As to Sum of the Farts, Steve and Ant may not have had the commercial success the others had, (Except Tony. Shame, that!) but to exclude him completely from a documentary that was "claimed" to focus on the collective and solo works of it's members is just wrong. And unjustifiable, except in the mind of one person. Can we guess who? 
Ian, you're an adult. So why debase yourself by manipulating the title?
Sum Of The Parts was as a project first discussed with executives from Eagle Rock, the director
John Edginton and Genesis at the TSPM offices in September 2012. It was originally going to be a Classic Albums style documentary about The Lamb. It morphed into a documentary about the Five man era.
The initial edit was handed to the management (TSPM) and sent to the band members (all) by the middle of June 2014. The management didn't like the original edit (this included footage from 1976), so it was edited again and the documentary was given to someone else to edit/direct. This is when the talking heads were added.
The original directors vision included using footage of the NYC skyline from the 1970's, but the production team found that 1970's NYC skyline footage was expensive. So modern day footage was inserted into the area about the Lamb. The director disagreed with this.
The five men were interviewed and appear in the rushes during that interview for 2 solid hours. NO WE DO NOT HAVE THE RUSHES. The seating was wrong also, that film studio has nicer seating and less noisy seating but on that fateful day in March of 2014 at Sundown studios that was chosen.
The production wanted to move away from the previous documentary cliches (regarding Genesis), although the management never put forward anyone's name. So the production was not aware of Alan Hewitt, Christian, Mario, Dave Negrin and others. Their archivist stumbled across The Genesis Archive and found some of our materials to be most interesting. That is how we became involved, this involved a trip to London to the editing suite, one Friday in May of 2014.
The documentary could have been much better, this we can all agree on. But in the end its like the management used Eagle Rock and the BBC who part funded it, the BBC spent £300,000. To produce an electronic press kit for the R-Kive release and we all know how uninspired that release is.
Out of all of the talking heads, the best choice was Al Murray. Not only is he an interesting comedian, but he is a Genesis fan and he is also a musician.
In some respects the documentary gathered the five men in a room. It also tracked down people like Ed Goodgold who was pivotal in their early success in America. Whilst no one is sure whether it was a good or bad idea to have Jonathan King in the documentary, it has to be said that even documentaries about either of the World Wars include the point of view of most of the sides involved, Nazi's etc
The footage they used of the roundhouse was expensive to licence from the current owner, but thats all there is of that era. People assume Genesis were filmed all the time and at the time being filmed was an expensive luxury few bands could afford. The fact you have the five men in a room, the three men at the farm and then one or two follow ups with Phil at his NYC home and Mike in Basingstoke during a break in the Mechanics touring. Is a benefit and a plus.
The issue is not with Tony Banks as some allude to, but perhaps the management who represent the artists it manages. The BBC one show performance was going to have Peter and Steve as well as Mike/Tony/Phil, but the moment Peter pulled out, a decision was made not to continue with Steve on the One show.
The band all received the final edit, before the premiere in London on the 2nd October 2014. So its not like anyone could be surprised, Phil was lively that night and did utter comments to certain parts of the documentary in a good humoured way. It was Mike Rutherford's birthday and after the show the band, executives from Eagle Rock and the original director and editor were invited to a celebration after party, as was Peter and Steve.
People need to understand how productions work, they are projects that have budgets. Licensing footage if it can be found, is an expensive part of any documentary. Flying to NYC to interview Phil wasn't cheap either, nor did the members of Genesis do it for free. They got an appearance fee.
I have always maintained that Genesis need a Beatles Anthology documentary, perhaps 5 to 6 hours in length. But I just don't think there is the budget out there or the appetite from the band or management.
I'm happy to answer questions, but wary of what I can say.
Kind regards,
TGA
