Check Out Reinhard Denke’s Story

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

Hi Reinhard, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
All my life, I’ve been fascinated with cinema and music. For me, there is nothing better in the world than movies, TV, or commercials. The magical combination of light and sound has always captivated me and been my primary professional motivation.

As a kid growing up in Texas, rather than play Blue Raider football or Little League Baseball, I was glued in front of the TV. My parents allowed my comics, books about the history of the cinema, and almost unlimited TV time (within daytime hours). When I was nine, they took pity on me and bought a Super 8mm camera. My best friend Joe Groves and I would gather a group of buddies from church and band, procure costumes, makeup, we’d write a script in a day and make horror, gangster, comedies, and train crash disaster movies. Every weekend, another movie I’d edit during the week and the thrill of seeing that film, whether with or without sound, cannot be matched by anything in the world.

The only records I listened to were either classical or movie soundtracks, I played violin, cello, then later trombone in the orchestra and band. You could say from a very early age movies and music were everything to me and I had little choice of which direction to go in life. I wanted to be in the movie business. I wanted to immerse myself in film, TV, music, and entertainment. It’s all I could think about and my direction in life was set.

After I graduated USC Film School, my first job was to work as an assistant editor for a well-known commercial post-production house. The job was great because it allowed me to have a front-row seat with some of the top commercials being produced in the country, and I also got to meet some of the best directors. One of my duties as an assistant was to edit sound effects. The principal of the company, Steve Wystrach, designated me to do nothing but sound editing, and I was in heaven. Eventually, I was able to work for a company that only did sound design and music for commercials called Machine Head. The principal at Machine Head, Stephen Dewey, was an inspiration for me. He pushed sound design much further than I could have ever imagined. I had the honor of working on Nike, Lexus, IBM, Apple, Sony Playstation, and Guinness… The opportunity to work on advertising at that level was magnificent. After I left Machine Head, I started my own sound design and music company and to this day, it remains truly one of life’s greatest blessings.

While I was working as a sound designer, I also made diligent efforts to be a screenwriter. During the 1990s, when spec screenplays were being bought and sold almost every day, I was one of those guys who couldn’t catch a break. By 1999, I’d thrown the towel in. I figured my place was as a sound designer, the writing thing wasn’t for me. Marilee, my genius wife, urged me to get back to writing screenplays, and I decided why not. In 2005, I did actually sell a spec screenplay, followed by another in 2007. in 2009, a script of mine was on Franklin Leonard’s Hollywood Blacklist, I got an agent at William Morris, and by 2013 was actually getting writing assignments and a member of the Writer’s Guild of America. Writing assignments are the name of the game as a writer and I was fortunate enough to be hired to do rewrites, polishes, and adaptations. I worked on several movies and TV shows and averaged about 10% actually getting produced. I cannot say I did not have fun on any of the screenplays I was paid to write, all of them were a different challenges. Some involved travel and the best part was I always learned about something new, which is the best aspect of all.

I’m exceptionally fortunate in life because I’m at that point in my life where I’m now working with the same person I used to make movies with when I was 12-22. Joe Groves was my collaborator and friend for many years, and now he’s producing a script I wrote, same script that was on the Blacklist in 2009. Joe, my wife Marilee, and several others are producing this movie and it’s hard to believe this is actually happening.

My life has come full circle now. There were dark moments along the way, times of doubt and deep insecurity. I never gave up, nor did I ever stop believing in myself. I knew pursuing this occupation was worth whatever struggles came along because they could be surmounted.

To repeat what I wrote before; for me, there is nothing better in the world than movies, TV shows, or commercials. That magical combination of light and sound has always captivated me and been my primary motivation in my professional life.

I consider myself as the luckiest man in the world.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
No, of course not. Nothing ever is, nothing of value at least.

I have made mistakes in regards to trusting the wrong people, I’ve been taken advantage of by situations I should have known better than to be involved with. We’ve all been there; when you know that to commit yourself to a work situation with people you don’t really trust but you somehow convinced yourself that maybe they might turn out okay. This is always a mistake. If you have any doubts at all about any professional situation, then don’t do it. We’re given those doubts for a reason.

When I started as a writer, I’m the first admit I wasn’t all that good. Yes, I had the desire to write stories that could be adapted into a film. However, I was not mature enough to actually learn the craft of screenwriting and just because I did the work certainly didn’t make it good. I wrote spec script after spec script, none of which were all that good because I was in such a blind hurry to get it finished. Looking back at that time, if I’d been more methodical in my writing and less emotional about it, I might have had earlier success.

One way of looking at it was when I did sit down to work, sometimes I felt that the act of writing was like standing in a very, very hot room with blinding light glaring in. I would sit for hours, sometimes days, behind a computer churning out page after page after page and then as soon as I was finished, I’d flee the room as if trying to escape. I would rarely go back through my work and double-check or rewrite, not out of laziness but out of irrational fear. Don’t ask me why, it still makes no sense to me.

I write now as if every word and sentence counts. Every character is sacred, every line of dialogue there for a damned good reason. Every plot line must be examined, then re-examined and evaluated.

There are many drawbacks to growing older, but one of the greatest aspects to maturity is how much better we all become professionally when we put our minds to it. I know I certainly have.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a screenwriter and a sound designer for TV commercials.

I am most proud of the script that’s about to go into production, “Sex, Greed, Money, Murder and Chicken Fried Steak” which is about the Cullen Davis murders in 1976 Fort Worth. Having lived through that episode as a kid, it made an enormous impression on me. It was very satisfying to go back to that time, recreate the Texas characters I knew growing up, their patterns of speech and mannerisms.

Of the sound design I’ve done, I’m proud of every assignment I was lucky enough to have.

What sets you apart from others?
I’d like to think it’s my passion for the subject matter, whether it be the work I did for the Chickasaw Nation because I love history or the true crime screenplays I’ve written simply because I love researching and writing it as I envisioned.

What makes you happy?
My family is the most satisfying and exciting part of my life. When I can spend time with my two sons, who are now entering adulthood, with my wife Marilee, it’s a privilege.

Why? I enjoy the fact we’ve spent all this time together and still get along. I love to see the boys’ personalities hear their points of view and observations. They continually astonish me with their insight, opinions and how they perceive current events.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reinhard_denke/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reinhard.denke/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/GInselmann