Destination Zero, the Fast Short Life of Ronald Koal (2017)

This is a story about having a dream and the cost of never letting go of that dream. It's the story of how hard it used to be to get your music heard but if you could pull it off there was a chance for a reward as opposed to today when getting your music out there is easy but getting a reward for it is next to impossible. The film explores the last days of vinyl until the birth of the "indie artist". Born Ronald K Gooslin Jr., Ronald was a Columbus, Ohio-based musician who fronted a number of bands from 1979 until his death in 1993. As Ronald Koal and the Trillionaires and The Ronald Koal Band, he opened for/shared bills or toured with Modern English, The Stray Cats, The Blasters, Berlin, Wall of Voodoo, The Thompson Twins, Duran, Duran, The Bush Tetras, Billy Idol, Joan Jet, U2, Nick Lowe, The Psychedelic Furs and many, many others. He was never signed to a record contract and never had national attention. While the film explores Ronald's life it is also about the countless other bands that formed and played and went away. The documentary explores the dream of getting signed to a record contract and the realities of what that means for most with interviews with bands that got signed and dumped and signed again and veteran record industry executives. Even if you never heard of Ronald, if you ever had a dream and some talent you share something with Ronald Koal.