DUNCAN — By Toni Hopper and Karen Kaley

Talent runs in the Gossett family, or maybe it’s just hard work and determination.

But for Jeremy Gossett, it could be a combination of all the factors. Gossett has been producing films since he was a fifth-grader at Plato Elementary. And he spent quite a bit of time in the production room at Duncan High School. Some might laugh at that bit of history. But, it is what has led him to a promising career.

Now, finishing up his studies at the University of Oklahoma, Gossett has realized that every choice he’s made has helped strengthen him as a producer.

For the past three years, he’s produced the OU’s Marching Band chronological film, or video yearbook. One of his films, “Legacies & Friends: Pride of Oklahoma,” a look at the 2005 OU Marching Band, has received some recognition in the independent film world. It was nominated in the student achievement category for a regional Emmy with the National TV Academy’s Heartland Chapter in Denver, Colo.

“That was quite an honor,” Gossett said during an interview following the film’s showing at the Trail Dance Film Festival Friday afternoon at the Simmons Center.

The film has also earned a nomination for Best Documentary in this weekend’s first film festival produced by the Southwest Association of Film.

Surprisingly, even though the film is about the OU Marching Band, there are many Duncan connections. That makes having the film in this festival that much more meaningful, not only for Gossett, but for his family and friends.

A trailer shown immediately after his film ties in the connections. “Serendipity,” still under production, is a film by Jennifer J. Parker and Lynn Timmons, both well-known photographers. Parker lent her talent to the Gossett film as still photographer.

Gossett said he had worked with Parker on many occasions when he was still a student at DHS. In turn, for Parker and Timmon’s film, Gossett gave her some tips for interviewing subjects. While Gossett’s film is a visual treat, Parker’s film is based on the interviews of people’s experiences in following what many might call coincidences.

There’s other connections in Gossett’s film, like the fact that Dr. Martha Burger, a former Duncan elementary school principal, offers a small interview. She’s one of the band alumni. And the vocal rendition over the ending credits keeps viewers in their seats. It’s the voice of familiar artist Laura Gossett, Jeremy’s sister, who may get her moment in the spotlight, yet again, this week on American Idol.

“It’s funny how our paths are merging,” he said about his sister’s choice of interest and his own. He admitted he loves being behind the scenes to help film his sister before she steps on stage at various performances.

“My goal as a storyteller is to create an experience with the music and the visuals for those viewing the film,” he said. That’s true of any film he creates, he noted.

He feels this film on the band does just that. While at 58 minutes the film may seem long to the average viewer, they weren’t the target audience for it. It was originally produced for the 2005 marching band and those associated with the band’s history. Gossett explains that as he started working on the film, he found there was a wider audience then originally believed. That’s how people like Burger ended up in the film.

“It’s amazing how tight-knit a community it is (the band members). I wanted to show that in imagery and sound and have it felt by viewers,” Gossett said.

In retrospect, if Gossett would change anything about this film, it would have been the massive hours spent in the editing room.

“It was six months editing process, over a year. I spent 18 hours a day. It was like running a marathon,” he said. “That requires a lot of discipline.”

The filming began with pre-production/planning in August 2005 and wrapped up in June 2006. Now it’s on the independent film festival circuit.

Gossett is already at work on other projects. His goal is to work in the film and motion picture industry.

“I really like documentary and the arts. I like the narrative style.”

Presently, he’s an affiliate field representative for Oklahoma Paramount company, based in Dallas. He is also working with a producer out of Roanoke, Va., on a film for this year’s OU band.

And he is enjoying filming the behind-the-scenes action of his sister.



Can you keep a secret? Laura Gossett can.

She’ll tell you she went to San Antonio in August. She’ll tell you she went there twice. She won’t tell you what happened after that.

The Duncan native will tell you why she went the first time: Fellow members of the University Choir at the University of Oklahoma talked her into going with them to join the throng of some 19,000 hoping to audition for “American Idol” at the Alamodome.

Gossett had never watched the program now beginning its sixth season.

“It was all very overwhelming,” Gossett told the Oklahoma Daily, the newspaper serving OU students. “We had driven that far and we had so much fun. We’d ask each other, ‘Do you think it could happen?’

“Anything can happen with these kinds of auditions. You don’t know what they want.”

She can talk about going back two weeks later at the invitation of the show, an invitation extended to only about 100 of the original 19,000.

She gets a little excited when she gets to this part of the story, but catches herself and says, “I can’t say what happened after that, but it was a great experience.”

That second trip was because she and four other OU students had advanced to what is known as the television round in the audition process of the popular show.

This audition was special, though. This time, it was in front of the celebrity judges: Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.

Better yet, there were camera crews everywhere and one of them was following Gossett and her classmates around, having dubbed them the Oklahoma Five.

The show’s producers had discovered the story of the five classmates banding together for the trip and were intrigued.

The cameras followed the group throughout the day, riding with them in the car and filming their reactions as each came out of the audition room.

“We would go crazy,” Gossett said.

What will unfold on the show is cloaked in secrecy. So, Gossett said maybe she’ll be seen when the San Antonio audition episode airs Wednesday on Fox.

But she feels like the chances are good.

“There’s no guarantee they’ll show all of our auditions on television,” she said in her comments to the Daily, “But they interviewed us so much that there’s a good possibility. It’ll be fun to see what they actually play.”

While not familiar with “American Idol,” Gossett is no stranger to the process of going through auditions to showcase her talent. She was part of an OU talent competition called Sooner Idol and won honors in a contest called Inspiration Sensation earlier in the summer. As a result, she performed along with other contemporary Christian music artists in Praise Fest 2006 in July at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City.

She earned her degree in vocal music education in December and continues to live in Norman where she is teaching voice lessons for Charlie Rayl and Dana Stevens Music Lessons.

She does have recording plans for the coming year, but again, gets a little vague about it because of the agreement she has with the show.

She’s been singing publicly since she was 11 and first did so in church. She has performed at many events in the Duncan area, as well as around the state.

The daughter of Bill and Sherry Gossett of Duncan, she graduated from Duncan High School in 2002.

She has two brothers who also exhibit some talent. Jeremy attends OU and he was the director of “Legacies & Friends: Pride of Oklahoma,” a film that was selected to compete in the Trail Dance Film Festival. He’ll find out tonight if he won a Golden Drover.

Kyle, a senior at Duncan High School, also sings and usually steals the scene in performances for Duncan Little Theatre and DHS plays.

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Editor’s note: There is some confusion about when the San Antonio audition will air. Some publications have it listed at 7 p.m. and others at 8. The American Idol Web site further complicates it by saying the Los Angeles auditions air Wednesday. A spokesperson for the affiliate in Wichita Falls says Fox sometimes makes last minute changes in which show will run or the length of an episode.