Growing Up Local: Old Friends Reconnect for a Phenomenal Opportunity

Two little boys, one from Maplewood, one from South Orange, meet at Beth El's Hebrew School in the late 80's, go on to form a great friendship and become classmates at Columbia High School.  But in the year 2000, David Tillman and Ethan Greene graduated from Columbia High School and went their separate ways.  Their friendship appeared destined for high school reunions and e-mail, as David headed to the University of Texas to pursue film-making, while Ethan went to Amherst College to study pre-med and music.  Ethan graduated and decided to pursue music full-time, leaving Massachusetts for Texas's Rice University, earning a Masters of Music Composition.  It was in Texas where the friend's paths would cross once again, and this time for good.   

On Tuesday April 12, 2011 at 9PM, the National Geographic Channel will air the documentary The Conspirator: The Plot to Kill Lincoln.  It is a companion piece to the Robert Redford directed feature film The Conspirator that will be released the following Friday in theaters.  David Tillman is a producer and editor for the documentary and Ethan Greene the composer.

The American Film Company and their producers are focusing their work, like The Conspirator, on historical dramas.  As a company their aim is to be as historically accurate as possible, with a commitment to being factually correct.  As such they sought to work with Tom Jennings Productions (David Tillman's employer) to co-produce the companion documentary, that will also be available as a special feature with the DVD.

David's work had caught the eye of Tom Jennings himself (the writer and director of the documentary) and David served as editor of the piece as well as a producer.  David and another friend working on the film suggested instead of using a typical music library they use a composer.  They knew just the one: Ethan Greene.  Ethan composed a complete score that runs throughout the entire documentary.

The documentary, rather than being different from the feature film, will expand on the film in some areas and fill in the blanks in others.  Clips from the film run throughout the documentary.  Always interested in narrative film and documentaries, working in tandem with The American Film Company was the fulfillment of a dream of sorts for David Tillman.

David Tillman, Film-maker

It was during a 10th grade TV production class at Columbia High School that David was assigned to do 'Man on the Street' interviews along Maplewood Avenue during the 1997 filming of the movie One True Thing (starring Meryl Streep and Renee Zellweger).  David took that assignment, expanded on it and essentially produced his first documentary: Hollywood Invades Maplewood.  He credits Columbia High School with giving him many of his first experiences in television, film and editing.  David laughs that he can say he first learned editing the old fashioned linear/cut-and-paste way but by the end of high school had also learned non-linear editing, which is the kind of editing he did on the documentary.

Besides Columbia High School there were also two other important influences right here in Maplewood that helped shaped David's career: "in a sense this has everything to do with her," David says when speaking of his mom, Maureen Tillman.  "I owe everything to her and my father...they really nurtured my love for film-making."   Maureen and Wayne Tillman have been residents of Maplewood since 1982 where they raised David and Laura.  Wayne, a clinical psychologist and Maureen, a clinical social worker have offices in Maplewood and Morristown, N.J.  Maureen is the founder of College with Confidence.

Ethan Greene, Composer

Ethan says it came as a bit of a shock to his family that he wasn't going to medical school after college.  But that he eventually won over their support with his passion for music.  He never really thought of music as a career, but rather a really cool hobby.  He and his brother Abe were always very musical growing up and his parents were supportive.  While Ethan was always a fan of music and participated in Jazz band and Ensembles in both middle and high school, it was his brother Abe who really fostered the passion for music.  "He was the one who nudged me in the direction of music for most of my life," introducing Ethan to an eclectic mix in taste from chamber to orchestra to electronic and beyond.  Ethan also credits Vernon Miller a bassist and South Orange Middle School Jazz Band lead and Matt Krempasky the former Columbia High School Band Director for inspiring him.

Ethan credits David Tillman and their mutual friend Jason for helping him get what he describes as the biggest project of his career thus far.  Last summer the pair approached Ethan and asked if he could prepare some original music and quickly.  He jumped on it.  When the decision-makers saw the segments with an original score they were hooked.  Ethan says he's learned that one of the keys in this business is to get the film-maker the music at the early stages, then they become attached to it.  Ethan's original score runs throughout the documentary, 'it's wall to wall music' as he describes it.

David currently resides in L.A. and is continuing his work with both the Tom Jennings Production company and on his own, his personal website is www.davidjtillman.com.  Ethan is the son of Rebecca Greene, an attorney with Central Jersey Legal Services and Peter Greene, also an attorney, with Saches, Maitlin, Fleming and Greene; they have resided in South Orange since 1981.  Ethan lives in Austin where he is currently working towards his Doctorate in Music Composition at the University of Texas, anticipated graduation Spring 2013; his personal website is www.ethangreene.org.  Both David and Ethan hope to collaborate on more projects in the future and we at Matters Magazine certainly hope to see that happen as well!

The documentary, The Conspirator:  The Plot to Kill Lincoln premiers at 9PM on Tuesday April 12, 2011 on the National Geographic Channel.  The feature film, The Conspirator opens in limited release on Friday April 15, 2011.