As an indie game scouter, gushing about films I like feels like going on a tangent. But That Thing You Do! (1996)1 by Tom Hanks is a movie that was ahead of its time and it Spoke to me both as a Muse Hunter and as a motion picture of what one ought to do as one.
The film is not explicitly a "how-to" guide — it is telling us a story after all, but it ought to be required watching for any aspiring Muse Hunter because it displays the behavior and skills of the ideal one in the form of the (three) Secondary Vessels portrayed.
Mr. White: A Lesson in Detachment
"The one-hit Wonders. It's a very common tale."
By far, the most compelling character of the film is Mr. White himself. He is highly competent at what he does, both on a technical and interpersonal level. He was the amp to the Wonders' guitar.
When the band encounters technical difficulties in one of their performances, he proactively ensures it doesn't happen again. He schedules concerts and press appearances. He choreographs their attire. He keeps a pulse on the performance of their single on "The Charts". He never lets an ounce of momentum go to waste. While money is never discussed in any meaningful detail, presumably he manages the budget as well.
Above all, he never takes a suboptimal path to achieving fame for the song he signed. Every move, from the sunglasses he gives Guy to bringing on Faye as a "costume girl" to saying Jimmy was engaged on live TV all was done to maximize the emotional investment and number of of the fanbase. To amplify the call of the Siren's song and goad the Beholden from merely captivated into starstruck lunacy. The payoff is shown on-screen in the scene of the teenage girls literally throwing themselves in front of a car in sheer adoration and it is GLORIOUS.
Failure is Expected
One thing you notice when reading between the lines of Mr. White's character is that he expected the band to fail, yet he gave them his best effort anyway.
He expected them to fail, and he gave it his all anyway.
Let me reiterate: he expected them to fail, and he gave it his all anyway. This is in stark contrast to Guy, who due to his lack of experience, thinks their one hit single makes them special, different. Failure shocks him to his core; this wasn't meant to happen. Yet to Mr. White, it is just a day ending in 'Y'.
It is tempting to see the reality of how common failure is and become despondent; after all, why try when the odds of success are slimmer than a slot machine? Here, we see someone who encounters promising music meeting an untimely end many times over. That Thing You Do! was far from the first Song he raised, and it will not be the last. But he persisted. As stated above, his efforts were never adulterated or held back. He did his duty without letting the outcome get in the way.
And this is honestly... refreshing. Creative industries lend themselves to survivorship bias — lying to people that they, too, are surely Vessels and cutting out the ones that realize the hard way that they were deceived by misrepresented statistics. That Thing You Do! rips away this illusion while maintaining that the effort is still worth pursuing. Mr. White is the A&R Man because that is his Charge; and that in and of itself is the reward.
The Other Muse Hunters
Mr. White is not the only Muse Hunter portrayed in the film, and for good reason. He is not perfect; else the band would have ascended into the Cultural Lexicon of humanity.
The two other Muse Hunters — Horace the RV Scout and Lamarr the Doorman — perform roles Mr. White is not in a position to do. And their purpose is just as essential.
Horace: A Lesson in Scale
"See what I mean? Smart."
Phil Horace is a local talent scout who lives out of his RV and signs contracts on napkins. In the film, he is the first manager for the band, and his efforts lead to their song being played on the radio and ultimately picked up by Play-Tone.
The reason he is effective is because Play-Tone operates on a national scale; Horace on a local scale. This difference in scale enables him to spot the band when all they did was win a talent show; and had it not been for his efforts that is where they would have fizzled.
What Horace needs to do in the very beginning is win over the band — a tall order when Primary Vessels usually have a low opinion of Secondaries. And the film does an excellent job showing what exactly that entails.
Placing Personal Stakes
His first contract with the band has a built-in time bomb. He even says what it is:
"If I can't get your Song on the radio we rip this up."
This doesn't convey any amount of confidence in his ability, despite how it appears. It serves to turn the contract into a "bet", increasing the band's motivation to sign it by giving himself a lose condition.
Only Serving Up Guy
Like Mr. White, Horace immediately picks up on Jimmy's ego and insistence on creative control and Guy was the better team player. Rather than challenging Jimmy directly, when it is time to introduce the band to Mr. White, he only brings Guy to the restaurant! By only presenting Guy to Mr. White, he makes the first impression of the band as a group easy to work with, and that is instrumental in securing the deal.
Also Food
Yup; even when you don't have a bajillion dollars at your disposal it's always prudent to prioritize forming connections over serving a meal.
Ultimately White isn't more competent or skilled than Horace, and they both know this. That's why when Mr. White comes along with more resources at his disposal for the band, he passes them onto him without a hint of selfishness. The Song was never "his" to leverage for his own personal benefit, and his duty was to secure the most resources for the Inspired music he encounters, even if that isn't with him.
Let this be a lesson for all small-time scouters and agents; from novices who are just starting out to specialists who occupy a niche so small as to be insignificant. Your efforts matter; for your small search radius enables you to find Muses at the microscopic scale. You are numerous; every city, every subgenre, every tiny sliver of the infinite beach has one guy with a metal detector just like you. And in aggregate, you are the front line in the eternal search for Divine Inspiration.
Lamarr: A Lesson in Connection
"Oh, you want good jazz? GOOD jazz? Lemme ask you a question: Who played cornet for Jacques St. Claire on Vital Stats?"
Lamarr is the doorman of the hotel in California where the band stays while on tour. As a doorman, his job comes with a number of unwritten social functions2 that he uses in the movie to Muse-hunt to great effect. Unlike Mr. White and Horace, his Muse-Hunting skills are not to help a particular Song achieve fame, but to identify and cultivate connections in a promising Vessel.
Guy approaches Lamarr for recommendations on places with "good jazz". The discerning Doorman in that moment senses his lack of direction, and coupled with the fact that he knows he came on a Play-Tone tour, correctly intuits he is in need of a mentor who can bring out his unwritten potential rather than the existing potential of his hit single. He quizzes Guy on obscure jazz trivia to "keep the noobs out", and when he passes his test, hails a cab to the very restaurant his idol, Del Paxton, is staying. Presumably, he had a similar read during a personal encounter with Del.
He uses his social acumen to connect two creators together, after dutifully screening to measure their qualifications. Much like how the incident of the original drummer breaking his arm ensured Guy would join the band, he becomes the incident that allows Guy to encounter his mentor. Lamarr's duty is to be the "incident" — the accident of fate that allows a Muse's spark to find kindling — for Guy and all the other Hollywood types who enter the lobby of the hotel. He likely will never receive compensation nor credit for nudging this connection into existence; but the enthusiasm with which he commands the cab driver to take Guy to the restaurant demonstrates that the act of "nudging" is its own reward.
Let this be a lesson to all the flies on the wall who rest in the places where Vessels gather: You, through your observation of the people who cross your path, shall perturb Destiny ever so slightly to ensure the right people cross paths and form an ideal confluence of Vessels to serve up. You are seen as beneath notice; yet it is through such ignorance that your benevolent surveillance can continue unabated. You gather Muses not with the honeypot of material resources, but by beating your butterfly wings to change the storm-winds in their favor. In aggregate, you are the agents of fate itself; the mechanism by which the Divine can manipulate Destiny.
How I Resonate
When I saw this film, I had the informal position as Pineapple Works' scouter, but I was struggling to secure any signings or "connect" the different parts of backstaging together — scouting, bizdev, technical polish, marketing, and more. Yet this thing showed me the big picture on how this duty is done; and it's something I seek to emulate to this day even if I'm not perfect. It's why I adopted the surname "White" in my nom-de-web.
While I see myself a lot in Mr. White, in writing this post, I realized I was way closer to Phil Horace at present. I do not have much of a reputation at the moment. So I cannot act like I have a bunch of money at my disposal, or that my attention is desirable, regardless of whether it is for a tiny indie publisher or not. So I understand my strongest area is connecting Vessels to someone bigger rather than take on the task of marketing myself. Well, I still must, but it is just as important to cultivate my personal directory of connections and my own way of wooing. This whole film is Speaking to me to focus on my smaller scale than eyeing The Cultural Lexicon™️ I gotta focus on smaller sub-lexicons or the jump will be too great. It's surely a lesson I've learned the hard way.
Plus he knows to deal with that stuck-up Vessel that clings to the illusion of "creative control" and how to "play along" with them. He uses misdirection to exclude Jimmy from the Secondary Vessel side of production, allowing him to promote without the spanner.
Admirable Qualities
If you're looking for a #TLDR on the lessons this movie imparts to an aspiring Muse Hunter, read this section. The ideal Muse Hunter embodies the following qualities:
Proactively sands down the "rough edges" of the talent they scout
Knows the odds of failure, but gives the talent their best effort in spite of it
Retains emotional distance, but not so much that they are no longer Beholden themselves
Always makes optimal decisions to advance the Charge, never themselves
Cultivates the personal image of the talent to increase the appeal of the Work, even when that image is at odds with their true self
Recognizes when they lack the resources to match the talent's potential and actively moves them to "bigger ponds"
Accepts credit only when doing so would not hinder the Muse's reach; else they remain content in obscurity
Keeps talents blinded by ego in line with the true goals; and refusing to let them get sidetracked by their personal ideas