Big Things in The Big Easy!

Sheer Audacity Productions Brings A Little "Dixie Melodie" to New Orleans

Sheer Audacity, a Los Angeles based production company, is now in preproduction to produce "Dixie Melodie", a half-hour comedy television project for cable. Written by B.J. Grogan and Steve Meigs, the TV show will be entirely shot and produced in New Orleans, LA, using local actors and crew.

"It is our goal to use as many of the local resources as we can. We want to do more than just use New Orleans as a setting or backdrop, but make it another part of the cast.
This is why we want to shoot the entire show there.", says Grogan, "we want to show New Orleans in a new, exciting and positive light, through the eyes of our lead character, Melodie."

"Dixie Melodie" takes us on a ride through the daily trials and tribulations of Melodie, a young woman from New Jersey, who moves to New Orleans in hopes to jump start her life. The main action enfolds in a boarding house into which Melodie finds residence and at the offices of a local magazine where she is employed as a feature writer. She is surrounded by a variety of colorful characters, likewise, all in a state of renewing themselves - all searching for the beauty in the mud, so to speak.

More than a sitcom, "Dixie Melodie" is a "peoplecom"; it is a character driven show rather than situational. This is the reason why New Orleans was a natural choice for the backdrop of the show as it is an integral part of the story and becomes as much of a live and evolving character as all our other protagonists. They all embrace the symbol of life, hope and renewal. After all, New Orleans has always been about the celebration of life; it is in the music, the food, and most importantly, in the people. That's also what Mardi Gras is all about - as we know, Carnival derives its roots from the Latin words carne vale, meaning "farewell to the flesh." - it celebrates the death of winter and the rebirth of nature, or Spring, ultimately recommitting the individual, to the spiritual and social codes of the culture.

"Dixie Melodie" is not only capturing the city's never-say-die pre and post Katrina spirit but also embracing the current "Cinderella story of Louisiana's film and TV industry" zeitgeist. Indeed, after a dip immediately following Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana film industry appears to be on a rebound. A number of high-profile projects have been helping Hollywood South bounce back from the storm including the Laurence Fishburne film "Black Water Transit," which just wrapped in New Orleans; Denzel Washington's second post-Katrina Louisiana film, "The Great Debaters," shot in Shreveport; "Dejà Vu" in late 2005, which handed off to the pilot for the FX cable series "The Riches," followed by the Brad Pitt feature "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."and the Fox-TV series "K-Ville," being shot in New Orleans.

"Dixie Melodie" plans to go a step further by giving back to the community. In an effort to help support local artists in the performing arts, to develop writers, actors and producers in the area, Sheer Audacity Productions plans on donating an initial 5% of the proceeds from "Dixie Melodie" to the Art Council of New Orleans.

Founded by writer, actor and producer, B.J. Grogan, Sheer Audacity Productions was officially formed in 1996 to showcase a half-hour comedy show which ran on public access television in Los Angeles for a solid five year period. A Philadelphia native, Grogan attended Drexel University before taking the leap to Hollywood. From 1975 to 1984, he worked as an actor, director and stage manager on 18 Shakespeare plays at the historical landmark Globe Playhouse in West Hollywood. He caught the writing bug in the late 70s after meeting through the Globe Playhouse, Steve Meigs, a then singer/songwriter from Alabama. Together they wrote a plethora of episodes for television shows including a screenplay dubbed "29" optioned twice (the second time by the late Frank Capra who passed away a few months later). It was also then that the pair penned the first version of "Dixie Melodie".

While Grogan encountered a series of successes modestly hiding behind the camera both as a writer and director, his claim to fame ironically came when he bared it all, joining the cast of "Oh! Calcutta". This groundbreaking show was a long-running avant-garde theatrical revue, created by British drama critic Kenneth Tynan. The show, consisting of various sketches on sex-related topics, debuted in Off-Broadway in 1969 . It proved, once again, that sex sells, running in London for over 2,400 performances, and in New York for over 1,600. The show sparked considerable controversy at the time, because it featured extended scenes of total nudity, both male and female. Even today, three decades later (and more than 10 years since the long-running show closed its curtain for the last time in Manhattan), it still stands as an innovative landmark in theater. Given the involvement of luminaries such as John Lennon, Sam Shepard, Jules Feiffer and Peter Schickele (a.k.a. PDQ Bach) in its composition, the show opened a door to freedom of speech for millions. It provoked arrests for the producers in cities all over the world. Ultimately they challenged and won censorship trials in America and made tremendous gains for first amendment rights in entertainment. It certainly gave Grogan the seeds to later burgeon the philosophy behind his Sheer Audacity Productions company.

"Dixie Melodie" is set to shoot early 2008 in New Orleans. Grogan is currently in negotiating talks with Grub Street Productions to have David Lee (writer/producer for a litany of "Frasier" episodes) direct the pilot episode. The full list of cast and crew will be revealed this Fall. For more information and up to date news feel free to visit the official website at www.sheeraudcity.com/dixiemelodie