How can music help and inspire a writer, producer and Disney editor? A conversation with David Acuff

David Acuff's life-motto is very simple: "What doesn't kill you makes you funnier!" and he must have survived to a lot of killer attacks, because he's one of the most hilarious people I've ever met through Instagram! I started following him this past autumn thanks to a comic reel that made me laugh in a bad day and his content makes me smile on a daily basis since then. Acuff is a writer and filmmaker in Los Angeles, CA, and he is also a full time Producer-Editor for the Walt Disney company. He enjoys doing voiceover work for Audible.com book projects as well as animated characters. He also wrote/edited the feature film "Restoration" distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and I discovered he did stand-up comedy in the past, that is no surprise at all! His eclectic talent probably finds its origins in his childhood. David grew up the son of an Air Force Colonel and lived all over the USA. But being the new kid every year in school taught him a certain objectivity; to see beyond local prejudices, politics and predilections. Being the outsider gave him the best vantage point to view all of these different lives and delicious stories and how they intersected and collided with often unexpected results. It's been a while since I've set up a conversation here and I'm honored to start again by talking a bit with David about his passion for writing, how music inspires him and how to grow on social media. Read to the end for an incredible fun fact about him!

David Acuff on the Red Carpet at the Oscars 2022

How does the music help you in the process of writing and which are the playlists/music genre to which you usually listen?

"I have a friend with an adorable young kid who can barely sit still because she’s always so antsy. But my friend found out that if she plays her some music, that music and sound occupies a small part of the kid’s brain and keeps it busy which allows the rest of her to be very productive and she can then sit and color for long periods of time or work on little projects. So with an overactive mind, music helps to calm and focus it just enough to allow you to get other work done. That’s like a super power. Not to mention the style of music I choose depending on what book I’m writing. For "SLAY BELLS RING" my Christmas Horror Comedy, I obviously wanted a lot of Christmas music playing in the background even though I was writing in August, haha! For my science fiction novel, "BATTLE TIDES", that I’m currently writing then I love a good Hans Zimmer soundtrack like from INTERSTELLAR. That’s so good. So powerful. I can’t do a lot of John Williams’ soundtracks because his robust scores like STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES just will not stay in the background of your mind, haha! They’re too big and iconic! But, Zimmer I can write to. And it’s available for free on YouTube. For one scene of another TV pilot I was writing I just played this one gut-wrenching song over and over while I wrote that section. It was Skylar Grey’s "Love the Way You Lie". Oof. It shortcuts straight through the noise and taps in to an emotion that helps fuel the writing process. It’s great. The right music is super helpful in that way. Stirs the creative juices".

How do you use music in your videos to create mood? Speaking of which, would you have some tips/suggestions for indie musicians to have their music considered for movies (how to apply, genre, etc…)?

"Whether it’s a feature film or a short film or a behind the scenes video, music sets a powerful emotional tone. Sometimes a scene’s emotional tone is not working by itself (through the actors, lighting, lens choices, edit and dialogue) so music can be a crutch to force the audience’s mood a certain direction. But, in the best scenarios, the music seamlessly augments a scene or helps to create a specific moment. The worst note I ever get on my corporate videos would have to be: "We loved everything but can we try a different piece of music?". Auuuuugh. After I’ve timed everything to a specific piece of music and layered in the words of the song and an instrumental version woven together to punctuate the right moment and this one person is not "feeling it". Bah humbug. It’s so subjective. One of my bosses nixed a song I was using because it reminded him of a dog he had that died. What?! What does that have to do with my video? It doesn’t. He’s just a monster, haha! At Disney we have access to ExtremeMusic.com which is an expensive music library but with amazingly professional sounding choices available. Sometimes our legal department sends me a note asking if we have permission to use a specific artist’s song because it sounds like a radio song and I’m like, of course! It’s ExtremeMusic, no worries! And then we high five and freeze frame in mid-air like a Mentos commercial. A lot of high end music libraries have every flavor of song in every style you can imagine. And generally it has different length versions and different song alternates like some with no drums or no brass or just acoustic, etc. Great editing choices. But again, that library is more expensive for the average indie filmmaker. As a producer I’ve licensed music from friends with bands and albums to use in my short films and even our feature film. So, indie filmmakers are willing to listen to new music and find a great break-out song for their movie but they don’t always have the budget you’d want. And the big filmmakers have the huge budgets, but they’re impossible to reach. Rarely do I have a budget to hire someone to score something specifically for my video. But it happens from time to time. But even then I’ll use library music or pop music as a placeholder to set the mood for them to match. I’ve also used music from sites like Pond5 or AudioJungle that let you buy out a cut relatively cheaply. They just have a much smaller selection overall. So make a bunch of music friends that will cut you a great deal on their masterpieces! That’s my advice. And musicians, go to your local film schools and make friends every year with the new class of filmmakers! They’re gonna need great music so it’s win-win".

David Acuff with his boss, Mickey!

Do you think writing a book and songwriting have something in common and how?

"Absolutely. It’s all story-telling. And we are all just different human instruments. So if you drop the same emotion, like say a devastating relationship break up, onto different artists, then one will give you a gut-wrenching painting, one will give you an emotionally wringing short film, or slam poetry, or a Skylar Grey song that makes you ball your eyes out. Art is the tool we use to process intense emotions. And just like with music, books have to ebb and flow and grow into super exciting moments and then fade back and linger in deep thought and then race ahead and then stop and catch its breath. Books and music take you on a journey. The more notes you know, the more chords you know, the more words you know, the more precise journey you can take someone on. It’s pretty miraculous actually.  And both take a lot of time to master the craft. We bumble around for years awkwardly trying to find our voice. Our unique way of storytelling. I’ll always remember two films that represent this. One is the "Glenn Miller Story" with Jimmy Stewart. Long before he comes up with this big band style he helped to invent, he is frustrated by the music of his day because he senses a sound, a new sound but he can’t quite figure it out. Until one day his trumpeter busted his lip and he had to rewrite all the trumpet parts to clarinets or whatever it was and boom! That Glenn Miller sound was born. Through expertise and experimentation and some blind dumb luck. The other film was "Walk the Line" with Joaquin Phoenix. It’s the part where Johnny Cash is auditioning for a studio and the guy interrupts the song because he’s tired of the same old gospel music played they same old tired way. He’s looking for something new. And Cash then plays for him one of his own original pieces. "Folsom Prison" I believe. And it blows the guy away. It takes years of getting good at music or novel writing. And usually there’s a lot of copying other people’s styles and genres at first. Imitating the masters. Then later if we keep pushing we develop our own voice. Our own style. Our own way that is truly unique and original. But many people quit and give up way before they get to that special moment. Keep pressing in. You’ll find it!".

David Acuff playing Make Believe at Castle Studios

Indie musicians often struggle in building a fanbase and spread the word out on social media, I think you as writer have a similar struggle but you also do an awesome work with reels: would you have some tips/suggestions about this?

"I’ve now published five books and my total sales for all of them is under 250 sold. That’s not good. That’s not gonna pay me to live and eat and write the next book after Disney is done with me, haha. But it’s a start! I’ve got to grow an audience of people who know me for quality story telling and want to hear more. That takes time. Look at Pixar. Some people will go see whatever the next Pixar movie is because it’s Pixar. They don’t even care what the story is they’re dedicated to the brand. That’s a strong brand. And its taken them years to craft it and earn people’s trust. We have to do that on a smaller level. Our brand is very simply our reputation. I’m trying to push out a few new funny instagram reels every week and am slooooowly growing a fanbase of people looking forward to the next and the next. Same on Twitter. For years just trying to tweet out a bunch of funny little snippets. I now have been approached by some brands for collaborations. That’s good. Now we can combine my funny reputation and their brand and hopefully create some comedy gold. We’ve seen that social media accounts have had a huge impact on casting. If you have three different actresses who can all act well, but one of them has 100K followers and the other two have 100, then the filmmakers or TV suits are going to want the more popular one because they have a bigger reach and it helps their marketing. More people will be excited about the project if the first actress is involved. Simple as that. The thing I’ve learned is your social media can’t be 100 percent about whatever you’re selling. I can’t talk in every reel and post about my books. No way. People would get bored and leave. But I can post 8 or 9 crazy and funny posts and then I’ve earned a post or two about my stuff. And all of my interests work together. The comedy reels help me hone my comedic skills and writing which helps my novels which helps my story telling for my film and tv projects. I did a funny post where I took Kate Beckinsale’s green bikini and photoshopped some funny pictures onto it and she loved it and reposted it and got me a thousand new followers. For an instant, I had the attention of a huge international movie star. That’s the power of social media. Now has my new BFF Kate called to ask me to write her new vampire movie or eat s’mores by the swimming pool in Beverly Hills? Sadly, no. Not yet! But we can dream!".

David Acuff interviewing Kristen Bell at Disney's D23 event

And now let's get more personal, can you share fun facts about being an editor for Disney and how you get to do such an amazing job? I'd be curious to know if there are fun facts about famous people you met (you can not say their names haha)

"Before I got to Los Angeles in 2014 I was on the East Coast of the US for my whole life. Doing corporate videos, wedding videos, recital videos, etc. Anything I could. And when I did my short films and projects, I naturally called on the friends and family close by to help me out. Los Angeles is no different. By moving out here and slowly working my way up I’m meeting people. I’m now using bigger name actors and actresses in my audio books for my stories than I’ve ever had access to. Just because I’m around it all out here. I’ve bumped into Steve Carrell at the diner I eat at all the time. I’ve been on the elevator at work with Bryan Cranston and when he said, "9th floor, please", I said, "Ah ha! So THAT’S where the meth lab is!". Disney is a great company because it’s a huge 500 pound media gorilla. They’ve got all the companies under their umbrella from Marvel, Lucasfilm, ABC and FX to Pixar and Disney Channel. Lots of places to move around once you’re in the family. So as a Producer-Editor I’m interviewing actors and actresses and show runners and executive producers and building relationships. One day I’ll be able to turn that into an ask. Like, "hey, Jessica Biel, would you take a look at this film noir TV pilot script and tell me what you think?". Not today, but one day. These relationships take time. It was fun the first time I got to edit Star Wars footage and music (John Williams!) into a sizzle reel I was working on. Star Wars was the first film I saw when I was five years old! It’s had a huge impact in my life and so to finally work on a project—even in a small way—was just mind blowing. This weekend (March 18th) I’m working the Oscars and will be on the red carpet at the 95th Annual Academy Awards. Like, I was not getting these types of  opportunities in Lizard Lick, NC".

How did you discover your passion for writing, what is the thing you love most about being a writer?

"I’ve always loved creative writing. In elementary school I won a second place trophy(!!) for a short story I wrote. That was like a baby Oscar Award to me! Later, once I started thinking about college, I had to also think practically. I could get an English degree and go all-in on the writing part but most English majors I knew turned out to be school teachers, not the next Tom Clancy. Blah. So that’s when I pivoted to film and video production. At least then I could film my own stories instead of waiting for someone else to green light my projects. I wrote seven different feature films and a couple were done as independent films but the others collect dust on my shelf. So only in the last 5 years I decided to turn those scripts into novels and publish them myself. Now that I have some projects out there on the market, I’ll approach literary agents to get represented professionally. And grow from there. Baby steps. But I write for me. I’m my first audience. The stories I have are burning inside me and I’ve got to get them out onto paper. Even digital paper. All these worlds I have in my mind. Characters I love and I want you to meet them and love them, too! One day I’ll get paid for it more in line with the work I put into it. But for now it’s just something I’m compelled to do as an artist and an instrument. Storytellers tell stories. It’s what we do".

Thank you so much David for this wonderful conversation, I'm sure my musicians followers will find it interesting and useful. Wishing you all the best for your writing career! And guys, give a look at the links below to follow him and find out more about Acuff's books, you'll find different genres from comedy to science fiction!

Instagram: @davidacuff

Website: davidacuff.com

Find more about his books

Watch the BTS videos he edited

David Acuff with his co-star (!!) Robin Williams, in "Patch Adams"