerous other benefits. We're now represented by one of the most prestigious agencies in the world; they're sending us scripts. Right now we're working on a narrative film that we'll start shooting at the end of the summer. It's about a singer-songwriter on the road.

"We just can't seem to get away from music," she says.

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