THE SHEILA E. DOCUMENTARY an INTIMATE PORTRAIT of the BEST FEMALE DRUMMER in the WORLD Introduction

THE SHEILA E. DOCUMENTARY AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF THE BEST FEMALE DRUMMER IN THE WORLD introduction

In the 1980’s, Sheila Escovedo rose to international fame playing drums alongside Prince, who was one of her greatest musical collaborators and, for a brief time, her ﬁancé. Today, at age 62, despite the fact that many consider Sheila to be the best female drummer in the world, she has been unable to escape the inaccurate, widespread perception that Prince discovered and “made” her.

But there is so much more to Sheila E.’s story.

2 Our ﬁlm will introduce the world - both dedicated fans who have followed her for years, as well as Millennials and Gen Z who don’t know yet how much they will love her - to the Sheila E. that everyone should know:

• Sheila Escovedo was a child prodigy who started playing the drums when she was just three years old and was touring the world with many famous artists by the time she was 15. With hard work, sheer grit and persistence, Sheila worked her way to becoming one of the most inﬂuential percussionists of all time.

• Sheila E. is a master musician, mesmerizing performer and true pioneer of the music industry whose music has crossed genres and touched the hearts of people everywhere throughout her 50+ year musical career, paving the way for future generations of female drummers to follow.

• Sheila E. is an inspirational woman of color who has overcome racism, sexism, sexual abuse, ageism and other seemingly insurmountable obstacles in order to pursue her life’s passion, and her story will move and inspire audiences worldwide.

3 VISION

Recently, Rolling Stone Magazine released a list entitled the “100 Greatest Drummers of all Time.” Sheila E. is the ﬁrst woman on the list, at number 58, and there are only four additional women included at all on the list of 100 artists. The fact that you must scroll through images of 57 male faces to ﬁnally get to the story of a female drummer is case-in-point why now is the time to tell Sheila E.’s story.

4 Our film is inspired by award-winning documentaries like “Twenty Feet From Stardom” and fictionalized stories such as “Hidden Figures,” which examine the stories of women who were previously considered "supporting characters" and re-tell them from another perspective, giving these groundbreaking women their deserved moment in the spotlight. These kind of films are timely and important, as we seek to redefine the roles and perception of women in polarizing times.

Sheila’s history is complex, entertaining and exciting. That history, coupled with the story of an older woman musician who is still playing, and playing hard, is an important story to tell. Sheila E. hasn’t just shriveled up and disappeared, despite the music industry’s attempts at dismissing her. Our culture, which celebrates and promotes youth, can be particularly hard on women of a certain age and older women musicians can often be labelled “irrelevant,” eventually becoming invisible. Sheila E. has fought against this invisibility for years, and has refused to accept these cultural stereotypes. She still continues to make music and tour into her sixth decade, and illuminating this journey will be truly emotional and inspirational for audiences everywhere.

1211 5 APPROACH We were granted exclusive rights to Sheila E.’s life story in 2015, and we have already filmed more than 20 days with her in cinema verité style over the past few years. Because the subject of our film is still alive, we have the opportunity to create a film that is not simply a straight historical biography, but one that interweaves Sheila’s exciting history with her personal journey as a mature artist navigating the music industry today. As filmmakers, we have immersed in Sheila E.’s world in order to document her life now.

6 Sheila has allowed our small, all-female crew to see “behind the curtain,” as we followed her on tour and at home, recording personal exchanges with her band, family and friends and witnessing the reality of her life today. Our footage thus far conveys Sheila’s powerhouse determination, her competitive spirit and unﬂappable work ethic, her intimate bonds with family and trusted friends, her breathtaking performances. It also sheds light on many of the unkind realities facing this 62- year old female musician who is working hard to maintain a career in a youth-obsessed music industry, as well as the loneliness and isolation Sheila often experiences as a result of the path she has chosen.

7 As production continues, we will incorporate the following additional storytelling elements and interweave them with our verité footage to round out Sheila’s story:

• Interviews with friends, family and famous collaborators who were there with Sheila throughout the different chapters of her life.

• Interviews with younger female drummers who now look to Sheila as an original trailblazer and will speak to the legacy she has built as a musician.

• Innovative animation that utilizes both our own creative materials and Sheila's personal photos from the last 40 years, including concert shots, backstage and personal family snapshots, as well as images from the personal photo albums of her manager, closest friends and bandmates.

• A series of highly-cinematic “beauty sequences” of Sheila playing her heart out on the drums, beautifully lit, front and center in the frame. These cinematic, mesmerizing moments will allow the audience to absorb the sheer magic of Sheila’s talent, and will serve as connective tissue throughout the ﬁlm.

8 CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR WORK-IN-PROGRESS TEASER

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL FILM TREATMENT THE STORY

We have structured Sheila E.’s story into ﬁve emotional chapters. Each chapter will convey a piece of her history artfully interwoven with scenes from the present day. Thus far we have envisioned the project as a feature-length documentary, however this structure allows for us to have ﬂexibility, and it could be easily reimagined as a limited series.

9 CHAPTER 1: PRODIGY

Chapter one is alive with the music of the 60’s and 70’s that shaped Sheila’s childhood. We learn about all about Sheila’s early years and the broad spectrum of events that inﬂuenced her – from the beauty of growing up in a loving family surrounded by talented musicians (including Santana, Tito Puente and more), to the tragedy of a sexual assault that would alter the course of her life forever.

10 CHAPTER 2: MASTERY Sheila describes her teen years using three simple words: “I was angry.” Sheila develops a tough outer shell to keep herself safe from a threatening outside world, channeling her rage and pain into a pair of drumsticks. Chapter two tracks Sheila’s dramatic path from gang member and high school dropout, to successful touring musician alongside legends George Duke, Herbie Hancock, Lionel Richie and Marvin Gaye.

11 CHAPTER 3: FAME EXPLOSION

Chapter three traces the evolution of Sheila E.’s relationship with Prince. They begin as friends - working, recording and playing together all the time, referring to each other as “musical soulmates”—and eventually, become lovers. In 1984, Prince invites Sheila to open for him on the Purple Rain Tour, produces her ﬁrst solo album, and they are both catapulted to superstardom. Sheila’s intimate relationship with Prince is a dramatic rollercoaster ride, ﬁlled with music, fame, glamour, love… and ultimately, heartbreak.

12 CHAPTER 4: GOODBYE, LOVE

For a long time, the “Purple Umbrella” provides a safe home for Sheila where she is able to ﬂourish as a musician, but the relentless 24-7 lifestyle and public scrutiny eventually take a toll on her and she suffers a physical breakdown. Faced with no other options, Sheila must leave Prince’s world in order to reconnect with her true north.

Back out on her own, Sheila struggles to make it as solo artist. She has trouble redeﬁning herself without Prince by her side and is repeatedly told she’s “too old” and “not relevant anymore.” The record labels refuse to sign her, so she starts her own label and begins producing her own music. She is determined to make music and she is not going to take no for an answer.

13 CHAPTER 5: LEGACY Sheila goes on to collaborate with hundreds of musicians including Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Nicks, Beyonce, Michael Franti, Babyface, Lady Gaga, Ringo Starr, Hans Zimmer, George Clinton, Elton John, Usher and more. A true trailblazer, one of the first and best female percussionists of all time, Sheila inspires an entire new generation of female drummers and musicians to follow in her footsteps. Some of the music industryʼs most familiar faces show up in the film to speak of the influence Sheila has had on their lives, and on the history of music.

It is clear that the painful events throughout Sheilaʼs life did not deter her or break her, but rather they fueled a ﬁre that was already burning deep inside her as a young artist. Sheila is a true survivor with a deep determination to always live her life on her own terms, and the music is always present as her guiding light. 14 THE FILMMAKERS

JENNIFER STEINMAN DIRECTOR & PRODUCER

Jennifer Steinman is an award winning ﬁlmmaker with over 20 years of experience in television and ﬁlmmaking. She has established herself professionally as a creative storyteller who establishes deep, trusting relationships with her subjects and has the ability to tap into the heart and emotion of a story.

Steinman most recently produced the EMMY® Award-winning documentary, TIME FOR ILHAN, featuring U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, which premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Her previous feature as Director & Producer, DESERT RUNNERS, was named by the Hufﬁngton Post as one of “The Top 10 Documentaries of 2013.” The ﬁlm screened to sold-out audiences at IDFA and was selected “Best of the Fest” at the Edinburgh Film Festival. It won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at both the Vancouver International and The Hamptons International Film Festivals, and Best Cinematography at the Woods Hole Film Festival and was screened in over 30 countries worldwide.

Steinmanʼs feature directorial debut, MOTHERLAND, had its world premiere at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in 2009, where it won an Audience Award. The ﬁlm went on to win several other best-of-festival awards and was voted by fans to return to SXSW in 2012 for an Encore Screening.

Steinman is also an accomplished film editor whose films have been accepted into many major film festivals including Tribeca, Rotterdam, and Sundance. She has produced and edited content for ABC, MTV, PBS, Discovery, National Geographic, Disney + and many other television networks. She has won numerous editing awards and has been nominated for an Emmy® Award for Outstanding Achievement in Editing.

15 THE FILMMAKERS

SABRINA SCHMIDT GORDON CO-DIRECTOR

Sabrina Schmidt Gordon is an award-winning documentary ﬁlmmaker. Her editing debut won an Emmy for WGBHʼs “Greater Boston Arts” series and she has continued to distinguish herself as a producer, editor, and director.

Recent credits include Producer of QUEST, a NY Times "Critic's Pick" which premiered in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast on PBS/POV in 2018. She is the Co-Director/Producer and Editor of "BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez," winner of Best Film Directed by a Woman of Color at the 2015 African Diaspora International Film Festival. She is also the Co-Producer and Editor of DOCUMENTED, the story of Pulitzer Prize-winning undocumented journalist, Jose Antonio Vargas. The ﬁlm had record viewership for its CNN broadcast, received Oscar buzz, and was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Best Documentary Film.

Gordon is on the board of the Yale Visual Law Project with Fred Wiseman and Alex Gibney, and teaches documentary ﬁlmmaking at the Columbia University School of Journalism and the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

16 THE FILMMAKERS

DREW DENNY PRODUCER

Drew Denny is an internationally exhibited, award-winning filmmaker whose first feature narrative film, THE MOST FUN I'VE EVER HAD WITH MY PANTS ON, took home several Best Feature awards and earned her a spot in The Advocateʼs “40 Under 40” list, where she was named “an auteur to watch.” She went on to produce six inaugural episodes for the launch of Viceʼs female- centered channel BROADLY, an interview with Hillary Clinton for Lifetime, and branded content for clients including Allergan, Spotify, Interscope Records, NYDJ Denim, and CBS. Her most recent short film, MOMSTER, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2019.

Documentary film is Dennyʼs passion, she is particularly interested in films that provide insight and thoughtful reflection around highly polemical stories. Her focus has been primarily on female subjects, people of color and LGBTQ communities and she is driven to share never-before-told stories with audiences. She has worked to secure unprecedented access to subjects as diverse as abortion clinics in Texas, climate change refugees in the Maldives, and drag queen nuns in Northern California.

Denny has also produced music content including CMT Award Winner Kelsea Ballerini, chart-topping newcomer Flume and newly-reunited Blink 182. Her narrative and commercial work has featured celebrities including Gabourey Sidibe (EMPIRE), Chloe Moretz (CARRIE, 30 ROCK), Larry Pine (HOUSE OF CARDS, MOONRISE KINGDOM), Catherine Curtin and Michelle Hurst (ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK), Frank Harts (THE LEFTOVERS), Bridget Moynahan (SEX AND THE CITY), US Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas and supermodels Christie Brinkley, Ashley Graham, Iman, and Lana Ogilvie.

17 THE FILMMAKERS

MOIRA MOREL DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Moira Morel is an accomplished cinematographer living in Los Angeles, California. Since completing her MFA in cinematography at the American Film Institute (AFI), Morel has shot both documentary and narrative films, commercials, music videos, shorts and web series. Many of the films that Morel has lensed have screened and won awards at film festivals nationally and internationally. Most notably, The Skinny premiered at Sundance in 2016, Vámonos won a 2016 Imagen Award for “Best Theatrical Short,” along with the 2016 NBCU “Open Possibilites Social Impact Award,” and The Punk Singer had its world premiere in 2013 at SXSW. She is currently shooting "The L Word:Generation Q" for Showtime.

18 Steinbeisser puts on at least three events per year, each with a different theme, location and line-up of up to four world-class chefs and ﬁfteen artists. The chefs range from rising stars to Michelin-starred celebrities and the artists include sculptors, painters, metalworkers and beyond.

Each CONTACTseason of four hour-long episodes will track the making of one event from start to ﬁnish, focusing on up to four chefs and four artists. The local farmer, baker and sommelier who will be providing the produce, bread and beverages will also be featured, allowing us to JENNIFERgain an understanding STEINMAN of the region’s environment DREW and culinary DENNY practices. We will meet DIRECTORthem in their kitchens & andPRODUCER studios, watch their journeysPRODUCER unfold and ultimately enjoy the fruits of their labors at the climactic dinner - if they can pull it off. 917-250-5291 310-270-8342 [email protected] [email protected]