Passion can be a real pain the ass. Just ask Denny Tedesco, the director of the documentary The Wrecking Crew. We ran across Denny after this post bubbled up and was noticed by Guesthouse Projects—the music PR firm that’s been helping Denny get the film in front of audiences. They pointed us to Tedesco, who is as passionate as they come and one of the good guys.

His film charts the story of the legendary group of musicians known collectively as “The Wrecking Crew” that were the go-to session players in L.A. in the 60’s. This group played on hits for the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Sonny and Cher, Jan & Dean, The Monkees, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Mamas and Papas, Tijuana Brass, Ricky Nelson, Johnny Rivers and were Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound.

Denny, whose father Tommy was a guitar player with the collective, grew up around this scene and was determined to tell the story from the perspective of those who lived it. The film is a fascinating look at the music business for many reasons, the most obvious is how strangely… professional these guys were. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But rock ‘n roll history, not unlike reality television and the nightly news, thrives on sex, drugs and war. If it bleeds it leads, as one old-time news guy once said.

But what this film reminds us is that the music business is just that—a business. Despite the decadent lore, if you wanted the perfect steady bass line to kick off a two and half minute hit and the meter is running on studio time, you didn’t hire the drunk guy who trashed his hotel room last night. Nope. You hired one of the Wrecking Crew.

Seems it’s always been true: call a pro.

How is the lesson of the film relevant to what we do at Creative Asylum? Don’t worry, we’ll find a connection (we always find a connection). With a lousy economy, budgets for commercial spots, promos, digital experiences, music, movies, campaigns, basically all “commercial” art, is being cut.

It seems more and more agency creatives are being expected to do more for less and that any misstep holds the potential to throw the financial success of the project out the window. We fret, grumble, then shake it off and get to work.

Well guess what? It’s always been like that. The reason the Wrecking Crew existed was to make sure the project sounded great the first time. That the artistic leader, whether it be Brian Wilson or Frank Sinatra, had a team of pros backing him up that didn’t make mistakes. The budgets have always been tight and the deadlines always mattered. Otherwise Sonny and Cher or the Monkees would be playing on the records, not incredible, trained, focused musicians with sheet music in front of them.

This is not to say the characters in the Wrecking Crew aren’t fascinating. They are, after all, still musicians. It’s just that they happened to be really good at their jobs.

So we’ve ferreted out our own self-serving message in the this new documentary. What does the director want us to know about it? Well, partly that music licensing is a fortune and he’s still raising money to clear it all before a distributor will release it.

How do you make a movie about these musicians without featuring their music? You don’t. Denny just went for it and made the choice to sort that out later.

Now the film is done, it rocks, but it can only be shown in select screenings until enough money is raised to clear the over 100 songs used. The unions are being very cooperative and he’s getting close, but is still soliciting funds to get it cleared properly. He’s taking his cause to the people directly by asking for donations to get this amazing piece of music history on the big screen.

So there it is. A little story about a movie, professionalism and passion.

Check out his site and watch the trailer.