Bloggin' On: Adventures in Screenwriting - Music & 'Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss'

Still image from Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss. © 2020 Popcorn Sky Productions

Hi, Constant Reader, and welcome to another edition of Bloggin' On: Adventures in Screenwriting. Today I'll be talking a little bit about the music of Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss, as well as a few other tidbits about the making of the short comedy that Juan Carlos Hernandez, Adria K. Woomer Hernandez, and their son Anthony just completed and uploaded to YouTube this weekend.

Now, as the screenwriter of Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss, I was not directly involved with the sound design of the 22-minutes-long comedy. That was done in New York City, 1,149 miles away from my corner of Florida; the movie's sound was designed and edited by Adria, who is our female lead and producer.

However, because Ronnie was my creative baby, as it were, I did have some suggestions about the film's score, some of which I integrated into the script.

When Ronnie began life as Happy Days Are Here Again, I thought that the main title sequence should be scored with the famous 1932 song that was used for Franklin D. Roosevelt's first Presidential campaign. I figured it was upbeat, recognizable, and served as an ironic counterpoint to the divisive state of America in the Donald Trump era.

For the longest time, Happy Days Are Here Again was the intended title for our comedy, but as the movie evolved during principal photography and changed in tone and style, both the song and title were sidelined, and our main title song became America the Beautiful, as interpreted by Ray Charles.

Now, while I did not choose that specific version of the song, Juan (the director) and Adria (producer/sound designer) based their decision on a script direction that I wrote in the screenplay:


We see GUILLERMO RONDEROS, a middle-aged working-class stiff who is out for his daily constitutional.  He is dressed for the cold weather, with a heavy jacket and mittens, and a cap that covers his head  He doesn't just walk down Riverside Drive; he struts as if he owns the sidewalk...or Manhattan, or the City of New York itself.  He hums "America the Beautiful" with enthusiasm, not noticing (or caring) that he is a bit off-key.  

Now, if you've seen Ronnie, you know that this changed between the time I submitted my first draft of the screenplay and the start of principal photography. Juan's character is not the first person we see on screen, and he doesn't hum America the Beautiful, but the idea of the song being included stayed, although in a different fashion from my original idea. It came out really nice, though, and I am pleased with the synergy of the song and the visuals.

Another musical cue that I wanted in the film is Luis Aguile's Cuando sali de Cuba, which was written by an Argentinian but was adopted in the 1960s by Cuban exiles as the one song that expresses their feelings of loss and longing for their homeland. Guillermo is Cuban-American, and to understand his character's motivations, it was important to me as a storyteller to make the audience connect with him on an emotional level. So, in a way, Cuando sali de Cuba is "Guille's Theme," because his passion for his political views is rooted in his love for the island nation where he was born.

I don't know which recording was used in the final film, but it sounds quite close to what I wanted when I suggested it to Juan in one of our many email/text exchanges during production.

One musical cue that I did not suggest was John Williams' Jaws theme. I suppose that was Juan's tip of the hat to my well-known love of Maestro Williams' music and the films of Steven Spielberg. It was also used effectively for comic effect.  As for the Carmen Miranda song that follows America the Beautiful in the titles sequence, well, I didn't come up with that idea, either!

All in all, the musical score works well. It added life and humor to our movie, and we are happy with how the various songs buoy the visuals on the screen. Hopefully, the audience enjoys the byplay between sound and image in Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss as much as we do!

If you have not seen the film yet, you can watch  Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss here.