ACT 6. The Art and the Machine

Scaling Goosebumps: A Musical Marriage Between Art and Business.

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INT. SONGA MANSION – CONTROL ROOM – NIGHT

A recording studio in the back of a storied 19th-century mansion—rewriting the story of music and business. LED meters pulse like techno fireflies. Cables snake across Persian rugs.

SAGE lounges with a guitar across her lap, plucking its strings. LEWIS BLUES taps a djembe with one hand, the other clutches a mug of honey tea like a sacred chalice.

MAY DOVE hums aimlessly into a vintage mic, while her husband, MOHAMMAD MUNNIE, stands nearby—aloof, watching. She’s testing the equipment—and, before long, her faith in capitalism—and in Mo.

On the wall in green marker I’ve written:

“WHAT’S THE ROI
OF THE SOUL?”

FORBES (V.O.)
We met in the control room. Not a metaphorical one. A real one. Abbey Road after a TED Talk. I was there pitching a hedge fund that didn’t exist yet.

EMERSON SPELLING, rebrand addict and professional buzzword collector, scrolls his Linkedin feed.

I watch WYOMING enter the room, my half-brother turned full-time collaborator, and Emerson placing his phone on his lap.

Never too far.

It’s time to begin today’s meeting.

FORBES (to the group)
What if Pixar was a bank? What if every song was an asset? What if the key to fixing capitalism... was a jam session?

May Dove arches a skeptical eyebrow. MO, her husband, glowers at the mixing console like it owes him alimony.

FORBES (V.O.)
Wyoming looks nervous. He’s watching like a man who knew I was either about to pitch salvation or a very expensive mistake.

WYOMING
Even is fast.
Quick is slow.

The room falls to a hush.

WYOMING
Art isn’t software. It doesn’t iterate. It emerges. A love song doesn’t come from a sprint—only a slow burn. You rehearse it until it sings.

EMERSON
Does this ‘singing’ come with a Q1 projection?

WYOMING
Call your therapist. Or your mother. Or your muse.

MAY DOVE
So... we have to feel things?

Wyoming nods.

MO
We’re fiduciaries. Our mandate is to grow capital.

FORBES
Then redefine capital. You’re not just managing wealth—you’re midwifing culture.

I stand, walking to the center of the room.

FORBES (V.O.)
I told them about Jobs. The Pixar years. How Catmull and Campbell taught him to lead humans, not just engineers.

I looked around at the room full of humans, hoping to engineer change.

FORBES
I’m the ex-billionaire who got humbled before I got wise. Wyoming? He’s our Bill Campbell. The whisperer. Also... our uncle was John—yes, that John Forbes Nash. Game theory. Prisoner’s Dilemma. He taught us that rational self-interest leads to irrational outcomes. But art? Art breaks the loop.

WYOMING (smiling)
Our uncle solved equations, we’re just trying to solve each other. But maybe that’s harder.

I turned to Mo. The man whose job is to grow her wealth... and whose self-worth depends on it.

FORBES
What if you grew something deeper than capital? Like community. Or courage. Don’t you think the capital would follow?

MO
I’ll put that in a spreadsheet.

MAY DOVE
He will.

EMERSON
You think this coalition of ghostwriters and broke musicians can save business?

FORBES
Not save. Rewrite. In 4/4 time.

MO
Let’s say we fund this. What happens when the artists run out of ideas? When courage doesn’t monetize?

WYOMING
Then the money learns patience. Or it dies trying.

Sage thumps a low groove on her guitar. Lewis Blues taps on his djembe—live scoring the tension in the room.

Mo look at May, arms-crossed, bracing for May’s inevitable reaction for the words that were to come next.

MO
Easy to say when you’re not the one calling the family office every quarter to justify why we’re investing in feelings instead of equities and funds.

MAY DOVE flinches, just slightly, but enough to register. She doesn’t speak. Not yet. Her silence is louder than words.

FORBES (V.O.)
The tension wasn’t about money. It was what it caused. Years of her voice being sidelined in the name of Mo "providing."

WYOMING watches them, thoughtful.

FORBES (V.O.)
He reminded me so much of Wyoming—before he entered a different state and changed his name to one.

WYOMING
I used to call it stewardship Turns out, I was laundering shame through spreadsheets—and calling it strategy.

FORBES (V.O.)
That landed. Like a tax bill in a family office inbox.

I looked to the Munnies.

FORBES
You ever think the portfolio’s not the problem? Maybe it’s more art that’ll fix what’s aching, not mo money.

I winked at May. She almost smiled. Almost.

FORBES
That’s the tension between The Art and the Machine though, isn’t it?More.

Mo was starting to understand.

FORBES
Most businesspeople try to scale output. We try to scale goosebumps. It’s not automation—it’s amplification. Our business model isn’t built on attention. It’s built on resonance.

MO
What if the most profitable outcome... is a culture that doesn’t need saving? So, what if the next unicorn isn’t a startup? What if it’s a song?

I look toward the musicians, as if cueing a song. Lewis beats on his djembe, setting the stage for Sage.

SAGE (singing)
’It's the secret that's in the song.’

Lewis layers a groove in underneath. They start stitching lyrics together, pulling from the words the group has just spoke.

SAGE (singing)
’Art goes where
hearts belong.
It’s the secret that
makes the song…’

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LEWIS (singing)
’Art goes where hearts belong.’

SAGE AND LEWIS (looping)
‘Sing your story. Be the melody. Be your song.’

FORBES (V.O.)
A revolution disguised as a refrain.

The chorus came in, and I hadn’t even noticed—but Mo had joined in. He caught me watching, shook his head. He couldn’t believe it. None of us could.

MO
I can’t believe you want me to build a portfolio out of performance.

He laughed to himself. It sounded absurd when said aloud.

WYOMING
Not performance. Presence.

MAY DOVE
I can’t believe it either. But I’m not signing off on the math…

May grabbed her husband’s hand.

MAY DOVE
…I’m signing off on the man.

FORBES (V.O.)
He didn’t thank her. But he didn’t deflect. In their world? That counts as intimacy. Or at least, the start of it.

May Dove looked to the group, seemingly ready to make a confession.

MAY DOVE
I thought wealth meant we were winning. But I was losing… Losing myself behind designer handbags and charity galas. So busy keeping up with the Joneses, we forgot how to be the Munnies.

She looks over to Mo. He doesn’t look away, not like I’d seen him do so many times before.

MAY DOVE
We called it legacy. But maybe the legacy our kids need
isn’t in a trust fund… It’s the one we build on trust.

MO
Forget the legacy we meant
for the kids someday.
Let’s build one with meaning
for them today.

The band continues to play.

FORBES (V.O.)
They didn’t just buy in. They sang in.

MAY & MO (singing)
’You say you want to make a change?
You say want to make a difference?
You say you want to be somebody.
You’ve got to be the song.’

---

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Want more stories from the capitalists upending business with music?

• Check out 🌍The World of Songa.

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