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Meet Reinhard Denke of Mercury Media and Rndm Ordr in Santa Monica

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Reinhard Denke.

Reinhard, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I attended USC Film School with the ambition to be a screenwriter. After I graduated, I discovered it was an uncertain path and began working as a sound editor for a commercial editor named Steve Wystrach. I worked at a company owned by Stephen Dewey called Machine Head afterwards and worked there as a sound designer on commercials; Nike, Lexus, Addidas, Hewlitt Packard. I began my own sound design and music company, winning 3 Clio awards. That company still exists, called Rndm Ordr with offices now in Santa Monica, Chicago, NYC, London, and Berlin.

While I worked as a sound designer, I also worked as a writer, and in 2009 a script I wrote got on the Hollywood Blacklist. Afterwards, I became a member of the Writers Guild of America.

I wrote a several unproduced movies, then was brought on to rewrite CAPTIVE in 2013 starring David Oyelowo and Kate Mara. Since then, I’ve been working as a script doctor, rewriting several screenplays as well as a few originals which are in various stages of production.

I also am continuing work at RNDM ORDR, which I’m extremely proud of. Our recent work with Ford, Visa, Home Depot and IBM is exemplary — the people I work with, Robert Miller, Gus Koven, Rory Doggett, Rani Vaz, Nick Tuttle, Guin Frehling, Bill Chesley, Kate Gibson, Stephen Dewey, Flo Lachenmacher, Marc McClusky, Nick Green and Madelaine Hart are among the best I’ve ever had the privilege to call friends and co-workers.

I’m now working on the screenplay MOONCHILD, about the Charles Manson killings but told from the viewpoint of Linda Kasabian currently in pre-production, as well as THE LAST CARNIVAL, the story of a washed up one-time champion bull rider relegated to being a rodeo clown. I recently wrote CURRENCY WAR about a worldwide financial meltdown, as well as RADIANT, the story of movie star Hedy Lamarr and her extraordinary frequency hopping invention that led to today’s wi-fi and GPS.

I’ve written scripts about a redemption story in Angola prison in Louisiana (INESCAPABLE), the ACKIA for the Chickasaw Nation, the great battle most don’t know about when 70 Chickasaw warriors defeated an army of 1500 French soldiers and their allies in 1736. I’ve written the screenplay SEX, GREED, MURDER AND CHICKEN FRIED STEAK about the Cullen Davis murder case in 1970’s era Fort Worth, Texas, my home town, as well as a BIG TIME, about the Cotton Club murder in 1983.

I have also written a TV limited series, VANISHED, about the Dyatlov Pass mystery in the USSR of 1959.

I work with my wife, Marilee Albert-Denke, who recently published her first novel THE TUTOR through Rare Bird Books, Her inspiration and enthusiasm has propelled me to be a better writer, as well as sound designer and partner with Rndm Ordr. We have two teenaged sons, Jackson, 17, and Winston, 15. We live in Northwest Los Angeles County and love what we do. We are the most fortunate people in the world to be able to work in the entertainment industry, an adventure every day. Some good, some bad, but you can’t complain about being bored. Working in this business, as it is with any that are a dream, makes one feel very alive.

I’m very pleased I held onto my dream of writing for the movies, which seemed so remote to me as a 25 years old graduated USC. It’s a difficult path. I feel extremely blessed that I had a business as exciting as working in the world of TV commercials to sustain me as I worked toward that goal. TV commercials are a world unto themselves, the people smart, versatile – they keep you at your very best.

In the final analysis, I feel a very blessed man and wouldn’t change a thing about the road I took in life. When you’re surrounded with brilliant people the days tend to go by with a feeling of immeasurable achievement.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s never a smooth road for anyone, in whatever field they choose whether it be science, medicine, engineering, the military, aviation, the law, business services, skilled labor, education, law enforcement, government — nothing is easy.

In all fields, we share the same sense of struggle, disappointment and eventual achievement.

The struggles along the way most acute for people in my field is that vast, deep chasm of NOT KNOWING. No one really tells you the rules; how can you walk that thin line between being too eager but not THAT eager, how hard must your sell yourself, how do you relate to people with power, how do you stand up for yourself in strong manner but not come across as arrogant? When does one knuckle under and do the work, or when is it the right time to fight for yourself?

Most of all, how do you get an agent, manager, or into the WGA? Until you get a movie made, no one is interested but you can’t get a movie made outside of the WGA without an agent or a manager. It’s a hall of funhouse mirrors — like Eddie Murphy said, don’t take advice from anyone because they’re as confused as you are.

All these aspects count as struggle, but for many, the worst is rejection. It’s an oft told story, but rejection comes along with the territory of entering a field where there is no absolute right or wrong – in entertainment, it’s up to the taste of the purchaser. When I was younger, rejection was a painful, soul-searing bullet between the eyes — it was the laser beam that bored into my soul and left me a lifeless husk of a human being.

Now, after many years of writing professionally, it no longer bothers me (much) but it took a long time to get here. Some lucky people are better at taking rejection than others, and I’ve noticed those brilliant outliers who were immune to rejection went further earlier. They seemed to “have it together” much more than those of us who allow themselves to be slapped down by a harsh word of criticism or outright rejection, afterwards wallowing in self-pity.

The one thing I never had a problem with was concentration and the will to get work done, which a number of people struggle with as writers. However, at first I was horrible about re-reading and double-checking my work. I had a strange fear that if I looked at it again, I would be so horrified with what I did it would never go out, so it was one Hail Mary pass after another until a writer friend let me have it with sound advice — YOUR WORK IS FINE BUT YOU NEED TO DOUBLE CHECK BECAUSE MISSPELLED WORDS AND BAD GRAMMAR MAKES YOU SEEM LIKE A LOSER.

How correct he was.

After that, I began double, triple, quadruple checking my screenplays before they went out. True, I’m not going to find every mistake, but at least it looks presentable. I heard a sage word of advice once; “They never remember if you turned it in late but they do remember if you turned in bad work”.

Yep. Si. Ja. Da.

The other challenge is “how bold must I be in pitches or meetings?” One time, I was urged by a producer in a notes meeting to “be bold, say what’s on your mind” which overly encouraged me to act like a jerk. I went off on some poor guy who had an idea that was perfectly valid but I fought back to the point of shouting and becoming “that guy”. No one wants to hear “that guy”.

Needless to say, after that meeting no one liked me and couldn’t wait to replace me with another writer. There is a fine line that needs to be adhered to, and only EQ can dictate how to behave. If it’s a group of grim-faced people waiting for you to “prove yourself”, then don’t be too eager or friendly, be as harsh and foreboding as they are. If you’re lucky, you won’t get the job. If you think the first meeting was awful, six months later, doing rewrite after rewrite for glowering execs who didn’t want to work with you to begin with and it ends not with a bang, but a very sour and ugly whimper.

If the producers are well adjusted and excited about their project, then dive into their enthusiasm and revel in it.

In the end, all endeavors in entertainment are group projects, and the more everyone can believe in what they’re doing the better. It makes life so much more fun when working with like-minded individuals. Not to sound like a person with poor memory skills, but we’re all so fortunate to be doing this, why not enjoy it?

Please tell us about Mercury Media and Rndm Ordr.
MERCURY MEDIA — I share Mercury with my wife, we write under the umbrella of Mercury. I’m most proud of every script I’ve ever written, from the confined thriller CAPTIVE to the dystopian financial thriller CURRENCY WAR to the brilliance of Hedy Lamarr with RADIANT. The TV shows we’ve written and had optioned; 90 MILES about the early days of Fidel Castro’s Cuba to the grandeur of GOLDEN GATE about San Francisco in the 1960’s-1970’s. I’m very proud of all our work. We specialist in true crime stories — MOONCHILD, about Linda Kasabian’s brave journey to testify against Charles Manson, to BIG TIME, about Roy Radin and his wild ride with Robert Evans and Laney Jacobs to produce THE COTTON CLUB, a wild ride that ended in Roy’s murder and Laney’s spending life in prison. I am most proud of SEX, GREED, MONEY, MURDER AND CHICKEN FRIED STEAK set in 1970’s Texas where an oil billionaire can get away with murder and just about anything else.

We can research, bring life to characters, and bring back a time, or a state of mind, with the best of any Hollywood writers. I’m extremely proud of our work and the worlds we bring to life. Every script or TV show is a journey into another world, and I love exploring them. They create a certain “balance” to my own life, which sounds weird but I love it. I love delving into the lives of people who lived not so long ago, and those who did. What were they thinking? What were their motivations, whether it be an arrogant French governor in 1736 dealing with Native Americans who resisted him or a Texas billionaire who sees himself as completely above the law. Why did Hedy Lamarr, a woman from Austria in the hothouse world of Hollywood California, see herself as an inventor? What enormous self-determination made her fight for her ideas in a male-dominated world and triumph? What made them do what they did? Finding those characters through screenwriting is has enormous satisfaction for me.

RNDM ORDR — the crowning achievement of my life working in commercials. With my partners, David Zander and Robert Miller, we shared a vision; “why not bring all the best people in music and sound design under one roof?” It’s what David did with his company, MJZ, all the best commercial directors are there, they’re the best, they know they are, and people approach them with reverence. Why not do that with commercial music and sound design? Several companies came together for this endeavor; Stimmüng, my prior company with Zander, as well as Robert Miller’s Screen Sound Alliance, Bill Chesley and Kate Gibson’s Henry Boy, Stephen Dewey’s Machine Head, and Florian Lachenmacher’s Supreme Music. Why not all work together as one company that stretches from Berlin to Santa Monica and all points in between? Why not be prepared to tackle any assignment for any advertising agency? So we did it, and thus far, I couldn’t be more jubilant about the results. Every track we have go final is a triumph — when Robert records a Beatles song for a commercial at Abbey Road in London, or when Gus Koven excels creating sound design that is beyond anything else heard, I’m beyond satisfied. What makes me most happy is I’m working with people I’ve known for so many years; Gus, Robert, Stephen, Rory, Bill — I’ve known these guys for over twenty years (Stephen longer but I don’t wish anyone to know my true age) and it’s the greatest thing in the world to have a group of people who you totally trust, you can always count on them to dazzle and impress you, even when it seems impossible. These people are like family to me and I’d do anything for them.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
1) Never give up even though the day seems very black and horrible. Never quit, never listen to those who urge you to. It may be hard on any given day but imagine the horror of waking up 20 years later and realize if you’d just stuck it out you’d have achieved your dreams? Like Patton told his brave troops the one thing he knew they’d never say — “Well, I shoveled shit in Louisiana”. For God’s sake never quit or you might have to say that to a grandchild someday.

2) It’s hard to know when but SAY NO to outrageous demands or those who are asking too much. You’ll know who they are, and if you say yes, you’ve just set your price point. I’ll ever forget the story of Bela Lugosi, who is famous for playing DRACULA in the 1930 Universal movie. He’d played Dracula on stage, he felt he should have the part but didn’t understand Hollywood. They wanted a big star, he wasn’t at the time. He offered to play the part at Actor’s Equity rate (SGA minimum now), and his agent warned him, “As soon as you offer that, you’ve set your price point”. He wanted the part so bad he went ahead and sold himself out at $150 a day. For the rest of his career at Universal, even when he was a big star, that was his salary.

3) NEVER WORK FOR FREE! Ever. If they want you bad enough, they’ll find a way to pay you. Someone said this to me years ago, and I worked for free plenty of times and IT NEVER LEADS ANYWHERE! Never! Don’t do it. They disrespect you the second you agree to be the “free person” and no matter how good the work you do, they’ll despise you for working with them.

4) Don’t talk too much — I know I did for YEARS and it held me back. Proverbs 29:11: “A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards”. Better to be silent and listen than loquacious and look like a clown.

5) Don’t worry all the time — the oldest piece of advice I never listened to for years and now can say EVERYTHING WILL BE ALL RIGHT. Just keep your head, be patient, when you get “no news” on something you’re worrying about, NO NEWS MEANS NO NEWS. Nothing more.

6) If someone doesn’t want to work with you — THEN YOU DON’T WANT TO WORK WITH THEM! It goes back to rejection. It hurts, it sucks, no one likes to be told “no” or ostracized from the tribe. Ultimately, as humans, we’re tribal animals and in the dark years long ago, excommunication from the tribe meant certain death. Well, now it doesn’t. As Truman Capote said, the best prayers are those that go unanswered. Those that reject you or your work aren’t worth a second of your time unless they come back and change their mind. Then, they’re godsends, love them, forgive, and remember, they’re coming back because they had the guts to admit they made a bad decision.

7) Never, ever, never stop working except in case of family, which is always the most important thing of all. But never stop working, never stop questioning yourself, watch as many movies and TV as you can, soak it all in, be inspired by the good and forget the bad. There’s way more good out there than bad, and those writers/directors/actors/composers/
sound designers are super qualified at what they do so learn from them. They got those movies/TV shows/commercials produced for a reason.

8) Stay in touch with EVERYBODY — competitors, ex-employees, producers you’ve worked with before, directors, actors, musicians, they’re all worth your time — an email, text, phone call. Don’t hold grudges, it makes you small and pathetic – if there’s ever friction with someone, with time it’ll go away.

9) It’s not hard to be nice, especially to those who deserve it.

10) Always thank everybody, even when they don’t need it. I know, I know, “gratitude is the most wonderful thing”, but it is. Be thankful, it’s rare people thank you but those that do are a rare breed. Be among the grateful few, not the unwashed masses who aren’t.

And one more:

11) No one likes the person who’s bitter and self-pitying — yech. Stay away from bitter people. They don’t elevate, inspire, or educate. They suck. Quarantine yourself from them.

Pricing:

  • Mercury Media — WGA minimum plus $10K

Contact Info:

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