Rock'n'Roll Heart Cheri Lovedog's Road To Sundance
by Chris Parcellin
As any aspiring screenwriter knows, with the gigantic volume of scripts out there-it's nothing short of a miracle for an unknown writer to get his or her project noticed by Hollywood producers. But then to actually get the green light to take the work from the printed page to the silver screen--with established stars in the pivotal roles--is a whole other ultra-rare level of hitting the cinematic jackpot.

Cheri Lovedog had been toiling away for years in Los Angeles in her tattoo parlor and with her band Lovedog, when she came up with the idea for the autobiographical play "Prey For Rock and Roll." The play turned out to be the first step in Lovedog's and the script's road to success as she was given the opportunity to take the production to New York and stage it at the fabled punk dive CBGB's with director Robin Whitehouse. The play generated "buzz" in Gotham City and pretty soon indie film producer Donovan Mannato was approaching Lovedog about turning "Prey" into a feature film.

Lovedog got to adapt the original work into the screenplay herself, as well as having her original songs used for the film. Alex Steyermark was brought in to direct and the cast included Gina Gershon, Drea de Matteo ("The Sopranos") and Lori Petty ("Tank Girl".) (Joan Jett was also set to take part initially, but according to Lovedog, the leather-clad rocker stomped off the production angrily at some point.) The finished film was included in the 2003 Sundance Festival and received strong notices. "Prey" should be released theatrically later this year.

How much writing had you done prior to coming up with "Prey For Rock & Roll?"
I have pretty much always fancied myself a writer. Well, more of a storyteller than a properly trained writer. I know nothing about sentence structure or punctuation, and my spelling is terrible (thank God for spell check!) but I have always been pretty decent at telling a story. Dark humor, smart-ass humor and realistic dialogue seem to be my strong points. I've always kept personal journals and ideas for stories and movies. I have a self-published book of poetry and short stories, and wrote a column called "Hollywood Trash and Tinsel" for LA Rock Review in the '80's.

This screenplay actually started out as a play that was performed in New York at CBGB's. How did it end up as a film script?
Very cliché. An investment banker, Donovan Mannato, who produces indie films on the side, saw the play, loved it, thought it would make a great movie, and approached me--and the Producer/Director of the play, Robin Whitehouse. A few other people had talked about making the play a movie, but I got a good feeling about Donovan. I knew he loved it for all the right reasons and in his heart wanted to do it right. Plus, I said I wouldn't do it unless I had script control and could be on the set and he agreed to that. I often had to remind myself of those luxuries because Donovan and I would go at it pretty good on a regular basis. Most times the writer is left completely out of the loop and someone is hired to do a rewrite and it's a nightmare what can happen to your story and script, so you just have fight for it. At the end of the day we both got what we wanted, a great fucking rock and roll movie.

You had your own all-female band prior to all this. How much of the story was culled from that? And did you have to sort of take a bit of dramatic license with the facts?
I had a band forever in Hollywood called "Lovedog." We never quite hit, but were part of a great time and music scene in LA. All the rock and roll references were culled from my years and experiences in music, and most of what transpires in the story happened during that time period. What I did for the play, and then the movie, was take the events that had a major impact on me and assign them to different characters and tell them in a different way. I was careful not to tell the personal stories of my friends and band mates. In the movie when my drummer is assaulted by the bass players boyfriend in a sick twist of events, that exact event didn't happen. However, and sadly, friends being sexually assaulted - and some by people they knew - did happen, and inspired the song "Every 6 Minutes." The band plays the song at rehearsal in the film as part of their healing. It is a pretty heavy scene in the movie and conveys the real emotion felt by those events. At the same time, the scene at the dinner table with Jacki (Gina Gershon's character) and her family is pretty much word for word true. And Punk Rock Girl is real, as are the tattoo customers. The "hero" of the movie is a heavily tattooed, ex convict, skinhead named Animal. The name and personality and look of Animal was based on a roadie we had who was murdered on Hollywood Blvd. over drugs. The story is not his, but it's my tribute to him. He was a sweet guy, a great roadie, and nice to have around when it came time to get paid.

What were the difficulties in translating what you'd written as a stage production to a feature-length movie?
It was actually much easier to write the screenplay from a story telling point. In the play we broke the "fourth wall" a lot. I would, as the lead character Jacki, address the audience directly in monologue or song to move the story ahead or give back story. The play actually started out with the band playing a song, then Jacki would step to the edge of the stage and do a 2 or 3 minute monologue to set things up before any dialogue was exchanged. It worked quite well. In the movie we could actually "show" a lot of things, as opposed to "tell" them, which was very cool. When the time came to write it as a screenplay we knew the characters and their stories so well it was just a matter of taking advantage of the medium of film and opening it up. Robin Whitehouse CO-wrote the script with me, and Beth Nathanson, who also helped with the play, lent us her expertise and was very generous and helpful in getting the script in great shape. The difficulty was constantly adjusting/rewriting scenes to accommodate the million things that come up all the time while filming. It wasn't so much creatively difficult as it was being under that type of pressure. "Hi. We need to rewrite this scene and we're filming it tonight." And you'd just do it, man, because the alternative was ... who knows? We just did it!

As the film was being shot did you get to have much input into the production?
Aside from the rewriting as mentioned above I was just there and available if Alex - the director - or any of the actors had questions or just wanted to hang out and talk. Most of my creative input and working things out with the director and actors was done before we started shooting. Having the writer on the set, especially when it's semi-autobiographical, can be a drag and stressful if the writer is constantly yacking in the director ear and addressing the actors while they are working. There comes a point when you, as the writer, have to trust the director and actors and the script and let it happen. Let them do what they do. So I sat back, shut up (for the most part), watched and learned. It's definitely a "pick your battles" situation. Equally, it was a lot of fun and I did get to approve the vibrator.

The film is set in the late-'80s. Do you think it was anymore difficult at that point for female musicians to get respect--as opposed to now when they seem to be everywhere?
The play was set in the late -'80's. We put the film in the present, but it didn't lose that LA 80's vibe, which is great. I think female musicians got more respect then than now. And I think it was well deserved. Back then more chicks in bands played instruments and/or wrote and sang their own songs. And I think the key word here is "band." Most of what you see now is some boarder line anorexic half naked young girl singing songs she didn't write backed by hired players, not a band. There is something pure and powerful and unique sounding about a band that can't be conveyed by people playing for the paycheck. They are good players, don't get me wrong, but a band is band - a family - and you can't get or give that energy any other way. In a band everyone is invested. Now that record companies are run by CEO's and corporations and all decisions are based on charts and demographics it has become much more about catering to the lowest common denominator than the music. It will implode on itself, it always does, and then we will get back to the basics. Rock and Roll bands. You can never underestimate the power of music or the determination of musicians.

As a musician, did you find that Gina Gershon and Drea de Matteo were easily able to do a credible job of portraying rockers? Or did you have to give them some pointers?
Well, Gina already played guitar and sang, so it was just a matter of her finding her "inner punk rock Jacki." We talked a lot about different women in music, she listened to a lot of music that influenced me, and I gave her some chord charts, but that's about it. She learned to play all the songs and Stephen Trask, who produced the soundtrack, worked more closely with her on that than I did. She was a natural, and amazed me with her commitment to getting it right. She worked her ass off, and I am very pleased and proud of her performance. She did all the vocals live in the film, so she really was able to put her emotion into it. NO lip synching. Drea also learned to play all the songs. Drea IS a rocker, and she looks like a bass player! She was perfect in the role of Tracy, which was pretty much written with her in mind since the play. (She was originally going to do the play but her Sopranos schedule prevented it.) You'd never know she'd never played a bass by her performance in the movie. She kinda reminded me of Poison Ivy from the Cramps, and that's a compliment.

Lori Petty and Shelly Cole also learned to play all the songs. Lori is the best air guitar player, hands down. She had no idea what she was doing or playing, but damn! she made it look easy. At the wrap party I asked her to come up and play with us and she just laughed. She had no idea how to really play the songs. She fooled me. Shelly had to learn the drums, which is the hardest instrument to fake. Not only did she have to learn drums, but she had to learn those songs and look like she had spent half her life behind a kit. The director and I both wanted a band that he didn't have to shoot around. You've seen the movies: they show the guitar players face and upper body, then cut away to close shot on hands playing guitar. Surprise, surprise! It's not their hands! Drummers rarely get much screen time, but in this movie Shelly's character has probably the most emotionally difficult journey and we need to see her. All I can say about how well Shelly did is check her out, especially during "Every 6 Minutes." She nailed it. So impressive.

One of the people who worked on the film was the legendary rocker Joan Jett. What was she like to work with?
Joan didn't end up in the movie, but I did work with her in the recording studio. She was very professional: She was on time, she learned the songs quick and played them well. And then there was the whole paranoid/confiscated video tapes/banning of cameras/law suite/twilight zone scene that came attached. Definite buzz kill. Considering the company she was in it was as offensive as it was embarrassing. It was such an unpleasant situation we ended up pulling her guitar tracks off the record for fear of angering the Rock & Roll God and Goddess of Perpetual Indulgence and All Things Analog and Pure.

Do you feel the film has any sort of inherent message?
Well, if I may be so corny, the film is my love letter to Rock & Roll for taking care of me and giving me a reason to get out of bed for most of my life, and for Robin and Sam Prey, who continue to give me two more reasons. The message would be to do what you love because you love doing it. Be pure. Be honest. Be loud. Speak your mind. Fight the good fight. Have fun.

You have another screenplay in the works, correct?
I am currently working on another screenplay called "Too Many Bob's." A complete departure from Prey, this is total fiction about a serial killer who meets up with the wrong woman. I figured I could put my years of studying serial killers to good use, and a nice, dark, violent comedy with a twist sounded refreshing to me. I'm also hoping that the movie, Prey, will get me a good gig and a real tour. I saw Lita Ford do an interview years ago in which she said (not to me, but just in general), "When you're ready to rock, give me a call." Well, I'm ready, but I don't have your number. However, Vicki Blue ("Edgeplay: The Story of the Runaways") has mine. I think me, Lita and Vicki should get together. I know a killer drummer. That's one idea. I hear Courtney Love is looking for someone to work and write with. I've emailed her a few times to let her know I'm available, but she just deletes me and the rejection is killing me! Okay, not killing me, but it could be a great thing. They are also putting a band together behind Gina Gershon to do a little tour to promote the movie, and if I'm not the rhythm guitar player then there truly is no justice in the world. Check it out, I've just applied for three jobs, and one of them is doing my own music! Hey, I just want to play, so when someone is ready, would you please give me a call? I've got gear and experience...
© 2003 Chris Parcellin & D-Filed, All rights reserved.
All photographs © 2003 Cheri Lovedog, All rights reserved.