Power Ballad  SXSW Premiere, Peter McDonald Interview

It's a dream come true. Uh, you know, it's such an amazing festival and because it's a music festival as well and this film is about musicians and songwriters, um, it's just like the perfect place for us to be. And if we'd told ourselves this is where we'd be at the start of this project, we'd have been, you know, we wouldn't have believed you.

We wanted to make a film about a middle-aged musician who hadn't made it, but still felt he was a rock star underneath it all. Um, and then we came upon the idea, 'What if something that he had written got stolen at that stage?' And once we hit on that, we realized so many themes that we would love to write about just poured out of it.

John and Gary wrote the song, but they kept sending me what they were writing and asking for my opinion on it. Um, and one of the tests we had, myself and John, was I would play it to like a niece or nephew or a sister or friend with another song. And then half an hour later, without telling them I was going to do this, I'd say, 'Can you hum either of those songs?' And they could always hum 'How to Write a Song About You'. And that's—that's a hit song, something that stays in your brain.

Well, he was always there because he's Rick's best mate, but, um, he's really about the loyalty part of the film and people who stick by you through thick and thin. But also, without Sandy there, the film could get quite dark because Rick would be on his own. So he needs that confidant and that guy who'll always be there for him, so that's kind of the role he played. But then we know loads of guys like Sandy, so the humor of that guy just came very quickly to us, yeah.

The most important things to someone in their life aren't monetary or career-based or success-based. They're the decisions you make about those you love."