Do It for Johnny (2007)

Is Hollywood as impenetrable as notoriously thought? Indie filmmakers, Haylar Garcia, Darcy Grabowski and Scott Baxendale spent two and a half years finding out. In 2004 they completed a bio-script based on the colorful life of Baxendale as a celebrity guitar builder and musician turned vicious criminal. Longing to do the story justice they dreamed of attaching a big star, and even more importantly a star who could actually play guitar. It wasn't long before their sights became transfixed on ex-musician turned actor Johnny Depp, who at the time was just off a career-catapulting role as Captain Jack in the first Pirates film. As they brainstormed ways to get the script to Depp, something dawned on Garcia (Writer/Director). The process of three nobodies from Denver Colorado trying to get the attention of one of the biggest stars on Earth, and more specifically getting him to read their unknown, unsolicited, and unfunded screenplay would all make for a great documentary. Knowing their pitch would have to be simple and powerful, and wanting to stand out from the masses competing for Johnny's attention, the actual subject of the screenplay (Scott Baxendale) built Depp a custom, one of a kind electric guitar and in the spirit of fusing the two art forms of film and music, Baxendale would construct a special chamber into the back of the instrument, a chamber without words, the guitar and script would say simply to Depp: "Look, this is what the film is about". What followed was a two plus year adventure, which took them almost 14,000 miles around the US in search of their hopeful star. This amazing journey is a true example of the innovative spirit of the indie filmmaker, the urge to follow your dreams no matter the odds, and a document to the state of the contemporary film and entertainment industry.