FAQ’s

1 – When is the film being released?

This is the question we get asked the most but it’s the hardest to give a definitive answer to. You could probably dig up some older interviews we’ve done saying the film will be out in 2012… that was us being ambitious and if we’re honest a little naive as that was only about 18 months after we started. Usually any film, even a big budget production with a film studio behind it, takes about 4 years to make. We’re an independent film and are currently self financed so it’s going to take a little longer.

Our aim at the moment is to get the film finished by early 2016 at the latest and then it’ll be another 6 months in post production. Hopefully the film will be ready for film festivals by Christmas 2017.

We can’t know for certain for two reasons: we can’t guarantee when all our interviews will be done because there are a lot of people to speak to, many of whom are scattered across the globe. A lot of them are touring so that also complicates things. Secondly, it depends who wants to release the film and how. If we’re lucky a distributor will come on board but it will be down to them when the film gets released. At the moment we don’t have a distributor on board although some have expressed interest but can’t commit until the film is finished.

2 – How will I be able to see the film?

Our ideal scenario would be to take the film round the festival circuit to help generate some buzz and gain vital publicity. After that there would be a short run in a few cinemas (documentaries rarely get a wide release in cinemas) before the film is released on DVD, VOD etc.

It could be a case that we do a day and date release, by which the film is released across cinemas, DVD, VD etc. simultaneously.

Alternatively, the documentary could end up on TV. Given Cozy Powell’s global fanbase and the fanbase of all the artists and bands he was involved, we think the film should be in cinemas so fans the world over can enjoy it but documentaries do better in terms of viewers on TV. In the cinema we’d be contending with the latest blockbuster.

3 – Who is the film being made by?

There’s a Meet The Team page here on the site and we’re adding profiles on to it so you’ll have a clearer idea of who we are. In a nutshell we are a collective of film-makers (with a core team of Lee, James, Andrew, Phil and Shaziyah) along with an ad hoc team who help us out with shoots as and when we need them.

We’ve worked on feature films, short films, music videos, commercials and corporate videos amongst other things.

Some of us were Cozy Powell fans before we even got into film-making and other’s have become fans. We’re drawn together by his incredible story and a desire to tell it.

4 – What is the film going to look and sound like?

The film is going to be a mix of archive footage, archive stills, music from across Cozy’s solo, session and band career as well as interviews. If I could equate it to any recent documentary, ‘Marley’ would probably be a good example of what we’re aiming for.

5 – Who are you going to interview?

After the question of the films release, this is probably the question we get asked the most. The simple answer is this: as many people as we can.

We’ve interviewed a lot of people already (Suzi Quatro, Keith Emerson, Glenn Tipton, Graham Bonnet, Roger Glover, Don Airey, Bernie Marsden, Brenda Brooker, Malcolm Short, Michael Casswell, Joe Geesin, John Burgess, Bob Adcock, Frederick Lea, Nicholas Lea…) ranging from friends, bandmates, managers and journalists.

Cozy worked with so many people and lived so many lives that there will be a lot more people to interview before we can tell his story fully. We’re working in the background to interview them but we don’t say anything until the interview is done because if the interview has to be cancelled for whatever reason it’s going to be a disappointment to fans of the film.

Some people we would like to interview have turned us down, always politely, or they are undecided. This has been for a few reasons: for some, talking about Cozy is still quite painful. Others are wary of how we will portray Cozy and that’s fair enough. We’re not making anything salacious but they have only our word for that. We won’t say who because that’s unfair. They have every right to decide if they want to be in the film or not.

We’re also slightly hamstrung because a few years ago, someone claiming to write a biography on Cozy tricked their way into his friends confidence and used the pretext of being a journalist to steal memorabilia and personal items. It’s understandable then that people are wary.

Finally, we also only have the resources to undertake a few interviews at a time so we don’t book loads at once because it would be unfair on us to ask to interview someone and then for us to turn them down because we can’t manage it.

Have faith that we will try and speak to everyone that we can 🙂

6 – Which Cozy Powell songs are you going to feature?

That’s a tough one. Obviously Dance With The Devil will be there and I think Stargazer has to be in there. But he worked on 100’s and 100’s of tracks so how do we pick them? It’d probably come down to 1 or 2 per band, his key solo songs and some of the session work.

It’s also going to come down to costs and using songs for films is not cheap.

7 – How are you putting this all together?

Initially we’ve been focusing on interviews because they’ll form the core of our story. Since Cozy is no longer with us and he didn’t do any extensive interviews, certainly nothing that goes into huge detail about all aspects of his life, we rely on those who knew him best to fill in the many blanks.

Now that we have a lot of interviews, we’re starting to collect and research more archive footage and stills to put in with the interviews. It’s a bit like filling in a jigsaw, though we have the corners and most of the edges so no we’re filling in the middle and it’s a little easier to do that now.

Logistically, we’re producing the film a little at a time. Because we’re self financing it, we sometimes have to take breaks, earn some money and then use that to pay for the next batch of film-making. During this downtime, we carry on with research and hunt out archive. The reason we are self financing is so that we don’t have to compromise.

8 – Why are you telling this story?

Simply put, this is a story that hasn’t been told before and needs to be. There are some excellent articles on Cozy Powell as well as some amazing fan sites, these do tell Cozy Powell’s story. Our plan with this film is to tell the whole story, in its’ entirety in one sitting (so to speak) and to get that story out to as many people as possible.

9 – Where else can I find information about the Cozy Powell?

Again, if you search for Cozy Powell online, you’ll find tonnes of sites devoted to him. There’s things like his official site, which he helped to set up shortly before his death, wikipedia and even some archived obituaries.

Also, if you search through Facebook you’ll find lots of fan pages devoted to Cozy Powell – we urge you to check them out.

10 – Where else can I find information about the film?

We have this site, our twitter page and our Facebook page.

We’ve got a youtube page and if you search for us, we’re featured on several forums and fan pages too.

11 – Can I get involved?

Yes! The more the merrier 🙂 If know have a contact who knew Cozy or you knew him personally then we’d love to hear from you, maybe you’ve got an idea for the story or you might even own archive? There’s a contact page for you to get in touch.

There’s also a campaign for Cozy Powell to get a plaque in his honour, started by our friend Rossella Amadori. If you haven’t signed it please do and if you have then please ask your friends to sign it. There’s some info on our site about the campaign and you can head to the petition page here.

The other way you can get involved is to follow us on facebook and twitter and then tell your friends to do the same. Spread the word, spread the love 🙂