Screenwriting
Inspired by a 1979 news story about Elmore City, Oklahoma, a town which had finally lifted an 80-year-old ban on dancing, Pitchford wrote the screenplay for the motion picture Footloose (1984). He collaborated on the nine-song score with songwriters Eric Carmen, Michael Gore, Sammy Hagar, Kenny Loggins, Tom Snow and Bill Wolfer. The movie, directed by Herbert Ross and featuring a cast that included Kevin Bacon, John Lithgow and Sarah Jessica Parker, opened at #1 and became (at the time) the highest-grossing February release in film history.
When the soundtrack album hit #1 on the Billboard album charts, it deposed Michael Jackson’s Thriller and held that position for 10 weeks. It went on top charts all over the world, eventually selling more than 17 million albums. Kenny Loggins' single of the title song hit #1 on March 31, 1984, and stayed there for three weeks. Five weeks later (May 26, 1984) Deniece Williams’ "Let’s Hear It for the Boy" went to #1, as well. Four more songs from the soundtrack charted in the Top 40 -- "Almost Paradise" (#7 - co-written w/Eric Carmen); "Dancing in the Sheets" (#17 - co-written w/Bill Wolfer); "I’m Free (Heaven Helps the Man)" (#22 - co-written w/Kenny Loggins); and "Holding Out for a Hero" (#34 - co-written w/Jim Steinman). "Footloose" was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Song; and "Footloose" and "Let's Hear It for the Boy" (co-written with Tom Snow) both received Academy Awards nominations (1985). Pitchford also received two Grammy nominations: Best Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, and Best R&B Song "Dancing in the Sheets".
Paramount Pictures' remake of Footloose - again based on Pitchford's original screenplay and featuring six of his songs - was released in October 2011. Blake Shelton had a hit with his re-recording of the title song.
Pitchford also wrote the screenplay, as well as collaborated on all songs, for the 1989 musical film Sing.
Read more about this topic: Dean Pitchford