‘How to Save a Milestone’ Set to Premiere After Five-Year Process

When Queen City Nerve first reported on Liz McLaughlin and Jason Arthurs’ efforts to make a documentary about west Charlotte’s legendary music venue The Milestone Club back in 2019, there was no guarantee the building would still be standing by the time they finished. In fact, it felt highly likely that it wouldn’t be. 

Fast forward five years, and we’re happy to report that the film, How to Save a Milestone, is finally in the can and, better yet, The Milestone was able to host its first screening back in March. 

What McLaughlin and Arthurs caught in the end was a tale of a venue scraping to stay alive in the face of a pandemic, under new ownership, in a city where raising rents meant many of The Milestone’s contemporaries were already razed.

The film is set for its world premiere at Independent Picture House on Aug. 30, with other community screenings to follow. 

Before that comes to pass later this summer, we caught up with McLaughlin to get her thoughts on the process behind making this film now that it’s finally finished. 

[UPDATE] As of Dec. 31, 2025, How to Save a Milestone is now streaming on both Apple TV and Amazon.

Queen City Nerve: When you last spoke with Pat Moran about this project in 2019, The Milestone’s future was already in question, but COVID-19 was not even on the horizon yet. How did the pandemic affect the film itself?  

Liz McLaughlin: The pandemic was a sucker punch to independent music venues across the country that were already an endangered species. Venues like The Milestone face threats from thin margins, rapid gentrification and the corporate takeover of venues and ticketing. The film captures how the forced shutdown left so much in flux for the venue, bands, and fans alike. 

It’s hard to ignore the value of the visceral experience of live music when it’s taken away. That time was a wake-up call that we must support The Milestone if we don’t want to lose it.

How does it feel to finally have this thing in the can?

It’s been incredible to hear so many perspectives about the Milestone and see how this venue has made its way into the hearts of so many people. Those tagged walls hold so many stories, we could’ve made the movie 10 hours long! 

While the Milestone’s rich history is weaved in, the film is really a snapshot of the character of the place. More than a nostalgic look at the past, it’s a call to action to continue building the Milestone community that is so foundational to the music scene in Charlotte and beyond.

We are really excited to get as many eyes on the film as possible and plan to screen at independent venues across the country. We hope The Milestone can be more widely known for the legendary venue that it is and attract visitors as a music landmark. I think this story can boost support for independent venues like The Milestone in other cities. 

How special was it for you to be able to screen the documentary for its private premiere at the venue itself? 

How to Save a Milestone was a labor of love for all involved and we are so grateful to everyone who believed in this project. [Wyley] Buck [Boswell], the current owner, let us pester him for years, former owners like Penny Craver shared their stories, bands let us use their music, people dug through attic boxes of flyers or decades-old hard drives of photos. Tears were shed in front of and behind the camera. It takes a lot of vulnerability and trust to share your story. And it’s a responsibility that the director Jason Arthurs and editor Molly Brock took seriously. 

We wanted to make sure the people in the film saw it first, so we invited them to a preview screening in March. It was a bit nerve-wracking to see the faces we had seen on the computer screen for many years all come together in the same room to watch the documentary for the first time. 

As they watched the film, I watched their faces. And that was a really beautiful and emotional experience to see how it resonated with everyone. The positive feedback and enthusiasm from that screening inspired us to continue pushing forward. It’s really hard to make a documentary. It’s even harder to get it out into the world, to fight for people’s attention in a sea of endless distractions and bite-sized tiktok videos. 

There is no shortage of challenges in this work, so it better be something you believe in. The Milestone is a living embodiment of perseverance and our inspiration to dig deep into that DIY ethos and trudge forward for the community that holds it dear.

What should we know about the August premiere? 

We are so stoked about the world premiere. It will be on Aug. 30 at Independent Picture House in Charlotte at 7 p.m. There will be a Q&A afterwards with filmmakers and characters from the film. There will also be a VIP ticket tier that includes a Filmmaker Happy Hour and reserved seating. There will also be an afterparty at The Milestone Club. 

Editor’s Note: Both the IPH premiere on Aug. 30 and encore screening at The Milestone sold out quickly after tickets went on sale, which occurred shortly after this interview took place. McLaughlin encourages folks to follow the documentary’s feeds on Instagram and Facebook for updates about future screenings.