{**

gT',., .{i '41 Producedby CaseStudy

{'ttifi#- tliir { 'i i l, Y'-t,i i1i I )'. Ei. rt,, ., *,,f - ",-! .,",,,t!'" , "': { I1 A classic film noir once posited of New York that there [.{ were "eight million stories in the naked city." And until ll I recently, there were roughly the same number of reasons a-- producer- could find not to shoot a movie there: It's ;1!E::! r- Ei I too expensive. It's too cumbersome. There's no place to t*l 1:: park.^or"|. Havingff qrrirrry twofrrrn baseballhacalroll teams+oott". damages.lot tur.tac crewrrr.arrr unity.,rtrif., i Several years ago, the Producers Guild put itself at the forefront of a coalition ll of groups lobbying for legislation to make producing entertainment in Neu,York more affordable. And as the PGAs representative on the New York Production '-_ Alliance, Lydia Dean Pilche4, can rightly claim a measure of credit for the incen- Ir': tives that have helped to jump-start the Ner.r'York production sphere. Pilcher was in a unique position to press for such change. As a thoroughly independent producer with both close ties to the New York producing commu- nity and a range of experience that's taken her around the country ancl around the world, she brings a genuinely global perspective to local issues. What's more, Ft4 as the long-serving Vice Chair of the PGA East - until this summer when her second term expired - Pilcher could speak with the institutional strength of a

:i-{r 4 national organization behind her. Thanks to her work and that of the New York Production Alliance, production in New York is booming, with an aggressive tax incentive program and a vigorous and proactive film office. (As for bridging the l; I Mets/Yankees divide, you're still on your own.) ; Pilcher's work in addressing the problems f'acing her profession is zr natural ,f' extension of her creative work, which has never shied away from tackling s provocative subjects such as gender equality', cultural identity and political and social injustice. Over the course of her career, she's lent her skills to sup- porting the distinctively independent voices of such directors as Wes Anderson (The Darjeeling Lirnited), Tim Robbins (Cradle Will Rock), Alison Maclean (Jesus'Sorr), Jane Anderson (Normal) and particularly , with u'hom she has collaborated on eight different projects, including The Nantesake, Vanitl, Fair and the upcoming adventure filrnAnrclia, starring as Amelia Earhart. lt was from the Toronto set of Amelia that Lydia Dean Pilcher spoke to Produced lry editor Chris Green for the 37th interwiew in this magazine's ongoing series of Case Studies ofsuccessful producers and their work. Over the course of several phone calls (only occasionally broken up by the need to, say, pro- duce a movie), she shared her thoughts on such topics as developing inter- national financing models, the comparative challenges of shooting in India and New York, and the difficulties involved in selline a film with a main character named "F'uckhead."

Summer2OOB Produced by I 3 How did you find your way into the industry, and into pro- out o[ school was a script, After Hotrrs, directed by Martin ducing specifically? Everybody's path is different ... what Scorsese and written by one of our classmates, Joe Mignon. did yours turn out to be? After graduation I worked a bit in documentaries but I alr,r'aysloved movies, but growing up in Atlanta I never became frustrated with the lack of opportunities; it rr,,asn'tas thought of it as a career. At Antioch College I focused on polit- vibrant a field as it is today. So I began r,r'orking on features, ical science and iournalism, and I worked as a film critic for \ike After Hotrrs, and just really fell in love with dramatic sto- the college newspaper. Sitting in the Little Arts Cinema oi rytelling. I believed in the power of film to open up the Yellor,r'Springs, Ohio, I discovered filmmakers I'd never known world, inspire, to make us laugh and cry - make us feel of before ... Berlolucci, Bergman, Godard.... When I got to that things. Feeling that my talents were more in the financial point of "rvhat am I going to do with my life?" I felt I should do and organizational areas, I decided to focus on a production whatever the thing was that I really loved the most. And the track. I worked as a location assistant and a location man- thing I loved the most u'as movies. I rvorked in radio and video ager (Planes, Trains and Automobiles), then became a pro- documentary but the only film collrse at Antioch was experi- duction manager (Quiz S/'toru), and a Iine producer mental film. The primary instmctions, as I remember it, were ().I r.r'orkedon both studio movies and not to take a shower with your camera or thror,r' it down the independent films, and found that vou tend to move up more stairs as vou createdlour images. quickly in the independent arena than vou do on a studio track. In those days, we were making indie features in Ne',r' Good advice at any stage of a career. York for $ .5 million to $2 million. Having said that, the first After Antioch, I applied to NYU for the graduate film pro- feature I produced was in 1989 for $200,000! gram. At NYU u'hile most of the others were on more of a Hollywood track, I continued to make docs. I loved the post- Wow. What was the title? punk East Village and it rvas a great time to be at NYU. My The Kill-Off', based on a Jim Thompson novel. It rvas adapted and classmates included Ang Lee, Jim Jarmusch, and Spike Lee. directed by Maggie Greenwald. We shot it in l8 days. I prodr-rced In fact, one of the first features that I rvorked on r,r,henI got it and I drove the camera tr-uckl llaughsf

I 4 Produced by Summer2OOB On focation for Amelia: (from left) Hilary Swank, Ewan McGregor, Pifcher, Mira Nair. (Photo:Ken Worone)

s

-\\,

Pileher (right)on location tor The Namesake with lead actress Tabu. lPhoto:Abbot Genser)

Pilcher (right) on location for Ameliawith director of photography Stuart Dryburgh. (Photo:Ken Woroner)

So in those early days, who were some of the people that That's a perfect transition, since when you talk about work- you learned from, and what were some of the lessons that ing with directors with a personal vision, Mira Nair's obvi- you still lind yourself employing today? ously in that category. I understand. Amelia is your eighth Robert Colesbelrr'\\'as one ol'r-r-rvl'irst mentors. Hc u'as a f:rnt:rs- movie together. Given your strong collaborative track tic pelson in or-rrbusiness. He uas the kind o1pcrson t'ho kneu' record, I was wondering if you could talk about that collab- prodr-rction insicle and ollt ancl then partncrcd, r-eallvp:rrtner-ed, oration, and how it grew? u ith the director to re:rlizcthcil r,isior-r.\\re diclA/icr.Holrrs rvith \\'e11,I think that lir-sto1':rll, u'e botl'rh:ir,e :r passionfor the diver'- Ar-r-rrRobinson also prodncing. And I l,as a unit nraneger or.r sitr,ol thc ri'ollcl.\Vc sh:rrc:r strong senseof social.itrstice ancl a ITis.sis.sipltiBttntirtg ri ith Bob anclAlan PzrrkcrWe dicl :r nunrber' s1r'onghancln-racle :rrtistic acsthctic. \{c lovc to tr:n'el.We love of otl'rer filn-rs together, ancl he \\ras sonreonc u,ho u:rs itlu,:ivs :r people.\Ve loie cultlrre.We love icleas.\Vc lovc:irt and bc:rutr.: \cr'\ st|o|leinspi|atiorr foI nre. Wc lovcpolitics... \\'e.jr-rst lor,e life. Honestlr; I think that all o1'us nho lovc u'h:rt ure clo ale evpsiesat heart becatrsevou hlrve t.) As a producer, what was it about his approach that res- lovc being rootless:rnd cleating a honreu'herever vou are. Mir:r onated with you? anc{I havegir,en birth anclraisecl or-rr kicls togetl.rer zrr.rcl iti bccn Hc u':rs p:rssionate about filn-rn'rakir-reancl he reallr,got in thc a fliendshipand partr-rershipthat is ven speci:rl. trenches ri ith tl-rcclircctor, nnclelstood ri'hat il u,as thev u,anted tcr acl'rieve,ar-rcl then hacl thc skills and the cleatir,e ener-ltvto nlal(e What seems particularly gratifying is how the scope of your it l-rappcn.When vou u'olk as a prodr-rcingpartner u ith a dir-cctor films together has expanded, from smaller films like uith :r pelsor-ralvision, r'ou're a leader, ancl a bi-epiul of thc cre- Mississippi Masala and Kama Sufra to more expansive sto- ative team in acttralizing that visior-r.For mc, th:rt'.scven.tl'ring, ries like Vanity Fair and Amelia. becauseI get the most pleasurel}om making thc nrolie. Anclri'e go b:ichand lorth. Tlte Natrtesakecost S 10 million, and

Sur-nmer2008 Produced by /7 lrlt Pilcfier (dgh{t'vli|r wdlor' dttctor WeeAndenron on tlre dolThcDar|adrqLbnfrd'. (Ptpto:Jamss Hsnft&)

Amelia is a S45 million movie. Mira never wants to lose touch I made a movie in Hong Kong with Gong Li and Jeremy Irons with her imagination. Inventing, doing something we haven't called Chinese Box,based on that model. But at a certain point, done before, or breaking new ground in a different way is I wanted to branch out and develop material. I had worked always the goal. We'll likely do something smaller and more with Colin Callender and Keri Putnam when they were on the personal after this one. We've optioned and are quite focused East Coast with HBO Showcase. When they formed HBO on Mohsin Hamid's novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Films, I was able to get a firstlook deal which lasted four years, and this was a great entr6 for me into the world of develop- You've worked with a lot of women directors in your ment. I was able to take on projects in a different way than I career... had before. Keri was an amazing mentor for me in this arena There was a period there in the nineties, particularly, u,here I was of script development. And I got to produce some very cool only working with women directors. I worked with Alison movies with HBO like lron Jawed Angels, Hysterical Blindness, Maclean, Jane Anderson and Katja von Garnier, Gina Prince- Normal and Disappearing Acts. Byhewood, and of course Mira... It's interesting, the first transition you spoke of, developing Was that something you consciously sought out, or did that a model for international financing ... that, I think, is some- just naturally happen? thing that a lot of PGA members find very intimidating. It wasn't a conscious thing. But obviously there is something in Ouestions of deal making and international finance often the storltelling, the female point of view that I'm drawn to, both seem like a vast remove from the nuts and bolts of physical as a woman and as a woman oroducer. production and dramatic storytelling. How did you educate yourself and start that project? So, do you find yourself generally drawn to directors? Or are The very first movie that I mentioned to you, The Kill-Oll', I you drawn to scripts which you then develop? Every pro- took to Cannes. It wasn't in competition, we just went and put ducer works in a different way, but at what point, typical- it in the market. So I was exposed to the process of selling for- ly, do you enter the process? eign rights early on. When you go to Cannes, the entire film Itb changed over time. In my early years, people were seeking industry of the world is there, and you realize how big and me out because of my production skills. But because we mostly small it is at the same time. When Mira and I financed Kama financed Mira's films internationally, I became experienced Sutra, we had one equity financier, who gave us a cornerstone with models of financing films by pre-selling foreign territo- of $2 million - and we needed eight. Our equity investor had ries. The advantage is the creative control as well as the cost of Japanese rights for her $2 million, and we set out with the goal the movie being covered before production, with unsold terri- of pre-selling to distributors from different territories. Over the tories in our pocket. This led to work with other independent course of Cannes, we raised the budget of the movie by pre- directors using similar financing structures. Wayne Wang and selling France (BAC Film), Germany (Pandora), Italy (Cecchi

I 8 Produced by Summer2OOB Gori), the UK (Film Four), and Spain (BMG). We hired a larvver to help L1spllt those deal memos together. Then rr'e met Wend1, Palmer at CiBv Sales u'ho took on the sales lbr the rest ol'inter- national. By the time u,e left, u,e had raised the budget of the movic, signed :rn internzrtional sales agent, enlisted a bank, ar-rcl u'c had r,iithheld the rights to North Amer-ica and India.

And this is all on the strength of Mira's name? Because Mira was still a young filmmaker at that point. On the strength of a mor.ie called Ktutta Slrrrz t'ith Mira Nair direct- ing. Six rveekslater, \\ie \vere able to commence our pre-pr-oduction. v Wow. That's a good week's work. We didn't close even'thing and have our complete cash llou'trntil Septenlber',about a u,eek before u,e started sl-rooting,so i1 u'as a lit- b' tle hairr. But becanse of the u'eather in India, September through Decen-rberrvas perlecl mor,ie, u,e had {,t a time to shoot the and to ."/ d make it happen.

Let's talk about that, because working in India is something you know a great deal about. How many shoots have you done over there now? I'r,e done four.

Obviously, India is a completely different production envi- ronment, but also has an incredibly vibrant filmmaking cul- ture. How does an American producer negotiate the ins and outs of shooting there? Its ch:rnged a lot over the ve:rrs. When ri'e made Katna Szrtra ir-r 1995, there \vere no computers, there u,as no Intemet, therc ri'crc no ccll phones, u'hich madc producing a movie u,ith th:rt kincl of

Fl'nll'1.rrl complicated linancial strlrcture r.er1 cl-rallenging.It s changed a lot onestly,I think that all of heart becauseyou have to whereveryou are.

nor,r',and that technologv is prettv n-rr-rchpar"t of daill- life in h'rdia, so the challenges are different. Going into anv diffeler-rtculture, vor-r find that people have their: own \\Ja)'sof doing things. I've also shot in Hong Kong, Uganda, London, even right nori,, in Toronto. In anr, loc:rtion, t,ou find a \\'av to r.r'ork r.r'ith r.rhzrtis avzrilablc to volr. Embrace rlrhat is special :rbout u'here vou are. You ner.er r-eall1'suc- ceed if vou trr'' to mzrke e\/ern-onedo it vour-u,:rr': You have to be u,ill- ing to underst:rnd and be purtient.

Specifically in terms of India, what are some of the aspects of the culture that are foreign to American filmmakers that you have to make allowances and adjustments for? There is a verv compler religior-rsand social strllctrlre in Sotrth

20 Producedby Summer2O0B Asia that is difficult for outsiders 1o understand. It can nrake cltverseo.er.r' and ri,orking doing business \rer' interesting in conjtrnction u,ith nei-ehbor- at tin-res.But I alrva's fincl hoods thal and contmunilies is oI utmost irnportance. er.en. time I return to India ntv knorvledge As and appr.eci_ opposed to coming ation deepens in like Vikings, like vou re qorn,qto and gror,vs.curtr-rrarir,; there's zrsense take or des_ over, like the l,av manv linr', a f'eelingthat ntovie companies do. thin-sshappen for zi t_easonancl u,hat,s meant to be is meant to be. There,s not a sense of urgencv So in that aboul instance, who do you talk to? Who,s your time. But I have to sav that, bein-ea Neu, yor.ker, first I find contact, to make sure that to be true that you,re not going to step on alntost elervrvhere I go.llatLglts] I don,t the u,ant wrong toes, and that you're going to just pin it on India. you to integrate with a knorv, mavbe \\re.reall crazv. neighborhood rather than working against Evelru her-eelsc. lile jrrst has a clilfer.cnr it? pace, J,li"*r, Well, location rhvthm. Its " managers tend to hun,"u good sense not that prodr_rctionhappens in a lesser of it. r,r,ar,.,it Either thev ha'e experience happens in in certain u,=or, o. il ther.,r_e .just a different \\.a-\,and sontetimes tl_rat,s slou,_ going into a ne\\'area, thet,can er. There isn't this sort ,,We slrssollt tvho the l"ader., of of American sensibilitv ol can do the communill.are, and urhat the anvthing and rve can be anvbodr,..,, various personalities are It,s not lhe rvav the rest of on the block. So vou -soin, and vou trv the rvorld thinks ... thank Godl Unfortunateh, to be as respecttirl as that,sthe u.:rv possible. Talk u'e're born to the neighborhood associations. to think. I hope th:rt,snot too abstract. Hirin-e a ferv people lron-r the neighborhood to u,ork on the shoot goes a long well, n'ar..When vou're filming in a denseh.populat_ maybe one way to ground that observation wourd be ed location enrrironntent, to compare it to New york. that,s crirical to makins it all rvork. How much have you shot in ? I do want I cut to talk a little more about the pGA n'r1'teetl.rshooting on the streets of Nevvyork East since and thor_rgh that's something you've I love to trar,el,it helps been so closely involved with to u,ork in the place n,here mv children and its been such a bright spot for go to schooll We filmed most of Tlrc the Guild over the Ncurtesul

I think that for an out-of_town filmmaker, New york can be A lot of people give that answer. as intimidating in its own way as shooting in India or I have to sar,',because I prettv much n,ork Uganda or any foreign country. So, all the time and I what would you sug_ have tu.o gest kids and rlln a companv no\\., I to the "foreign" filmmaker who rvasn,t terriblt. wants to find that involved initiallv. New York production I u,as a member for about ,fr,."" value, but is worried that it,s out of before I got a call from "".., his or her grasp? Nancv Goldman, rvho tolj;r" ;;; rvere Iooking to broaden out tl,releadership ,fr" J"li "" us who Iove what we do are gypsiesat love being rootlessand creating a home

I think the first thing is that vou \\rant to have Neu,yorkers Coast and bring in more feature film runnlng'"'our production and people. It u.as at a time leading vou into the process. rrhen I had ir_rstfinished about three mor,,ies Nerv York is its ou,n culture. The unions back to back r.r,orka little differ_ ancl I u,as Iooking entlr', like to take a breather and change thev do anv place vou go. A-sain, it,s people Lrp mv rvho focus a little bit. I had conte in lrom the ,,their been feeling for a rvhile that pr_odr-rc_ outside and u.ant to do it nray,, and ers were not or-ganizedas a york don't understand the lr,av voice in Ne*, and I *,as itt done locallv that tend to btrtt verl' interested in brin-eing the Nerv york up against the svstem and har.ept.oblents. part of the Guild We have a prettv around to have vibrant more of a political fo..,, i., our street cultur.e, u,her.easin Los Angeles f.ilm com_ and other munitv. When David picker:rnd plac-es,people spend I l,ere approached 10 rlln a Iot of time :rlone in their cars. as Neu. officers, Nelle Nu_senland Yorkers tend to har.e John Schuallrlrvere plrttin-qa lot big personas and loud r.oicesand o{'energv into grou,ing the pGA East theres rrlan\', manv different cultures. and the menrbership We u,alk and ridc. tlre u'as expandin-g subn'ar,and exponentiallr: It tlas ten.ific svner-eistic n'e're out on the street all the tim- time, brushing up ing. We opened agalnst an office, hired a staff' , and \ re \{ere elervone else. So I think that strivine able to to have a start liasing rvith all the difl'erent or--ezrnizationsand erouos

summer2OOB produced by 2 I in New York. We created the Community Action Committee, and Newfoundland. which is where Amelia's trans-Atlantic which has taken on a lot of different issuesover the past four flight departed from. So between these three locations we've years: lobbying for the tax credits, interfacing with the New pretty much managed to get all the looks we need. York Production Alliance, working with the MPAA on the anti-piracy campaign, working with the Mayor's Task Force As a point of contrast, I wonder if you could talk a little for Diversity in the film industry, and now we are engaged about the production of, for instance, Jesus'Son. It's a in a big environmental effort with Earthmark, which is off to beautiful film, but I admit I'm c'rrrious, how does a produc- a great running start focused on greening the film industry. er sell an impressionistic, loosely-plotted episodic story So that's been very gratifying for me. Even though I've with a main character named "Fuckhead"? termed out as a PGA East officer, I look forward to continu- Exactly! Uau4hsl Well, that was a case where we werent able ing to work with the Community Action Committee and hav- to sell it until after the film was finished. We started with a cor- ing an active presence. nerstone of equity. Everybody wanted to track the project, becauseit was a cult novel and people were interested in what Stepping back from New York for a bit, you're shooting the Alison Maclean would do next. But as we attached each cast story of Amelia Earhart in Toronto. Vllhat was behind that member, first Billy Crudup, then we got Samantha Morton, choice? then we got Dennis Hopper and Denis Leary and Holly Hunte4 Our era is the thirties, and Toronto is a great place for this Will Patton, Jack Black - who, to be fair; wasnt nearly as well period and for getting a Iot of different landscapes.Amelia known as he is today. And we still couldnt get a distributor on Earhart's story has about 50 locations. She's a person of the board. There were distributors who would call me up and say, world, you know? Our sets include Los Angeles,New York, "Lydia, we really like the movies you do but we cant figure Chicago, Miami, Hawaii, Wales, Newfoundland, Calcutta, this one out ... tell us, what is it that you seein this script?" Thailand, Mali... We'll finish our production in South Africa which is a great place for 1930'sMiami, Hawaii, New Guinea, Now I'm reallycrrrious. Vllhat did you tell them? and Los Angeles; we're also able to get some of the European It's basically a story about a guy who couldnt feel anything in wine country and Africa, of course. We're in Halifax for Wales the world. He had hit rock bottom, and it was about his iour-

-MustcIANS' m coMtNG sooN! INTERGUILD A3t= Credit Union Setving the Hollywood Community @

22 Produced by Summer 2008 ner- back to being able to tor-rchand feel, to connect u'ith other people. lf peopie knou, the author, Denis Johnson, thev understand r,r'hat the tone is. And the challenge in making the movie \vas to bring a certain amollnt o[ vvarmth into a cold landscape to achieve a viscerally emotional tone. And to keep it funnv. FinallJ',the budget of $3.5 million \vas plrt together in a limited partnership and rve shot it in Philadelphia. During post, it u'as coming around Cannes ALBUOUEROUE tirne again. lhuglrcf I had completed Cradle Vrill Rock direct- ed bv Tinr Robbins, u'hich u'as opening night at Cannes that STUDIOS vear. We cut a fortv-minute trailer for "/e.szr.s'Sonand I took that to Cannes. With Bart Walkeri help, rve rented a hotel room and invited ever-vdistriblltor to come in and u'atch. And thel' all came. People were reallv moved. Some people asked us to hold out and rvait so that thev could see the t'hole movie. Alliance Atlantis made us an offer for foreign and t'e ri'ent ahead and made that sale at Cannes. Mark Urman and Tom Ortenberg immediatelv fell passionatelv in love u'ith it and rranted it ri-eht au,ar'.Over the next month u,e made the decision to sell the domestic to Lionsgate.

I know that you have to get back to the set, but I wanted to share a last question with you. "Independent film" seems to mean something different every few years. What are the major challenges for an independent pro- ducer going forward? What should we be doing to encourage independent production and creative entre- preneurship? The modes of financing are alu'avs changing. I think this era of the monev on Wall Street and the hedge funds ... all of that is prettv much u'inding dorvn. The loss of indie distri- bution outlets - losing Neu, Line and Warner Independent and Picturehouse - these are major blou's. Everything has to ad.just and rebound. Looking at u'hat s happening in reac- tion to the global market, it seems that there are more inter- national financing opportunities for independents. But the landscape of movies is changing rapidlv and drasticallv because of the t'av content is distributed and r,ieu'ed. Mt' leeling is that this is the crou'ning hope for all of us u'ho have a brain and a heart. Material doesn't have to be dumb- ed dou'n for the channel surfers, and marketing for movies can be targeted more brilliantlv for non-mainstream vieu ers than ever before. This gives material rvith diverse content a chance to be successful in the marketplace. I also think the issues of entn' and retention in our industr-"-for independent filmn.rakers,\\'omen filmmakers, and diverse filmmakers is a . EIGHTSOUND STAGES verl' serious issue. It takes people t'ith real rrision in the str-r- dio execr,rtive'schair and strong-minded passionate produc- . 7O,OOOSF OF IVILLSPACE ers 1o push back against the mediocre middle ground rvhich . 9B,OOOSF OF PRODUCTIONOFFICE SPACE str-rdiostend to feed. This is a problem that rvill never go au'ar,.That's n'hr,people like r-rs,s'ho have the abilitv to cre- . COMPLETEON-SITE PRODUCTION SERVICES ate alternative visions, ha'r,'ethe responsibilitl'to come for- u'arcl and stav strons. 6 www.abqstudios.com 505-227-2OOO

.APo.*roYt*ro*t

Summer2008 Produced by 23