{** 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 Mira Nair, with u'hom she has collaborated on eight different projects, including The Nantesake, Vanitl, Fair and the upcoming adventure filrnAnrclia, starring Hilary Swank 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 (Mississippi Masala).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 dicl A/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.