Rejected by music colleges and TV talent shows, Scottish tenor, John Craig Innes, sings on the streets for years to make a living selling his home made CDs. Aged 47, without a record contract and fearing his time to succeed is running out, he desperately spends his life savings to hire The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the creative team behind British diva Katherine Jenkins to record his debut album. When sales of his professional album come no easier, he self produces a UK concert tour to promote it! After all this, Britain’s Got Talent invite John to audition…
When we began shooting THE PEOPLE'S TENOR it was simply a story of perserverance and self reliance, the story of an inspiring character for our current times. John Innes is an outsider trying to break into the music industry on his own terms, but his story is for outsiders from every walk of life.
John’s remarkable journey may make us think about how we identify real star qualities, perhaps even how we define success? If John’s improbable climb from street to stage is at times painful viewing, it certainly makes his triumphs all the more rewarding.
“A PARTICULARLY IMPRESSIVE FILM AND A VERY THOUGHT PROVOKING EXPERIENCE”
Rt. Hon. Tom Clarke, MP, CBE, fmr. Minister of Film
At the start of production we didn’t know how the story would end, nor when, so conventional broadcaster funding was never an option. Inspired by the example of our subject, we made it anyway, on a shoe string budget with borrowed equipment and every favor we could beg. While this fact may leave a few rough edges, we feel this is a small price to pay for a truly uncontrived story that is allowed to happen naturally. Only a handful of so-called ‘fly on the wall’ documentaries really are.
John had always declared that he intended to use all his savings to record his debut professional album. This much we knew from the start, but nothing more, the rest of the story just evolved. So we left him at it, sometimes for months, to street perform and save money for the recording, and occasionally we picked up the camera at short notice to follow him around.
With concentrated filming day after day, in today’s media savvy culture, it is difficult to prevent people consciously or sub-consciously refining the ‘character’ they wish to appear. The filming on THE PEOPLE’S TENOR was done so infrequently over such a long period of time that John never really focused on his role as the ‘subject of a film’ - a film he probably didn’t think would ever be made.
THE PEOPLES TENOR was shot in full HD on location in 3 countries between 2009-2011. A street performer is a traveler, so the film is almost a travelogue of every region of Britain with footage of John either performing or working in Glasgow, Edinburgh, York, Cambridge, London, Essex, Brighton and Plymouth, and outside Britain in Prague (Czech Republic).
THE PEOPLES TENOR was produced and directed by Roger Grant and Mark Ubsdell of Cinema CLassics and Electric Theatre respectively, two long standing and experienced producers of tv, documentary and feature film. Our programs have been broadcast on channels worldwide including PBS (US), Ch. FIVE (UK), Nickelodeon, Network 9 (Aus) History Channel (Fr), TVNZ (NZ), Myserty Channel (US) among many others. Several of our programs have also become best selling DVD and video series.
JOHN INNES LIVE AT THE GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL (60min film of concert + CD) - Experience the excitement of this specially filmed live performance at The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with stirring anthems from The Band of The Royal Regiment of Scotland and The Scottish Festival Orchestra. In The People’s Tenor documentary (also included), John Innes prepares for this highlight concert of his UK tour where he’ll perform with a 60- piece orchestra. A super-charged evening of popular arias, Broadway hits and crooner classics makes this an unmissable entertainment event.
THE PEOPLE’S TENOR (60min documentary) - Scottish tenor, John Craig Innes, sings on the streets for years to make a success of selling his home made CDs. At 47, and fearing his time to ‘make it’ is running out, he desperately gambles his life savings to record his debut album, hiring The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the creative team behind Katherine Jenkins. Without a record label to distribute his new album, John is forced to risk even more by self-producing a UK concert tour to promote it! After all this, Britain’s Got Talent invites him to audition... Filmed for TV on location in 3 countries over 2 years, THE PEOPLE’S TENOR casts a stark light on the music industry today.
*Normal price £12 + p&p 3-Pack shipped on Official Release Date Autumn 2012
