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The Actuary

October 1995 – Volume 29, No. 8 12 The Actuary * October 1995

Organization + creativity = movie success by Linda Heacox , SOA PR Specialist

Another employee mentioned that Allan feels Bill's success hinges, at film-maker was looking least in part, on his phenomenal orga- on the for an assistant. Bill got the job and nizational ability. Bill disagreed, "Not put his education on hold. really. I certainly can do that part of it. lighter Now 26, Bill has enjoyed a rapid rise Coordination is important, but I'm from office assistant to head of Great more interested in the creative side." Oaks Entertainment, a -based It's that side he hopes to fiflfill some- side production company formed by day as a director. Hughes and Walt Disney Studios. Allan claims no credit for his four ~r He has worked for Hughes, creator of children's creativity. Bill described his the "" movies, "Sixteen mother, Ellen, a great lover of movies, This article on movie producer Bill Ryan Candles," "," and the as "very imaginative. She's the right and his father, Allan Ryan, FSA, is the "Breakfast Club," for five years. brain to my father's left brain. All three second on entertainment personalities When the company is filming, Bill of my siblings are more artistic than who are the children of Society of wears a producer's hat. He was execu- I am," he claimed, referring to his Actuaries (SOA) members. tive producer on "Baby's Day Out," brother Kevin, 24, and sisters Katie, Popular maxim teaches that the remake of"Miracle on 34th 17, and Tara, 11. "They're all into the early risers get ahead in life. Street," and associate producer on visual arts." With that in mind, maybe Allan A "Dennis the Menace." He described Before fixing on a movie career, Ryan should have foreseen success for the job as "overseeing the production Bill considered several career choices his son Bill from childhood. of the film, the quality control, and the according to his father, but not, app: "But no matter how early ! got up," work of the line producer." ently, the actuarial profession. Though Allan, a director at Deloitte and To be successfial, Bill said, you have good at math, Bill said he is "still a Touche, said, "I'd find Bill, to be able to handle the stress, work very little boggled" by his father's job. dressed, having done his homework, hard, and keep sight of the big picture. Asked whether he understood what his ready for the day." "You have to be able to maintain the father did when he was little, he It was the family joke that Bill never project unity in your mind. John replied, "You could say I understood had a childhood. "He's been like an Hughes pretty much writes all the films it as well then as I do now." adult since he was eight years old," we do, and so, creatively, it's taking his When he asked if it is possible for a according to Allan, who described his words and script and getting them onto producer to watch a movie as any other son as driven. the screen in a way that works." audience member would, he said, Allan said Bill was a member of the "Home Alone" remains Bill's favorite "I try to be an innocent audience local Audubon Society as a child. "Just Hughes' project. "It was the first movie member, but it's tough when you him and all these much older people. I worked on with John. I was his assis- know what's going into it. I'm a tough He would go out bird watching, and tant fi'om start to finish. No one knew at critic. But I still love to go into a dark he had to keep a log of the birds he the time how big it was going to be." theater and just be entertained." saw. It really helped refine his natural organizational skills." Bill was 12 when movie passion hit flail force. He was taken to see "Star Wars." When he got accepted into a program for high school students at UCLA film school, the die was cast. After high school, he enrolled in the University of Southern California film school. He had completed his sopho- more year and was giving tours at Universal Studios when he landed a The l( +,l+it./htltily c~U+Lvsa Christ1+tasgathcri~(+ i~lcludi+Grl (back row, l-r) part-time job as an intern with Steven Ellen and Bill (~kont row, l-r) Tara, Katie, Allan and Kevin. Spielberg's .