Tim Boyle, Senior Mixer

TRANSCRIPT:

My name’s Tim Boyle. I’m the Senior Mixer, which means I mix the properties for Church of Scientology. It’s… we have a lot of movies and a lot of PSAs and things and I’m responsible for the final mixes. And I’ve been here for twelve years, almost twelve years and I’m just basically responsible for final product before it goes out.

Well, you know, with Ron it was kind of funny. When I first got here, first of all, I was amazed at the attitude, the intelligence, the overall friendliness and well-being of the staff here. It was a delight. I came here teaching, teaching classes on specific technical gear because of my history in Hollywood, and Golden Era Productions makes many movies. And I was amazed at the, at the staff. They were alert, attentive, respectful, intelligent and it was a delight being around them.

Now, there was a couple of moments in my dealings with Ron where Ron would have a tendency to bite people’s heads off and in a very abrupt fashion—almost capriciously. He would… I don’t know, I felt that he was kind of nasty to folks that I respected. And there was a couple of moments where I said, “Look, don’t do that around me. I am not going to put up with it and I don’t want to hear it.” And at which point he pretty much took a back seat to that and he, you know, he changed his attitude with me and kind of knew what he could do and what he couldn’t do. But that was, that was it from Ron. So…

Ironically I didn’t really know who he was. I didn’t know what his relationship was to the leader of the Church. In fact at one point I said, “Do they spell their name the same?” Not knowing that he was, who he was, that he was COB’s dad.

And it was sort of, kind of a shock to me to find out that Ron was COB’s father. So that was my relationship with Ron.

Hollywood is driven by ego and aggressive, aggressive behavior. People are constantly trying to get ahead. It really doesn’t behoove them to make anyone else look good, you know. And it’s difficult. There are times in Hollywood—now I don’t want to really bag on Hollywood too much because I made terrific living and I loved it, I really did love it—but being here at Golden Era it’s a different story altogether. We have competence, number one. We have people that are completely interested—not in getting ahead, but producing valuable products. And they want to learn. They’re humorous, they’re funny, they’re friendly, they’re warm. They’re just generally smart. And they take care of all the… I know this just sounds odd, but taking care of gear is something that doesn’t really happen in Hollywood like it does here. Here you walk into the room, it’s always perfectly clean, everything is working, and if it isn’t working, it’s taken care of immediately.

There is something that happens here that if you see something wrong, not only is it… I mean, maybe outside of Golden Era Productions you might go “Well, somebody will catch that.” But here it’s your responsibility. It’s your ethic. It’s what you are as a human being to be able to make things right. And it’s stressed here. People here at Golden Era Productions are incredibly trustworthy. If they say they’re going to be there, they’re going to be there. I always say if, I could put a twenty dollar bill on the floor and walk out of the room and come back a year later and somebody’s put a quarter on top of it so it didn’t blow away. Because they will not… there… the honesty is stunning. It is absolutely remarkable. So working with the staff is—it’s a delight.

One night I was up kind of late and I switched on CSpan and I see this guy on TV and I know who it is immediately. I am an avid reader and I’ve read The Looming Tower and I know this author from his Pulitzer Prize winning work.

And I also know that his name is Lawrence Wright and he is a guy who is, for some reason, for some unknown reason, something I don’t even care about, but is definitely out to say bad things about Scientology.

But in the interview, and I only kept it on for 40-50 seconds, be… I realized who he was, I wanted to hear what he was saying because I thought possibly he was talking about the Taliban because he has a history of, you know, and he wasn’t, he was talking about Scientology. And as it happens, he’s talking about Golden Era Productions, the place that I’ve been for twelve years. And within 30 seconds he told three, three major lies. First one about barbed wire, razor wire all over the place. I said, “Is he talking about the same place I know?” He’s talking about armed guards, which… It was so amazing that…

And he was also talking about it being like a prison. Now, I know this place and in 45 seconds this guy tells three major lies. And I’m thinking “Why is he doing this? What’s the point?” Would he say that about… Would he say that about the Holocaust Museum? No, I don’t think so. You know, it just doesn’t make sense.

There was two things I found when I got here, number one that L. Ron Hubbard knew more about audio and filmmaking than just about anyone I ever knew. Which was stunning because I was sort of like one of the leading guys in the world about making movies, making music, recording.

And what I’ve read from L. Ron Hubbard is he knew as much as I did, plus everything else he ever did in his life. And it amazes me. Now, Mr. Miscavige, who I met as “Dave” when I first got here, we have a mutual friend. And it was just sort of, we bumped into each other on the lot and it was a wave and a “Hi” and a “How are you?” and “Where did you go to high school?” and so on and so forth. And I found him to be very friendly, very, very down to earth, very human.

And eventually I found out who he was. He became “Sir.” He became “Mr. Miscavige.” He became the boss. He’s a great guy.

You know, there are a couple of directors I've worked for in Hollywood, like, you take, for example, the Simon Wincers or you take Steven Spielberg or you take, oh, Jim Cameron. And you take any of those guys who I’ve all… I’ve worked for them. The reason I enjoy working with those specific people is because they know exactly what they want. There’s no hemming and hawing. There’s no… they just know. Yes, that’s right, good. Let’s move on. Let’s move on. That’s exactly what I get from Mr. Miscavige. He knows exactly what he wants and there’s never a problem. And is… there really isn’t a problem. He and I have a very decent communication level and I look forward to hearing from him. There’s never, never a question of what he wants.

I remember when I first became Senior Mixer here. I would have to submit a product to his, you know, judgment, to his approval, with a note. And I always took the opportunity to write him a note. And my notes were sort of legion in their content, and he liked hearing from me. He would always respond completely to every point I ever brought up. He absolutely, if he loved it, he would tell you he loved it. I’ve gotten compliments. I’ve received various praise from him that… commendations. He actually said to me one time, and this… he said, “You know I want you to take… to take on the role of Senior Mixer because you know more about what that is and what we are looking for than I will ever know.” And for someone in that position to actually tell you that he is dependent upon you and that he trusts you to that level—it doesn’t get any better. It just was a complete affirmation of what I do and I really appreciated that. So, no, he’s very complimentary. Very. Very.

COB, if he finds something good, something stellar, something right, something that is above average, he can pick it out like this and he knows exactly… he knows exactly what to listen for. His listening skills are acute; his ability to judge the quality of audio-visual products is as good as any director I’ve ever…

In fact, I’ve always said, you know, I would love to work on a project that he was the producer of. And in a way, I guess that’s what it is every day. But you know what I’m… you get what I’m saying. I love working with the man. He knows what he wants. He’s got great ears, great sensibilities, great visual acuity. He’s got it all. And it’s just a joy being around him and working for him. So, there you go.

There was also another little episode where I wrote COB a note, an approval note. We call them CSWs. And I had written my little data about it. And I mentioned that we had this extraordinary… extraordinarily big musical video that we produced. And I wanted to get across to him that I knew this was going to make him happy and absolutely rock the theater where the event was going to be. And the name of the venue was the Ruth Eckerd Hall and it’s in Clearwater, Florida. And I told him that we will definitely rock the house that Ruth built, being a reference to the New York Yankees and Babe Ruth.

And he came back with some—he just loved that comment, thought it was very funny. Commented on it, you know, said—and you know, actually, just kind of a flattering thing but he has actually taken some of the things that I’ve written to him and used them.

He wrote me back one time and said, “You know, I really like that line that you’re using about something. Would you mind if I borrowed your line?” I was like, oh, does that make me a published author? I’m mean I’m… I was so flattered.

I got to tell you. This is a human being that, you know, as I get older, the thing that disappoints me most about life sometimes, I mean, the thing that really hurts is when people of good character are destroyed by those people who really don’t know them and really don’t know the situation. And it breaks my heart. I see it all the time.

And I just, I’ve gotten to the place where I just sort of swallow and realize, you know, it’s just part of the human condition and it’s a reflection not on the person who is talked about, but the person who does the talking. And that’s the real—that’s who I feel sad for.

And to say anything bad or to… to pick this person out of ALL the people on the planet and say something negative, there’s something wrong. There’s just—there’s something wrong there. That’s all I can say. So there you go.

CHAPTERS:

#1 Introduces himself. #2 Golden Era staff. #3 Ron Miscavige, attitude and behavior. #4 Contrasts Hollywood to Golden Era. Honesty of the staff. #5 Lawrence Wright lies about Golden Era on TV, including razor wire and armed guards. #6 L. Ron Hubbard’s knowledge about audio and filmmaking. #7 Meeting Mr. David Miscavige. #8 Working with Mr. David Miscavige. #9 The real Mr. David Miscavige and how he is nothing like the person Ron Miscavige portrays.