Re “A Mystery Behind the Mystery of ‘Dare to be Different’”
Away to a promising start, the Long Island radio station documentary “Dare to be Different” captured a share of first place for the best audience reaction at last month’s Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival at L.A. Live.
“The crowd response was just terrific,” said Roger Senders.
He is one of the producers, along with Ellen Goldfarb, of the 1980s story of a 3,000-watt station that boldly introduced New Wave music to America before suddenly vanishing in 1987.
“We are very excited,” said Mr. Senders, an attorney in Culver City who has spent a half-dozen years with Ms. Goldfarb on the rocket rise and diving crash of the late WLIR.
“We have been invited to six film festivals over the next couple of months, and more are on the horizon.”
While it is speculative to predict what this early success portends for Dare to be Different, the producers are glowing about a promising potential huge breakthrough.
“We have a major distribution deal in the works,” said Mr. Senders. “I hope we can announce it soon.”
No yearling in the entertainment world, Mr. Senders’s background centered on physical production. An assistant director in film and television, “I was working on the sets to make sure everyone and everything were where they should be and when they should be there.”
Later he worked for CBS in their Business Affairs department. His diverse tasks:
- To license programs and
- To hire writers, producers, directors and actors to work on television shows.
Mr. Senders’s latest gig, as one of the producers of Dare to be Different, meant working with a limited budget.
As if they were eager beginners, he and Ms. Goldfarb multi-tasked to insure that Dare to be Different turned out exactly as they had envisioned.
What did Mr. Senders learn from this project?
“This taught me an even greater appreciation for all of the members of the team,” he said. “We were forced, individually, to take on the responsibilities of many people.
“It is a lot of work,” Mr. Senders said, “to make a movie on a very small budget with a very small paid team.”
(To be continued)