Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521562
56 S U M M E R 2 0 2 4 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y M E E T T H E W I N N E R S Growing up in a small town in Kentucky, I didn't have the advantage of hearing cool music in the morning on an eclectic radio station or at a hipster record shop with the audiophile purists. I had MTV. It introduced me to a whole new world with Yo! MTV Raps, 120 Minutes, and Headbangers Ball. I can say with a straight face that it changed my life. Sandwiched between Sunset Strip glam rock and eye-opening gangster rap—for a brief moment of levity in the form of a Michael Jackson parody—was Weird Al who, hilariously, tells my friends and I to "Eat It." My journey with MTV came full circle when I got my first real sound gig as a production mixer there in the early 2000's. And now, as a CAS member who occasionally still rocks an MTV T-shirt, I'm happy to present to you the sound winning team in the Non-Theatrical Motion Pictures or Limited Series category for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, production sound mixer Richard Bullock CAS, re-recording mixer Tony Solis, scoring mixer Phil McGowan CAS, ADR mixer Brian Magrum CAS, and Foley mixer Erika Koski CAS. Here's part of my correspondence with Richard, Tony, Brian, and Phil. (Erika was unavailable due to scheduling challenges.) How'd you get a seat at Weird Al's unconventional table? TONY SOLIS: It was a very serendipitous connection that got me on this project. I was mixing the movie Monsters of California for Tom DeLonge and the dialogue editor on that movie, Anthony Vanchure, was on the stage most of the days. We became fast friends and on one of the days of the mix, he just casually mentioned that he might do sound supervision for this crazy movie coming soon about Weird Al, starring Daniel Radcliffe. I instantly turned around and said, "I am a huge Weird Al fan! It would be insane if I could eventually work on that movie!" Fast-forward a couple of months and, while on a golf outing with Anthony, he pitched me the gig and I instantly said yes. RICHARD BULLOCK CAS: I was invited to join the Roku production by UPM Jason Brown, who I had worked with in the past. BRIAN MAGRUM CAS: I saw on my schedule that I had a hold for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story and I kind of freaked out! One of my best friends introduced me to Weird Al in the late '80s and we listened to his music constantly and watched UHF over and over. When the schedule confirmed, I couldn't have been more excited. PHIL MCGOWAN CAS: I mix just about everything for composers Zach Robinson and Leo Birenberg, so this was another gig that year that they hired me on. We also recently have worked together on Cobra Kai and Obliterated, so it was fun to have a feature to mix for them. What was your pre-production schedule? RB: I met director Eric Appel and EP Zac Halley during music and dance rehearsal in prep. I had just finished work in Texas on 1883 for Paramount+ the week before and immediately NON-THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES OR LIMITED SERIES WEIRD: THE AL YANKOVIC STORY b y A d a m H o w e l l C A S L-R: ADR mixer Brian Magrum CAS, Foley mixer Erika Koski CAS, re-recording mixer Tony Solis, scoring mixer Phil McGowan CAS, and production sound mixer Richard Bullock CAS with their CAS Awards.