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When it comes to labors of love, time is of little significance. No better is this concept illustrated than in the story behind the new film project, Open Mic: The Series.
Created by Ohio-based filmmaker Henry Konczak, the online web series has taken a circuitous journey over the course of several years, casts, and locations – moments during which Konczak’s vision and fortitude were the only two real constants.
“Before finding this cast, there had been two aborted efforts – this project has been hell for the last two years,” Konczak said recently, with a Kickstarter campaign to partially fund the effort currently underway and principle filming set to start in June. “Even when Emma (Lord, as lead character, Maggie) moved from Virginia to Nashville; I had re-written so much of this script, but I couldn’t rewrite Maggie. She is the soul Open Mic.”
The real-life singer-songwriter Emma Lord, like many of her cast mates, seemingly was the very character Konczak had created. Lord, a Nashville-native who has called Seattle, Los Angeles and Falls Church, Virginia home, could not agree more.
“I was actually looking for music gigs when I found out about the role,” she said. “The character of Maggie was a singer-songwriter who had worked in a call center and was leaving for Nashville to pursue her dream. I was about to move to Nashville for music and I thought, ‘oh my god, I have also worked in a call center’ – this character is me.”
The rest of the Open Mic cast includes renowned Nashville-based singer-songwriter (and big web series fan) Sara Jean Kelley; Sheyla Paz-Hicks, a Cuban-born, Nashville-based model-actress-TV-producer who recently reported from the Oscars red carpet; Amanda Adams, radio personality at Rock 93.7 in Cookeville, TN.; and famed singer-songwriter David Olney, whose songs have been covered by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash, Steve Earle, and Linda Ronstadt.
Filmed on location in Nashville, the series follows 20-something singer/songwriter Maggie as she competes for her dream – a recording contract. Her mentor? An old man in a nursing home. Along the way a cast of colorful characters conspire to both inspire and impede Maggie’s efforts – in some cases inadvertently, and in others quite by design.
Open Mic: The Series is described by Konczak as “part drama, part reality, part original music with a just a hint of humor thrown in. Stir gently until blended to a creamy smooth web series.”
- Music News Nashville
Great singing! Reminds me of success forthcoming like Tift Merritt, a Carolina (shhhh) girl who just played at The Southern, that's rising! Addictive voice. - earless rabbit
Great singing! Reminds me of success forthcoming like Tift Merritt, a Carolina (shhhh) girl who just played at The Southern, that's rising! Addictive voice. - earless rabbit
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Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
Emma Lord is a singer/songwriter who hails from all over the United States. Originally from Nashville, she has lived in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C., and this year after graduating from the University of Virginia she has moved straight back to Nashville where it all began, to pursue her dreams in music.
Emma draws inspiration from her favorite folk and country acts, including The Dixie Chicks, The Wreckers, and James Taylor. She comes from an extremely musical family, with parents and three siblings who all sing and play instruments. She grew up singing at every chance she got--the national anthem at sporting events, musical theater shows, and competitions. She has always written her own songs, but never played them out until she picked up a guitar for the first time in her senior year of college and ever since then she has been performing in singer/songwriter venues around Charlottesville, Virginia and Nashville, Tennessee.
Now at twenty-one years old, Emma is residing in Nashville, and maintaining a busy schedule attending songwriting workshops, playing out at songwriter nights, and meeting and working with other like-minded musicians. She has developed an earthy and honest sound, with a voice reminiscent of The Band Perry and Alison Krauss. It is her aspiration to release an EP collection of songs by January 2014, and tour around the United States with other talented singer/songwriters.
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