Featuring Deanna Dzulkifli, and Sam and Sean (Blacklisted Productions)

I'm so tired~ echoes through this episode but that hasn't stopped any of these folks from working through the grind—all to turn an artist's vision into something real, tangible and alive.

For independent producer Deanna, this means really listening to find out what it is that artists want to say through their art (whatever the form). Then she thinks about how to make it happen, "I'm a producer. I'm not an artist. It's not about whether I think something is good or bad..," she quips. From her co-living space to co-working art space (i.e. Goodman Arts Centre), we followed Deanna, who also manages veteran band The Observatory, as she prepped for SOURCE, an improv showcase by the band, featuring Guy Sherwin and Lynn Loo, specialists in projection film works.

Some weeks later, somewhere along Tyrwhitt Road, flight cases are rolled in one by one, into Foo Chow Building. Milling about and checking that things were in order for American band Get Up Kids playing that night were two of the three brains behind Blacklisted Productions, Sam (Mas Zamir) and Sean Sundaran. They look tired, and no wonder—they've got two more bands playing the next day. Resident cynic—no prizes for guessing who—Sam is in it, until the bus crashes, he says; but resident optimist Sean is going to be doing this till he's 50? 60?, he says. But they both agree, that when a show goes well, it rekindles their spirit 🔥

This series was commissioned by Esplanade Offstage for Baybeats, the alternative music festival presented annually by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay.