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PRODUCEDBY THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA // MARCH | APRIL 2024 HOW TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY WENT ALL IN ON SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION

P. 52 WHAT DOCUMENTARY PRODUCERS NEED TO CONSIDER TO PROTECT THEIR SUBJECTS

P. 62

THE 21 LAPS TEAM Dan Levine, Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen: “We pursue passion, not calculus.”

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EMMA THOMAS p.g.a. CHARLES ROVEN p.g.a.

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN p.g.a.

A C A D E M Y BEST PICTURE

A W A R D

®

BEST ACTOR BRADLEY

B E S T O R I G I N A L S C R E E N P L AY • B E S T C I N E M AT O G R A P H Y

FILM.NETFLIXAWARDS.COM

Y

N O M I N A T I O N S COOPER

BEST ACTRESS CAREY MULLIGAN

• B E S T S O U N D • B E S T M A K E U PA N D H A I R S T Y L I N G

P G A AWA R D N O M I N E E

BEST PICTURE

BRADLEY COOPER, p.g.a. · STEVEN SPIELBERG, p.g.a.

KRISTIE MACOSKO KRIEGER, p.g.a. · FRED BERNER, p.g.a. · AMY DURNING, p.g.a.

“A HEART-FULL-TOBURSTING TOUR DE FORCE.

Bradley Cooper’s performance will be talked about for years.

Carey Mulligan is pure perfection. Cooper brings everything he’s got to the dream assignment, using all the tools of cinema, including revolutionary sound design. Matthew Libatique shoots with a poet’s eye. The makeup deserves an Oscar, but technical mastery is only a way to a greater intimacy. Absolutely extraordinary.”

Peter Travers,

“BRADLEY COOPER IS MASTERFUL. CAREY MULLIGAN IS SENSATIONAL. YOU WILL BE FLOORED.” Kevin Maher,

‘‘‘

’

OF CINEMA WITH THE IMAGINATIVE POWER OF A CHILD AT PLAY.’’ AFI

PRODUCERS GUILD NOMINEE

OF THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES David Heyman, p.g.a. Margot Robbie, p.g.a.

Tom Ackerley, p.g.a. Robbie Brenner, p.g.a.

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INCLUDING

Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach

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INCLUDING

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE

Greta Ger wig

PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA

DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA

ART DIRECTORS GUILD

COSTUME DESIGNERS GUILD

“WHAT WAS I MADE FOR?” SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS & LYRICISTS

“I’M JUST KEN” SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS & LYRICISTS

AMERICAN CINEMA EDITORS

CINEMA AUDIO SOCIETY

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MOTION PICTURE SOUND EDITORS

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“THE BEST FILM OF THE YEAR.”

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PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA AWARD NOMINEE OUTSTANDING PRODUCER OF EPISODIC TELEVISION – DRAMA

“GRADE A. THE SHOW SECURES ITS PLACE IN

THE PANTHEON OF TELEVISION HISTORY.” “ONE OF THE MOST WELL-MADE

TV SHOWS IN THE MODERN ERA. THE LEVEL OF CRAFT IS IMPECCABLE.”

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“EVERYONE CONTRIBUTES IN A DIFFERENT WAY, BUT THE ALCHEMY IS POSITIVE AND HUMANIST, AND THE THINGS WE MAKE REFLECT THAT.” —DAN COHEN, 21 LAPS

FEATURES 52 EPITOME OF SUSTAINABILITY

62 WHEN LIVES ARE AT STAKE

True Detective: Night Country shows how it’s done.

Critical steps producers can take to safeguard their documentaries’ subjects.

70 THE FUTURE IS NOW What innovation means to the selection committee for one of the Guild’s newest awards.

March | April 2024

13

THIS CLOSE CO-CREATORS SHOSHANNAH STERN AND JOSHUA FELDMAN ACCEPT THE PGA GEORGE SUNGA AWARD AT THE 2018 MEDIA ACCESS AWARDS.

DEPARTMENTS 18 LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENTS Guild presidents Stephanie Allain and Donald De Line congratulate 2024 PGA Awards nominees.

20 A DAY IN THE LIFE How one award-winning producer brings reality TV to life.

14 producersguild.org | PRODUCED BY

26 ON THE MARK How Erik Feig earned the Producers Mark making Theater Camp.

33 NEW MEMBERS Meet the PGA’s newest members and discover what makes them tick.

78 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF GIANTS The PGA George Sunga Award honors producers working for inclusivity.

PHOTO BY ARAYA DIAZ/GETTY IMAGES

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P R O D U C E R S G U I L D O F A M E R I C A AWA R D N O M I N E E

OUTSTANDING PRODUCER OF EPISODIC TELEVISION (COMEDY)

S C R E E N A C T O R S G U I L D AWA R D® N O M I N E E

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE IN A COMEDY SERIES

“

THE BEST SEASON TO DATE.” T H E GUA R D I A N

“A SHOWSTOPPING RETURN. IT FEELS LIKE THE SHOW HAS TRULY COME INTO ITS OWN.” COLLIDER

BOARD OFFICERS PRESIDENTS Stephanie Allain Donald De Line VICE PRESIDENTS, MOTION PICTURES Chuck Roven Lauren Shuler Donner VICE PRESIDENTS, TELEVISION Mike Farah Melvin Mar TREASURER Yolanda T. Cochran VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCING TEAM Steve Cainas VICE PRESIDENT, EASTERN REGION STEERING GROUP Donna Gigliotti RECORDING SECRETARIES Mike Jackson Kristie Macosko Krieger PRESIDENTS EMERITI Gail Berman Lucy Fisher DIRECTORS Bianca Ahmadi Fred Berger Hillary Corbin Huang Melanie Cunningham Jennifer Fox

Beth Fraikorn Lynn Kestin Sessler Samie Kim Falvey Rachel Klein James Lopez

Mark Maxey Lori McCreary Jacob Mullen Jonathan B. Murray Mark Roybal

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ASSOCIATE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Michelle Byrd CEO Susan Sprung EDITOR Lisa Y. Garibay

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© 2022 NINTENDO AND UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

FROM THE PRESIDENTS

SALUTE TO THE NOMINEES

H

appy New Year, and our warmest congratulations to the producers of each project nominated for the 35th Annual Producers Guild Awards!

We are in awe of the vast amount of vision, persistence and hard work each of these producers put into their nominated projects. Looking at the list of producing teams, it’s clear that it took hundreds of you to accomplish some of the most innovative and memorable projects of the past year.

We know full well how difficult it is to get anything produced. And we appreciate the fact that bringing a project to fruition is never the work of one or two producers, but rather a robust and dedicated team of professionals. No matter what stage they are at in their career, every producer on that team brings invaluable experience, skills and talent to the table. That collective lift

is what gets great work to the screen—a feat that’s laudable in and of itself.

Members of the Producers Guild prove time and time again how important it is to work together and to collaborate across formats, genres, backgrounds and credits.

We’re so proud to represent a community that elevates our profession, and we’re thrilled to celebrate the 2024 nominated producers and their producing teams as part of that community. The creative and technical caliber of their work represents a standard that we all aim for, reminding us why we do what we do, and inspiring us to keep pursuing excellence with passion.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Allain Donald De Line

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P R O D U C E R S G U I L D O F A M E R IC A AWA R D N O M I N E E OUTSTANDING PRODUCER OF LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES TELEVISION

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W I N N E R E M M Y AWA R D S ®

INCLUDING

OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES WINNER 4 CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS INCLUDING

BEST LIMITED SERIES

WINNER 3 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS ®

INCLUDING

BEST LIMITED SERIES

WINNER 2 GOTHAM AWARDS INCLUDING

BREAKTHROUGH SERIES UNDER 40 MINUTES

HONOREE

AWARDS

ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST TELEVISION PROGRAMS

FROM LEE SUNG JIN

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A DAY IN THE LIFE

LIKE PLANNING A PARTY Kimberly Goodman hustles her way through long days to create reality entertainment that is as smart as it is fun.

Intro by Whitney Friedlander

K

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En route to a walk with her dogs.

Scouting a location for Side Hustlers.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF KIMBERLY GOODMAN

imberly Goodman’s name has become synonymous with a certain kind of reality programming. As an executive producer of Prime Video’s Emmy- and Producers Guild Award-winning competition series Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, the Emmy-nominated Netflix real estate stalwart Selling Sunset, and the Roku Channel’s new girlboss series Side Hustlers, Goodman has a knack for making female-focused and empowering series that are also, well, fun.

“I know that reality and unscripted get a bad rap for reasons that we all know,” she says. “But when you break it down, it’s really giving real people an opportunity to go through a life-changing experience that they wouldn’t otherwise have.”

Of Side Hustlers in particular, a program about female entrepreneurs turning their side hustle into their main hustle, she says, “It’s very inspiring to see these women take their passion and their idea and make it into a real, viable business.”

Goodman knows all too well about facets of the industry that are more complicated and nuanced than they seem.

She got her start as an associate producer on infomercials.

“Doing infomercials and having to cast and talk to people and keep people engaged with this experiment that they’re doing, and we’re doing—to see if these products actually work and interviewing everybody and being so invested in their journey—is the foundation of what we do as unscripted producers,” she says.

F O R

Y O U R

C O N S I D E R A T I O N

Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures SETH ROGEN, p.g.a., EVAN GOLDBERG, p.g.a., JAMES WEAVER, p.g.a.

“BEST ANIMATED MOVIE OF THE YEAR” KYLE LOGAN, SCREEN ANARCHY

“ RAISES THE BAR FOR MODERN ANIMATION” ANDREW J. SALAZAR, DISCUSSING FILM

CADILLAC IS PROUD TO BE THE OFFICIAL VEHICLE OF THE PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS

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A DAY IN THE LIFE

Goodman eventually segued into segment producing programs like the Fox’s Master Chef and serving as a field producer on the fashion design juggernaut Project Runway, which aired on Lifetime at that time. She has also served as an executive producer on Lifetime’s Married at First Sight, Emmy-nominated Love Is Blind on Netflix, and Roku’s The Marriage Pact—programs that are asking for high-stakes emotions because they’re all about people finding romantic partners.

But Goodman and her team try their best to keep their subjects grounded, on and off screen.

“We’re very mindful of what their lives will be like when the show stops and when we’re done filming,” she says. “It’s important to us to make sure that everybody feels like they’re having this true experience. And they are. But sometimes, with logistics and coverage, you get pulled out of it. It’s only natural. So we always try to explain the TV process.”

Or, as Goodman says she once described it to a potential employer, “Producing is like planning a party.

You figure out all the things you need and what you want to do for this party—what the theme is, what the decorations will be like, all of that sort of stuff—and then you bring it together. You throw the party.”

The metaphor got her the job.

Here’s how the hostess with the mostest gets things done.

Leading a production meeting.

Mornings If we’re in production, I usually wake up around 6 or 6:30 a.m. I jump in the shower, first and foremost.

That wakes me up. I get dressed. I get my coffee to go for my drive in. If I have a later call time, I will take my dogs for a walk. Otherwise, my boyfriend or a dog walker will do it. My drive time is usually my time to turn on a podcast or listen to some music, if I’m not distracted by a call.

Generally speaking—and this is true of any reality show—you’re always reacting to what the participants are experiencing or feeling. Our day could change based on what’s happening with our participants. They could wake up sick. They could wake up whatever, and all of a sudden life happens when you’re filming.

Typically I’m on the phone with my co-EP or supervising producers getting updates of where the contestants are and if there are any issues. I talk to the director of photography on not just the creative storytelling but how the cameras look, and (discuss) logistics, permits and planning for several days out.

At the very beginning of any project, I have to staff

In the control room on location for Love Is Blind.

Below: Working with talent for Side Hustlers.

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A DAY IN THE LIFE

it. A lot of my days are consumed with finding the right team. Hiring people is really about whom you can be with 24/7. For me, it’s equally important to find somebody I can really connect with creatively. I don’t have to be best friends with them, but I want to enjoy their company and respect their work.

I usually start a couple weeks before everybody else does because I have to get the creatives solidified. I also usually have my point person at the production company and we’ll do a full episode breakdown, which becomes the road map for the series. Once the episode breakdown is done and fleshed out, my meetings usually consist of pitching it internally to the production company. Then we’ll take it to the network and our partners. Simultaneously, there is the casting process and defining participants who are right for the show. We do background checks on everybody.

A big part of prep consists of location scouting, unless it’s filmed on a production stage. Being out in the field for unscripted shows can take you to some incredible locations.

Afternoons My vice in the afternoon is iced green tea because if I drink too much coffee, it’s not good. I’m not always good at sitting down and eating lunch. If I’m out in the field, I will take a walk. Even if I’m on the phone, I’m still walking outside. Or sometimes the break is just shooting the shit with a coworker and talking about something not even work-related.

Evenings When I come home, I usually take a mindless TV break.

That’s usually a scripted, silly sitcom that’s in the background. Then I’ll have dinner. Wine is a must. I have a really great partner. He knows how crazy the hours are.

Sometimes he’ll have dinner ready or will just hand me a glass of wine.

Then I’ll work on my couch with the TV on in the background. I’ll be planning for the next day. We usually have big group texts so that everybody has the same information. It’s pretty nonstop until I force myself to go to bed because it’s like, “OK, I think everybody’s asleep now, so it’s safe to go to bed.”

It can be all-consuming, but that’s my personality. I want the show to do well. I want everybody to have as good an experience as they possibly can. It’s a lot on your shoulders when you’re having to deliver a show. I care about my bosses as well, and I want to do good by them because they’re trusting me with this. So I tend to go all in. When I’m not in it, I definitely partake in the downtime and enjoy myself.

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Doing late-night prep for Watch Out for the Big Grrrls.

Below: Quality time at the end of the day.

PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA AWARD NOMINEE OUTSTANDING PRODUCER OF LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES TELEVISION DIRECTORS GUILD AWARD NOMINEE

G O L D E N G L O B E® N O M I N E E

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT

BEST LIMITED SERIES

IN MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND LIMITED SERIES

S H AW N L E V Y

“EPIC.

Groundbreaking on so many levels.”

S O L Z Y AT T H E M OV I E S

“A FEAST FOR THE SENSES. Cinematic and sweet in equal measure.”

MASHABLE

BASED ON THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING NOVEL

FYC.NETFLIX.COM

ON THE M A R K

ON THE MARK Eric Feig discusses how he and his team divvied duties to bring together the (very) feel-good Theater Camp , earning each of them the p.g.a. mark.

Erik Feig, p.g.a.

A

s a founding partner of Summit Entertainment, copresident of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group, and CEO of Picturestart, Erik Feig has overseen the production of more than 100 films.

His experience spans such franchises as Twilight, Step Up and The Hunger Games to singular Oscar winners including La La Land and The Hurt Locker, not to mention scrappy indies that get a big bang for their buck like 2023’s Theater Camp.

Feig got his start on the independent side, so Theater Camp was not so much a detour as it was a homecoming. And while the DIY nature of the production had a familiar feel, the outrageously smart and funny mockumentary was still a leap of faith, especially given that directors Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman were at the helm for the first time, leading the way for the featurelength adaptation of a short film they’d put together with friends Noah Galvin and Ben Platt. Gordon, Galvin and Platt also star in the film alongside a sparkling troupe of young performers who (rightfully) steal the show.

In the end, Theater Camp was named a Top 10 Independent Film of 2023 by the National Board of Review and

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received accolades at film festivals including Sundance, where it was awarded the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Ensemble. It was also nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. Theater Camp received the ReFrame Stamp, awarded to narrative and animated features that hire women or individuals of other underrepresented gender identities/ expressions (including those who are nonbinary or gender nonconforming) in four out of eight key roles including writer, director, producer, lead, co-leads and department heads.

The story of a rundown drama camp betting its future on the talent of its students and instructors for one final on-stage masterpiece provides an easy comparison with the process of indie filmmaking, while the experience of watching Theater Camp is the best kind of inspiration to keep investing in the work one loves.

HOW DID YOU FIRST DISCOVER THIS PROJECT? HOW DID IT RESONATE WITH THE TYPE OF WORK YOU’VE DEDICATED YOUR CAREER TO? Theater Camp was first brought to my attention by Jessica Elbaum, whom I was working with on Am I OK, which also starred Molly Gordon. Jessica showed me the short that the four creators—Molly, Ben, Noah and Nick—had made and

COURTESY OF ERIK FEIG

Theater Camp

COURTESY OF SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

Interview by Lisa Y. Garibay

ON THE M A R K

Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman on set.

asked what I thought of turning it into a feature. I thought it was so funny but also inspiring and feelgood. I really wanted to do a comedy with adults behaving like children and children behaving like adults, and this was perfect.

WHAT WAS DIFFERENT ABOUT YOUR WORKLOAD OR PROCESS WITH THEATER CAMP COMPARED TO YOUR OTHER PROJECTS, PARTICULARLY THOSE WITH BIGGER BUDGETS?

Erik Feig during the production of Theater Camp.

Theater Camp was a different development process because we knew from the inception that it would be only loosely scripted, so development was a bit fuzzier. We created plot milestones and moments and discussed opportunities for character conflict or growth, but the script was more of a scriptment.

For me personally, not having a musical

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COURTESY OF SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

ON THE M A R K

The young cast of Theater Camp.

theater background and also never having gone to summer camp, it was really important that there be an outsider character to help the audience access this otherwise insular world. We also thought it could be a great opportunity for a comedic foil.

Creating the character of Troy was that perfect solution.

We also knew we wanted to end the movie with a big performance.

Coming up with something that was good for the theatrical audience, good for the plot needs of “saving the camp,” but also kind of hilariously over the top, was a unique and fun challenge. Julia Hammer, who works with me at Picturestart, introduced the four creators to an old friend of hers, a composer named Marc Sonnenblick, and it was a perfect and easy fit.

We had the added challenge of working with lots of children and their limited hours, trying to mount a production within a production, and finding a camp

we could actually take over during the most popular time of summer. There were some interesting challenges!

YOU, JULIA HAMMER, AND JESSICA ELBAUM ALL RECEIVED THE P.G.A. MARK FOR THIS FILM. HOW DID YOU DIVVY UP RESPONSIBILITIES? We all got along so well. Julia and I work together day to day, so that was seamless. Jessica and I had known each other for years and had just finished another film successfully.

There was so much work to go around that dividing it up was easy, but we would have really frequent Zooms to go over the to-dos of the moment. Then we would all dive into our respective responsibilities. We all trusted one another, so it felt great to know the immense workload could be divided.

DESPITE THE RICHNESS OF YOUR EXPERTISE IN

BOTH THE INDIE AND STUDIO SECTORS, DID YOU COME UP AGAINST ANY CHALLENGES DURING THEATER CAMP’S DEVELOPMENT OR PRODUCTION THAT WERE DIFFERENT FROM COMPLICATIONS YOU’D TACKLED IN THE PAST? WAS THERE A SPECIFIC OBSTACLE THAT YOU’RE PROUD OF HELPING THE PROJECT OVERCOME IN A UNIQUE OR UNIQUELY PERSISTENT WAY? Well, it was pretty ambitious to cast over Zoom young kids who could actually, sing, dance and improvise.

And to have faith in their ability to go off book, as we never had a script longer than 65 pages. And to put on a show within a show with just a few days of prep. Perhaps this was more modest compared to shutting down a freeway for La La Land or all our dance sequences in the Step Up movies, but

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ON THE M A R K

COURTESY OF SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

Molly Gordon and Ben Platt in Theater Camp.

our resources were definitely more limited, so it was pretty hard!

And then, of course, we were also financing it, so sweating bullets about that, trying to manage the cash flow and hoping that COVID didn’t break out among the kid performers because we literally couldn’t afford to shut down or recast!

There were a lot of people working on this film, and very often that can result in committee think or internal politics. But the bond with the creators was so strong and the trust among the producers so solid that we never had that. Knowing that you are working on a dream project for the filmmakers and having the responsibility to deliver for them was empowering and inspirational.

WERE THERE ANY PRODUCTION STRATEGIES

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OR TECHNIQUES THAT YOU EMPLOYED FOR THEATER CAMP THAT YOU HADN’T USED BEFORE? There was a moment where we thought about making the film the summer prior.

But once that window quickly passed, we had almost a year to think about the film. We did not have the financial resources to bring on any department heads, but we did have the opportunity to talk to the creators and the rest of the producing team about the film and make sure we were all aligned and seeing the same film. That was invaluable.

WHAT ABOUT THEATER CAMP ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF A PRODUCER? I love its can-do spirit, and the fact that the movie is funny and pokes fun at this world but is never mean and is actually

uplifting and optimistic without being treacly. I always tear up in the finale, and seeing it with an audience is still a great joy for me. ¢

Certification via the Producers Mark (represented by p.g.a.) indicates that a producer performed a major portion of the producing functions in a decisionmaking capacity on a specific project. Criteria, its definition, the process for earning the mark and other particulars can be viewed at producersguildawards.com.

PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA AWARD NOMINEE OUT S TANDING PRODUCER OF EPISODIC TELE VISION - DR AMA

3 2

CRITICS CHOICE AWARD NOMINATIONS INCLUDING

BEST DRAMA SERIES GOLDEN GLOBE® AWARD NOMINATIONS INCLUDING

BEST DRAMA SERIES

“THE BEST TV SHOW OF THE YEAR.” “A sharply written, instantly engrossing, beautifully filmed and wonderfully acted political drama.”

FYC.NETFLIX.COM

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

NEW MEMBERS Produced By trains the spotlight on some of the Guild’s newest members, and offers a glimpse at what makes them tick.

Polina Herman After founding her own company in 2016 aimed at advancing Ukrainian cinema, Polina Herman has produced features and shorts across numerous genres, including documentary, drama, sci-fi and thriller. Her documentary The Price of Conflict (2022), which examines the economy in Russian-occupied Donbas, was nominated for the ABC News VideoSource Award at the 38th IDA Documentary Awards. Recent credits include Mariupolis (2016) as executive producer, Numbers (2020) as line producer and Between Us (2021) as producer.

Who or what inspired you to go into producing?

It so happened that I got into the film industry in Ukraine when it was just beginning to develop and we were all learning What’s the how to do it. It was difficult and best piece of advice interesting for me to develop you’ve ever received about and evolve with the way producing? our movies were beginning Every time I was having a hard to appear in our country. time and wanted to quit everything, I Now, the next stage—we remembered that cinema is a game in real need to continue to make life, and each project will be unique, thus movies despite the war. incredibly fascinating. Keep playing in cinema, living real life in the moment, and make sure to enjoy the process.

That was my advice to myself!

Renier Elvir Renier Elvir works primarily in episodic nonfiction documentary and reality. His recent credits include A&E’s Live PD (2017) and NBC’s LA Fire & Rescue (2023) as field producer. He received a producer credit for the second season of PBS’s La Frontera (2022), which observes culture around the U.S.-Mexico border.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received about producing?

About 10 years ago, Mexican film director Cristian Proa shared some advice his mentor once gave him: In this industry, one must have a monk’s devotion, an athlete’s endurance and the discipline of a soldier. Those words still follow me evWhat’s erywhere, especially on your whenever I face a producing bucket list? challenge.

I would love to produce more shows/docuseries showcasing Latin America and Latinos.

More than just showcasing the tourist areas, the audience can genuinely immerse and feel what it means to be a Latino.

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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Nathan Edwards Tabitha Bohannan Tabitha Bohannan is a line producer with a background in live events. She works with features and series across genres including indie, comedy and reality. Recent line producer credits include First Nations Comedy Experience (2018), Motorvation (2022) and The Wolf PAC Philadelphia (2021).

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received about producing?

“Always have a backup plan and be prepared to adapt.” This advice emphasizes the importance of flexibility and problem-solving in the world of producing. It’s not uncommon for unexpected challenges to arise during production, whether they are related to budget constraints, weather conditions, scheduling conflicts or creative differences. Being prepared with contingency plans and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances is crucial for a producer’s success. This advice highlights the need for producers to think on their feet, find creative solutions to problems and remain resilient in the face of adversity. It’s a reminder that producing is not just about planning but also about navigating the unexpected with grace and resourcefulness. While this advice is often shared among industry professionals, its application can vary depending on the specific project and circumstances.

At what point in your life did you discover what a producer brings to the table?

I discovered the multifaceted role of a producer during my first feature film. Starting as an intern and eventually being promoted to producer’s assistant and then associate producer was a whirlwind of transitions, but it was an incredibly enriching experience. Through this hands-on involvement, I came to fully appreciate the depth of responsibilities that a producer takes on and the diverse skill set they bring to the table. It was during this transformative period that I realized the vital role a producer plays in every aspect of a production, from creative input to logistical mastery, and how they orchestrate the entire filmmaking process.

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After starting in commercials and music videos, Nathan Edwards moved into production on largerbudgeted features and episodic projects for Sony Affirm, NBCUniversal and Endeavor Content. Recent line producer credits include Five Women in the End (2020) and Nothing Is Impossible (2022).

What’s on your producing bucket list?

I love movies like Mood Indigo or Dave Made a Maze—films that have really ambitious creative concepts. I’d love to produce a whole TV series where the productions incorporate cardboard art, stop motion, papier mâché, puppets and old-school practical effects. Something Ken Russell, Michel Gondry or Terry Gilliam would be proud of.

Or work with Who the Muppets. or what inspired Let’s say you to go into producing? both.

In short: Alexander Payne. He came to evaluate the student short films produced by my high school theater class and I brazenly handed him my handwritten script for a terrible teen angst movie. He mailed me a very kind, handwritten rejection letter. In it, he encouraged me to keep writing and keep working. That helped kindle my desire to work in film, and producing is what came naturally.

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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT Chloë Bellande Chloë Bellande is a post coordinator working with episodic series ranging from comedies to dramas. Recent credits include Netflix’s Hit & Run (2021), season 1 of Max’s Rap Sh!t (2022) and season 2 of Max’s Julia (2022).

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received about producing?

I started in 2008 when I was living in Montreal, Canada, before I relocated to the U.S. I’ve been to the Cannes Film Festival multiple times and other U.S. film markets. After meeting and discussing with producers from all around the world, I would say that the best advice I give myself every day is to listen and learn from everyone we work with on a project, from PAs to DPs. Having a vision and creativity is essential to starting a project, but to lead a team to the finishing phase also takes integrity and accountability. To me, these are the characteristics of a great leader.

Who or what inspired you to go into producing?

After wrapping my first scripted show on Netflix and working alongside post producer Agatha Warren Barnes, I knew that my end goal would be post producer and maybe someday showrunner/exec producer. I am an indie picture editor and a post coordinator/supervisor at the moment.

Being a producer to me is a role that combines both my management and storytelling skills along with an extensive understanding of all aspects of production and post.

Rakeem Nelson Rakeem Nelson is a post coordinator working in episodic series and live audience stand-up.

Recent credits include Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2023), Amazon Prime’s Alex Borstein: Corsets & Clown Suits (2023) and Max’s Full Circle (2023).

What is the biggest misconception people have about the producer’s role?

I feel like there’s this blanket stereotype of producers being money people who lack creativity and (just) balance spreadsheets. It takes a creative brain to efficiently tackle all the tiny little fires a production can face, especially when you’re including deadlines and making sure the project is on budget. I can confidently say my coordinating isn’t a paint-by-numbers approach, as I create, maintain and update the shared schedules between studios and actors. But this can all go a step further beyond the screens and to the project itself. I definitely see how creative producers can be when I watch my post producer drive ADR sessions. From the way he coaches our actors into giving the proper take we need to looking for cues we didn’t even think we would need.

It’s something I want to emulate as I move forward with my career. All while making sure my spreadsheets are color-coded in a cool way.

Carmen Pepelea Carmen Pepelea is a producer in features and series. Recent credits include Lionsgate’s Voyagers (2021) as line producer, and Lifetime’s Flowers in the Attic: The Origin (2022) and Netflix’s Wednesday (2022) as producer.

Who or what inspired you to go into producing?

I entered the film industry by chance by applying to a translator job. Once I got to spend some time on set, I knew I would never leave the film industry.

What is the biggest misconception people have about the producer’s role?

One common misconception is that the producer is solely responsible for financing the project.

As a line producer myself I do not deal with financing, and budget is not my only responsibility.

Finding the best crew for each project and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances are in my opinion the most important responsibilities.

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DAN LEVINE, SHAWN LEVY, DAN COHEN

A Relay Race to the Top Endurance, persistence and the full collaboration of its partners keeps 21 Laps running. written by Lisa y. garibay photographed by kremer johnson photography

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A RELAY RACE TO THE TOP

photo in the office of 21 Laps captures what the company’s founder, Shawn Levy, calls a moment of seismic shift.

In the picture, Levy poses with 21 Laps partners Dan Cohen and Dan Levine, with the majestic setting of Telluride, Colorado, behind them. It was September 2016, and the three producers were in town to premiere their latest feature at the storied film festival.

A case study in the improbable, Arrival became emblematic of 21 Laps in a variety of ways. While exploring possible projects with Eric Heisserer, the horror screenwriter turned 21 Laps on to an award-winning sci-fi novella called Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang. The story was complex, astounding, heart-wrenching—and very, very tough to work out as a movie. But 21 Laps believed.

“We took it out as a pitch. To this day, I say it’s the best pitch I’ve ever taken out. And it didn’t sell,” Cohen recalls.

Heisserer remained committed, writing the script on spec without any guarantee it would ever be shot. At the same time, 21 Laps was meeting with a Canadian filmmaker named Denis Villeneuve. When Levy and the Dans (as they are referred to by their coworkers, who are collectively known as Lapsters) asked what Villeneuve wanted, he replied, “I’ve been dreaming of doing sci-fi since I was a child.” But he had never worked anywhere near the vicinity of that ballpark.

“I wanted to make sure that the first time I stepped into it, it would be for something special. I was looking for something that would bring something new to the genre. And Arrival was that,” Villeneuve says. “It was one of the most beautiful cinematic gifts I received in my life.”

Villeneuve describes how he worked closely with both Dans

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“It was like a kind of relay. They pass each other the baton.

They were very openminded, flexible, generous producers that gave me everything to fulfill the vision I had.”

DENIS VILLENEUVE

throughout development, mostly with Levine during the shoot, then more with Levy in postproduction.

“It was like a kind of relay. They pass each other the baton,” Villeneuve says.

“They were very open-minded, flexible, generous producers that gave me everything to fulfill the vision I had.”

The pitch that no one wanted based on a sci-fi story that felt cinematically improbable that became a movie directed by a filmmaker with no sci-fi experience premiered to standing ovations at the 2016 Venice Film Festival, opening the way for Villeneuve to confidently conquer sci-fi blockbuster territory with Blade Runner 2049 and Dune.

But that wasn’t the only thing that 21 Laps had to celebrate in 2016.

First, some backstory: 21 Laps launched as a company in 2005. The Dans joined the team within a week of each other in 2010. Levine had shepherded the likes of Cloverfield, Fight Club and LA Confidential at Paramount and New Regency while Cohen was a creative exec at Sidney Kimmel Entertainment. As of 2016, 21 Laps’ credits included Reel Steel, Date Night, The Spectacular Now, the Night at the Museum franchise and many more—successes all, but all feature films. The company had never traversed TV territory.

That is, until the day they decided to produce a series that had been passed on by others. The writerdirectors of the series were a pair of brothers who’d done a few shorts, one feature, and a handful of TV episodes, but had never run a show. Who was going to bet on them, much less on a kid-led series that wasn’t kid-friendly?

21 Laps, that’s who.

Matt and Ross Duffer may have been taking a risk as well, putting their baby into the hands of a company with no TV experience, but they trusted their collective gut. “It was very clear to us that they completely

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“A MASTERFUL REALITY SERIES.”

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A RELAY RACE TO THE TOP

understood our Couple starring vision, but just Nicole Kidman as importantly, and Liev they weren’t Schreiber, at all afraid features like The of our lack of Adam Project, experience,” they and, of course, recall. “Unlike Stranger Things. other production “We both companies, 21 have the same Laps supported end goal. We us as both want to make showrunners something great and directors.” that audiences Throughout love,” Bajaria the crash says. “Because course in TV they really production, care about the Denis Villeneuve, Dan Levine, Dan Cohen, the Duffers creative aspects Eric Heisserer and Ted Chiang on set of Arrival. relied on Levy and are very to help them navigate studio politics, growing budgets, detail-oriented doing the work, they’ve attracted top talent unexpected success, and Hollywood in general while in front of and behind the camera. They have a strong connecting the brothers with invaluable collaborators sense of material and create a supportive environment for including editor Dean Zimmerman, postproduction talent and creatives. If you think about being that prolific supervisor Rand Geiger, sound designer Craig Henighan in TV and film, it’s a hard thing to actually do and to do it and colorist Skip Kimball. “The show would simply not be so well.” what it is without them,” the brothers say.

At press time, 21 Laps had kicked off production on the Stranger Things debuted on Netflix on July 15, 2016. Six final season of Stranger Things, was filming the Netflix weeks later, Cohen, Levine and Levy posed for that photo documentary Extraterrestrial, and had just wrapped on a sunny Colorado day, a critically acclaimed film in production on both Deadpool 3 and Perfect Couple. To one hand, a boundary-busting TV series in the other. Each juggle it all, the division of labor among the company’s represented a new genre for the company, and neither was three principals isn’t as separate as one might presume. directed by Levy—who up till then had been the company’s “It doesn’t really matter to us who’s the point person brand, for all intents and purposes. Things looked good. on which. The way we collaborate is constantly shifting,” But would it last?

Levy says. For example: Levine and Levy were in Budapest Fast-forward to 2024. The company’s limited series and France shooting All the Light while Cohen was in New adaptation of All the Light We Cannot See debuted to big Orleans shooting Boogeyman, and all three were working from numbers on Netflix and has garnered a slew of top award wherever they were on the development of Never Let Go. nominations. But the road to such accolades was bumpy.

“We always joke that our dream scenario is for nobody Everyone at 21 Laps had fallen in love with Anthony to be in the office because everyone’s on set, in the edit Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, but the screen rights room, or on the scoring stage, doing what we love, which were tied up for years. Yet again, 21 Laps kept the fires of is making things,” Levy adds. passion and persistence burning. When the rights became The office is filled with talented Lapsters aplenty. available, it was mostly because other companies were Development coordinator Max Gains connected with 21 convinced that the book could never be a film. 21 Laps Laps when he was an assistant at Paramount. There he won by pitching the adaptation as a limited series. Their worked closely with Cohen and 21 Laps’ senior VP of film TV prowess was almost unquestionable at this point, and and TV, Becca Edelman, on the film Love and Monsters.

Netflix was on board as an enthusiastic partner.

“I knew they were great at their jobs and did the nittyBela Bajaria, chief content officer at Netflix, is proud gritty work,” Gains says. “Dan Cohen was always looking of the diversity of projects they’ve produced with 21 for ways to push the ball down the field. He never cared Laps, from All the Light to Unsolved Mysteries to the about the optics, and at the end of the day always did forthcoming Susanne Bier-directed limited series Perfect what was best for the movie.”

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Edelman joined the team in 2017 as a “baby creative executive,“ coming up from being an assistant. “I had everything to learn. Shawn, Dan, Dan, and Emily (Morris) showed me the ropes inch by inch, meeting by meeting, project by project,” says Edelman, basking in the glow of having wrapped Perfect Couple. “My North Star has evolved to be crafting content that is smart but also fun and accessible.”

Emily Morris started as Levine’s assistant and is now executive vice president of film and television. “21 Laps has always been the place to find unique ways into human stories, whether it’s sci-fi or romantic comedy or horror or adventure. I’ve been empowered along the way to take risks and fight for the stories I believe in, and the way the entire team supports each other has really facilitated that,” Morris says.

Director of development Moera Ainai arrived at 21 Laps as an assistant in 2019, fresh out of the agency world. “I honestly still didn’t know exactly what a producer’s job entailed,” she says. “I fell in love with how close to the creative you are in every

step of this job, from a kernel of an idea through development and production all the way through release.”

Cohen’s assistant Jacquelina Rosso relishes that 21 Laps assistants get to do first passes on notes, flag new talent, hunt down intel and even bring in projects of their own. It’s all been invaluable for a budding producer like her. “The access and visibility that my boss and coworkers have provided me has been the ultimate master class in producing,” Rosso says.

Years ago, during a panel discussion about Arrival just after its release, Levine said, “Sometimes producing is sticking your face in the fan blade.” He shies away from the gruesome metaphor now, but the sentiment remains the same: putting it all on the line and never turning away from how hard it might get to get your babies on screen.

Thirteen years into their partnership, Cohen, Levine and Levy show no signs of stopping.

We caught up with the 21 Laps principals to pick their brains and explore their unique chemistry.

Q+ A HOW HAVE YOU FOUND THE RIGHT PEOPLE FOR THE 21 LAPS TEAM? Dan Cohen: Everyone contributes in a different way, but the alchemy is positive and humanist, and the things we make reflect that. Culturally, we’re in a place of trusting and helping one another and going from there.

ing, I’m feeling something in that actor that tells me they have something I want that is singular to them. That’s how we hire not only our executives, but our assistants. We hire assistants not because we think they’ll be great at assisting, but also because we think they’re going to make great future junior executives.

Shawn Levy: Everybody at 21 Laps reads.

Everybody at 21 Laps does notes. And no one opinion is inherently more valuable than anyone else’s. We don’t need shared taste. We need shared values, shared emotionality and shared work ethic. So we interview a lot of people and interview them rigorously.

It’s a little bit like casting. When I’m direct-

Dan Levine: When I was brought in to run the company, I thought, “I’m going to put my stamp on this company and mold it.” Then I found out Shawn had hired this young CE a week before me, and I was privately annoyed.

I was like, “Couldn’t I have hired that person?

Who is this person?” I have to give Shawn a lot of credit for that because Dan became my

44 producersguild.org | PRODUCED BY

The 21 Laps team at their West Hollywood office.

A RELAY RACE TO THE TOP

“So many people work at companies where the presumption is you serve the boss, you’re invisible, and you should be content with that invisibility. But if you work on something here, I see you and I’m going to reward you. I’m going to share it with the world.” S H AW N L E V Y

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soulmate. We have the exact same taste in movies. We share that love of the game.

Cohen: I’ve never worked for a studio, but Dan worked on Fight Club and LA Confidential and Heat at Regency and on amazing movies at Paramount. His studio experience has been such a resource for me, let alone just being someone who’s still as passionate day-to-day as he is. It’s shown me that passion is a weapon. Passion’s a tiebreaker.

The journey is long. You want to bring on someone who’s great and who shares the passion and sees the endgame.

Then the family grows and grows.

Another key for me has always been, who is your day-today studio executive? Because that person is going to fight battles for you on behalf of the movie that you never see, the way that we fight battles every day on behalf of the creative and the creator.

Levy: We don’t view the studio or the network as the enemy.

We recognize that it only gets made through collaboration with the people who represent the money, and it is a privilege for someone to give you money to make something that you love. We don’t forget that. We adopt the collaborative stance, not an antagonistic stance.

WHAT QUALITIES ARE KEY TO THE PROJECTS THAT 21 LAPS IS LOOKING FOR, WHETHER FILM OR TV? Cohen: I’m always attracted to what we don’t have or what we aren’t doing. During what I’ll call the dark years of Trump and COVID, I was obsessed with finding inspirational true stories as an antidote to what was the day-to-day.

It brought us into sports and music and legal trials and the Civil War—stories that made me ask, “Why wasn’t this in our high school history books?”

We also talk a lot about the erotic thriller or these ’90s dramedies that don’t exist anymore. We’re always trying to find big tentpole stuff or midbudget genre films that can overperform and attract top talent, but we’re also always attracted to “the other.” I’m on a never-ending quest to find the exact intersection of something commercial but truly unique and independent.

Levy: We’re working on Deadpool 3 and Stranger Things, and we’re developing Star Wars together with Lucasfilm—all global-scale IP. But 21 Laps was built on original storytelling. There was nothing on paper that announced Stranger Things as a hit. Same thing with Free Guy, Night at the Museum, Adam Project, or smaller movies like Spectacular Now. While it’s fun to play in the sandbox of IP, we’re never gonna stop chasing new voices, new filmmakers and great material, even if it doesn’t make sense on paper.

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We’re going to pursue passion, not calculus.

The humanism of the stories is a North Star principle. It can be genre, it can be comedy, it can be drama, it can be a television film. We work for theatrical studios, and we work for streamers. We make television and movies, and we love the gamut of storytelling. But we’re always looking for that resonant humanistic theme at the center. That, if anything, is the unifying trait of all 21 Laps stories.

ARE THERE SIMILARITIES TO THE WAYS YOU DEVELOP AND PRODUCE FILM AND TV PROJECTS? HOW DO YOU NAVIGATE EACH FORMAT? Levy: We love the cohesion of our film and television departments. Everybody at 21 Laps is allowed and encouraged to work on everything.

Levine: They’re basically long stories and short stories. They feel the same to us when we’re making them. I remember on the set of All the Light We Cannot See, we kept saying, “the movie, the movie, the movie,” and had to remember that it was a limited series. But it doesn’t matter. In terms of the lessons we’ve learned, they’re the same. It’s just how do you tell a story with how much runway you have.

Levy: When we get books, scripts, articles, ideas or pitches, we gut check: What is the narrative arc that this idea wants?

If it’s TV development, so be it; or movies, so be it. It goes back to where we started: We are betting on talent that we love and believe in regardless of format.

Like every producer reading this article, our dream is to have a director or showrunner who helps us sleep well at night, who does their job so well that we are there to support and be additive, not to be a crisis solver.

HOW DOES FINANCING IMPACT THE DECISIONS YOU MAKE, WHETHER IT’S A FILM OR TV PROJECT? Levy: We like being fiscally responsible. We don’t forget that it’s a privilege to get someone else’s money to do a thing we love.

Cohen: It never doesn’t feel like a miracle when it happens.

Each time I’m like, “Holy shit, this happened, we got it there.”

Levine: I don’t think we have ever gone over budget. In fact, it drives you crazy when you have money left over.

Levy: That’s both obnoxious but true to admit. We promptly funnel all those savings into the effects and music.

Levine: Line producers are trained to squirrel away some

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A RELAY RACE TO THE TOP

money, but I always give them a speech: “I don’t want to find out that you saved us a million for post. I don’t want it for post. Give the director those extra days they’ve been asking for.”

Levine: We work with a lot of new filmmakers, and Shawn loves mentoring them and getting them together to teach them some key things before they head out to production.

That’s an incredible resource to have and the directors love it.

Levy: At the end of the day, we will always have been a director-founded company. We love and empower directors.

Whether they’re big-time veterans or first-timers, we’re going to protect the sanctity of the director. So arming them with the resources they need is really important to us.

HOW ARE YOU ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF MENTORSHIP FOR NEW PRODUCERS? Levine: There’s certainly no industry-wide, systematic apprenticeship for creative producers. You’re really thrown in the deep end.

Shawn Levy with Matt and Ross Duffer on the set of Stranger Things.

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Levy: It’s why we have an ongoing internship program here at 21 Labs. It’s why we all take every opportunity to speak at our alma maters or film schools that we didn’t go to.

Levine: And have our assistants come to set and watch. I remember being an exec and not being invited to set, let alone being an assistant invited to set. We love to pass the baton and get all our rising execs on set. The more we can hand off to them and watch them grow is a dream for us.

Cohen: We brought my amazing assistant Jacquelina to Vancouver when we were making a Lionsgate movie.

She’s setting a million meetings and reading all these drafts and watching the dailies. But to then come on our stages and watch, ask questions, meet people, and be given that immediate context that frankly I didn’t get until I was almost 30 on the set of Spectacular Now—I could see the impact it had on her.

Levy: I think people blossom quickly here because everyone is invited in on every conversation. You want to read the script that your colleagues are talking about? Read it, talk about it, share your voice and your opinion.

I’ve always believed if you hunt and gather, guess what—I’m going to happily give you money and credit. So many people work at companies where the presumption is you serve the boss, you’re invisible, and you should be content with that invisibility. But if you work on something here, I see you and I’m going to reward you. I’m going to share it with the world.

Cohen: I think most people in Shawn’s position as a director of a company are either overly involved or nonexistent. Shawn will get in the weeds and help us. He’s always there to read a draft, watch a cut, see the table read, or watch dailies, especially early on in case there’s something amiss. But he also gives us the autonomy to grow and run something. From that comes true partnership and trust.

Levine: Somehow, producing is the least glamorous job of them all. You sort of get lost in the mix, yet we’re the ones that are on it from beginning to end, whether it’s five, seven, 10 or 11 years. There’s not a lot of glory to it sometimes.

Levy: And because you’re very often the one receiving the least attention and glory, you goddamn better well love it. Lucky for us, we do.

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THE COMPANY IS SUCCESSFUL. YOU’RE IN HIGH DEMAND. IS IT EASIER TO TAKE RISKS? Levine: I don’t think it’s easier. If we’re really passionate about something that people don’t see as the current trend they’re looking for, we can push things through.

But I think we’re in a time more than ever when IP rules all. It’s always a balance of giving the studios and streamers what they need, but sliding in some of the ones we think they’re gonna want in three to five years.

Having done that successfully several times now, people trust us more. But we don’t abuse that trust.

Cohen: It might be easier for us to get a property we want than it was several years ago. But it’s harder to get it made than it was then in terms of the output of the industry. It’s getting more risk-averse than before even though there’s more and more opportunity with different ways to go—like you can make a miniseries out of something that would have been a movie before.

We only want to take on stuff that we really think that we can make. It’s five years of work to get it made and another year-plus to go into production and then post to see the release. I always ask, “Do I want to spend five to 10 years getting this made? And if it’s a show, do I want to spend five to 10 years making it a success?” We want to be sure we love it before we step in.

Levy: It’s an interesting dichotomy that there’s this proliferation of supposed content needs, yet it is increasingly hard to get a green light on something original and deemed risky. And yet without taking those big swings, the industry will become less interesting and will therefore eventually wither. I don’t know the solution to that, other than every time we are able to make a Free Guy or an Adam Project or a Stranger Things—huge hits with original storytelling—it hopefully reaffirms the possibility of that. But there’s no question that it is increasingly hard to get shows and movies based on nothing but new ideas. What is the solution? Sheer tenacity.

Cohen: When something original and unique doesn’t work, that core genre is penalized. I feel like it’s obvious that audiences want to look at a trailer or a poster and say, “I’ve never seen anything like that before.” I don’t know why there isn’t an appetite from anyone besides storytellers for that.

Levine: But it’s also a big opportunity. When everyone’s looking one way, we have dared to look the other.

No one was looking for emotional sci-fi and yet with Stranger Things and Arrival suddenly that became a

A RELAY RACE TO THE TOP

big genre. I don’t think there’s a solve other than to deliver hits to our studios, the streamers, the people that pay us to deliver hits for them. We would love a big piece of IP to land in our lap. But also, our job is when no one’s thinking of a type of story that’s gone neglected, let’s bring it back, or do something no one’s thinking of.

Levy: The way the company is flourishing is exactly what we dreamed of a decade-plus ago. We’ve done it largely by just coming to work every day— not looking for the “attaboys!” No one ever gifted us IP; no one ever handed us anything. We’re just going to do it step by step, show by show, movie by movie. ¢

PHOTO BY TRACEY DURNING

Dan Cohen, Dan Levine and Shawn Levy at the 2016 Telluride Film Festival.

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ANATOMY OF A

SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION Clear discourse from the outset is critical, but only by translating discussions into direct positive action can a production be considered sustainable. Here’s how Max did it for for True Detective: Night Country .

Written by Lisa Y. Garibay

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COURTESY OF HBO

True Detective: Night Country costars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis.

housands of metric tons of carbon emissions. More than 150,000 single-use plastic bottles. 4,000 gallons of gasoline.

Literal tons of waste in landfills.

This is what HBO’s much-anticipated True Detective: Night Country saved with its commitment to sustainable production practices.

These staggering results (among many more) started with one critical factor emphasized over and over by showrunner Issa López, executive producer Mari Jo Winkler, and Heidi Kindberg, vice president of sustainability for HBO and Max: communication.

True Detective: Night Country earned an EMA Gold Seal with a whopping 186 points (only 125 are required). Bestowed by the Environmental Media Association, the seal honors progress in sustainable production for movies, television shows (animated and live action), filmed commercials and print advertising.

To get there, the production followed a clear path that considers sustainability throughout the entire process, from script development through distribution. In early prep, the physical production effort is addressed before buying and building starts and before vendor agreements are made—so decisions are made looking through a green lens. That continues through post to premieres and distribution.

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STARTING WITH STORY

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Showrunner Issa López and executive producer Mari Jo Winkler on the set of True Detective: Night Country.

PHOTO BY RICHARD GRAYSMARK

For the fourth season of the popular True Detective anthology series, showrunner Issa López pitched a different type of narrative compared to previous seasons.

Set in the High Arctic, two female detectives investigate the disappearance of scientists from a research facility that has been collecting, among other data, evidence of toxic pollution from a local mine. A cold case of a missing woman from the local Iñupiaq indigenous community may or may not be linked.

“The moment I realized where it was going to take place, I knew it was going to be related to the environment,” López says. “There was going to be an Arctic research station, and if you have Arctic research, they are always looking into climate change.”

Through her research, López discovered that life in northwest Alaska is entwined with mining companies that have both positive economic and negative environmental impacts on the region. “There was no way to tell this story in the Arctic with honesty without talking about these themes.

So, I went all in with it.”

López credits Winkler with keeping her honest about the story she was telling and with the way that story was being told. “There’s a direct correlation between the criticism we’re doing of the ways of the world we live in and the way that we did the show,” López says.

“We executed the show as an experiment in low impact. Even in extreme conditions, we could take the impact back toward zero.”

HBO, which has historically been one of the main drivers of sustainable production among studios, also went all in. “Climate storytelling, climate representation, and sustainable behavior modeling on screen are all important aspects of responsible storytelling,” Kindberg says.

Every Max and HBO scripted original is guided by Kindberg’s team to adhere to green policies outlined in six robust impact categories, with detailed sugges-

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Battery-powered generators on location for True Detective: Night Country.

tions and requirements that all shows under the banner are asked to adhere or aspire to.

Winkler’s background provided a substantial benefit to that commitment.

She began greening film sets in 2003 and cofounded PGA Green in 2007 and the Green Production Guide (GPG) in 2010. The GPG was established in 2010 in a joint effort between the Producers Guild of America Foundation’s green committee and a major studios partner group, now known as the Sustainable Production Alliance (SPA).

When she was producing the series Vinyl in 2015, Winkler guided HBO to formalize its production sustainability efforts.

“Mari Jo came in with really high expectations and welcomed the HBO Green program from the beginning. She set the tone and supported all the efforts both practically and financially throughout the whole shoot,” Kindberg says.

FINDING GREEN BANDWIDTH When you are already working hard to cover the enormous range of needs and expenses for a production, how can you find the bandwidth to green that production on top of it all?

“You surround yourself with people whose mission is specifically the care of

the environment,” López says. “It’s not about keeping someone in the shadows of the production office. It’s having meetings and making their mission part of what we’re doing.”

The day-to-day collaboration between Winkler and Kindberg was critical to the results achieved by True Detective: Night Country. Early planning made all the difference. That plan followed steps that Kindberg’s office applies to every HBO project.

“Just like production in and of itself, the earlier it starts and the more prep there is, the easier it is,” Kindberg says.

“If A is more sustainable than B, and you make that choice in the beginning, then it’s no more difficult than having made the traditional B choice. You’re just choosing the more sustainable option.”

CONNECTIONS Once a show opens its production office, Kindberg initially connects with key personnel such as high-level producers, the line producer, production manager, coordinator and accounting representatives. A detailed conversation ensues to understand the show’s premise, shooting locations and relevant parameters. For True Detective: Night Country, Winkler discussed sustainability with the heads of department to set the

stage, after which Kindberg’s team took over with the details.

Then a designated main contact is determined, whether it’s someone experienced in sustainable production or someone new to the role. Kindberg’s team conducts comprehensive training, not just on the principles of sustainability, but also on practical tools. These include tracking the carbon footprint using resources from the GPG, a tool kit that any producer can access at greenproductionguide.com. The landscape of sustainable technology evolves rapidly, bringing new opportunities to utilize clean power.

It’s up to the producers to get the sustainability plan back to their production and implement it on site. “We work closely with them to make sure they have the resources they need and to troubleshoot together,” Kindberg says. Though different companies may approach this differently, the common goal is to work toward emission reduction, decarbonization and effective waste management.

Every department should feel empowered to ask how their role can approach sustainability. It starts the minute they have their team assembled. “When you have your DP on, it’s a conversation with them about lighting

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ANATOMY OF A SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION

On location in Iceland for True Detective: Night Country.

instruments. It’s a conversation with their crew about a power plan and right-sizing your generators and looking at efficient lighting,” Winkler says.

“It’s really a dream when a producer like Mari Jo reaches out to us before we get to them because it means either they’re expecting sustainable production requirements and they want to include them from the start, or they’re interested in doing it as much as they can to lessen their impacts—or, best—both,” Kindberg says.

This scenario is becoming more common, with the first call no longer catching anyone off guard. “But if you’re uncertain about whom to contact or if no one has initiated contact for your show, inquire with your production executive about their corporate production sustainability person,” Kindberg advises. Major studios and streamers typically offer robust programs, and all GPG and Sustainable Production Alliance members have representatives actively addressing sustainability efforts.

While evaluating potential shooting locations for True Detective: Night Country, clean energy availability became a significant factor. Time constraints ruled out the option to shoot on a volume stage for reduced carbon emissions.

The show’s setup didn’t align with the longer development required for that approach.

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“Issa crafted this piece for the High Arctic of Alaska without ever setting foot there. So the first thing we did was scout in March 2022,” Winkler says.

“We went to Nome and then Kotzebue, which is 29 miles above the Arctic Circle, where the entire place was frozen at minus 22 degrees. It was obviously not hospitable for large-scale production.”

Nonetheless, the scout proved invaluable in shaping the vision of the show. López, Winkler and their team were hosted by an Iñupiaq family, and

COURTESY OF HBO

LOCATION, LOCATION

ANATOMY OF A SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION

they met even more locals along the way.

Although additional locations were considered, Iceland’s landscapes and infrastructure made it optimal for the needs of True Detective: Night Country. A 35% tax credit sweetened the deal.

The production team carefully balanced location shooting with stage production and the impact of building sets for the show’s Arctic research facility and several characters’ homes. Iceland relies on 100% clean energy for its electricity, with 63% being geothermal and the remainder hydroelectric. This fact further enhanced the appeal of Iceland as a filming location.

DATA TO INFORM AND INSPIRE

Left and above: Waste management—including recycling and compost—and charging/coffee/water stations on location during the production of True Detective: Night Country.

EV charging stations at the production facility.

Once the crucial decision to film in Iceland was made, it was time to put all other efforts into practice.

A sustainable production isn’t a one-time proclamation; it requires consistent reminders and active engagement throughout the project. Regular updates provided to cast and crew during the shoot fostered excitement and built a sense of community on set.

“I knew we were doing well with sustainability, but I didn’t really connect the dots until I started to see the data and the stats,” Winkler says. “Once you measure it, it’s easier to manage it. And every time you measure, you realize how you could do better.”

Instead of traditional stages, Iceland offered warehouses and a few newly developed stage spaces—all of which operated, of course, entirely on clean energy. Consequently, indoor sets were constructed and shot without using fossil fuels, because the entire base camp was connected to the clean energy grid. Approximately 76% of its energy came from clean sources, while 24% came from fossil fuels. That was in part because nighttime exterior shoots in the cold tundra necessitated the use of diesel-burning generators.

However, the production piloted an emissions-free, battery-powered generator—referred to as “the benerator”—to offset some of the fossil fuel usage.

Renting 40 electric and hybrid vehicles saved 15,000 liters of gas, thanks to widespread availability of charging stations. An analysis conducted by Kindberg indicated that shooting in other locations would have resulted in double or triple the carbon emissions factoring in considerations like flying in cast and crew.

For Winkler, it’s crucial to emphasize the importance of crafting a clean energy plan for productions and the need to transition away from fossil fuels. Fuel savings can often offset the cost of new green equipment. The film industry can play a pivotal role in promoting and investing in this green tech. The more people invest in it, the more the demand, the better the supply, and the lower the costs become.

“It’s a choice of how you prioritize how you spend the resources,” Winkler says. “It makes for a more positive experience for everyone. It’s remarkable how cast, crew and the people in neighborhoods where you’re filming feel about being on a clean set, not having diesel spewing or pollution spouting out. This has taught me to keep pushing and to keep addressing it with every film company, every director, showrunner and crew member.”

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ANATOMY OF A SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION

True Detective: Night Country employed Sustainable Film, a UK-based consulting firm that facilitated sourcing batteries and equipment from the UK. “One of the facilities managers in Iceland invested in the emissions-free generator. So we planted seeds for Iceland to move away even more from things that they might normally use fossil fuels for,” Winkler says.

“The best part, which always has to come first, is now their local producers and their local crew have put their hands on this technology and understand it,” Kindberg says, noting that one location production company has already stated they will apply the best practices taken from HBO’s green program into projects going forward.

The show purchased carbon offsets for emissions from physical production calculated using the Production Environmental Accounting Report (PEAR), which was created in partnership by the Sustainable Production Alliance and the Producers Guild. As a nod to the show’s setting, True Detective: Night Country contributed to the Alaska-based forest preservation project A Bearadise.

STAYING ON-MISSION Under Winkler’s guidance, HBO further elevated its commitment to sustainability by applying the same best practices and footprint tracking used in the production for its inaugural documented green premiere for True Detective: Night Country. The green premiere in LA featured a fully pescetarian and vegetarian menu, the elimination of diesel generators, electric vehicle transportation for talent, digital check-in, and composting.

“And it’s the first time that we’re officially tracking it all with the intention for these green practices to continue at every event going forward,” Kindberg says.

Iceland’s 100% clean power ticked an important box for the production. In Los Angeles, productions have access to renewable diesel that’s readily available at the pump for a price comparable to petroleum diesel. In early January,

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“IT MAKES FOR A MORE POSITIVE EXPERIENCE FOR EVERYONE. IT’S REMARKABLE HOW CAST, CREW AND THE PEOPLE IN NEIGHBORHOODS WHERE YOU’RE FILMING FEEL ABOUT BEING ON A CLEAN SET, NOT HAVING DIESEL SPEWING OR POLLUTION SPOUTING OUT.” New York City celebrated the grand opening of its first fuel station serving renewable diesel.

But productions shoot globally. In one location, it might be easy to get clean mobile tech, whereas in another, such tech is out of reach, but composting is accessible. Kindberg urges productions to take advantage of sustainability infrastructure that’s there, while working with the production’s sustainability exec to solve for what isn’t there.

“Every producer, director, line producer and production manager should be in contact with their directors of sustainability and then have a relationship with those people. I was talking to Heidi a lot. And if you want the utmost integrity, you have to staff it. You have to make room in your budget for that,” Winkler says.

Winkler cites the precedent of COVID to demonstrate how budgets can be adjusted to foster sustainability practices. During the pandemic, budgets were

tweaked to allow for personal protective equipment, consultants, testing and more to get a production back on its feet. Winkler suggests that the same could be done to ensure sustainability given that the global climate crisis may endanger our industry.

“It makes an incredible difference to have support from the top down, both from Issa and Mari Jo as well as the support that we get inside HBO and Max to have our shows go through this program. Without that top-down support, it’s a lot more of a hustle and a struggle,” Kindberg says. “Our goal is ultimately to have production and sustainable production be synonymous, and with the help of sustainability-oriented producers, we can do that.”

“Discourse has to be joined with action or it is nothing, and it disappears into the air,” says López. “It’s the only way to sleep at night. Anything else is just for your image and profoundly dishonest.” ¢

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PRODUCING & PROTECTING

Veteran documentary producers talk about the critical importance of ensuring the safety of their films’ subjects—many of whom may be risking their lives to have their stories told.

Written by Paula Bernstein

F

rom violent cults and drug cartels to repressive regimes, serial killers, and political persecution, the most sensitive topics often make the most compelling documentaries. They can also be potentially dangerous for documentary subjects (also referred to as participants), who could be facing jail time, physical threats, exile from their communities, or worse just for sharing their stories.

Veteran documentary producers and PGA members Cassidy Arkin, Tracy Droz Tragos, Howard Gertler and Geralyn Dreyfous have all navigated these treacherous waters and have invaluable advice to share. They all agree that the risks posed to documentary subjects need to be taken seriously.

“On one film I worked on, there was a subject who had numerous assassination attempts against his life. Another time, a subject needed protection from Homeland Security,” says Dreyfous, producer and cofounder of Impact Partners. Her credits include The Hunting Ground, Navalny, The Square, and more recently, Beyond Utopia, the story of several families struggling to flee oppression in North Korea.

At the beginning of Beyond Utopia, which recently premiered on PBS’s Independent Lens, the titles advise viewers: “Some details pertaining to the escapees have been disguised to protect those involved.” The film features the daring escape of some of the last known defectors from North Korea aided by an “underground railroad” type network, with footage shot by the subjects who, using smuggled flip phones, furtively chronicled their 6,000-mile trip to South Korea through China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.

“Sometimes we can’t even meet our subjects because it’s too dangerous. There have been cases where our production has been approached by government agencies saying this is a person of interest and we think they need more protection,” says Dreyfous.

“I’ve learned to really trust when somebody says this person’s security is at risk. You’ve got to take that very seriously.”

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Support Safe Production with Free Training + Legal Services The PGA’s Independent Production Safety Initiative (IPSI) offers free on-set training and legal services in support of safe, harassment-free indie productions.

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Geralyn Dreyfous (far right) with fellow producers and directors of The Vow.

COURTESY OF STORY SYNDICATE

COURTESY OF GERALYN DREYFOUS

PRODUCING AND PROTECTING

Howard Gertler and director Anthony Caronna on Last Call.

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COURTESY OF DINKY PICTURES

A still from Tracy Droz Tragos’ film Rich Hill.

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Center left to right: Tragos with DP Kamau Bilal during production on Abortion: Stories Women Tell. A still from the same film. Don Droz— Tracy Droz Tragos’ late father—holding Tracy in Be Good, Smile Pretty.

Right: The Roh family listens to their guide’s final instructions for their journey in Beyond Utopia.

When protecting sources can mean life or death, what do documentary producers need to know in order to keep their film subjects safe? It’s not only a question of physical safety in dangerous situations, but also emotional security for anyone sharing their story. How do producers ensure their film subjects’ safety throughout the production and beyond?

ESTABLISHING PROTOCOLS Producers must communicate potential risks to subjects early on and be proactive about safety and security.

“There are a lot of standard security protocols that have to be es-

tablished and negotiated with the subjects and the film team. The film team has to adjust as circumstances change,” says Dreyfous.

The catch is that every geopolitical situation is different. And even a strong-willed producer is helpless against a brutal dictator or a revolutionary army, for example. Crossing into war zones or even borders can pose risks that need to be considered. The truth is that there are some situations in which the safety of documentary subjects cannot be guaranteed. In those cases, they should know exactly what they’re facing even before the cameras start rolling.

Even less far-flung, dramatic situations can be potentially treacherous, and producers need to keep the inherent risk to their

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PRODUCING AND PROTECTING

subjects in mind. “When you’re entering someone’s home and they’re revealing things that could put them at risk or retraumatize them, expectations with the team need to be set in advance,” says Tragos.

When Tragos set out to document the work of abortion activists and providers who mail abortion pills in her film Plan C, Roe v. Wade was still in place. Still, she knew that given the hot-button topic the project would be a risky endeavor. That possibility became even stronger during production when Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, and reproductive rights across the United States became increasingly criminalized.

Tragos, whose credits include the Sundance-winning Rich Hill and the Independent Lens documentary Be Good, Smile Pretty, was clear with subjects about the potential risks. “Early on, I had conversations with participants about where the film might end up, who might see it and how it might be received,” says Tragos. “Nobody said, ‘Oh, never mind, I can’t be in this film. Don’t include me.’”

It helped that the filmmaker had already negotiated similarly sensitive issues on previous projects, including Abortion: Stories Women Tell, which she directed and produced for HBO in 2017.

“It was something that we navigated together, but there was a lot of trust built into the fact that I was not going to reveal something that would jeopardize the work (of the activists). I only did things that were aligned with what the activists who appeared in the film wanted,” says Tragos, who made sure to obscure all locations in the film.

DIGITAL SECURITY Given that the activists themselves were potentially risking jail time, Tragos prioritized their safety and security. When producing a film under threat of prosecution or other potentially dangerous situations, Tragos says it’s a must to communicate via an encrypted messaging service such as Signal.

The Plan C website lists other digital security tips, such as using an encrypted email provider (like Proton Mail), a privacy-enabled search engine (like DuckDuckGo) and a virtual private network (VPN) that will hide your device’s IP address even if you’re using public or shared Wi-Fi. Some safety and security precautions are as simple as turning off location services on your phone to avoid sharing your physical location, or turning off your phone entirely.

“Sometimes we would only say things when we were in person as opposed to emailing or calling,” says Tragos. Keeping the production footprint small also helps. Fewer people means fewer chances of a leak.

MENTAL HEALTH There’s digital security and then there’s emotional security.

How can producers ensure that they don’t retraumatize sub-

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jects who have been through an ordeal?

Dreyfous’ production company has taken on a number of documentaries involving sexual assault and rape in the military and on college campuses, such as The Hunting Ground and The Invisible War. “It is retriggering,” says Dreyfous, who is also executive producer of The Vow, the HBO documentary series about the NXIVM cult. For that series, “We had to have a deprogramming therapist on board. They knew to look for signs that we did not know about as filmmakers, questions that could be triggering,” she explains.

As co-creator-showrunner-executive producer of HBO’s 2023 four-part docuseries Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York, Gertler knew he didn’t want to retraumatize the queer community or any of the film’s participants, which included the victims’ loved ones.

“We had two broad parameters that we established with our incredible partners at HBO Documentaries: to tell the story in a way that wouldn’t retraumatize the victims’ loved ones, and in a way that wouldn’t traumatize the LGBTQ+ community largely,” says Gertler. “This meant using restraint around images of violence related to the killer’s crimes. We also did not want to flinch from the difficult but meaningful conversations in the show around the nature of anti-queer violence and the activist and community response, so it was a complicated needle to thread.”

It helped, says Gertler, that Story Syndicate, the production company behind Last Call, had already developed best practices to reassure subjects that they would be treated with respect and sensitivity. These were devised for their six-part 2020 HBO documentary series, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, about the late author Michelle McNamara’s search for the Golden State Killer.

Gertler explains, “For all subjects whom we approached for interviews, we were clear with our intentions with the show. For those who elected to participate, we discussed the topics that we would cover in the interviews in advance, and let them know that they would be empowered in these filmed conversations to pass on a question, to circle back to a question, and so on.”

Unlike on a typical production where producers are focused on what they “need” from the interview subjects, in the case of Last Call, Gertler says, “We approached these interviews from the perspective of what the subjects needed from the process, and found that it created an atmosphere of both safety and candor that generated substantive, dynamic moments.

“When subjects are sharing painful or traumatic events from their lives on camera or in audio, they are exposing that part of themselves not only to a wide audience, but also to family, friends and colleagues with whom they may not have shared that part of their lives before,” says Gertler, whose credits include the documentaries How to Survive a Plague, Crip Camp, and All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. “So I think

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PRODUCING AND PROTECTING

we owe it to those subjects to bear in mind what the impact of their participation might be at every step of the way.”

THE OPT-OUT OPTION

COURTESY OF CASSIDY ARKIN

Even though documentary participants sign release forms consenting to participate in the film, consent isn’t a one-time decision. If a subject feels unsafe or unable to continue, they should feel free to withdraw their consent at any time.

Similarly, participants should have the option to stay anonymous through production and after the film is released.

“From the beginning of production, we continued to navigate these issues together,” says Tragos. “If we filmed someone full-faced and by the time the film was ready to come out, they changed their mind, we would figure out a way to work that out. We would blur their faces, destroy the footage,

This page, clockwise from above: Cassidy Arkin and her mother, Sandra Rogers-Hare, in 1980. Two-year-old Arkin (left, red shirt) in Synanon school in 1974; author-musician Mikel Jollett stands behind her. Arkin, Jalen Davidson, Rogers-Hare, Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir during the production of Born in Synanon.

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whatever we had to do to allow people who share their stories to feel safe.”

Similarly, Dreyfous says that she’s worked on projects where subjects, out of fear for their own safety or mental health, have decided they don’t want to participate. “Even if they already signed a life rights contract, you don’t want someone to live with intimidation or humiliation or to participate against their will. In some cases, like in the case of sexual assault on campus or in the military, people could lose their jobs or have to move out of town or worse.

These are real things, and I think any good filmmaker should put that first.”

Tragos made sure in Plan C that no one’s tattoos were visible, which could make the individual more identifiable. If someone’s eyes were shown on screen, the filmmakers wouldn’t show the bottom of their face, or they would disguise their voice. But Tragos notes that since

the film has been released, “People who were anonymous are feeling like they don’t need to be as anonymous, and they are now able to be more out there about their work, especially if they’re in a state that has a shield law.”

In the case of Beyond Utopia, getting consent was impossible until the film’s subjects escaped North Korea and were safe. Because the producers didn’t know how the story would end, nor if the subjects would consent, they edited two versions of the film. The production gave subjects the opportunity to change their minds at any time—right until the movie was released.

THE RIGHT PEOPLE Cassidy Arkin, executive producer and co-creator of the four-part Paramount+ docuseries Born in Synanon, which premiered in December 2023, was in

PRODUCING AND PROTECTING

the unusual situation of being both behind the camera and in front of it.

The docuseries was inspired by the book, Little Brown Girl, co-authored by Arkin and her mother, Sandra RogersHare, also an executive producer of Born in Synanon. The docuseries delves into the history of Synanon, an intentional community that started in 1958 as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center and devolved into a dangerous cult. Rogers-Hare was a member, and Arkin was born in Synanon. They left in 1980.

Arkin interviewed former Synanon members, many of whom are still dealing with the aftermath of their involvement in the cult. Many of the most shocking details hadn’t been publicly shared until now. It was an emotional experience for Arkin, Rogers-Hare and the former members of Synanon to grapple with some of the revelations.

“Sometimes I was just really worried about Cassidy,” says Rogers-Hare.

“She’s in interviewing mode, yet she’s also a subject in the film and she’s emotionally connected to the person she’s interviewing.”

As an experienced producer who had been developing the project for over 20 years, Arkin says she had a lot of time to build the right team to bring Born in Synanon to the screen. “My thing was very much about aligning myself with a production team that had integrity and morals and character. I knew that when I put my story into their hands I wouldn’t have to worry,” says Arkin, whose producing credits include the award-winning TV One docuseries Unsung, VH1 Hip Hop Honors, and CBS News’ Tulsa 1921: An American Tragedy.

“As a producer, your loyalty is your currency. We have to always protect our characters. We have to be the per-

son who will lose our job in order to tell the right story.”

Arkin adds that anyone who shared their story for Born in Synanon was offered therapy, including Arkin and her mother. “There were a couple of times where it was so intense for me that I thought I was going to go crazy. You can see it in the series,” Arkin says. Ultimately, having the right team in place— as well as a line-item in the budget for therapy—helped to keep Arkin and other participants steady.

Arkin has come to protect those who appear in her documentaries as if they were friends and family. “When they put their story in my hands, it’s not just for the lifetime of the production.

It’s forever.”

For participants who put their lives on the line to tell their story, their commitment to the project—and the risks involved—never ends. ¢

From left: DP Vas Sfinarolakis, Sandra RogersHare and Cassidy Arkin during production of Born in Synanon.

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RE A C E K A T WE RE AN C E K W A T O E R W OF OU OWN OF OUR

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HERALDING THE

FUTURE Experts in emerging media discuss the Guild’s focus on innovation and the PGA Innovation Award.

P

roducing has always been about innovation: finding, adapting to, and organizing ways and means to push media like television and film further with each generation.

In a dense and fast-paced landscape with new technological features and capabilities arriving daily, it’s important to acknowledge the producers who succeed at innovation. Hence the PGA Innovation Award, which both champions producers for their work, but also exemplifies to other producers what is possible and available to them.

Empowering members with opportunities to expand into new formats is a year-round commitment for the Guild. The annual Innovation Award is just one highly visible showcase of that commitment.

The Innovation Award was launched in 2019 to celebrate those who have made exceptional distinctiveness, inventiveness, and impacts in expanding the conventions of program format, content, audience interaction, production technique and delivery.

The inaugural award went to the team behind Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series – Episode 1.

1. 2021 winner BRCvr was created for the Burning Man community to connect when the in-person event was canceled in 2020. 2022’s honorees were the masterminds of the augmented reality app For All Mankind: Time Capsule.

Capsule. 2023 recipient Stay Alive, My Son excelled in creative storytelling.

“One of the beauties here is that truly independent creators are often up for and sometimes win this award,” says Joanna Popper, an executive producer and the former chief metaverse officer at talent agency CAA. Popper cochairs the 2024 Innovation Award jury with Chris Thomes, creative content officer for development at production company EYEdentity, and Eric Shamlin, executive vice president and global head of entertainment for the digital-first marketing and advertising company Media.Monks. The trio talked to Produced By about the meaning of innovation in media and how the Innovation Award has impact well beyond those who are nominated or win.

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WHY DOES IT MATTER THAT THE PGA PRESENTS THIS AWARD? Chris Thomes: With mass adoption of new technology and innovative technology and approaches, it is really important for the Guild to remain at the center of that conversation, to encourage the new frontier and ask, “What’s next?”

Eric Shamlin: All three of us have worked with the TV academy. Then there’s the Oscars and the Grammys and the various games guilds and organizations. What the PGA has is its cross media. The PGA’s Innovation Award is where the edgier cases or the hybrid projects get to be showcased.

With that, the boundaries on what can be considered innovative are thrown aside. We get to showcase things that don’t really have a home anywhere else because, you know, square peg, round hole. There aren’t many other high-profile awards or organizations showcasing and celebrating these kinds of projects.

WHAT QUALITIES SPEAK TO INNOVATION IN A PROJECT? Joanna Popper: We want to keep it really open in terms of what constitutes innovation. If people feel that they’re breaking new ground and charting new territories, we encourage them to jump in and submit. We’re all very accessible throughout the year to have conversations, answer questions and help guide. We talk a lot about how things that were considered emerging or innovative 10 years ago may have moved more into a traditional category.

So each year, new things can come into our category.

Shamlin: Innovation implies a bit of a time horizon, so you need to be vigilant about what’s new and what’s no longer new. Things mature, move on and become just part of the tool kit of media.

That’s part of the discussion we have in

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the jury room: Is this still innovative or have we seen too much of this? Is this now just part of the producer’s tool kit?

We generally look at overall production excellence—production value and quality—since these are largely interactive or immersive experiences.

We talk about functionality and ease of use, enhancement to the audience, and the level of interactivity, immersion, or engagement that is unique or pushing some boundaries. Next, overall innovation, and that can be in a number of vectors. Is it technically innovative? Or is it more innovative on an industry scale?

There’s also access. It has to be generally available. We like to shine a light on independent work or indie projects, but they still have to be made available through festivals or have an ability to tour so that a large portion of the public can see them.

another video game, it has to have its own story arc or experience. It doesn’t have to be scripted. It doesn’t have to be nonscripted. It can be a unique format. But it has to have a beginning, middle, and end type of experience, even if it’s not a traditional story arc—a feeling of completion so that when it’s experienced, there’s satisfaction in the viewer’s eyes.

THE TERM “CONTENT” IS VERY FAMILIAR TO US IN TRADITIONAL FILM AND TV FORMATS. HOW DOES IT CHANGE WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT MORE INNOVATIVE OR EXPERIENTIAL PIECES?

Popper: If you look at the types of projects that have been awarded and others that have been finalists, it ranges from what we consider AAA productions with ILM and Meta and groups like that to very, very indie projects. I would even venture to say that more of the entries are on the indie side. As in other parts of independent film, there’s creativity and ingenuity around how the projects are financed and how they’re brought together, as well as what ends up in the storytelling.

Popper: In some cases, what’s innovative is how the creation happens. In some cases, what’s innovative is how it’s distributed. And in some cases, what’s innovative is how the audience engages with the experience—when the role the audience plays within the story shifts. Some people call it story living instead of storytelling, because the audience lives inside that story. Again, since we have such different types of entries and such different types of projects, some of the innovation lives in those three buckets.

That can shift and change the relationship of the audience to the experience.

Thomes: In this space, there’s more flexibility. While a project can promote a larger intellectual property or a concept or a book, movie, or even

WHAT MYTHS ABOUT ACCESS NEED TO BE DISPELLED, WHETHER ONE IS EXPERIENCING OR CREATING THE EXPERIENCE? FOR EXAMPLE, THE BELIEF THAT SOMEONE CAN’T ACCESS INNOVATIVE CONTENT WITHOUT EXPENSIVE GADGETS, OR THAT IT’S TOO EXPENSIVE FOR A PRODUCER TO CREATE THIS TYPE OF EXPERIENCE.

Thomes: Access to technology comes up as well. I think next year with Apple Vision Pro, we’re going to see a lot of things in that category. We saw a lot of things with Oculus. What I’ve seen is companies pushing their product give funding to artists, and then those artists make content. So you’ll see these waves that follow product releases in the marketplace, where the funding and the marketing dollars are going.

These things aren’t funded traditionally.

They’re not deficit-financed, and they’re not put out by a studio, typically.

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Like Joanna’s saying, it’s a lot of independent things, so you’re going to see a lot of experimentation. And because of that, we have to be open-minded. We can’t really block things and say, ‘Well, not everybody has this headset, not everybody has access to Steam or uses Steam.’ As long as it’s publicly available, we make sure that we are broad and include as many things as we can.

Shamlin: It’s a variety of submissions from VR to location-based experiences.

The innovation is broad, the backgrounds of the submitters are quite broad, and so the judging criteria are necessarily broad. I think we’ve done well in recruiting juries, bringing broad backgrounds and diverse POVs to allow for really ripe discussion in the jury room.

HOW DO YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE VARIED BACKGROUNDS EACH JUROR BRINGS TO THE TABLE WHILE ALSO ESTABLISHING A COMMON GROUND ABOUT WHAT INNOVATION MEANS? Popper: This year, the jury includes emerging media pioneers, Oscarwinning filmmakers, distribution executives, top festival programmers, platform execs, and emerging tech and storytelling leaders. There’s a very strong global and international presence as well, a very diverse and inclusive group of people from all corners of the globe, which is really important both for making sure that we’re garnering the best entries from all around the globe and from many different disciplines, groups and backgrounds.

HOW DOES AN AWARD LIKE THIS OPEN DOORS FOR SEASONED PRODUCERS WHOSE EXPERIENCE IS ROOTED IN MORE TRADITIONAL FILM AND TV? WHAT SKILL SETS ARE UNIVERSAL FOR PRODUCERS

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ACROSS BOTH TRADITIONAL AND EMERGING MEDIA? Popper: Since the innovation and technology is new, everyone is kind of new in their career in this area, even if we are seasoned producers. So I wouldn’t phrase it as a contrast between people who are junior in their careers and people who are senior in their careers. I would say that because of what’s happening in the emerging or innovative side, there are more opportunities to jump in and leap forward because you’re more a part of the foundational building blocks of creating what this media is. It affords more opportunities for people who are learning this (field) to impact, create and build an industry.

You’re not talking about a medium that’s over a hundred years old where people have been deep in it for 40 years or more. When a field is fast-growing, it provides opportunities for people who jump into it to grow fast with the field and to impact the direction of the field.

Shamlin: This award has become a fairly high-profile event at the intersection of a few different industries. We’ve seen it creating a cohort of innovators that have started to be recognized in the community. So that’s where (the award) elevates you and gives you more opportunity. It creates a lot of conversation. And now, a few years in, we’re seeing those careers evolve.

For someone who works at the intersection of these mediums, it’s quite rewarding and fun to see some of these people that have now built careers that are very unconventional.

They aren’t your standard sort of TV or film producer careers. They live at that intersection, often doing TV or film, but also more interactive methods.

Some of them go into games, some of them go into emerging tech. It’s been fun to see how this (award) has been a force for good for building out careers or at least showcasing careers that many people weren’t even aware of just a few short years ago.

Popper: I think the PGA does a great job of highlighting people who are doing great work in this field with programming throughout the year.

Over the last two years I participated on panels that focused on really amazing work. This past year was with J. Miles Dale, who’s Guillermo del Toro’s producing partner, talking about the work they did for the Disney Animation Immersive Experience, which is similar to the immersive Van Gogh project. It’s huge-scale and broad and brought young audiences into that immersive experience. The PGA is committed to year-round programming that helps people continue to build their skill set and be aware of what work is out there they can learn from, and then think about what types of jobs and training are available in these new and growing fields.

Thomes: I think community is really at the heart of it for anyone who is seasoned in a different format. Being open and encouraging is really important. It can be intimidating for somebody to have to learn Unreal Engine 5 if it’s completely outside of their world.

Again, it goes back to the benefit of the Guild—a group of professionals who are all there to improve their careers and to tell better stories. When people reach out us, we want to make sure we’re really encouraging in how we talk about it so that they can learn from other producers, see the possibilities, and know they have access to resources.

If you see something that inspires you, the Guild provides the access and community to chase down how to do that and how to find people and ask for help so that you can pivot.

Shamlin: Being at the intersection of various communities or production industries—TV, film, interactive, games— what I’ve seen is that while there are a lot of new kids or people at the beginning of their career trying to figure it out, what I find very rewarding is people

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who are in more established careers now being able to dabble. I’ve talked to numerous people who have been producing TV and line producing for years, sometimes decades.

With the advent of this award, they’re seeing that there are other careers that match their skill sets.

Producing is largely around logistics, planning, and orchestration of a project.

And while Unreal Engine might be out of a producer’s grasp, the basic tool kits of planning and budgets and crewing up are still part of these new media projects. It dispels myths and gets rid of some fears about adopting these new technologies. They don’t need to be technology experts. They can still dabble—not just as a way to expand job opportunities, but to flex creative muscle.

Maybe they love technology, but they’ve just never been in a career that deploys it.

Then that opens up not just (different) project types, but employer types and whole new communities. Beyond the practical benefits of the award and the projects, I think that this sense of expanding their horizons is very real. ¢ Nominees for the 2024 PGA Innovation Award had not been announced at press time. To read about the nominated productions, visit producersguild. org/2024-innovationaward. A deep dive into the winning production and its producing team will appear in the next issue of Produced By.

THE 2024 PGA INNOVATION AWARD JURY Myriam Achard

Lady Pheønix

Chief, New Media Partnerships & PR PHI

Founder, Universe Contemporary Creator/Director/ Executive Producer, Breonna’s Garden

Jake Aust Chief Innovation Officer, AGBO Executive Producer, The Gray Man, The Electric State

Dana Belcastro Production Executive, Feature Films, AppleTV+ Former EVP, 20th Century Fox, Alcon Entertainment, Evergreen Films, New Line Cinema Coproducer, Blade Runner 2049, Walking with Dinosaurs

Eddie Chu Innovation Lead, Product & Design, Apple Emmy-winning multimedia artist, designer, and programmer, Westworld, Game of Thrones

J. Miles Dale Film/TV/Immersive Entertainment Producer, Demilo Films The Shape of Water, Immersive Disney Animation Experience

Malika Lim Eubank CEO, Hyper Rabbit Media Executive Producer, AMC Networks FearHQ Film Series Kollok

Blake Kammerdiener Senior Manager, Film & TV, XR Programming SXSW

Joanna Popper Senior Media & Technology Executive Prior roles at HP, NBCUniversal, and former Chief Metaverse Officer at CAA Finding Pandora X, Breonna’s Garden, Fight Back

Mária Rakušanová Director, Content Acquisitions and Partnerships, HTC VIVE Curator, Raindance Immersive Festival

Liz Rosenthal Curator, Venice Immersive, Venice International Film Festival Executive Producer & Founder, Power to the Pixel Executive Producer, Goliath: Playing With Reality, Soulpaint

Eric W. Shamlin EVP, Emerging Tech, Media.Monks Down to Earth, The Great C

Chris Thomes Chief Content & Creative Marketing Officer, EYEDentity Former VP of Creative Services & Strategy, Disney Television Studios

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H i r e

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IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF GIANTS

NORMALIZING THE NORMAL The George Sunga Award celebrates producers who create a more diverse and inclusive production landscape.

Written By Robert Baker

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Director and producer Davis Guggenheim accepts the 2024 PGA George Sunga Award for Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.

and the Centers for Disease Control estimates that the number is closer to one in four Americans. Representation creates an opportunity to bring fresh storylines to the screen and to tap new audiences.

Andrea Warren, a producer at Pixar, won the Producers Guild of America George Sunga Award in 2021 for the feature film Luca, about an unlikely friendship between a boy and a sea monster (disguised as a boy) on the Italian Riviera. Integral to the story was Massimo, a one-armed fisherman determined to slay a sea monster.

“We wanted Massimo to be just as strong as someone with two arms,” says Warren. “His missing an arm isn’t a big story. It just ‘is.’”

What was more, Massimo resonated with people. “I had the honor of going on the road with the director and speaking to media and fans,” says Warren. “There is nothing more rewarding than to hear from people that they related to a character in the film, and that happened quite a bit with Massimo.”

That gets back to the point of the George Sunga Award: to represent the disabled with integrity. Warren puts it best: “It’s about normalizing the normal.” ¢

COURTESY OF MEDIA ACCESS AWARDS

H

ollywood’s gradual progress in portraying diversity and depicting disabled characters can in part be attributed to the spirit of the Media Access Awards (MAA), which include the PGA award named for the late George Sunga. The awards were originally established in 1979 by Norman Lear and Fern Field to honor actors, writers, directors, casting directors and producers who strive to create accurate portrayals of people with disabilities. The PGA’s George Sunga Award specifically honors producers who personify that commitment.

Sunga, who passed away last November, was a Filipino American television producer who worked on a string of hit shows in the 1970s, including All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Three’s Company. Sunga was actively involved in the PGA for 20 years, serving on the board of directors and as founding chair of the Guild’s Diversity Committee. There he met Deborah Calla, who joined the committee in 2004.

“He really took me in,” says Calla, a producer and writer with a long history of social activism. “He was very generous and committed. Along with others, we helped found the PGA’s diversity workshop.”

Then in 2010, Calla was asked to produce the Media Access Awards. She figured it was a one-time gig, but the experience proved too powerful to just quit. Together with Allen Rucker, she continued producing the MAA year after year.

“When I became executive producer, I petitioned the Guild to name the award given to producers for George Sunga,” says Calla.

“I’m in his debt, and this was a small way of paying him back.”

To this day, the Producers Guild of America George Sunga Award honors a television, film or documentary producer who features disabled characters, performers and storylines in their work.

The MAA has come a long way since 2010. The ceremony is now televised on PBS. It has attracted major talent as hosts, including Millicent Simmonds, Lauren Ridloff, Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur and Jimmy Kimmell. Winners of the George Sunga Award include producers Betsy Beers, Bruce Cohen, Shonda Rhimes and 2023 recipient Davis Guggenheim for his work on Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.

All that visibility has had an impact. “I have had producers tell me that they are much more conscientious about including people with disabilities in their productions because of this award,” says Calla.

Visibility is especially important, given that more than 13% of Americans self-identify as having a disability, according to a recent Pew Center poll. That number is likely an undercount,