Everyman's Journey. An AP film or Journey film?

[Don]

After the hubbub about Neal Schon leaving the Silverdocs festival early it seems that the wrong person may very well be getting the short end of the stick here.

From what I've read recently, the director of the film might be the one to blame for not informing the festival board that Neal wouldn't be staying for Q&As. She says the film is about Arnel more than Journey but then she tries to flip the script and tell Neal how the film is really about him not giving up on his band so he should be out their helping it get pub.
You can't have it both ways, Ramona. If this is Arnel's film then don't put a guilt trip on his band-mates to go pimp your product. On the other hand, if this film's supposedly about Neal keeping the band going then Schon really does have a legitimate gripe about you not delving deeper into the whole history/dynamics of Journey.

Below are the series of alleged text message exchanges between Ramona & Neal a week before the event:

RAMONA: Hi Neal, This is a heartfelt plea. It's such a big deal to be opening night of the most prestigious and biggest documentary film festival in the US. For Sky, the Programmer, it's always been a story about u and never giving up on your band. The festival is organized by Discovery Channel and American Film Institute, from what I gather the execs are not only Journey fans but real guitar enthusiasts. I know you're busy and we really hate to impose on your time more than we have but this is a big one.
Please sleep on it.

NEAL: Yes we will come. I'm trying to get Ross as well

Hi Ramona
Just to let you know in advance I will not participate in Q and A at end as we have in past. To much going on with Michaele being from there and they will be fishing. The case is still going on and can't afford any mishaps.

RAMONA: I completely understand but ur presence there alone will be all important!

NEAL: Ok just want to make sure were on the same page.

RAMONA: But an hoping that you will stay in the theater the entire time? I understand about Michaele and will do everything in our power to protect you and her from unpleasantries

NEAL: Yes we will stay the whole time of the movie. Just want to duck out at the end to avoid any media her ex could have set up.

RAMONA: Okay got it!
Oh. I forgot to mention that the screening on the 19th is by invitation only. So we can make certain that there will be no riffraff in the audience. The audience is very tightly controlled.

NEAL: Yes great. I still don't want to do Q&A's ok?

RAMONA: Copy that!

[The Sushi Hunter]

Well if this was all about Neal and how he never gave up on his band, wouldn't it have been sponsored, written, directed and produced by a more experienced organization that has countless other such projects under their belt? From the contents of that very first text, it appears he was purposely misinformed, because the critics who seen the movie have a different take on it.

The sad part of all this is its just unnecessary drama thrown at the band and the members which creates negative outcome. I know in the past, forum members have expressed the fact that (in so many words) there are too many people with their hands in the pot trying to pull something out for their own benefit. What needs to happen is clamp down on the inner circle of friends. Reading those text messages, if they are accurate, spells out a guilt trip to get something out of someone and washing it all down with broken promises. It seems this thing is one big shyster.

[brywool]

Why are private text messages being made public?
Seems to me that Neal has to step up and realize that Journey is Journey BUSINESS and the Schon and Michaele thing should be kept private and out of Journey business. Seriously, there was an opportunity there to promote Journey in a good light (by Neal doing the Q and A without his girlfriend) and he bailed on that, and now, once again, there's negative press for Journey. It should've been viewed as a work, press opportunity and not a date night. As far as the film being about Neal not giving up his band, it sounds like the movie IS that, but more about Arnel. Don't know. Haven't seen it.

[The Sushi Hunter]

If I was Neal, I would have arranged to see it behind closed doors a day or so before the function that Ramona was asking me to go to. If it passed the sniff test, I would have then gone to the event that Ramona asked me to attend.

So it appears that Neal was the only one from the band that went to the opening night. Is that correct?

If the premise of the film is about Arnel and his story, the Q & A's should have been with Arnel and not Neal, correct?

[brywool]

If I was Neal, I would have arranged to see it behind closed doors a day or so before the function that Ramona was asking me to go to. If it passed the sniff test, I would have then gone to the event that Ramona asked me to attend.

So it appears that Neal was the only one from the band that went to the opening night. Is that correct?

If the premise of the film is about Arnel and his story, the Q & A's should have been with Arnel then, correct?

Hadn't the band already seen the film? I thought they had.

[The Sushi Hunter]

They may have, but I do not know that for a fact. It just seems from what I've read, Neal was caught off guard with the contents of the film. Was any of the other members of the band at this same showing? I would have thought Arnel must have been there, or at least should have been there and the Q & A's should have been primarily directed to him, as everyone pretty much knows how Neal saw Arnel on youtube and yada yada yada. No need for many Q & As for Neal. If the film's premise is Arnel and his history, I would say the Q & A's would be directed towards him.

[Don]

Why are private text messages being made public?
Seems to me that Neal has to step up and realize that Journey is Journey BUSINESS and the Schon and Michaele thing should be kept private and out of Journey business. Seriously, there was an opportunity there to promote Journey in a good light (by Neal doing the Q and A without his girlfriend) and he bailed on that, and now, once again, there's negative press for Journey. It should've been viewed as a work, press opportunity and not a date night. As far as the film being about Neal not giving up his band, it sounds like the movie IS that, but more about Arnel. Don't know. Haven't seen it.

The director has stressed again and again how this film is about Arnel more so than Journey or Steve Perry. The first and only time she mentioned this movie being anything about Neal was now when Arnel wasn't going to be available for this third premiere.
As rare as it is, I think Schon was in the right on this one. If the film isn't really about Journey then why should he have to do any PR for it? The band doesn't really need it now with the Rock Of Ages publicity they're getting at the moment (Greatest Hits back in the Top 40 again).
Kudos to the guy for showing up anyway (at his own expense too) but this is being sold as Arnel's film, not Neal or Journey's.

As for texts being released, I THINK Neal's PR people did that to clear the air as the film director wasn't being very forthcoming about whether Schon had agreed to stay for the Q&As or not.

[The Sushi Hunter]

I'm glad they chose to release those text messages.

So why wasn’t Arnel at the showing and why was it so important to Ramona to get Neal and other members of the band there? I'm getting the feeling that Neal and any of the other long term members there would be used as an endorsement for the movie in some round-about way. It's all a shyster. I saw a link on the net asking for people to make monetary donations to get the movie produced. What type of movie needs outreach to the general public for funding to be produced? Or that could have been a scam set up, who knows.

http://www.jackfroot.com/2011/07/dont-s ... cumentary/

[Don]

I'm glad they chose to release those text messages.

So why wasn’t Arnel at the showing and why was it so important to Ramona to get Neal and other members of the band there? I'm getting the feeling that Neal and any of the other long term members there would be used as an endorsement for the movie in some round-about way. It's all a shyster. I saw a link on the net asking for people to make monetary donations to get the movie produced. What type of movie needs outreach to the general public for funding to be produced? Or that could have been a scam set up, who knows.

http://www.jackfroot.com/2011/07/dont-s ... cumentary/

Arnel's wife just had a kid a few days before, that's why he wasn't there. He was supposed to be available via Skype but I guess he overslept.

[The Sushi Hunter]

Looks like they picked the wrong time to have the showing.

Even I could have made a more accurate film on Arnel's story since I actually knew him first hand over 25 years ago. Since this thing is labeled a documentary, one of the first things I would have done is get with Schon and other long term members of Journey to figure out who they would want to provide the information about Journey's side of the film. Since this documentary is geared towards the Filipino community since they would be the group most interested in such a documentary, the next thing I would have done is to locate lots of people who personally knew Arnel back in the day such as band members, owners/managers of the clubs he played at, and people who actually witnessed specifics such as his struggles, life, career milestones, etc. Doing so I would present first hand accounts of these issues discussed throughout the documentary.

Does the film talk with any former members of the bands that he was in, his or the band's fans or close friends back then, or owners/managers of the clubs he performed in when he was a teen? I've not seen the film so I can't say for sure what all is included in it, but from what I've read about it so far, I don't get the feeling it's much of a documentary at all, just a two hour story set in a specific light. I do get the feeling it's a lot of clips of Arnel performing with Journey and listening to Arnel tell his story. If it does go straight to DVD, I would probably buy it just to see how it was made, what it consists of and see how accurate it is compared to things I remember. I'd buy it for those reasons alone.

[brywool]

Why are private text messages being made public?
Seems to me that Neal has to step up and realize that Journey is Journey BUSINESS and the Schon and Michaele thing should be kept private and out of Journey business. Seriously, there was an opportunity there to promote Journey in a good light (by Neal doing the Q and A without his girlfriend) and he bailed on that, and now, once again, there's negative press for Journey. It should've been viewed as a work, press opportunity and not a date night. As far as the film being about Neal not giving up his band, it sounds like the movie IS that, but more about Arnel. Don't know. Haven't seen it.

The director has stressed again and again how this film is about Arnel more so than Journey or Steve Perry. The first and only time she mentioned this movie being anything about Neal was now when Arnel wasn't going to be available for this third premiere.
As rare as it is, I think Schon was in the right on this one. If the film isn't really about Journey then why should he have to do any PR for it? The band doesn't really need it now with the Rock Of Ages publicity they're getting at the moment (Greatest Hits back in the Top 40 again).
Kudos to the guy for showing up anyway (at his own expense too) but this is being sold as Arnel's film, not Neal or Journey's.

As for texts being released, I THINK Neal's PR people did that to clear the air as the film director wasn't being very forthcoming about whether Schon had agreed to stay for the Q&As or not.

I agree with this. What I don't get is "why is it a surprise to Neal?". Right, the movie was Arnel's story with the band and has been touted as such. But if that's the case, then I would think that Neal would've realized that rather than kind of griping about it after the fact. Also, I thought he'd already seen it. There was a premiere where the whole band plus Augeri was there, wasn't there? Arnel sang while Neal and Jon looked on. So this is a different showing. In that case, Neal knew what it was about and shouldn't be griping about it. Also, that text message says two things- It says Neal won't be there for the Q/A and it says he'll be there till the end. Seems the director kind of misinterpretted or tried to shove the Q/A down his throat.

[The Sushi Hunter]

Not sure how much of a surprise it was to him, as his comment on youtube didn't seem to show too much. I've not seen or read about Neal griping about the film in any way yet.

What he may have been surprised about is how the Ramona text indicated the film had a lot to do with him, but turns out it didn't. At least that's how I would have taken it if I was Neal. Because the text doesn't say "this documentary is about Arnel primarily but we'd still love to have you there anyways".

It's obvious Ramona was trying to pull in the big names to attend this simply because the big names attending would help gain the public's attraction to it later on down the line, a cheap easy marketing tool. When the public sees big names attend the documentary, this tends to draw attraction to see what all the hype is about.

Now if the only people shown going to see it was just a bunch of hand picked no name schmucks off the street, no one would give a damn about the film. I can guarantee you that when the time comes for this film to be promoted in the Philippines, they are going to have clips (minus the audio) of Schon and his woman being there.