After my interview with John, I’d have to say he and his partner in Yellow Box Entertainment, Sarah Hale Folger are documentary leaders in Rhode Island. From being the director of world class tennis clubs, to his friendship with the legendary James Montgomery, John has networked with some of the biggest names in the music industry and sports world. I was lucky enough to attend his latest project “Back Beat From Above. The Legacy of Sib Hashian” (Sib Hashian is the former drummer from the band Boston.) I went backstage to take pictures and meet the cast with photographer David Young.
As John puts it “Our documentaries are like home-made movies on steroids”
LA: You are CEO of Yellow Box Entertainment. Your company produces creative events in private and corporate arenas, you create film projects concentrating on documentaries and you offer market branding for clients including web and logo design. Reading your bio you started as a general manager of two legendary tennis clubs, The Tennis Club of Rochester and Orange Lawn Tennis Club. How did you go from the world of tennis to CEO of Yellow Box Entertainment ?
JI: With the large club arena we had a lot of events. One of my duties at Orange Lawn Tennis Club was a major world class tennis tournament which I was the director. Because of this I got introduced to running some pretty big events that wet my appetite for entertainment besides tennis. After that I started a business in the Caribbean at 20 all-inclusive resorts that was tennis based. That took off and was called Sports International. That led to bringing down a good amount of entertainment to the islands. That’s when we started with James Montgomery and the Boston legends. Then we started doing it here in New England which led to a lot of regional shows. Jo Jo White was a good friend of mine from the Celtics and became business partners in several ventures together in Massachusetts. We started a company called Legends in the Sun that included NBA, NFL and NHL players. Then we started bringing down legends of sports to the Caribbean. That’s when I was introduced to all these NBA legends which led to my first movie “Men in Green. In 2012 Satch Sanders, who was from the Boston Celtics, was my narrator and partner. This started my involvement in documentaries. The next one was on Red Sox legend Tony Conigliaro and that was called “25… Tony Conigliaro the Documentary”. We had many of the Boston Red Sox legends in the film. My documentaries are based on a third person narrator and B roll, introducing the characters and having celebrities in the documentaries. It’s all behind the scenes. I became very close with Sib Hashian and Barry Goudreau from the band Boston. Through fate, Susan Hashian, Sib’s wife came to the premiere of Tony C. She didn’t know we were doing documentaries and came to see it and said “Let’s do one on Sib” who had just passed. Sib’s son-in-law is Dwayne The Rock Johnson. We featured Sammy Hagar and Doug Flutie in the film along with The Rock. It’s been a good run. It’s all networking ,
LA: You are very involved with the music industry how did this start ?
JI: James Montgomery was my catalyst to introducing me to everyone. One of my first events was with the Boston Legends that had a good cast of characters including Billy Squier, Huey Lewis, Jim Belushi and members from The Cars, Aerosmith, J Geils and the band Boston.
LA: What made you focus on documentaries versus other types of films ?
JI: I think they are the most enticing to watch for the general public and with celebrities, the cast of characters that we put into the documentaries, we try to have them be at all of our shows which entices people to come. I think people want to see the back-end and locker room talk.
LA: Your latest projects: One is the documentary on Tony C from the Red Sox, a documentary of Grammy nominated Blues musician James Montgomery and the premiere I went to see “Back Beat From Above the Legacy of Sib Hashian” which was the documentary of legendary drummer from the band Boston. How do you come up with topics for your documentaries? For instance why did you choose Sib versus Joey Kramer from Aerosmith?
JI: Well Sib passed. It’s legend legacy of Sib Hashian. When someone passes it’s easier to do a documentary to recap their lives plus Sib was a close friend so I could talk about Sib from a different perspective. Sib was the only rock n’ roll drummer of platinum status that went to Vietnam and had a huge passion for his family and I was able to show that side of him. When you do a documentary on someone you don’t know very well, you have to rely on sources and sometimes it might not be accurate. I have two major sayings in life one is “Everything is based on relationships” it starts with relationships. The other is “The better part of one’s life consists of one’s friendships”. It’s great to form relationships and build them into projects.
LA: How did you become business partners with James Montgomery?
JI: James is a renaissance man. I find him be one of the most fascinating men in show business. He’s a road warrior. He’s a highly intelligent academic person. We met in 1974 at a concert and we just hit it off. We became good friends and started to create things together off-side of the band. We started “James Montgomery and Friends”. Then I created the Acoustic Cafe which was always James in an acoustic setting. Then it was Boston Legends.
LA: Tell me about the Boston Legends tour which started in 2004
JI: We did a 10-city tour. We brought all the musicians on a bus and all the equipment and lighting. We’d bring our show on the road. The tour in 2004 included Billy Squire, Jim Belushi, members of The Doobie Brothers, J Geils band, Aerosmith and The Cars. We were doing legendary songs with the actual writers and legendary players from that band. James Montgomery was the core band and then we’d bring up a cabaret of guests.
LA: You are involved in fundraisers. Tell me about the Hope Music Festival
JI: That was a very unique situation for us. The Hope Musical Festival came about by the person who now owns The Music Room on the Cape. He wanted to run a festival so he called me. We had run a number of Boston Legend shows at the Cape Cod Melody Tent. I reached out to them and put together the Hope Music Festival. The opioid epidemic in the Cape was tragic. People were dying in great numbers. James was the core band and we had people from The Cars, Aerosmith and Grand Funk Railroad in the show. At the end we gave a check for $250,000 to Cape Cod Health Care Initiative for opioid abuse.
LA: What is the most challenging aspect of documentary filmmaking ?
JI: Weaving a storyline based on pictures and stories from people that can relate to the subject. I’m all over the place. There are many ideas in my head and I have to learn to throw a lot of them out because there are only so many hours in the day. I don’t like long documentaries. I like to do them in a shorter format so it builds and holds people’s interest.
LA: Loaded question….. simplifying as best as you can what are the steps from start to finish in making a documentary
JI: First is the subject. Who is going to be involved in it. Sifting through all the people involved can be very difficult because everyone wants to be in it. Next, what to put in the movie and what to keep out. There’s so much you want to add in. It’s compiling as much information including pictures and facts that you didn’t know about and weaving them into a storyline with humor. Weaving the subjects together can be very difficult that’s why I’m also involved in the editing
LA: So many people are involved in creating your films who would you like to mention that are the key figures in putting together your films
JI: My partner in all of Yellow Box Entertainment ventures is Sarah Hale Folger. “She is the catalyst of Yellow Box Entertainment”. She’s an artist, writer and produced a lot of theater. I come up with the ideas and Sarah takes them all to a different level. She is the Producer’s Producer. She is the Producer of the Back Beat From Above film and she organizes every aspect of our business and brings them to fruition.
LA: When you aren’t creating film projects or flying around the globe, what do you do locally in Rhode Island for fun?
JI: I play a lot of tennis and I love to fish. I love fishing at Black Point in Narragansett and Barrington Beach. I also like to watch live music. My favorite restaurant would be Pomodoro and Baba Sushi in Bristol.
Check out Yellow Box Entertainment & see more about the documentaries including behind the scene photos at:
www.yellowboxentertainment.com/
