Book Vs Movie - California Schemin'

In this episode of Is the Book Better Though?, we’re talking California Schemin’   the unbelievable true story of Scottish rappers Silibil N’ Brains, aka Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd, who fooled the music industry by pretending to be an established American hip-hop duo from California.

First, we get into the California Schemin’ book: the blagging, the fake American accents, the music, the near misses and the increasingly complicated task of keeping the lie alive. The book can be repetitive, but is that actually part of its charm? There’s something about that repetition that captures the reality of being a performing artist – gig, travel, promote, perform, repeat – except Gavin and Billy also had to keep performing their fake identities when they stepped off stage.

Then there’s the audiobook, narrated by Gavin Bain himself, where you can still catch a little lilt from the American accent he spent so long perfecting.

After the book, we move on to the California Schemin’ film adaptation. What does the movie get right, what gets lost in adapting such a bizarre true story, and why do Brains and Silibil feel different from the people we meet in the book? We also ask whether this story really belonged in a two-hour movie at all – or whether an eight-part TV series could have better captured their organic rise, increasingly ridiculous schemes and constant fear of finally being found out.

And, naturally, I have some thoughts about creative partnerships, being the person who writes, produces and edits everything, and what happens when the workload isn't quite as evenly distributed as everyone thinks...

So: California Schemin’ book vs movie – is the book actually better though?

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to the podcast season three of Book versus Movie. Is the book better though? And today we are talking about California scheming. But before we get into that, please like and subscribe on whatever platform you're listening on and leave comments. I will apologize now for all the comments that have been left on the Spotify ones. I wasn't getting any notification that those comments were coming in. So I haven't ignored you and I apologize for the fact that you didn't get a response because as you've seen with my Instagram and TikTok, I like to be pretty responsive in the comments as much as I can be to make sure that everyone knows that I'm enjoying these interactions and that you guys know that I am just a little creator that's enjoying that people actually want to leave a comment on my video or podcast or whatever. So I am so sorry that you didn't get any front responses for those. And if you're not following me on Instagram and TikTok at Better Dads Project, please do. I'm trying to make it a little bit of a podcast network. So this will be this season three will be the Better Dads Project Network. Is the book better? Book versus movie. Really catchy. I'll work on it. But today, yes, we are talking about California scheming. So let's get into it. For those who don't know, back in the day, two boys from Scotland decided that they weren't going to make it with their Scottish prugue and put on American accents and lived as Americans and conned the music industry into believing that they were rappers. These two two white boys from Scotland. It's crazy. The whole story is crazy. I remember my friend telling me about it back in the day and thinking that's ridiculous. How do they even manage that? And having now listened to the book and watched the film, I have more of an idea as much as I can based on the narrator, which is one of the rappers. Brains McLeod. But we'll get into We'll get into the film after this. We'll start with the book. So the book is ridiculous. The story is ridiculous, but that is the strength of it. The whole premise is outrageous. How? How do they get away with it? How do they skip past some of the first times where they absolutely fail with their American accents, where people caught them out? How were they not immediately, immediately called out? It's crazy. So seeing that and seeing what Brains goes through in regards to being nervous a lot of the time, panicking, but somehow they manage to skate through is impressive. And obviously it's it's difficult because it's it's his narration, so we don't know how much of it is as seamless as they said, because a lot of times a bad situation will happen where they've got to talk their way out of it and they just will, and they'll talk their way out of it, and everyone's like, Oh, these guys are great, and then everyone moves on and no one suspects anything. But surely, surely people would have been suspecting all the way. But I guess the done thing, if someone talks to you in a certain accent from the start, no one's going, that's not your accent, unless it's really bad. So it's a tricky one. Like, who would call out who has the balls to call out someone for their accent not sounding right? Unless you catch them in a lie. That's about the only time you could do it. So for the most part, because their lies are pretty solid, although getting wilder and wilder, they do pretty well. But it's just crazy that they convince so many people. Because in the audiobook, he speaks in his American accent sometimes, and I don't know if it's because I'm listening knowing that he's not American, but it doesn't sound that great. Maybe because they were living it back in the day, it's I don't know, it's it's difficult to explain. It's I can see why everyone believes them, but I don't know how they managed to convince so many people. But they just must have had this charisma coming out of them that people just buy into it. And I guess with record companies, if like with the whole Millie Vanilli thing, if something's potentially going to make you money, I think you just buy into the lie. Even if you suspect something, you're like, Yeah, but they are good though, and their numbers are looking good, their response on tours looking good. Fuck it, let's just let's just go along with it. Who cares? Uh so and then in the book I did find there was a lot of repetition. And part of me was like, this is quite annoying. I get it. You guys are travelling the country, you're shagging, you're traveling, you're doing a gig, you're shagging, you're traveling, you're doing a gig. And I was kind of just like, okay, alright, yeah, okay, another another time where they're shagging, they're travelling, they're doing a gig. But I guess, although it affects the pacing and some anecdotes could have probably been condensed, you can see how it may be intentional to let us know how repetitive being a music artist is, how repetitive it is being a touring artist, how when they got off the university tour and they were dead on their feet, their own doing, of course, they refused to go on stage without having five or six beers and whatever else they were putting into themselves. That's they got back that morning and that same afternoon they were out to do another gig. You can see how no matter what your job is, no matter how much you're getting paid, you can see how that would piss you off. Can you imagine getting in from your job that you've been you've been out of your house for months at a time, you come back and they call you and be like, Alright, let's go. And I guess you have to go. Well, I'm just lucky to be giving the opportunity, but I still think no matter what, it would still wear thin. So it's gig after gig after gig, and I guess it's even more exhausting for them because not only are they being syllable and brains, which I'm not gonna lie, maybe if they'd made it, I'd see that as a more sensible name. But I I can't stand, I can't stand the name. But um, because they have to perform on stage, they also have to perform off stage, it must be exhausting. And when we hear from all these actors about being method and how exhausting that is, imagine doing it for over a year. When at any moment it could all it could all fall down. You you can understand how they were absolutely drained. But I also have to talk about Gavin Bain himself, old Brains McLeod, which also, sorry, just to cut back, calling yourself when you are potentially pretending to be American when you're pretending to be American and not Scottish, why would you call yourself Brains McLeod? You've given yourself a Scottish name, and I guess when you do it in an American accent, you might accidentally slip that McLeod into Scottish, and people are like, hang on. You could have gone with any surname from anywhere else, but you went with McLeod. But anyway, I want to talk about Gavin because he narrates this, he narrates this audiobook himself, and I think that brings a lot to it. And the cutest thing about it, really, and I guess the strangest thing, and the thing that I berated Austin Butler for for his Elvis thing, and how he like he kind of has that Elvis Lil still in his voice, Gavin's still got the American Lil. He'll say certain words, not when he's doing an impression of himself back then, where the American will still come through. And I find it kind of endearing, to be honest, that he was that engrossed in this character that some of it still hasn't left him. And you get that when you listen to the audiobook. Obviously, you wouldn't have got that if you read the book. Obviously, I don't know why I even made that as a point, but you just understand how engrossed in this character he had to be to make it convincing that he still can't shake it. That's kind it's sweet, but it's kind of scary. He he still has a part of himself, he lost the entirety of himself, and now he's found himself again, he still can't lose that person that he became. Crazy crazy. So before we get into the film, I think what the what the film doesn't get right is what the book picks up on. Is that the brains in the film is is consumed by the music, um he and his you know that's what he wants to music, music, music. And he is exactly like that in the book, but I understand it more in the book. In the film, he's he's obsessed with the music, but so's the other guy kind of is not as much, but they're still both kind of on the same wavelength. But I understand more why Brains is so pissed off in the book, because he is writing, he's producing, he's always thinking about the music, he's making beats, he's remixing, he's doing all the work, and Syllable, although he oozes charisma, isn't as asked about it. And in the film, the character of Syllable isn't that bothered because he's missing back home and all that lot, but in the book, Syllable's not bothered because he's just shagging his way across. He was shagging his way across Scotland and now is shagging his way across the university campuses of England. Shout out Darby Otta mention as well, a big mention. He um they had a great time there. But I can fully understand why that annoys you because on a personal note, I once had a podcast with someone where I did the producing, I did the script writing, I did the editing, I edited the videos, I put it all together, I packaged it off, and um let's just say we don't have that podcast anymore because there wasn't much else for the other person to do, and it still wasn't done. But we'll move on. Um the book really emphasizes how much work goes into this stupid idea, and that might be the strongest quality of the memoir. When you summarize the story, it sounds like a comedy. You say it to anyone, they'll be like, What that's ridiculous, that didn't happen. And it could have played like a comedy, but reading it makes you appreciate the logistics, how they had to remember their stories, the maintaining the access, the performing, the writing, the music, the traveling, the meeting people, the remembering people, the making sure the version of yourself you've told one person matches the version someone else knows. It's labour, it's a huge amount of labour, and of course, we can't discredit the amount of talent you still have to have to do what they were doing, American accent or Scottish accent. I if I put on an American accent tomorrow and started to make it in rap, I don't think it's gonna happen. You know? It's not just the accent that was doing it for them, the talent was there, it just wasn't recognised when it was in their Scottish probes. They were told they sounded like the rapping proclaimers, which they they don't. You know, I've listened to them now and I understand that they are talented, and that must be what annoys them so much. But they try and try and try again, and they just go, let's just con them. But unfortunately, they stuck too far on one side of the con. And this is where the fear becomes the tension of the book. You we know they're lying, they know they're lying, and every interaction is potential danger. You know, the funniest outcome that someone you know discovers that they're Scottish is the thing they're terrified of. So the gotcha moment that would play as a comedy is anxiety-inducing for them because their whole aim, if you haven't read the book or um watched the film, their whole aim is to be like, right, they wouldn't take us as Scottish. What about if we put on some stupid American accent, got a record deal, got a number one record, made it with the charts, and then we came out and we were like, we've been Scottish the whole time, the industry is full of shit. We win, we go back home, heroes. However, that anxiety of waiting for that moment because of pushback after pushback and how slow moving the record industry can be, that dream feels even further away from them making it into a number one. Because let's say they did get a number one, what then happens? Are they gonna really cut that success short if no one's caught on yet? Could they get to the point where they're doing so well they're untouchable when the truth comes out? But then again, you gotta look at Millie Vanilli again. And if you haven't heard about Millie Vanilli, which whenever I reference Millie Vanilli to my friends, they go, Who? I go, listen to a podcast, guys. Listen to Alan um Alan Cross. The uh he has a couple of podcasts, the ongoing history of new music and uh crime and mayhem in the music industry. He's fantastic, he could talk about absolutely anything, and because he has this charm and charisma and genuine enjoyment of the topic at hand, he I could listen to if he suddenly got into talking about paint drying, I'd listen to it. That's how good he is. So, Alan Alan Cross, give him a go. He's from Canada and he's fantastic. But he does an episode on Millie Vanilli, which I guess is what I had in the back of my mind when I was watching these guys. Slightly different reasoning for how it all came together, but it's the same thing. And these guys would have known about Millie Vanilli, they would have known about how much those two were burnt on the cross for something that was kind of out of their control. So, how bad would it have gone for them with this thing being in their control, they would have been crucified, and that's always going to be at the back of their mind. So the negatives of the book, I would say, although I said the repetitions were kind of an artistic choice to show us the rep the how repetitive oh, someone's honky, how repetitive life on the road is. You know, we can we could have done with a few less examples. Um the pacing, some stretches of the book get a load more attention than other aspects, which I was like, oh cool, we're talking about that now. And then they move on. I'm like, oh, okay, never mind. Um you're only receiving the story retrospectively through um Bane, so you're gonna get the constructive version of events, which is where some of it doesn't sound real. And although the whole premise doesn't sound real, there's some stories where you're like, no way could that have happened. And hey, if it did, credit to them, you've you know I'd rather be someone for a day than no one for a lifetime, you know. And then the entertaining stories don't always combine to a perfectly shaped narrative, so there's some stories where you think are gonna go somewhere and they kind of just like peter away. But the messy quality suits the subject because the whole time must have been messy, the whole time was messy, they were off their face. So the fact that he's able to construct a narrative is impressive. So let's talk about the film. The positive is the premise is a film idea, it's high concept. What about two boys from Scotland try to take over the rap industry? What about that? It's eight mile meets Milly Vanilli. How about that? Let's go. So on paper, this should be brilliant cinema. You immediately have comedy, music, friendship, deception, and the constant possibility and fear of being discovered. And visually, you can see them transform, you can see early 2000s Scotland, you can see early 2000s music industry, the fashion, everything's there, post-Y2K, crazy fashion. I'm talking silver puffer jackets, uh Oakley sunglasses with yellow lenses. That's what I'm after. So you've got all of these things of the absurdity becoming visual, and that is where the positives are. So luckily, we don't get a it's not overcrammed, it's it's very linear. You're not getting any moment where you're like, wait, what's happening? It's very much two boys from Scotland, they do the rap, they fail, they become American, they become successful, they get found out, the end. There is a B plot, which is uh the romance that Silly has, syllable. We call him silly though, he has with his uh girlfriend back home, who is the constant threat of them being discovered because she comes in with a Scottish accent, and at no point did they think, well, maybe we could just say that we met her while touring Scotland and this is my girlfriend. That could have come up, but it's only really because that character doesn't really exist in the book. You realise it's Brains that was with someone for the entire time until right near the end, um, and it's only when Syllable moves back to Scotland that he gets back with his original girlfriend, who I think that character is based on. So it's been a bit of artistic license from our boy McAvoy there. So the problem I do find with that though is the story that Bain talks about had a had a great character arc. I would have enjoyed this being a series. I would have enjoyed seeing him in South Africa coming across to Scotland, the whole bullying, having to overcome bullying for being different, being from Scotland, but then being like, the fuck you are, and then kicking the shit out of him. I wanted I wanted to see more about the knife crime, how violent growing up in Scotland was, how what they had to do to get away from it, how the fact that he had to tell his dad that he wanted to go to art college and it was like the biggest deal ever. All that stuff I think could have been a series, and that way it would have allowed a lot more room for for some of the repetitive moments, for some of the meandering moments, and for it to become more organic about how they eventually decide to come up with this concept and how it all falls apart. Because in the film, I do feel like it's a click of the fingers and they go, fuck it, right, you guys fight now. But in the book, you realize these guys fought all the time, and they were so structured in their fighting and so consistent in their fighting, they would tell each other, right? If we ever do need to fight, you know, ever we do need to throw hands, never the face, they're the moneymakers. Which is crazy. Can you imagine fighting your friends so often that you have these rules in place initially because it's inevitably gonna happen? I'm not gonna lie, I've never fought my friends. I've never punched my friends in in the in the stomach or face. I went to a uh I went to what's it a mixed martial arts class once with my friend, and uh it was so hot and sweaty in there that he couldn't grapple me. I was like the greased up deaf guy from Family Guy. I felt bad for him, he had no chance of getting me. I was slippy. Anyway, that was too much. Um So the a series idea would give you more of the blagging, it would give it would let you meet they did the D12 bit, which is huge, where when they've been when they're on the come-up, they keep talking about D12 and how they came up with D12 and MM, because MM was massive at the time, obviously, still somewhat is, but um they came up with them. So eventually, when they get told, oh yeah, by the way, you're supporting D12, they have to blag their way into convincing D12 that they know them. That's cool, and then meeting MM backstage, that's very cool. It would have left more room for that and more room for that build-up to that moment, and how they bullshit their way through these increasingly ridiculous situations, not simply being told that they're successfully full people, but having the uncomfortable conversations, having the near misses, someone asking a question about California they don't know, someone asking um having to remember, so having to remember what they previously invented, all this stuff is what I think a series would have made room for. And the film doesn't give it enough space. And I feel like someone, you know, someone of McAvoy's clout could have probably got a film on uh a series on Netflix made. I mean Haaland Coben's got 72 series on Netflix. We haven't got one of the California scheme in. No? I think it's on, I think it's on there. So there isn't enough space for the fear, the anxiety, how strung out these guys got doing this performance. Because let's face it, whenever we talk about how much effort um DiCaprio put into the revenant, how much effort Jared Leto put into the Joker, and we put it with this thing of like the tortured artists and all that lot. I think this is these are the most tortured artists. That kind of might be a bit dramatic, but you know what I mean? They had to keep it going, they had to do the thing. And can you imagine you go to your friend one day and go, listen, let's if we if we pretend to be American, we could be successful, and then you start talking to your friend you've known for years in an American accent, you wake up in the morning groggy with a hangover, and you still put on your American accent. At no point do EV you go, this is fucking stupid. What are we doing? We can at least fake, we can at least talk normal to each other and then fake it when we go outside. But no, they were like, no, we have to commit to this bit. That's it. So that is what I would say. I would have liked longer with them. I think it would have been more organic. You would have seen it come down. I mean, they did it with the um not the Motley Crue, who was it? Yeah, Motley Crue. Yeah, the dirt, right? They did that. Was that Motley Crue? Some band, some band uh did it. Um And they had they had a series called The Dirt and the Sex Pistols have had a series. I think these guys could have had a series. Obviously, these guys haven't got the clout. You know, you look at their Instagram following, which is basically what Netflix looks like these days. And, you know, um Gavin, Gavin Bain has only got like 1500 followers. You know, James McAvoy doesn't have a huge social media presence either. So I guess that's kind of where they were like, let's just do it as a film. And I think it was pretty well receptive. I think so. But I think at the same time it was just a linear film that didn't really leave much for it was just like every other music biopic, you know? But a series would have been better because when you watch Walk the Line, you know about Johnny Cash already. When you watch uh why have I forgotten every single musician that has a biopic? When you watch Elvis, you already know about Elvis for the most part. So you don't really need all the intro. But in a film, they still make it three hours long, so you got to see Elvis on his come-up. But these guys, you know nothing about them. You know that they're two Scottish guys who tried to con the music industry, fine, but you don't know nothing you don't know anything about how they came up, how brains came to be the way he was, how talented he was at everything he turned his hand to, but it never quite worked out. How charismatic was Syllable, Billy Bane Billy, yeah, Billy Billy, forgot his name now. Billy Billy Billy. Uh how you know how uh charismatic was Billy, how talented was Um Gavin, you know, all of that we don't get it in it at the end. You just kind of have this flat bit where he's trying to make it now with his Scottish brogue, and it's all a bit sad, and I didn't I don't think it should be that way because when I look at his social media, he's still creating, he hasn't had the hit he wants, but he's still working to get it the right way this time, and I think it could have ended on more of a positive note, you know. But hey, that's that's just the that's the option uh what they went with. So I think a series would have been better, for sure. So that is ultimately why the book wins. Um, the film is faster, it's funnier in places because you can see the ridiculousness, the music is immediate, you get to hear the music live and not really have Gavin doing a cappella in his um narration booth. And the premise the premise lends itself brilliantly to uh the performance, and I'd say the performances are solid. Um, yeah, I I I thought they were I thought they were great. I think James McAvoy was a great bastard uh music exec. I think the two boys were brilliant. Um I just think I would have liked to see them over eight episodes. I do, and I'll keep saying that. I'm being repetitive now, but that's just my life, you know. Traveling, touring, shagging, you know, repetitive. That's what I'm doing. It's it's a callback. So the book gives you something the film struggles to reproduce, and that's the time. Time for the lie to grow, time for them to come up with the line in the first place, time for the repetition, time for them to become comfortable with their fake identities, uh, time to for success to become frightening, but then also success to become tiring. All these things, and I get it, if you watch it, you'd probably be like, listen, guys, you're so lucky to get this far, and it would probably maybe become tedious. But I feel like if this was a series, I would be saying the series was better. Even if with James McAvoy at the helm doing what he was aiming to do, but giving him more room to work, I think the series would have been better. But as a film, the film is good, it's enjoyable, it's a fun watch, but there's something more cerebral to this film that was that to the book that wasn't in the film, uh, something that wasn't quite captured. And it's a shame, but however, I wouldn't I wouldn't discredit the movie by saying don't go watch it, it's nowhere near as good as a book. I'd say the book is enjoyable and an easy, easy listen for sure, and the film is a is an easy watch. So both are decent, but I will say the book is better if you really want to get in the weeds with it, if you really want to get in Gavin's head. So, yeah, that is it for today. The book was better. Uh so thank you for listening. Um, if you haven't seen this film, I would watch it. If you haven't read the book, I would read it. Go follow Gavin Bain on Instagram. Uh he's only got 1,500 followers, and I would like him to have more because he's clearly talented, and we need to showcase that, and it hasn't really ramped up from the release of this film. Also, go follow the actors. They've got like next to no following, and and I thought the guy who played uh Brains was fantastic. So go do that, and then go follow me on um Instagram or TikTok, unless you came from there, which I guess thank you for coming over here from there. Although the TikTok algorithm algorithm hates it when you release a video that tells someone to leave the app. Thank you for doing so. So, once again, I am BetterDads Project on Instagram and TikTok, and this was the first episode of season three of Book Vsus Movie. Is the book better though? This time, yes. See you next time.