'Temperton’ is a biopic on songwriter Rod Temperton - a former fish gutter from northern England - and his meteoric rise from playing funk with the 70s soul band 'Heatwave' to teaming up with legendary producer Quincy Jones and laying the foundation for Michael Jackson’s solo career, among many others.

Whereas most biopics focus on a global superstar whose story is already known, the huge real-life names in this film are the support cast to the fish-out-water, slightly comedic, title character: a nerdy-looking, socially-awkward white songwriter in the same room as soul legends and coming up with some of their biggest hits.

Despite being considered one of the world’s greatest ever songwriters, the multi-instrumentalist was known in the music industry as ‘The Invisible Man’ because he preferred to keep a low profile while penning countless classics that would define a generation.

After leaving his job at a northern English fish market, the unlikely soul genius went on to write hits such as 'Boogie Nights' and 'Always and Forever' before forming a fruitful relationship with Quincy Jones where he first penned 'Rock With You', ‘Burn This Disco Out’ and 'Off the Wall', the title track for Michael Jackson's solo debut album, in a single night.

Prior to writing the iconic title track for Jackson's next album 'Thriller', the world's best-selling album of all time with three Temperton tracks in total, he penned 'Give Me the night' and 'Love X Love' to help catapult George Benson's soul career.

Temperton also wrote 'Stomp' for the Brothers Johnson, Razzamatazz for Quincy Jones, 'Yah Mo B There' for James Ingram & Michael McDonald, and the US number one 'Baby, Come to Me' for Patti Austin & James Ingram.

All of this happened between 1977 and 1983.

The film begins with Temperton famously writing Vincent Price's rap for 'Thriller' in the back of a taxi minutes before the actor recorded it in two takes, followed by the furore that accompanied the album's 1982 release and the groundbreaking video for Thriller a year later.

The story then backtracks to Temperton's early beginnings at a Grimsby fish market before he joins Heatwave and writes their first hits ‘Always and Forever’ and 'Boogie Nights'...

With the classic soul soundtrack, the late-70s to early-80s aesthetic, and real-life superstar characters such as a brilliant, young Michael Jackson and legendary producer Quincy Jones, ‘The Invisible Composer’ is a sure-fire hit.

#RodTemperton #Biopic #FilmPitch