Tag Archives: Scott Martin

What Does An Associate Producer Do Anyway?

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There’s a wonderfully informative interview with Vinyl Films’ Scott Martin over at The Living Jarboe. He talks about job responsibilities as Associate Producer, his integral role in relation to music for the film (and during the shoot) and his involvement with the DVD’s. It’s a fascinating piece, so please give it a look.  The entire interview is available below:

On a January 2001 day that began at dawn and ended long after the sun had gone down, I was an invited guest on the set of Vanilla Sky at Paramount Studios. There, I had the fascinating experience of participating in the filming of a “party scene” which included three of the stars of the movie. I also had the distinct privilege of observing director Cameron Crowe as well as Scott Martin in his professional duties as associate producer.

JARBOE : How long have you worked in film production in Hollywood?

SCOTT MARTIN: I’ve been working in film or television since 1993, initially as a production assistant, then as an executive assistant and finally as an associate producer for Cameron Crowe, with whom I continue to work.

JARBOE : Tell me about your work for the film, Vanilla Sky. You are credited as Associate Producer. What does this entail?

SCOTT : This is a question I get asked constantly, “What the hell do you actually do?” People, especially my family, get very upset that I have a hard time defining it at any given time. I work with Cameron Crowe, who writes, directs and produces. My job is to assist him in any and every way I can. Something very tangible I produced last year was a DVD called Untitled. We were working on Vanilla Sky at the same time and Cameron had hardly any time to devote to the creation of the DVD, unless it directly involved his creative input, such as the audio commentary. So I took on the responsibility of shepherding that while he focused on the movie at hand. At the same time, I was helping Cameron with casting decisions, editorial decisions and day to day production problems, depending where we were in the process. Cameron has final cut and final say in every single decision regarding the movie, but he uses me as a sounding board to help work through problems. We have now done Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, and Vanilla Sky together, so I feel like I can contribute an opinion that honors his directing style and is best for the film. Also, I bring a lot of music into the fold. We play music on the set, during takes or between takes to help motivate the actors, or establish a mood. Cameron and I collaborate on that. We have very different tastes in music, so we are able to cover a lot of ground. He used to tour with Zeppelin and The Who and I used to skate to Swans records and Bowie’s Low. It’s an interesting musical partnership that has, sort of, organically developed between the two of us. That’s why we can have a soundtrack like Vanilla Sky that contains artists from Sigur Ros to Rundgren to Leftfield.

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Filed under News
Oct 17, 2002

Gap Commercial Coming Soon…

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Cameron has just completed work on his first television commercial for The Gap! According to Vinyl Films’ Scott Martin, it was shot in Pomona, CA with actors Kate Beckinsale (Pearl Harbor) and Orlando Bloom (Lord of the Rings). They play a couple pursued by admirers during a stroll on the streets. It was filmed in black & white and will make its debut April 28 in the United States during “Law & Order,” “Criminal Intent” and “X-Files.” Throughout May, they will air during episodes of “24,” “West Wing,” “Friends,” “ER,” “Will and Grace,” “Felicity” and the NBA playoffs. They will also run in the United Kingdom and Canada. Other Gap ads were directed by the Coen Brothers and Roman Coppola.

Filed under News
Apr 19, 2002

Vanilla Sky – Hitting It Hard

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I talked to the powers that be at Vinyl Films to get more specifics about the May 21st release of the Vanilla Sky DVD. As usual, we’re in for a treat. First up the audio commentary will again be venturing into new territory. The track will be primarily Crowe with some interspersed comments from Tom Cruise and Nancy Wilson, but that’s not the big news. During the running commentary, Nancy will be providing “live” musical accompaniment as she plays tunes on her guitar! Very cool! In addition, Cameron will call up people who worked on the movie and see if anyone’s home. I’m told this track is his best yet!

Here’s some more information about the two featurettes which will be included. The first one entitled “Prelude To A Dream” runs about 6 1/2 minutes and is really a montage of the entire Vanilla Sky process. You’ll see glimpses of the script being worked on, rehearsal footage, wardrobe, behind the scenes, etc. This was edited by Vinyl Film’s guru Scott Martin and should be great.

The other featurette “Hitting It Hard” is a 9 1/2 minute look at Cameron’s world wide press tour (with Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz). The big news here is that they are also working on a longer version of this (60 – 90 minutes) which should hopefully see a release in a year or so. There was a very short window for the gang to cull everything they wanted for the DVD and it just couldn’t happen. With a May 21st release, they really only had a few months to get it ready, so we can look forward to a separate DVD release of additional things (such as the longer “Hitting It Hard”, deleted scenes, etc.) ala The Matrix Revisited or possibly in a Super Duper 2 Disc Special Edition (like the Untitled DVD). Be patient, this will get done when it’s done, so don’t expect anything for awhile (like 12 – 24 months). The Photo Gallery will include an audio introduction from Neal Preston and should include some 200 images. Lastly, Cameron was very involved with the DVD Artwork and is very happy with the final cover. Again, what a year for Cameron Crowe DVD’s. But there’s more….

Filed under News
Mar 14, 2002

David Crosby: Remember My Name-Out Now on DVD/Blu-ray & Digital!


  • Almost Famous- Paramount+
  • Aloha- Starz, DirecTV
  • David Crosby- Starz, DirecTV
  • E-Town- FUBO
  • Fast Times- TUBI
  • Jerry Maguire- Netflix
  • Say Anything...- FUBO,Paramount+,MGM+
  • Singles- Vudu
  • Vanilla Sky- Prime Video,Pluto TV
  • We Bought A Zoo- Disney+