History of The Living Years

The Living Years, as it was premiered on June 7th, 1996, was the result of over four years of difficult, and often challenging work to make Christopher Allen's vision come to life. The journey began on February 12th, 1989, when 17 year-old John Clapham was killed in an untimely automobile accident. That devastating event led his friend, Chris Allen, into a period of depression and doubt.

Some two years afterward, Allen was sitting in his friend's pizza parlor when the idea of Living Years germinated. As instantaneous as his idea was, it would be the determining decision of his entire life. From there, Allen moved to Florida to study filmmaking; all the while drafting several story lines for The Living Years (TLY) .

In late 1993, Allen moved back to Madison, Indiana, with a completed screenplay, and a unheard of idea... to shoot TLY throughout Madison, using talent and resources throughout the small southern Indiana town. Intrigued by the notion, Allen was blessed to have two of his closest friends help him achieve his vision. Bill Goble and Cedric Klein, came on as consultants, and eventually ascended into higher positions throughout the humble beginnings of RACSO Productions.

With the screenplay now molded into a shootable script, (thanks to the help of Cedric Klein, a gifted writer himself), the three set out to hold auditions in May 1994. Within a few weeks, the three had chosen their cast and crew to breath life into these characters.

Within a period of a year, Allen, Klein, and Goble had decided to finance the project entirely on credit cards. Much to the ingenuity and genius of Klein, they purchased enough equipment to shoot the film; although it would be a low budget project throughout the remainder of the shoot. Then, in May of 1995, at the King's Daughters' Hospital, the crew gathered to shoot the very first scene of the production.

Throughout the next 23 days, Bill Goble spearheaded the film as Director, while Allen stepped into the lead role, and Klein as Executive Producer respectively. Thanks to Goble's hard work ethic, the crew managed to wrap up an amazing log of scenes in just under one month. A feat that is hard to beat for any first-time filmmaker.

In October of the that year, the Producers hired Madison native Derin Lowry (residing in Los Angeles) to compose the original soundtrack for the film. With Lowry on board, Steven R. Galloway (The Bone Collector, The Matrix; Revolutions) soon joined Lowry to assist in composing nearly 60 separate music tracks for the film. Post production stumbled through until June of 1996 when Allen went to Hollywood to personally oversee the final stages of the mix. Yet, that was just the beginning of the ordeal that awaited...

The premiere was slated for Friday, June 7th at 7pm in Madison. I had arrived in Los Angeles that previous Saturday to begin work. There was still a massive amount of audio left to be completed, so we tackled it head on. On that Tuesday, a disastrous error had occurred-- wiping out all of our sound effects and cued music. If any of you have ever worked on a film, and had this happen to you, you know just how unfortunate this is. The audio editing system we were using was Pro-Tools, and the only thing left was dialogue and (perhaps) one or two cued tracks of music. That's it. Derin, expecting a violent and frenzied reaction, was taken when I took a deep breath, and walked out to Sunset Boulevard in Brentwood... My mission: To buy a six pack of beer and a fresh pack of smokes. It was going to be a long, long next three days. Derin later admitted he appreciated my reaction to the error, or lack thereof I guess you could say.

Not only that, but now the crew back in Madison started to get furious, especially Cedric. I fondly recall his first reaction... as if the distance between Indiana and California had suddenly and miraculously compressed into (perhaps) one or two feet. To this day, I have never felt so terribly empty inside. Not only for our sakes, but for the six hundred guests that had already received their special invitations to the gala premiere. Steve, Derin, and myself realized that we just had no choice in the matter. We had to get it done. But in all honesty, it was Derin and Steve that salvaged the project. They knew the Pro-Tools system better than anyone. And all I could do was sit back and watch them create their magic. Steve later declared that this period was "Vietnam".

Steve and Derin didn't stop for the next two days. Steve somehow managed to balance his job on top of the looming deadline, and USAir made one hundred dollars from me in delays of my flight back to Indiana. Meanwhile, my time was spent either on Steve's balcony in Brentwood, or listening to Derin constantly tweak dialogue. I fondly remember falling into a hazy sleep one night while Donnemarie Firth's voice rang out in the studio. It was a short sentence, but one Derin was working on at the time. Slipping into unconsciousness, her voice kept echoing in my mind throughout the next few hours. I lazily awoke six hours later to hear the same voice, and same sentence still echoing in my head, and for a reason. Derin was still working on the same piece of Donnemarie's audio.

Having my flight bumped to the last possible flight out of LAX at 11:45pm on Thursday night (getting back to Indianapolis by 7 am by Friday), we now realized we had to get this done by (at least) Thursday at 6pm-- no later. Working around the clock, the marriage of the audio and video finally took place at 9pm that night. Considering the film had to play out in it's entire duration (118 minutes), that gave me roughly 30 minutes to get to the airport. We were all sweating bullets by this point. Fleeing down the Hollywood freeway, and rushing into the concourse with the tapes in my hand, I finally made it to the flight, and into my seat-- clutching the reels of the video in my sweaty hands. I took a breath, and prepared myself for the biggest night of my entire life. It was completed... or so at least I thought.

Thinking about the biggest night of my life the entire flight back, I couldn't sleep at all. I was now on 24 hours with no sleep. Landing right at 7am in Indianapolis, I realised that I still had to rent a Beta deck video player for the premiere. The only deck (that I knew of) was in Louisville, and that was two hours from Indianapolis. Setting out on I-65, I warped out to Louisville to pick up the deck, and get back to Madison. I arrived in Madison shortly thereafter by 12 noon, welcomed by an anxious army of my associates. Exhausted, yet thrilled by the anticipation, I rushed over to my (ex) fiancee's house to see her, and to get ready for the event. The
winds of expectation swirled throughout my mind... four long and tedious years of dreams, shooting, editing, and disputes were now all but a memory. It was now time to make good on my promise to Bill and Cedric, and the cast.

Announcing for the gala premiere, long time friend Bob Fourhman championed the filmmakers as they gathered upon the stage (except for Meredith Heiderman who was out of the country at the time) to relish in their triumphant accomplishment. I chose to sit as far away from the crowd as possible, all the way in the balcony where only a few of my friends were at. Fighting ruthless fatigue, it was all I could do to stay awake during the 118 minute film.

Although not a monetary victory for the Producers, The Living Years drew hundreds of spectators later that month as the general public was invited to screen the film. Full page ads ran in the local newspaper, The Madison Courier, and eventually ended up on the local cable company for a free broadcast in September of 1996.

WDRB FOX 41 produced a special segment about the film, airing just days before the big premiere. Donnemarie Firth and Allen ended up on WISH TV 8 with Patty Spitler, plugging the film as well. As of now, these segments can be seen on the "Making Of..." video (1996). There is talk of producing a special DVD version of the film, which will contain all theatrical trailers, both documentaries, and scene by scene commentary by Allen himself. The DVD may not be released for several months (or years) down the road since other projects warrant the Producer's schedules.

Some have said it was a local project, or a labor of love on behalf of Allen. These statements may be true, but it never would have come to fruition without the belief and support of numerous Madisonians. To date, the film ended up costing $27,000, most of which came directly out of the pockets of Klein, Goble, and Allen. A few citizens did make contributions, and their assistance will never be forgotten.

Right now, The Living Years is available for rental at The Madison Jefferson County Library. And hey-- it's free, baby. If anything, The Living Years captured a moment in all of our lives when the magic of cinema made us glow in delight. Everyone associated with the project can at least say, that we did the impossible. It is a feat in which may not ever happen again in Madison, Indiana.