Produced By August | September 2016

NETFLIX FOR LATINOS? PONGALO TAKES SHAPE p. 50 PRODUCEDBY AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2016

PRODUCEDBY THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA // AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2016

BRUNA PAPANDREA

volume xii number 4

BRUNA

PAPANDREA

“Movies with women at the center have al­ways made money.

But the industry needs constant reminders of that.”

FABULOUS YOUNG CONFIDENT TITUSS BURGESS OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR COMEDY

F O R YO U R E M M Y ® C O N S I D E R AT I O N

PRODUCEDBY AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2016

PHOTOGRAPHED BY KREMER JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY

THE COVER: BRUNA PAPANDREA

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

30 THE COVER: BRUNA PAPANDREA

11 FROM THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Women’s stories are everyone’s stories. Time to bury the “chick flick.”

40 TOMORROW COMES TODAY Cross-platform innovator Charles Segars matches the message to the medium.

47 TIPPING POINT How recognizing changes in content consumption will future-proof your project.

50 CONTENT ES REY A pair of PGA members launch Pongalo to capture one of the world’s biggest underserved markets.

24

MENTORING MATTERS

“Get a job”?

Taking stock

26 13

RISK TAKERS Creative financing

14

SHORT TAKES

ON THE SCENE Setting the industry agenda at Produced By

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NEW MEMBERS

58

MEMBER BENEFITS

Franchise forecast

59

MARKING TIME

GOING GREEN

60

THE BEST ON-SET PHOTO OF ALL TIME

Popcorn fare

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ODD NUMBERS

The race is on.

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COMING ATTRACTIONS

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ABOVE & BEYOND Capital ideas

Third and long

COVER PHOTOGRAPHED

BY KREMER JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY

PRODUCED BY

3

2 EMMY NOMINATIONS ®

Outstanding Variety Talk Series Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series Dave Diomedi

17 EMMY NOMINATIONS ÂŽ

Outstanding Variety Sketch Series Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Kate McKinnon

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Tina Fey & Amy Poehler

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Melissa McCarthy

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Amy Schumer

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series Larry David

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

Outstanding Makeup for a Multi-Camera Series or Special (Non-Prosthetic)

Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series

Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Nonfiction, Reality or Reality-Competition Series

Tracy Morgan

Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series Don Roy King

Outstanding Costumes for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program Outstanding Hairstyling for a Multi-Camera Series or Special Outstanding Lighting Design/ Lighting Direction for a Variety Series

Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or Variety Program Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Series Outstanding Interactive Program

4 EMMY NoMiNatioNs ÂŽ

outstanding Comedy series outstanding Lead actor in a Comedy series Aziz Ansari

outstanding Writing for a Comedy series Aziz Ansari, Alan Yang

outstanding Directing for a Comedy series Aziz Ansari

4 EMMY NoMiNatioNs ÂŽ

outstanding Comedy series outstanding supporting actor in a Comedy series Tituss Burgess

outstanding Lead actress in a Comedy series Ellie Kemper

outstanding Casting for a Comedy series Cindy Tolan

PRESIDENTS Gary Lucchesi

Lori McCreary

VICE PRESIDENTS, MOTION PICTURES David Friendly Lydia Dean Pilcher

The Coca-Cola Company salutes Fellow creators of moments of Happiness.

VICE PRESIDENTS, TELEVISION Tim Gibbons Jason Katims VICE PRESIDENT, NEW MEDIA John Canning VICE PRESIDENT, AP COUNCIL Jethro Rothe-Kushel VICE PRESIDENTS, PGA EAST William Horberg Kay Rothman TREASURER Christina Lee Storm SECRETARY OF RECORD Gale Anne Hurd PRESIDENTS EMERITI Mark Gordon Hawk Koch NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Vance Van Petten REPRESENTATIVES, PGA NORTHWEST Darla K. Anderson Sophia Kim NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michael Ambers Fred Baron Carole Beams Gary Bryman Carrie Certa Karen Covell Tracey E. Edmonds Melissa Friedman Donna Gigliotti Richard Gladstein John Hadity Marshall Herskovitz

Pamela Keller Kiran Malhotra Megan Mascena-Gaspar Kate McCallum Chris Moore Bruna Papandrea John Peterman Charles Roven Peter Saraf Hayma “Screech” Washington Harvey Wilson Felicia Wong

EDITOR Chris Green

PARTNER & BRAND PUBLISHER Emily S. Baker CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ajay Peckham

COPY EDITOR Peggy Jo Abraham

PHOTOGRAPHERS Kremer Johnson Photography ADVERTISING Ken Rose 818-312-6880 | ken@moontidemedia.com MANAGING PARTNERS Charles C. Koones Todd Klawin Vol XII No. 4 Produced By is published six times a year by the Producers Guild of America 8530 Wilshire Blvd.

Suite 400 Beverly Hills, CA 90211 310-358-9020 Tel. 310-358-9520 Fax

100 Avenue Of The Americas Room 1240 New York, NY 10013 212-894-4016 Tel. 212-894-4056 Fax

www.producersguild.org

8

PRODUCED BY

4 EMMY NOMiNaTiONS ÂŽ

Outstanding Variety Special Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special Beth McCarthy-Miller

Outstanding Lighting Design/ Lighting Direction for a Variety Special Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Limited Series, Movie or Special

THE BEAUTY SHOTS YOU EXPECT, WITH THE DIVERSITY OF LOCATIONS YOU DON’T. Filming in the U.S. Virgin Islands is one unbelievable shot after another. You’ll find a diversity of locations from rural farmland, lush rain forest and rolling hills to quaint European towns, cosmopolitan settings and colorful Caribbean architecture. Not

NEW! Up to 17% Transferable Tax Credit

to mention picturesque beaches. You’ll also find an experienced film community with English-speaking crews and the convenience of U.S. currency. For more opportunities in St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas, call 340.775.1444 ext. 2243.

Plan your production at filmUSVI.com.

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FROM THE N AT I O N A L EXECUTIVE DI R EC TOR

TAKING STOCK The PGA is just about to hit a milestone: 7,500 members. It feels like a good moment to take stock of where we stand, both in terms of our finances and the challenges we have ahead .

A few facts to bear in mind: The PGA’s budget has grown slightly over the past two years, but still stands in the neighborhood of just over $4 million. The PGA (whose budget includes that of the the PGA Foundation, representing our charitable arm) is of course a not-for-profit organization. We have no shareholders and pay no dividends. All revenue is invested in the organization, with a goal of improving our level of member service, increasing the impact we can make on the industry, and safeguarding our financial future.

Once upon a time, the Guild had a reasonably healthy financial reserve. But the 2008 financial crisis decimated that reserve, and rebuilding it remains a key priority for Guild leadership, hence the substantial slice of the expense “pie” given over to that goal. The Guild’s biggest expense is, of course, its staff, which has grown to keep pace with the PGA’s membership and the growing range of services it offers to the industry.

On the other side of the equation, you’ll see that member dues continue to be the bedrock on which the rest of the Guild’s revenues stand. While the Guild’s income from the Producers Guild Awards continues to be essential for our continued operation, the Awards “slice” has actually shrunk in relative terms, due in part to the growth of our Produced By conferences in both Los Angeles and New York. It’s important to note that the conferences are produced as break-even events, and the revenues generated by the conference slice—as well as by the awards slice, for that matter—represent not just ticket sales, but considerable sponsorship dollars as well. (The comparatively small

REVENUE

PRODUCED BY CONFERENCES (LA & NY) PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS MEMBERSHIP DUES AND FEES O-1/O-2 PROFESSIONAL FEES

“sponsorship” slice only represents sponsorship income not allocated to a major event; the real impact of our sponsors is considerably greater than its portion here would seem to indicate.)

If you require any greater specificity about the Guild’s finances, any PGA member is welcome to review the full budget at the Producers Guild offices, with the guidance of our Treasurer, Christina Lee Storm.

As I’ve said before, working for thousands of producers (or even one producer) is a demanding job. Producers are accustomed to keeping a very watchful eye on their budgets. The flipside is that every one of our members is oriented towards maximizing the value they get for their expense, whether that comes in the form of seminars, job forums, networking events, screenings, or any other PGA benefit. I’m proud that our programs—created and staffed by dedicated member-volunteers—consistently deliver that value. It’s why we’ve kept growing. And it’s why I’ve never been more excited for what lies ahead for the PGA.

PUBLICATIONS SPONSORSHIP EXPENSES

PRODUCED BY CONFERENCES (LA & NY) PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS STAFF & CONSULTANTS COMPENSATION RENT, OFFICE, COMMITTEES AND ADMIN RESERVE FUND PUBLICATIONS

Vance Van Petten

PRODUCED BY

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R I S K TA K E R S

CREATIVE FINANCING There are as many ways to put together a deal as there are to tell a story.

DOUGLAS HANSEN HANSIAN MEDIA EXECUTIVE PRODUCER LOOPER AN EDUCATION SIDE EFFECTS DANCING ON THE EDGE

WHEN YOU’RE LOOKING AT A PROJECT, HOW DO YOU APPROACH RISK ASSESSMENT? ILLUSTRATED BY ELENA LACEY

As far as being a “Risk Taker”—after you have 30 years of experience financing entertainment projects and seeing how they go from script through release—­­­you get a feel for risk. Quality projects with entertaining stories are easier to finance. Then it is about the budget, your risk tolerance given the project in front of you and then structuring the financing to address your risk appetite.

SO, HOW DID YOU FIND YOUR WAY INTO FILM FINANCING?

WHAT’S THE BIGGEST RISK YOU’VE EVER TAKEN ON A PROJECT?

I’ve always been interested in the creative arts. I was an actor through college and a musician afterward, but the starving musician thing wasn’t working for me. I went to UCLA Anderson School of Management and spent all my time doing internships and projects in the film industry. I worked for Dino De Laurentiis for a year while finishing my MBA, then spent the next 15 years as an entertainment lender with BofA, Paribas and Union Bank, financing all types of films, including Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, The Madness of King George and Air Force One (the first independently financed film with a budget over $100M). I left banking to form Endgame Entertainment with Jim Stern, where we raised private equity and created a wide variety of innovative financing structures to produce film and television projects over the last 14 years.

Looper had a reasonably large equity risk from the start and was creatively and financially gratifying. We were able to bring a ton of financing pieces to the table: banking pre-sales, a Louisiana tax credit, a Chinese co-production structure, as well as financing 50% of the P&A as the first project in our new P&A fund.

Financially, True Romance was the largest gap financing of the time. The last film I financed as a banker was Terminator 3 with a budget over $200M.

WHAT’S THE MOST RECENT PROJECT YOU’VE BACKED? The Discovery directed by Charlie McDowell and staring Rooney Mara, Jason Segal and Robert Redford. We took the film to the market at AFM to sell foreign and had a lot of offers. Netflix came in wanting US SVOD rights and eventually bought the world. It turned out to be a good deal for everyone involved and extended our relationship with Netflix, which started in 2011.

WHAT’S A STORY THAT REALLY CONNECTED WITH YOU IN THE LAST YEAR? WHICH CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS ARE TELLING THE KINDS OF STORIES YOU WANT TO SEE? I thought that Birdman was an amazing example of how an original film can surprise and entertain you. And Rian Johnson is the man for me. I can’t wait to see what he’s done with Star Wars VIII and his story for Star Wars IX.

WHAT’S THE QUICKEST WAY TO MAKE SURE YOU WILL NEVER BACK THE PROJECT I’M PITCHING? Pitching a tired story that brings nothing new to the table. The audience has no time (or money) for the same old thing. ■

PRODUCED BY

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SHORT TA K E S

POPCORN FARE EVERYONE WHO LOVES MOVIES REMEMBERS HOW IT HAPPENED.

Q:

What’s the first summer blockbuster movie you can remember seeing?

SHAUN O’BANION Co-producer, The Automatic Hate In ‘81, my parents took me to see Raiders of the Lost Ark. I was scared, thrilled and on the edge of my seat. By the end, I’m not sure I understood everything I’d just seen, but movies had already become the thing I wanted to be a part of. I knew at age 7 that I’d be a filmmaker. Twenty years later, I named my company Ravenwood Films after Karen Allen’s character in Raiders.

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LAUREN ELLIS VFX producer, Queen Sugar Independence Day and I remember it vividly! My brothers and I were mesmerized, and it was the coolest thing I had ever seen in a movie theater. Will Smith was on top of the world at that time and I wondered, “How in the world did they make this?”

BRIAN McLAUGHLIN Producer, Good Boy When the first Stars Wars came out in 1977, I drove a half hour to the nearest Southern California theater showing it, at The City in Orange. The line was a couple blocks long—the first movie I ever saw that had a line like that.

A week later, I went back to see it again.

F O R

Y O U R E M M Y C O N S I D E R A T I O N ®

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR EMMY NOMINATED PRODUCERS ®

ALL THE WAY OUTSTANDING TELEVISION MOVIE AMY SCHUMER: LIVE AT THE APOLLO OUTSTANDING VARIETY SPECIAL BECOMING MIKE NICHOLS OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY OR NONFICTION SPECIAL CONFIRMATION OUTSTANDING TELEVISION MOVIE EVERYTHING IS COPY—NORA EPHRON: SCRIPTED & UNSCRIPTED OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY OR NONFICTION SPECIAL

GAME OF THRONES OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES JIM: THE JAMES FOLEY STORY EXCEPTIONAL MERIT IN DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER OUTSTANDING VARIETY TALK SERIES LEMONADE OUTSTANDING VARIETY SPECIAL MAPPLETHORPE: LOOK AT THE PICTURES ®

®

OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY OR NONFICTION SPECIAL

PROJECT GREENLIGHT OUTSTANDING UNSTRUCTURED REALITY PROGRAM REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER OUTSTANDING VARIETY TALK SERIES SILICON VALLEY OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES VEEP OUTSTANDING COEDY SERIES VICE OUTSTANDING INFORMATIONAL SERIES OR SPECIAL ®

®

EMMY 2016 ®

THANK YOU TELEVISION ACADEMY MEMBERS FOR OUR 98 NOMINATIONS ©2016 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO® and related channels and service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc. Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures: ©Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission.

Hollywood 323.956.5391

Atlanta 770.333.9280

New Orleans 504.736.2177

New York City 718.706.9610

O D D NUMBERS

FRANCHISE FORECAST WE HIT THE MULTIPLEXES THIS SUMMER, AND IT GOT US WONDERING… POST-GHOSTBUSTERS, WHAT’S THE NEXT MODERN CLASSIC RIPE FOR A GENDER-FLIPPED REMAKE?

35% Tommy Boy 3% Super Troopers 5% Reservoir Dogs 28% 48 Hours 29% ¡Three Amigos!

POST-FINDING DORY, WHAT SIDEKICK/SUPPORTING CHARACTER DESERVES THEIR OWN FEATURE?

13% Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer, The Help) 8% Jesus Quintana (John Turturro, The Big Lebowski) 25% Sadness (Phyllis Smith, Inside Out) 15% Megan Price (Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids) 39% Brick Tamland (Steve Carrell, Anchorman)

WHAT NEW MOVIEGOING PERK IS YOUR FAVORITE?

43% Digital/mobile ticket purchase 6% Personal welcome/introduction from staff 3% Reserved seating

11% Comfortable reclining chairs 37% Dine-in theaters

PRODUCED BY

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GOING GREEN

PHOTOGRAPH BY OCEANIC PRESERVATION SOCIETY (OPS)

The Racing Extinction crew goes beneath the surface to expose the cost of climate change.

RACING EXTINCTION Taking action to win the race against environmental disaster Written by Rachael Joy

I

expected Racing Extinction to paint a bleak picture of endangered animals, but I didn’t expect to be moved to tears by the very opening shot. The film begins on a close-up of a small, petrified bird in a glass jar labeled: Dusky “Orange” Last One. I immediately got the chills. I knew the story of Orange very well. He was the last-ever Dusky seaside sparrow, a bird native to the coastal area in Florida where I grew up. The delicate ecosystem the dusky called home was decimated by human development and Orange died June 16, 1987. Dr. Christopher Clark of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology makes the point that losing a species is “like having a symphony and one by one you pluck each of the instruments out of the orchestra. The last voice is there and then it’s gone.” Racing Extinction may begin on a chilling note, but it doesn’t end there.

In Director Louie Psihoyos’ latest environmental thriller, he finds

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the balance between uncovering illegal hunting and selling of wildlife, revealing the impact of climate change on our planet and motivating a call to action. For Psihoyos, that call to action was also personal and began behind the scenes with his first film.

Psihoyos’ directorial debut, The Cove, exposed the shocking and inhumane practice of the dolphin hunts in Taijii, Japan, in which wild dolphins are sold alive to aquariums and marine parks or slaughtered for meat. Two years into production, Psihoyos was alerted to another shocking revelation but of his own making. A carbon assessment revealed that the film had generated 646 tons of carbon. “I was horrified by how much energy it takes to do what I do. The worst thing you can do to the environment is make a film about it.” Psihoyos adds, “As filmmakers we’re part of the problem.

How can we be part of the solution?”

GOING GREEN

Immediately, Psihoyos installed 100 solar panels at his production facility in Boulder, CO which quickly generated 140% of their energy needs, more than enough for the production office and his home.

The Cove went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2010, and Psihoyos went on to tackling another environmental disaster: the disappearance of species 1000 times faster than the normal state of extinction over earth’s history. In his latest film, Racing Extinction, Psihoyos lays out the threat. The planet has endured five major extinction events. The last one (the K-T event) took out the dinosaurs when an asteroid hit the earth 65 million years ago. As Psihoyos says in the film, “Now humanity has become the asteroid.” The film uncovers the factors contributing to human-caused species extinction such as illegal poaching, overfishing and habitat destruction, as well as the sources of carbon emissions that cause global warming.

Committed to being part of the solution, the producers implemented sustainable practices from the beginning, such as hiring local crew to cut down on travel and carrying stainless steel water bottles. But Psihoyos contends that the most impactful practice is requiring all crew members to be vegan. “The raising of meat for human consumption creates more greenhouse gases than all the emissions from the entire transport sector.” Psihoyos explains that whether it’s a freelancer for the day or a DP on the job for weeks, “While you’re working for us, you’re vegan.”

Still the producers felt they could do even more, so the production partnered with SavingSpecies to offset their carbon. Founded

by Dr. Stuart Pimm, one of the world’s top conservation scientists, SavingSpecies aims to conserve biodiversity through identifying the most at-risk areas in the world and then helping local organizations raise funds to connect, protect and restore habitats that will prevent the most species extinctions.

Racing Extinction’s carbon offset donation will support SavingSpecies’ forest corridor restoration project in the northwest coastal region of Ecuador—a corridor that, once restored, will help Documentarian Louie Psihoyos

Left: the spoils of poaching PHOTOGRAPH BY RYAN LYNCH

PHOTOGRAPH BY ETHAN JOHNSON/OPS

PHOTOGRAPH BY OCEANIC PRESERVATION SOCIETY (OPS)

Hanging out with the emerald glass frog (Centrolene prosoblepon)

protect many species of birds, reptiles and amphibians, and mammals. In addition to the countless insect species like butterflies, and hundreds of plant species, including trees and orchids, the species that will be helped include several that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature deems at risk of extinction on its Red List: Birds: 260 species including 3 Endangered, 7 Vulnerable, 7 Near Threatened Mammals: 20 species including 1 Critically Endangered, 1 Endangered, 3 Vulnerable, 3 Near Threatened Amphibians: 28 species including 1 Critically Endangered, 1 Endangered, 3 Vulnerable, 3 Near Threatened Reptiles: 47 species including 1 Endangered, 6 Vulnerable, 13 Near Threatened Helping protect these species through carbon offsetting was an unexpected benefit of the film. The real work is reaching the species responsible for habitat loss in the first place, with the inspiring message that we can make a difference. After its theatrical release, Racing Extinction made its TV debut on Discovery Channel—broadcast in 240 countries during the UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris— and was recently nominated for a 2016 Emmy in Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking.

The producers hope the success of the film means more people will hear the call to action.

In spite of the sobering projection that “in the next 100 years we could lose 50% of all species on earth,” Psihoyos urges the audience to stay positive. “I know it all sounds overwhelming, but if we start with just one thing we can start a movement.” A lesson he learned from his first documentary, Psihoyos considers a film a “weapon of mass construction. You drop a bomb, you kill people. You make a film, you create allies.” Before the release of The Cove, hunters were killing 23,000 dolphins and porpoises a year. Now it’s down to less than 6,000.

We may no longer be able to hear the chirpy whistle of the Dusky seaside sparrow in the wild, but there are many species on the brink we can save. Let’s commit as filmmakers and producers to do what we can to not lose any more of the symphony. ¢

PRODUCED BY

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www.clairmont.com

CLAIRMONT CAMERA proudly congratulates 2016 Emmy Nominated, for OUTSTANDING DRAMA ACTRESS

Viola Davis “How To Get Away With Murder” & Tatiana Maslany “Orphan Black” It has truly been a privilege to provide your shows with the tools and the support to bring your dreams to life!

Creativity, Your mind, our tools!

C O M I N G ATTRACTIONS

PGA INTERNATIONAL SEPTEMBER 9-10 DAY OF THE PRODUCER, DEAUVILLE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL The PGA’s International Committee celebrates its 5th Day of the Producer with panels, press conferences and networking events at the Deauville Film Festival in France. Stay tuned for further news about the leading producer and PGA member to be honored at Deauville; past recipients include Paula Wagner, Gale Anne Hurd, Brian Grazer and Lawrence Bender.

PGA WEST SEPTEMBER 10 CPR CERTIFICATION CLASS The PGA’s Safety Task Force offers an opportunity not only to learn CPR but receive an individual CPR certification, valid for two years. The certification process means that this class has a nominal (in fact, discounted) fee of $55 and is only open to PGA members. Remember: On-set health and safety is the producer’s responsibility, so take advantage of the offerings from the Safety Task Force!

Above: PGA members Antoine De Cazotte, Lawrence Bender (honoree) and Bill Stuart convene at the 2015 Day of the Producer at Deauville.

Below: PGA members Brenda Alvarado, Emily Barclay Ford, Abby Keller and Megan Mascena-Gaspar are all smiles at the PGA Oscar party.

Bottom: A session at last year’s Produced By: New York

SEPTEMBER 17 NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION BREAKFAST Hey, why not flip to pages 56-57 and see if your name shows up on our list of new members? If so, you’ll definitely want to join PGA staff and committee chairs at the Producers Guild offices for a warm welcome to the Guild, the first of many PGA networking opportunities and the tastiest continental breakfast this side of LaCienega.

PGA EAST OCTOBER 29 PRODUCED BY: NEW YORK The Produced By magic descends on New York once again, just in time for Halloween! The Guild’s 3rd annual New York conference will be hosted once again at the Time Warner center and will of course feature the exciting mix of speakers, networking and mentoring for which Produced By is justly acclaimed. Keep your eyes peeled for registration announcements, and get a flavor for the event by visiting the Guild’s YouTube channel for content from past conferences.

PGA MEMBERS: For more information or to RSVP for events, please consult producersguild.org.

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CAPITAL IDEAS Two key volunteers push the Guild’s DC-based chapter to new heights.

L

ynn is Chair Emeritus for the National Capital Chapter, having served four years as Chair and Member-at-Large for the PGA East Board of Representatives.

She is currently Programming Chair for the National Capital Chapter and Co-Chair of the National Documentary Committee. Why does Lynn volunteer? “We work in a rarefied industry that affords us a lot of opportunity. And I’ve always felt that in return, it’s important to give back to my communities — professional and personal.”

“People around me probably get tired of hearing me say this,” she smiles, “but I’ve gotten so much more from the PGA

K KATY JONES GARRITY

than from any other industry organization I’ve ever belonged to. Jobs, mentors, new skills, friends … and did I mention jobs? But you can’t really tap into that energy and those resources without getting involved …

I’ve been so inspired by how inclusive an organization this is.” Lynn has been a member of the PGA since 2010 when the first recruitment event was held in Washington, DC. Professionally Lynn’s focus is documentary and non-fiction programming.

Having spent three years at BBC America and nearly five at Discovery, she currently works as a freelance producer and has two feature docs in the works.

aty is the Co-Vice Chair of the National Capital Chapter, where she’s also Chair of the Non-Fiction Committee.

She likewise serves on the AP Council Board of Delegates, including stints as a Vice Chair of that Board and a member of the PGA’s National Board of Directors. The Producers Guild started in DC at a time when Katy was in career transition and looking for guidance.

“I met Lynn and some of the other leaders in the PGA, and they really took me under their wing. It meant so much to me in terms of broadening my career choices, contacts and job opportunities.” Asked how she began to get involved, Katy recalls, “At an early meeting in our chapter I said we should produce more non-fiction-related events, since at least half of our members are involved in non-fiction, and [PGA East Director Mitzie Rothzeid] said, ‘Well, that sounds like a great idea. Why

LYNN HUGHES

don’t you run it?’ It was the first time I really had the opportunity to give back.” The result was the “INsider…” series where EPs from various channels would talk about what kinds of programming they were looking for, which led to jobs for numerous PGA members.

“Producing can be a lonely business,” Katy observes, “and it is so inspiring to have a great group of producers who understand what you do for a living and can help you along the way ... I am a better producer because of the information I’ve learned from volunteering with the Producers Guild. I’m better connected to the industry, and I keep getting more from the Guild the more I volunteer.”

A PGA member since 2010, Katy works primarily in non-fiction television as a field and story producer. At present, she is working with another producer from the Guild on a feature documentary. ¢

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M E N TOR I NG M AT T E R S

“GET A JOB”?

Finding the right kind of tough love Written by Emily Barclay Ford

“Y

ou should just get a job. It’s too hard to be an independent producer anymore,” stated the respected industry executive I recently met at a digital salon. I laughed it off, trying to explain what I’ve been working on, but she didn’t pull any punches. “Just get a job in digital.” I didn’t have time to explain that I left an executive job in digital to return to independent producing a couple of years ago. I know she thought her frank ‘tough love’ was doing me a favor. But later that night I thought more about this brief encounter with a woman whose name I’d heard around Hollywood for years—and how I felt that she had just discouraged me from being a producer.

Her candor got me reflecting on my recent time in the PGA mentoring program. Many years earlier I had left a long career as an independent producer to become an executive at Disney Interactive and then Maker Studios. In the independent world, I was at the forefront of the digital revolution while also producing indie films and some television; however, I had found myself always helping to bring other people’s dreams to light. I missed creating and producing projects. And like so many, I really wanted to work in long-form narrative storytelling, my original goal that I’d sometimes lost sight of.

I signed up for the PGA mentoring program because I thought it might be a good reboot. I had recently optioned a book that I was adapting for the screen, and soon I was paired with Paula Mazur, who has an amazing reputation for producing exceptional adaptations.

Paula didn’t get into the nitty-gritty about my particular project. Instead, she took a step back and gave me the kind of ‘tough love’ that I actually needed—in a nutshell: “Just do it.” Declare yourself an independent producer.

Establish your entity, set up your office, develop a slate of a few solid projects and plow ahead. But you have to be committed and determined and tell the universe that you are a producer.

Upon meeting Paula I knew that I had found the best of both worlds in a mentor. She was down-to-earth and funny, someone I could call a friend.

But she’s also a savvy businesswoman that I admired and respected. Her confidence in me and enthusiasm for what I wanted to do was the spark of encouragement I needed at just the right moment.

In the time since meeting Paula, I dove in and took her advice and have made two beautiful feature films, both in post-production now. I’ve also been able to continue to work in the digital space, carving out a niche consulting as digital creators are beginning to explore long-form narrative content.

Thank you to the PGA and to Paula Mazur for giving me a mentor at just the right time. Hopefully we can continue to encourage and support producers as this shifting paradigm evolves, so that we can have meaningful careers and not merely have to tell our successors to “just get a job.” ¢

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“She took a step back and gave me the kind of ‘tough love’ that I actually needed—in a nutshell: ‘Just do it.’”

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ON THE SCENE

PBC ’16—SUMMER AT SONY PRODUCED BY CONFERENCE – JUNE 4-5, SONY PICTURES STUDIOS

The Producers Guild has held enough Produced By conferences (10, counting both L.A. and New York) that it’s no longer a dazzling surprise when the event sells out or provides career-changing moments for its attendees. This summer, the Produced By Conference did what it’s always done: feature the most insightful speakers in town, provide invaluable face-to-face mentoring, and bring the entire producing community together. In one weekend, you could have heard from Joe & Anthony Russo about opportunities in China, learned how Octavia Spencer and Paul Feig are fighting for diversity in the industry, checked in on John Landgraf’s plans for FX, and picked up some pitching tips from Marshall Herskovitz. (The electric moment when an attendee’s television pitch virtually sold in the room was the weekend’s emotional high point.) In other words, it was quite a weekend. We’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Photographed by Invision for PGA (except where otherwise noted)

Moderator Dan Lin, speakers Max Handelman and Elizabeth Banks, PGA President Gary Lucchesi

PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL Q. MARTIN

Speakers Joe and Anthony Russo

“Art of Pitching “ speakers Gary Levine, Melissa Rosenberg, and Marshall Herskovitz

Speaker Russell Simmons

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SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director David White, AMPAS President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, PGA President Emeritus Hawk Koch

Producer Jeremy Alter (center) leads a mentoring roundtable.

Speaker Misha Green

ON THE SCENE

Speaker Michael London offers a pitch critique.

A participant tests his pitch at the “Art of Pitching for Motion Pictures” session.

Speaker Octavia Spencer with moderator Lesley Chilcott

Moderator Chris Moore

Speaker Paul Feig chats with PGA Vice President of Motion Pictues Lydia Dean Pilcher.

Speaker Clay Newbill

Attendees network at the Saturday evening reception.

Moderator David Friendly with speaker America Ferrera

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ON THE SCENE

Erin O’Malley receives the prestigious Charles FitzSimons Award from Kathleen Kennedy (left) at the PGA General Membership Meeting.

Moderator Mark Gordon poses a question to speakers Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary.

Moderator Vance Van Petten questions speakers John Landgraf and Noah Hawley

Antendees network with PBC sponsors.

Conference chair Rachel Klein center chats with guest Bethany Monroe (left) and PGA East Chairs Kay Rothman and Bill Horberg.

Session speakers for “Working with the Military from Script to Screen.”

Speaker Hawk Koch with conference chair Tracey Edmonds in the GM Speakers Lounge

Speaker Sarah Treem

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE We like to credit the photographers who take pictures at our PGA events. But in our last issue, we didn’t do it.

(Nothing personal, guys, just a deadline rush.) We regret that omission, and we’re very grateful for the following photographers who were ON THE SCENE for our last issue: Celebration of Diversity Spring Mixer – Will Mena U.S. Army Training Center – John Heinsen Reel Women of New York – Will Mena PGA East Meet the Candidates – patrick g. clay, Kevyn Fairchyld

Speaker Courtney Kemp

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Getting the Saturday night party started

ON THE SCENE PGA EAST GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING, JUNE 15, POST FACTORY NY The PGA East’s annual and lively General Membership Meeting brought together members and Guild leaders to mingle, share goals for the coming year, and (most importantly) hopefully win some sweet PGA swag. Led by newly-elected Chairs William Horberg and Kay Rothman, the meeting featured outreach from the PGA East’s active committees, councils, and chapters. It also provided an opportunity to honor Caitlin Burns, who was presented with the New Media Council’s Marc Levey Award, as well as outgoing Chair Peter Saraf, who was given a truly unique token of appreciation as befitting a Grand Poobah.

PHOTOGRAPH BY EMILY FRIEDMAN

Outgoing Chair Peter Saraf receives an obscure ceremonial honor.

Caitlin Burns shows off her Marc Levey Award with PGA East Chairs William Horberg and Kay Rothman.

PGA East members turned out in force.

DEBRA HILL FELLOWSHIP LUNCHEON, JUNE 3, FIG & OLIVE

PHOTOGRAPH BY RICHARD CARTWRIGHT, MEMBER IATSE LOCAL #600

The First Annual Debra Hill Fellowship Luncheon brought together prior Fellowship recipients with veteran and newly-minted DHF committee members to celebrate this year’s Fellowship winner, Diego Najera Martinez, a recent graduate of USC. The camaraderie between the Fellowship recipients—most of whom had never met—was as warm and gratifying as the memories of Debra Hill that several committee members shared. Anyone interested in learning more about the Debra Hill Fellowship is encouraged to reach out to Stephanie Austin at debrahillfellowship@producersguild.org.

Debra Hill Fellowship recipients Rob Christiano (2013), Diego Najera Martinez (2016), Eleanore Dailly (2007), Monique Keller (2015), Lucienne Papon (2005), Jacob Jaffke (2010)

Past and present Fellowship honorees enjoy lunch with PGA members and staff.

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THE COVER

bruna PAPANDREA

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telling stories about women means telling stories for everyone.

Photographed by Kremer Johnson Photography

f you make your living in any corner of the greater Hollywood storytelling apparatus, the last year has been a series of wake-up calls. Whether it was Maureen Dowd’s scrupulously researched reportage for the New York Times Magazine or the collective raised eyebrow at another year of all-white Oscar-nominated actors, everyone who works in this business has been forced to confront some difficult truths about our industry and the structural obstacles it presents for women and people of color.

In the aftermath of these insights has come a flurry of activity to address the problem—community outreach, new hiring and credentialing initiatives, a renewed commitment to mentoring, and greater scrutiny of conventional wisdom. All of those initiatives have value. But there may be no simpler or more effective approach than the one embraced by producer and PGA member Bruna Papandrea, who formed the company Pacific Standard with Reese Witherspoon in 2012.

The Pacific Standard approach is pretty simple, actually. They produce movies—and soon, a TV series—that tell women’s stories. And for the most part, they hire women to make them.

The directness of purpose is characteristic of Papandrea—instantly accessible and zero bullshit—who grew up hovering around the poverty line in Adelaide, Australia. After some soul-searching, she abandoned the relative security of law school to follow her passion for

the arts, working in local theater and cutting her production teeth on TV commercials. A bad breakup, she admits laughing, landed her in New York, where a volunteer gig on a low-budget thriller grew into a role as co-producer of the film. Taking that experience back to Australia, she found an essential mentor in Aussie film institution Robert Connolly, who guided her through her debut feature Better Than Sex. The festival circuit connected her with other mentors, most notably Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack, then at their zenith as producers of sterling literary adaptations. Less than a decade later, Papandrea was producing her own adaptation, of Isaac Marion’s zombie romantic comedy Warm Bodies. With Pacific Standard, her signature film has been Wild, adapted from Cheryl Strayed’s memoir and starring Witherspoon in an Oscar-nominated performance.

More recently, the company released the comedy Hot Pursuit starring Witherspoon opposite Sofia Vergara and looks forward to the debut next year of their series for HBO, Big Little Lies.

Produced By editor Chris Green recently got to sit down with Papandrea in the bright and airy Beverly Hills office of Pacific Standard. The discussion touched on everything from mentoring to marketing—don’t get her started about the pigeonhole of “chick flicks”—but always seemed to circle back to questions of equality and representation, and how one producer— and one company—can lead an industry-wide sea change.

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COVER STORY: BRUNA PAPANDREA

SO HOW DID YOU GRAVITATE TOWARD PRODUCING? YOU HAD DONE SOME ACTING, AND SOME WRITING… I don’t think anyone wanted me as an actor. There are some amazing drama schools in Australia and I got rejected from all of them. [Laughs] So my dreams were killed very early on. I also had a lot of friends who were actors, and came to believe that unless it’s literally going to kill you not to do it, don’t do it. Because it’s so hard. It’s just hard on the spirit, I think.

I wanted to be more in control of my

own kind of destiny and storytelling. I just got the bug. I had gotten to know Robert Connolly, who’s a wonderful man and a very successful Australian producer, director and writer. He had made a $900,000 movie that I loved called The Boys. So I really looked to him, basically asking, “How do you make a $900,000 movie in Australia?” He had been offered/ approached by a filmmaker to produce this movie, Better Than Sex, which was right at that budget level. He couldn’t do it. And so he suggested me, because he knew what I’d just done in New York.

That was really the beginning of my career as I know it now. Together we raised money through government subsidies in Australia. There’s still a great system there to support homegrown movies. We produced this movie, Better Than Sex. And it was amazing. I did everything from decorate the production office to driving the actors to set. My friend who owned a restaurant was the caterer, still the best caterer I ever had.

Australia has a system where they provide funds to send you to film festivals if your film gets in. They’re really trying to

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF BRUNA PAPANDREA/PACIFIC STANDARD

Bruna Papandrea with Reese Witherspoon at the Telluride Film Festival for the premiere of Wild

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COVER STORY: BRUNA PAPANDREA

grow their talent, particularly producers.

A lot of their subsidy goes toward producers. Their big incentive is a producer offset. It’s not called a “filmmaker offset.”

It’s a “producer offset.”

ing time. So often, mentoring is a matter of giving someone access to relationships, understanding the culture of the business

HEY, PROPS TO AUSTRALIA, DOING RIGHT BY PRODUCERS. Yeah! So I feel very lucky to have come from that system. My movie got into the Toronto Film Festival and I went with the film. And it was at that film festival that I met Anthony Minghella, who had just started a production company with Sydney Pollack. And so we got to know each other. He told me, “Well, come see me when you’re in London.” Someone said to me, “He’s looking for someone to run their London office.” I said, “Don’t be ridiculous.

No one is going to pay me to do that.”

But by chance, my movie then got into the London Film Festival and I ended up in London about three weeks later. We met a couple of times and I read some books for him, some scripts. And then he said, “Look, I really like you. And we really need someone like you.” Of course, he really wanted me to go meet Sydney Pollack. That was a very surreal experience, driving onto a studio lot for the first time. I mean, Hollywood is exactly like you imagine it from the movies. It was one of those dreams-come-true moments. I just loved sitting with him and listening to him. We had a great meeting, I went back to Australia, and then my phone rang two days later and they offered me a job. Less than a month later I was living in London, working for these two amazing gentlemen.

WHAT A WHIRLWIND. And I will emphasize, gentlemen. I kind of make a lot of jokes, but after you’ve worked for two people like that it’s hard to work for anyone else. I worked for them for five years. It was a wonderful time in my life. That’s where I really learned my love for novel adaptation, because Anthony and Sydney had done it so brilliantly. That’s where I got my exposure to LA, and I have gotten to know the agencies and the culture. It was an amaz-

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have prior relationships. If you weren’t born into the business, it’s very difficult to feel like that’s accessible to you.

So one of the things I always try to think about and help guide my future and inspire is supporting diversity not just within gender and race—which are hugely important—but also diversity of socioeconomic status, which I think is just as valid and valuable.

AND RARELY TALKED ABOUT.

Even if you’re competing with other socalled big producers, there’s a lot to be said for passion and ‘sweat equity.’” side of it. Those first agents I met, the first directors and producers—they’re still very significant to me. Those people are still in my life. If you’ve produced a movie, people assume you must all know lots of agents. But it’s just not true. Access is a big thing. I’m always aware of how access is particularly hard for people who don’t

Rarely talked about in any country, in fact. That’s a cause that’s so close to my heart, making sure that those people are represented and that they have the kind of access to make their dreams come true, like all of us should. Anthony and Sydney always understood that. I was always a bit dumbfounded as to why they hired me. I mean, I was 29. I’d made one low budget movie. I didn’t finish college. And I remember asking Anthony years later, “Why did you hire me?” He said, “Well, I thought you were smart, and you made me smile.” It was a very loving environment. You just wanted to have good conversations. And it was just so exciting to kind of be around that knowledge and those stories. It still inspires me.

One of the things they taught me is — and I don’t think this is an obvious thing, sadly—just always do the right thing by people. It’s actually rare. I’ve had a couple of people not do the right thing by me in my career. But they always treated people with respect and did the right thing. I think that can’t be undervalued because not everyone in our business behaves like that.

A BIT OF AN UNDERSTATEMENT, TO SAY THE LEAST. SO YOU WERE DOING MOSTLY DEVELOPMENT FOR ANTHONY AND SYDNEY? I did a lot of development over those years, but I ultimately got the bug to be back on set. So I spent a year in New York with GreeneStreet Films, after which I got offered a job with Michael London, who had just raised a fund for Groundswell Productions. That was another boom time for learning the industry, because it was

COVER STORY: BRUNA PAPANDREA

the beginning of all that equity pouring into independently-financed movies. And I also got to produce five or six movies, one after the other. So it was a very productive time.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF BRUNA PAPANDREA/PACIFIC STANDARD

SO THIS WAS MORE OF AN ONSET PRODUCTION POSITION AS OPPOSED TO DEVELOPMENT? It was a little bit of both, the very beginning of those kind of hybrid production/ finance companies. But Michael was the final decision maker. It was his company, so he had every right to be that person.

But I wanted to be in control of exactly what I was making. And the only way to do that was to start my own company. So after five really great years, I just decided to back myself. I’ve been poor my whole life. The good thing about being poor your whole life is you’re not scared to be poor. I make jokes, but it’s kind of true. I’m pretty scrappy. I don’t long for really expensive things.

But it was time to back myself and to do more of what I’d been doing with Anthony and Sydney, adapting novels from the outset.

So I started my own company and optioned a couple of novels. A friend of mine named Laurie Webb had a little business working with unpublished novelists and screenwriters and very successfully took a couple of novelists through publication.

She kind of went through that process with them. She had edited this one novel, Warm Bodies, and she called me and said, “Look, I know you’re not someone I think of for zombie stories. But it’s so special.

This guy is really a talent.” So I read this novel on a plane and, oh my God, it was magnificent. It was this incredibly beautiful, character-driven genre story, which, I mean …

YOU DON’T COME ACROSS A LOT. … You don’t come across a lot! His voice, it was just … People always ask me what you look for as a producer and I think it’s so hard to quantify until you read it or feel it or see it. But when you read good writing and see a unique perspective on the world, it’s so invigorating. I literally got on a plane the next day to meet Isaac, this brilliant young novelist. And I said, “I’m going to give you some money out of my own pocket. I don’t have very much.

But we’ll work together. Eventually, we’ll sell it. You’ll do a deal that you’re happy with, and I’ll do a deal I’m happy with.”

We just joined hands and took the leap.

I really believe in the power of sweat equity. It’s what producers do. We work

Papandrea (right) with mentor Anthony Minghella and Naomi Watts.

and put the pieces together until a project becomes something that someone wants to make.

Honestly, I thought it would take a really long time with Warm Bodies, but it didn’t actually happen like that. Erik Feig and Gillian Bohrer at Summit just fell completely in love with the book. They saw exactly what I saw. We got an amazing filmmaker interested straightaway. A year and a half later we were making the movie. It was a phenomenal experience from start to finish.

AND THAT EXPERIENCE PUT YOU ON THE PATH TOWARD PACIFIC STANDARD? It was during the making of that movie that I met Reese. We’d met socially a few times through friends but really didn’t know much about each other. Evelyn O’Neill at Management 360 and Maha Dahkil, an agent at CAA, thought we might like each other. I felt I’d be definitely interested in a partnership at some point, but our tastes would have to be aligned.

So we started the conversation, and it happened very organically. We started sending each other material and the first thing she sent me was Wild, before it was published. And I fell completely in love with it. This was exactly the kind of movie I wanted to make.

So we decided to team up. It just became clear that we were incredibly like-minded and developed a goal from the outset that we wanted to make things with women at the center.

I have a lot of friends who are actresses and we’d all been constantly disappointed by the quality and quantity of roles that were available to women.

Reese naturally felt the same way, and so that goal became clear early on. So Pacific Standard was born and grew very organically.

It’s a true partnership.

HOW DID YOU GUYS TEE UP WILD AS THE COMPANY’S DEBUT? Wild was obviously going to be the first movie through this brand. It held a lot of emotional importance to me and what it represented in the world. It was a great movie to launch a company with. We were going to make movies with women at the center. We wanted them to be well reviewed, but we also did want them to make money. And of course, movies with

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COVER STORY: BRUNA PAPANDREA

women at the center historically have always made money. But it’s like the industry needs constant reminders of that. So we try to keep giving them constant reminders.

The other thing that drives us crazy is this perception that anything with a woman at the center is a “chick flick”. And it’s just not true, obviously. Why can’t a movie with a woman in the center appeal to all sexes? Because of course they do.

Cheryl Strayed got as many fan letters from men as she did from women, because Wild was just a human story that everyone could relate to.

One of the real challenges of Wild is the degree to which it’s all in the voice. It’s not just that Cheryl’s memoir and story are magnificent; her writing is magnificent and it’s why the book is so successful.

One of the things that excited me, the same as with Warm Bodies, was that the story didn’t conform to traditional film structure. I’m not a big believer in that. I believe that if a story feels like something you haven’t felt or read or seen, then that’s exciting.

With Wild I think Reese and I considered ourselves the gatekeepers of Cheryl’s story. Now sometimes the author is the screenwriter. I don’t believe it’s always the right path. It can be a risk if a novelist has never written a screenplay. But my feeling is—I feel this with actors as well— they are the best judge of what they can achieve. I think most people have good instincts about themselves. Nick Hornby, for instance, is a wonderful novelist and a wonderful screenwriter, but he doesn’t adapt his own books.

In the case of Wild, we got an incoming call from Jenny Cassarotto, a wonderful agent in the UK, saying that Nick Hornby had read the book and loved it and would like to be considered. That was such a gift to get that news. He came to LA, we sat with him and he just knew. He understood how he had to be involved structurally but also really retain the aggressive beauty of Cheryl’s voice.

THAT’S A GOOD WAY OF PUTTING IT.

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Yeah, aggressive beauty. Not shortchange it and not soften it. He told us, “I’m going to give you a draft in eight weeks.” I said, “Yeah, sure you are.” And eight weeks to the day, he gave us that screenplay. And it was magnificent, I have to say. It was one of the most exciting first drafts I’d ever got.

Soon after, we got into business with River Road, Bill Pohlad’s company, because it was important to us to try and develop the script a little bit more outside the system. Then with that script, without a director, but with Reese attached to star, we took that to studios and kind of auditioned them to see who we wanted to be our partner. We really were in a position to choose the right one, which turned out to be Searchlight.

We continued to work on the script with them, but it was a very fast-moving train at that point, because the weather was going to dictate when the movie got made. Searchlight was amazing. They stayed true to their promises. They’re very filmmaker friendly. Together we went out and attached Jean-Marc Vallée to direct it.

HOW DID YOU SETTLE ON HIM? We had the script out to quite a few people. Jean-Marc had been one of the first people we thought of. I had been such a fan of his earlier movie, Crazy, and Reese had just seen some scenes from Dallas Buyers Club, which hadn’t come out yet. But he was attached to something else, so we couldn’t really get the script to him for a while. It wasn’t until late in the day that we finally got him to read the script, and he just fell in love with the story, Cheryl’s story and Nick’s script. So we flew to Montreal and we convinced him to consider putting the other thing on hold because we were ready and we wanted to go straightaway.

And then the kind of train took off, and it was great. Even though we were making it with a studio partner, it still felt like making an independent movie. It had that spirit. Jean-Marc and Nick spoke through the process as we made the film;

Cheryl stayed a part of the whole process as well.

IS THAT TYPICAL? I MEAN, I KNOW SOME PRODUCERS WOULD RATHER NOT HAVE SCREENWRITERS THAT CLOSELY INVOLVED, LET ALONE AUTHORS OF SOURCE MATERIAL. No. We are very collaborative with our novelists. I mean, it’s their book. That said, every situation is different. Some novelists don’t necessarily want to be involved.

They’re busy writing their next novel.

Also, it being a memoir, Cheryl is very close to the story. We literally wanted to replicate everything as she had experienced it: the color of the tent, the shape of the tent, what was in the backpack, what the hospital really looked like when her mother was ill. So she was very involved every step of the way, including how the movie was put into the world.

And of course, how your movie goes into the world is everything. I’ve seen movies I’ve made destroyed by the way they’ve gone into the world. Often that can be a matter of where a distribution company’s business is at a given time, what their priorities are. Some movies have the wrong home or the wrong timing. It’s often got nothing to do with the quality of the work. So we’re always very conscious of choosing our partners well.

Everything has its own home.

SO TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR APPROACH TO BOOK ADAPTATION. HOW DO YOU SEEK OUT AND SECURE MATERIAL? THERE’S A LOT OF COMPETITION FOR GOOD STORIES. In terms of finding material, I think a lot of that depends on where you are in your career. I found Warm Bodies because a friend of mine was editing the book. A lot of material comes through literary agents who we’ve established relationships with and who have come to trust us with that material and trust that you’ll get it made.

I think one thing to keep in mind even if you’re competing with other so-called big

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF BRUNA PAPANDREA/PACIFIC STANDARD

COVER STORY: BRUNA PAPANDREA

Bruna Papandrea reviews footage alongside Sydney Pollack.

producers, there’s a lot to be said for passion and “sweat equity,” which is a phrase I use all the time—meaning, I got on a lot of planes. I used those airline miles! I got on a plane to meet Isaac Marion face-to-face.

I think there’s a lot to be said for meeting in person with a novelist and showing them how deeply passionate you are with respect to their work. Even if you have no money you can make a gesture of some kind to option the book … “Look, I don’t have any money now but in 12 months, if I still have the option but I haven’t done anything, I’ll give you x amount of money.”

There are lots of ways to structure deals so that people feel like you’re moving forward and that you’re going to put your time and energy into it.

WE HAVEN’T EVEN TALKED ABOUT HOT PURSUIT YET. AND IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE A FILM THAT’S LESS LIKE WILD. I give Reese a lot of credit for that. We both talked a lot about Latinas not being represented on screen, particularly given

how much of the movie-going audience they represent. And we were both big fans of Sofia’s. So very early on in the company Reese determined, “Well, let’s develop a movie for me and Sofia.” At the same time Dana Fox, who’s a wonderful screenwriter and producer, had an idea that she was developing for this kind of Odd Couple-type story. She and Reese were friends, and we decided to team up. And then suddenly this script was born. We sold it. But we had developed it on spec. It really came from simply identifying something that we wanted to do, which was pair these two women.

The film wasn’t a huge financial success, but it certainly wasn’t a bust either. They weren’t very kind to us in the press, which is fine. It’s a comedy. People are going to have different opinions. But it’s actually a movie I’m very proud of. l had a great experience working with a female director, Anne Fletcher, for the first time.

That was an amazing experience for me, just to have those conversations and work in that way. I definitely plan to work

with women directors a lot more. Simply putting women behind a camera makes a huge impact—though there’s definitely a different standard when there’s a female at the helm. You see it in the way that they’re treated. If a woman raises her voice, she’s a problem, and if a man raises his voice, then he’s a leader, a genius.

THE PAST YEAR, THIS INDUSTRY AND THE MEDIA SURROUNDING IT HAVE GIVEN A LOT MORE ATTENTION THAN I CAN EVER REMEMBER BEING PAID TO GENDER AND ETHNIC EQUALITY AND REPRESENTATION. YOU GUYS ARE CLEARLY NEAR THE CENTER OF THAT. I MEAN, YOU’VE MADE IT PART OF YOUR COMPANY’S MISSION. For me as a producer, I was honestly just sick of not seeing interesting female characters at the center of our movies. I mean, setting aside the behind-the-camera issue, because that’s a whole other problem. As a culture, we need to give young people

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an example of a wider range of women, even if they’re complex or sometimes do selfish or destructive things. We simply need a better representation of women in the world. If we’re not reflecting that in our art and in our culture, then where are we doing it? I feel like the sea change actually started in literature. I feel like writers, collectively, have done a better job of putting women at the center of novels. And those books have become wildly successful. Because, guess what?

Women buy the most books. And, guess what? Women watch the most movies.

And, guess what? Women buy the most consumer products. So we need a better gauge of what our marketplace looks like.

The flipside—and this is my other big thing—is that women’s stories are not just for women. It’s insulting, quite frankly.

I’m supposed to be interested in anything with a man at the center, but it’s like a special event if a man is interested in a movie with a woman in the center?

That’s crazy. My job is to provide content that is interesting for everyone to see.

Marketing plays into it too. We have to stop marketing movies with women at the center just as “chick flicks.”

IS THAT A FUNCTION OF MARKETING DEPARTMENTS BEING A LITTLE FURTHER BEHIND THE CULTURAL CURVE THAN THE CREATIVES ARE? Both groups play an important role. It’s my job as a producer to try and align myself with a distributor that I feel is going to put it out into the world in the right way. It took me a long time to learn that lesson. Michael London really taught me that, actually. Your movie is not done when you call “cut” and you wrap, or even when you finish post. You have to pay attention to what your poster looks like and what your trailers look like.

You’ve spent more time with this film than anyone. What is it supposed to feel like? Who is it being marketed to? What’s the plan for the campaign? You cannot just drop the ball. The job of a producer spans from first identifying a story you

want to tell right up until the release.

DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE MORE ACCESS TO THOSE MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION CONVERSATIONS THAN YOU MIGHT’VE HAD EARLIER IN YOUR CAREER? I always try to take an active role definitely. But my experience is that my partners have been very open to that. I mean today, you’re marketing from the second you’re on set and someone is tweeting out a picture of you at first look. It no longer just happens at the end of the movie or TV show. For our series with HBO, we

WILL WE KNOW THAT WE’VE SUCCEEDED? OR AT LEAST THAT WE’RE ON THE RIGHT TRACK? I like to aim for the stars. Even just by aiming big, stuff will shift. It is a little astounding to me that we haven’t come nearly as far as we should have in terms of equal pay and women’s rights. I mean, just in the world—forget about our business. But look, for my part I’m just going to keep trying to put as much as I can into the world that I believe will hopefully help shift some of it. My worry is over the way that these conversations can become very fashionable. Gender, equality, and diversity are very fashionable right now.

“WE SIMPLY NEED A BETTER REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN THE WORLD. IF WE’RE NOT REFLECTING THAT IN OUR ART AND CULTURE, THEN WHERE ARE WE DOING IT?” had a meeting with the marketing people before we started filming to talk about what we were going to do and the way it can be presented in the world. There’s lots of reasons to work with a company like HBO. But the way that they market and put their series into the world is magnificent. And that played a big part in our decision to align ourselves with them as partners.

SO JUST GETTING BACK TO THE LONG VIEW WITH GENDER REPRESENTATION … WHEN

But I pray that it’s just not a passing thing because it’s something that we can’t stop talking about, ever.

I mean, I’m on the Producers Guild Board and when I look at the makeup of that group, I’m very conscious of diversity. Do we have enough socioeconomic diversity? Do we have diversity from different parts of our business? And I feel that now with every movie I make, with every board I sit on, I vote that way a little bit more consciously. I think that’s good. I mean, we all need to be more conscious of it. It’s the only way things change. ¢

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Cross-platform innovator Charles Segars matches the message to the medium.

P

GA member Charles Segars has a lot going on. A pioneer in digital media, the CEO of Ovation TV, senior digital advisory roles with companies like DreamWorks Animation, a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University— and in his spare time, he leads advance teams for the President of the United States. Through all of his many activities, Segars has insisted on staying on the cutting edge of media and technology.

“What’s happening in entertainment right now is very much what those guys must’ve felt like when they were working in radio and saw this TV thing starting up,” he says. While this constantly changing landscape is daunting for most, Segars has thrived thanks to his ability to spot the leading trends of the day and combine them with a reliance on tried-and-true principles: trusting the audience, staying flexible and always keeping story first.

A native of Pittsburgh, Segars was hooked on movie magic from an early age, taking the Universal Studios Tour at age 14 and sneaking back onto the lot a few years later to see the filming of the pilot for the ABC series Tales of

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TOMORROW COMES TODAY

the Gold Monkey, with its giant sets, big logistics and great special effects; “I was hooked!” he recalls. During college Segars worked as a PA and segment producer on the “Making of...” documentaries for some of the biggest films of the time; “I got to see up close how they made movies, including Poltergeist and Back to the Future ... I was in heaven.”

Committed to a career in entertainment, Segars started working in television with producing jobs on magazine shows like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous as well as production exec roles on Viacom syndication hits like The Montel Williams Show. “About this time,” he recalls, “I got the greatest call ever. Jeff Sagansky and Rod Perth called and said, ‘We need to reinvent late night on CBS.’” After years of attempting to fill late-night with talk shows and game shows, network president Sagansky was ready to try something different. Segars and Perth were tasked with launching a group of scripted shows that came to be known as Crimetime After Primetime, a string of unique adult-themed series such as Silk Stalkings and Forever Knight. After serving as a crucial part of the team that recruited David Letterman to CBS, Segars was made head of Special Programming for the network,where he oversaw awards events like the Grammys and the Tonys, as well as experimented with shows consisting of wedding videos and animal attacks, years ahead of the reality TV boom.

After years of experience in television, Segars began to see opportunities in the early dotcom boom, and in 1998 co-founded CountingDown.com, based on the idea that movie fans would flock to a site designed around their unique community. “I quickly learned online video worked better in short form— two minutes max—than the longer form I was used to doing,” Segars recalls. He also learned that painstakingly-crafted content, while usually well-received, could be quickly upstaged by fan-made content. The world of TV, with its overnight ratings, critics and focus groups, was being replaced with the digital realm’s ability to provide instant, constant feedback. “It was exciting and terrifying at

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TREASURE TROVE Almost as a footnote to his pioneering online work, Segars is responsible for launching a smash movie franchise, the National Treasure series. “While I was at the National Archives doing research, I learned that the glass case holding the Declaration of Independence had started leaking,” Segars recalls. “The case cracked over time, allowing fresh air and moisture to decay that most important document.

Document specialists were urgently discussing what to do, saying ‘If you open it up the document will disintegrate. If you don’t open it up, it’ll still disintegrate.’ The National Archivist showed me a photo

of when the Declaration of Independence was transported there from the Library of Congress. The guys guarding it looked like The Untouchables. They were driving those great old Fords and carrying big tommy guns. Here’s this giant motorcade to transport the Declaration of Independence to the National Archives.

And I started thinking, what if someone stole the Declaration of Independence?”

Segars took the idea to producer Oren Aviv. “Oren and I worked together on the story, and when we felt we were on to something we took it to Jon Turteltaub, who immediately jumped

out of his chair, saying, ‘I want to direct this movie!’”

Thank goodness he did. He made key contributions to to our story that made it the franchise it is today.

The pitch was picked up quickly. “The next thing we’re in front of [Disney head] Joe Roth. That’s how quickly National Treasure came together. Disney bought it in ’99, long before The Da Vinci Code was even a thought.

Now the script is in for the third movie. It’s very gratifying to see National Treasure’s continued success.”

Turteltaub, who would go on to produce and direct the movie that would become National Treasure and its sequel, knew it was a great idea as a result of his previous experiences with Segars: “When I first met Charles, he was some stranger who was full of ideas,” Turteltaub remembers. “And every subsequent time I met Charles, he had a different job and even more ideas. Always supportive, always enthusiastic, always a cheerleader, and always a mystery.”

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the same time,” Segars says.

A major opportunity came Segars’ way when Jeffrey Katzenberg asked him to consult on an idea for a show tailored specifically to the YouTube audience, called YouTube Nation, which curated content from the ocean of videos uploaded every day. “The idea was that since there was so much content being uploaded to YouTube every day, literally years of video each day, many great pieces of content deserve but can’t get the spotlight.” YouTube Nation used curators to scour the internet looking for content, then would contact the creators and ask them to allow the video to be used as part of the seven-minute daily show. The show reached two million subscribers before ending in 2014.

The differences between traditional TV content and video made specifically for online platforms are vast, and Segars was quick to identify the unique requirements of new media. “You have to put great story first. In that sense, there’s no difference between traditional and online video.

Where the pathways diverge is you have to understand the best practices for

where you’re airing that content. A reality segment for television is very different from one for YouTube or Snapchat. While cable television wants a 22-minute or 44minute show, each online platform has a different sweet spot. The second common mistake is failing to understand that each platform has its own best practices. Third, and most importantly, online producers need to upload content almost everyday, sometimes multiple times a day, feeding their fanbase with exactly what they ask for. TV can’t come close to that. Online platforms like Vine, YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram are populated by content creators who have a one-to-one relationship with their audience.” As a result of his success with CountingDown.com, Segars has become an expert in emerging online markets, doing consulting work for major players in the digital realm.

Segars has concrete ideas about how online media differs from traditional broadcast models: “One thing that’s new for traditional media producers is figuring out the discovery mechanism. How do you get your audience to find you among a billion other uploads a week?

THE PHONE IS KIDS’ CONNECTION TO THE WORLD. SO TO HAVE SOMEONE TELL A STORY OVER IT IS VERY POWERFUL.

Just like when you’re trying to sell a show to ABC, it’s an easier sale with a movie star in it because there’s already a fanbase. Where digital diverges is you need be to across five or six platforms.

And you have to bring an advertiser, which requires a whole new muscle for producers to develop.”

Additionally, online programming has to be produced differently from broadcast content. “Most online video is reality or sketch-based. This is mostly because scripted takes too long to bake and by the time it’s ready, fans are moving on to something else. Most content that resonates is two to four minutes, authentically delivered right to camera by the creators themselves, with a call to action to their fanbase to share it and give feedback that can be incorporated into the next piece of content.”

However, exciting things are emerging for long-form producers as well, with platforms such as YouTube Red. “I have no doubt it will be a platform on which all types of content, at all lengths and at all production price points, will be exhibited,” Segars says. “Facebook is not far behind and will also be a monstrous video platform and buyer of content.”

Segars also consults for successful digital companies like Machinima and Whistle Sports—production and distribution companies engaged in building brands, finding talent and making content for unique platforms, with particular interest in young audiences. “The phone goes with kids everywhere,” Segars reminds us. “They carry it to school in their backpack. It’s their connection to the world.

So to have someone tell a story over it is very powerful. If they have a few minutes during lunch or on the train, that five to six minutes is valuable real estate.”

In 2008, Segars took a leap into an older media form, the traditional cable network, with an eye to modernizing its business model. “Back in 2008, we raised some money and bought a tiny arts network called Ovation TV, which is now in over 45 million paid-subscription homes.

Ovation couldn’t be more traditional in some of the content we make. We just did

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Charles Segars relaxes at the Segars Media offices in Los Angeles.

a $40 million miniseries called Versailles, airing this October. But at the same time we’re doing short-form, arts-centric content for specific arts verticals online. And we’re starting to aggregate some very interesting indie films and offering them to people on their handsets. We have a great team here and we move content across every conceivable platform,” Segars declares. “If there’s a tin can and a string people are using to talk to each other, one of our arts documentaries will be vibrating into there soon.”

These ventures plus massive growth in streaming services make it a very lucrative time for companies that know how to use these new platforms, which is why Segars launched Innov8 Design Studio two years ago, an agency dedicated to helping content creators connect with

audiences. “Content is king, but it takes the right balance of process—ideation and storytelling that is customizable for many differing platforms. Everyday we are learning and trying,” Segars says.

On top of all of these business endeavors, Segars is committed to public service, serving as a sworn deputy in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and has led advance teams for White House, setting up itineraries when President Obama travels. “Recently I was on Marine 2, and the White House photographer took a picture of me working on my phone trying to figure out where the motorcade was going next and what handshake was at the bottom of the stairs … He got this great shot and posted it on Instagram.

In two minutes my phone was blowing up. It was jumping out of my hand.” And

yet, even in this moment of fame, Segars returns to his passion for digital media.

“People from all over the world were going, ‘Wow, what a great picture!’ That is the instant moment of digital. You get immediate feedback. And producers should listen to it. If your fan base is saying ‘I wish this would happen,’ take the layup. Make it happen for them.” Segars is insistent that anyone with an interest in entertainment and communications take an interest in the burgeoning world of social and online media. “The great stories you create can go everywhere to find an audience. I look at these new platforms as exactly the same as when someone built a movie theatre or put up a radio or TV antenna. It’s just that now the delivery system is a phone and a social media platform.” ¢

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How Recognizing Changes in Content Consumption Will Future-Proof Your Content Written by Michael Cioni illustrated by elena lacey

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TIPPING POINT

n his book The Tipping Point, social scientist Malcolm Gladwell outlines how a few small and seemingly disconnected changes can work together to eventually create a huge effect in a marketplace.

I believe there is growing evidence that film and television are heading toward a tipping point of major change that is being fueled by emerging consumer distribution technologies. Because much of the power associated with content creation is linked to distribution platforms, changes in these platforms open avenues for new content creators.

Unlike traditional broadcast or theatrical distribution, these technologies can be adopted by consumers more rapidly and enable content of higher quality.

Specifically, there are three new emerging areas that producers should begin to explore as they plan for future-proofing and competitive advantages in the next era of the distribution landscape.

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The three emerging areas are: UHD: Ultra High Definition displays, which have a resolution of approximately 4K. HDR: High Dynamic Range, which simultaneously shows the darkest blacks and brightness levels capable of being 10 times brighter than previous displays/projection.

WCG: Wide Color Gamut, which shows a significantly broader array of realistic colors than possible within digital cinema projection or high definition.

As of today, no distributor has mandated that you need to master content using all three of those formats. Some have required one or two, but over the next 36 months, you will see a few production and distribution leaders that will require mastering in all three of these specifications.

Not only will this improve the future-proof appeal of these projects, but they will visually appear much more vivid and realistic, which will contribute to shifting the balance of power away from incumbent distribution platforms.

Since UHD is relatively new, and many people haven’t even seen HDR or WCG material yet, you might be asking yourself just how significant these specs really are. At Light Iron, we recently conducted a focus group to show these display technologies to some people who also had never seen them before. We recorded this focus group and published the video, which you can view on Vimeo (https:// vimeo.com/lightiron/focusgroup).

The first thing people ask when they hear about this test is, “What was the most significant thing you discovered?” The answer might surprise you!

The most common reaction from the focus group participants was a genuine expression of joy. You could see how happy they

were by the looks on their faces as they watched UHD/HDR/WCG content, and you could hear their excitement in the comments afterward. If you knew that there were three technical improvements you could make to your next project that would bring that kind of joy to your audience, would you do it?

Obviously, there are many creative factors that you already balance to engage with audiences: script, director, cast, crew, production design, etc. But in the same way that producers have to consider budget and scheduling to maximize all those elements, considering an advanced form of the mastering and exhibition platforms alongside creative elements can make a big difference. I call the approach of combining technical superiority with creativity—“technative.”

For the focus group experiment, we deliberately recruited film students as our test subjects, because presumably they will be the content creators of the future.

We hypothesized that if we could determine their preferences toward UHD, HDR, and WCG, then we could predict how they would be inspired to use these tools to create tomorrow’s movies and tv shows.

After demonstrating the same high quality content in HD followed by UHD, we finally showed the same content on a new OLED display that was capable of UHD, HDR and WCG. Their reactions were uninhibitedly positive, with comments such as “really amazing,” “true colors,” “true black,” “more realistic,” and “super bright whites.” One participant noted this consumer TV meant for the home had a “cinematic quality where you’re sort of watching the image in a magical way.”

Nearly all participants raised their hands when asked if they would be willing to pay more for the UHD/HDR/ WCG display. This is, of course, what consumer electronics manufacturers are after each time they develop next-gen TVs. It’s natural to get frustrated by the way manufacturers’ sales goals affect the content creation industry, like the tail wagging the dog, but there is a real opportunity to get excited by the way viewers

TIPPING POINT

respond to these new technologies. Why not have their enthusiastic reactions be experienced while watching the shows you produced?

There’s a sobering truth that just a few years ago our professional acquisition and mastering tools were significantly more advanced than the displays on which audiences consumed content at home. For example, when when we shot exclusively on film, consumers didn’t have 35mm projectors at home, so the TV experience was a significant downsample. As optical discs and HD TVs developed, Blu-ray eventually bridged much of that gap. But now, with UHD and HDR TVs being almost the exclusive buying options at any given Best Buy, consumers have the opportunity for a visual experience that is actually better than the specs in which 98% of content is being mastered or even, in some cases, acquired.

It’s safe to assume that audiences will continue to become more accustomed to higher quality images in the home and that tomorrow’s filmmakers will become more accustomed to creating content with these higher quality specs. Because of this foreseeable pattern, distributors who recognize how to leverage the benefits of UHD, HDR and WCG have the unique opportunity for maximum impact.

Unfortunately this isn’t easily adopted by exhibitors with large infrastructure, such as theaters or traditional broadcasters, which would require massive worldwide hardware upgrades.

In contrast, it’s relatively easy for OTT companies to upgrade their delivery services without any hardware as bandwidth increases and compression options improve. This means that Amazon, Netflix, Google, Hulu, iTunes and related distributers are primed to take over the power and influence previously held by the major and mini-major distributors.

Don’t believe me? Let’s go back to Malcolm Gladwell’s concept of the “tipping point.” Consider the music industry. If you had asked Sam Goody or Tower Records about their top threat 12 years ago, they would never have listed Apple. That’s be-

cause the iPod didn’t take over the music sales industry in a vacuum. Apple leveraged an environment created by the rise of early T1 internet lines at universities and the Napster-fueled rise in popularity of on-demand access to single songs to develop and promote a product that spread like wildfire.

Or think about a more recent example.

Remember three years ago when you’d never heard of Über and now everybody uses it? Here in Los Angeles, people who never took taxis before can’t seem to live without Über. How does something like that happen so fast? It’s because Über leveraged the rise of smart phones, the consumer trickle down of military-created GPS technology, cloudbased mapping technologies and the convenience of app stores to become a nearly overnight sensation.

Gladwell concludes in his book that we are creatures of graduation. That is, we prefer things to change gradually over time. But technology is governed by a much faster cadence than most of us are accustomed to. Based on this predictable cadence, our industry is poised for a dramatic shift over the next three to five years. As OTT companies leverage audiences’ interest in higher quality displays, they will become the predominant distribution platforms, further increasing the demand for UHD/HDR/ WCG content—even on mobile devices.

As an informed producer, you have the opportunity to monetize your content well into the future by not only adopting these technical specs today, but being a “technative” advocate yourself. ¢

Michael Cioni has supervised the post production workflows on hundreds of productions, including Gone Girl, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Transparent and Baskets.

Following Light Iron’s acquisition by Panavision, Michael led the development of the new 8K Millennium DXL camera.

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Producers Jorge Granier and Richard Hull in Miami

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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PONGALO

CONTENT

A PAIR OF PGA MEMBERS LAUNCH PONGALO TO CAPTURE ONE OF THE WORLD’S BIGGEST UNDERSERVED MARKETS. Written by Matt R. Lohr

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HE MOST RECENT UNITED STATES CENSUS, CONDUCTED IN 2010, REVEALED HISPANICS AS THE COUNTRY’S FASTESTGROWING POPULATION SECTOR. APPROXIMATELY ONE IN FIVE INDIVIDUALS COUNTED IN THAT SURVEY PROFESSED HISPANIC HERITAGE, AND POPULATION-GROWTH EXPERTS

EXPECT THIS NUMBER TO MORE THAN DOUBLE IN THE NEXT 25 YEARS. FOR RICH HULL AND JORGE GRANIER, THESE NUMBERS ADDED UP TO OPPORTUNITY, IN THE FORM OF A MASSIVE, GROWING, AND SERIOUSLY UNDERSERVED POTENTIAL AUDIENCE. HULL AND GRANIER ARE THE EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN AND CEO, RESPECTIVELY, OF LATIN EVERYWHERE, A DIVERSIFIED DIGITAL MEDIA ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO PROVIDING HISPANIC AUDIENCES WORLDWIDE WITH LATINO-FOCUSED FILM AND TELEVISION CONTENT UNAVAILABLE ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE DIGITAL SPACE. SINCE 2014, LATIN EVERYWHERE’S YOUTUBE AND SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS, BRANDED UNDER THE NAME PONGALO (SPANISH FOR “PLAY IT”), HAVE COLLECTED OVER TWO BILLION VIEWERS FOR THE EXCLUSIVE HISPANIC FILM AND TV CONTENT AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SERVICES. PONGALO IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AD-SUPPORTED OVER-THE-TOP (OTT) VIEWING PLATFORM AND IN A FEW MONTHS WILL BE LAUNCHING A SUBSCRIPTION VOD SERVICE PRICED AT $5.99 PER MONTH.

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W

hile many industry leaders saw reports of the emerging Hispanic market as a revelation, it was a fact of life for Hull from the beginning. “I grew up in Texas,” he says.

“Hispanic media’s always been in my world.” In the years following the census, Hull recalls that “For the first time in my life, you pick up the Wall Street Journal, and you’d see big giant U.S. advertisers Verizon and Target advertising to Latinos, as if they just got here. I was like, what is everyone talking about? This has always been a thing.”

For Granier, Hispanic media was almost literally in his blood, as a scion of Venezuela’s most celebrated broadcast media dynasty. His greatgreat-grandfather launched one of the country’s first radio stations in the 1930s, and it evolved into RCTV, once the most powerful and influential Venezuelan television network. Granier’s father Marcel served as the station’s general director as well as the host of Primer Plano, a controversial politically-oriented talk show. Granier was focused on a televised media career from the start.

“When I had my first job at 15, I quickly turned that into an opportunity to produce a piece for television,” Granier writes via email from his home base in Miami. “And from that moment, I haven’t stopped. I always thought of my career as an international one. In today’s world, there is no other way.” Dividing his time between New York, Caracas and Los Angeles, Granier produced acclaimed televised news programs and documentary features, including 2007’s

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Pablo Escobar doc Pablo of Medellin.

2007 also saw a spectacular development that would prove unexpectedly instrumental to the development of Latin Everywhere and Pongalo. Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez long regarded RCTV as a threat to his administration, partly due to their airing of advertising from anti-Chávez protest groups. So when the president won re-election in 2006, he announced that the network’s operating license would not be renewed. RCTV’s broadcasting equipment was seized, and its feed was usurped by a state-run network. Granier, based in Los Angeles at the time, relocated to Miami to assist RCTV’s international headquarters during this paradigm-shifting period for the company.

Meanwhile Hull, a Hollywood producer whose credits include the hit teen comedy She’s All That (1999), was looking to shift his focus to digital media. He decided after a key conversation, that whatever form his digital endeavor would take, it would have a Hispanic focus. “One day,” Hull remembers, “I went to go have a beer with a friend of mine who was Latino, and he said, ‘I just got this Android phone, 99 bucks, and I can do everything on it but watch (Hispanic) films and TV shows because there’s nowhere to get them.’ And I said, well, of course there is. You just don’t know where to look. But sure enough, my friend was right. It didn’t exist. So I said, maybe I just need to start this.”

Around this time, Hull and Granier first met and forged an immediate friendship, though the idea of partnering to pursue potential opportunities in the Hispanic

digital media space developed more gradually. “We knew we were both in the same wheelhouse,” says Granier, “with the opportunity we saw in the Hispanic space. But it took us a while to finally say let’s do this together.”

Hull and Granier’s first innovative step was to reverse the usual trajectory followed by start-up digital distribution platforms. “We said, ‘What are the mistakes everybody makes when they launch a streaming platform?’” says Hull. “It seems like they always had this same point of failure. They would get all this technology and then go out and try to get content. And as it turns out, getting content is hard. But Jorge and I are content guys, so we thought, let’s just build it in reverse. We’ll deal with the content first, and then we’ll get the technology later.”

The key content acquisition—the bedrock on which Latin Everywhere was able to build the foundation for Pongalo— came from a homegrown source. Since losing its broadcast license, RCTV no longer had a major outlet for its thousands of hours of archived programming. So, in order to keep these programs available to the broadest audience possible, and thus still lucrative, Granier was able to convince his father to grant him exclusive worldwide digital rights to RCTV’s television library in perpetuity. These rights also gave Granier the opportunity to pitch RCTV series to U.S.-based producers and networks for possible Englishlanguage remakes. One such show, the Granier executive-produced Jane the Virgin (based on RCTV’s Juana la Virgen), has been an acclaimed success for the CW

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network and won its star, Gina Rodriguez, a Golden Globe.

Granier was able to combine the RCTV library with a considerable catalog of Latin American films Hull had acquired, and together they leveraged these holdings into additional acquisitions. “We started adding a whole bunch of other content,” says Hull. “Movies from Mexico, TV shows from Colombia and Argentina. We still continue to do that, and we have more than 50,000 hours of content. You put that on par with a U.S. studio in terms of volume, and we believe content gives you options, it gives you a certain amount of power.”

With this extensive content library in place, Hull and Granier then began weighing their options for the technology on which to build their streaming platform. They decide acquiring predeveloped tech, with its own practiced engineering team in place, would be a

more effective use of resources than attempting to develop their own platform from scratch. After examining virtually every streaming platform then available, the partners purchased the start-up platform InMoo, also bringing the design and operations team onboard under their employ. “A lot of people had money and were pouring it into technology,” says Granier, “but with InMoo we saw a group of sophisticated engineers that could build a platform that would scale at a competitive price.”

Hull stresses the quick-action customization options that come with owning and operating your own platform.

“If you just rent someone’s out-of-the-box technology platform, what you get is a platform that, while it may work, it also looks like every other platform. You have the same white background, the same layout of your movies and TV shows.

It’s just your logo instead of somebody else’s. It just makes it really hard to make changes, and we wanted the ability to make changes really fast and experiment.”

Latin Everywhere launched the initial Pongalo YouTube channel in the spring of 2015, and the Pongalo label now covers a broad range of Hispanic-oriented channels presenting films and TV series, including telenovelas and children’s programs, none of which are otherwise available in the digital space. Collectively, the Pongalo YouTube channels now boast over 10 million subscribers from around the planet. From the start, Hull and Granier have emphasized the importance of making Pongalo an “authentically Latino” service, while recognizing the heterogeneous nature of the world’s Hispanic cultures. “Latinos speak the same language,” says Granier, “but they all have their different subtleties that

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make each group unique. We’ve found a language and programming strategy that works throughout our YouTube networks.” He is proud of Pongalo’s ability to offer its viewers and future subscribers “a truly Latino platform, with the content that they love, more variety than any other, more depth of catalog and a truly Latino feel to the user experience.”

Hull feels that Pongalo’s specifically Hispanic focus gives it the luxury of not having to “out-Netflix Netflix. We’re a great complement to Netflix, because at Netflix, you can get your Hollywood content and your House of Cards. We’re your option for everything else Latino ...

Right now, I would love to go to Netflix and even see what kind of Latino-oriented content they have. I can’t, because Netflix has decided I’m not Latino. There’s not even a tab I can go to that says, ‘Latino Content Here.’ So if you think about it, we’re that tab.”

In addition to expanding their reach through Pongalo’s upcoming SVOD option, which will offer exclusive content not available through YouTube, social media, and OTT platforms, Latin Everywhere is also diversifying the range of content it will soon be able to bring to its viewers.

Not only is Granier continuing to option RCTV series for English-language remakes (producers Daniel and Ben Barnz are currently preparing an English-language take on the telenovela Valentina for ABC Freeform, with Granier as an executive producer), but the company also has two original telenovelas currently in production in Latin America, both of which will be available exclusively through Pongalo streaming services.

Also, in May, Latin Everywhere announced that a stake in their company had been purchased by the Hollywoodbased production/distribution outfit Revolution Studios. This deal will grant Pongalo exclusive digital rights to a 120-title library of Spanish-dubbed films from the Revolution catalog, including Granier favorites Black Hawk Down and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

“RIGHT NOW, I WOULD LOVE TO GO TO NETFLIX AND EVEN SEE WHAT KIND OF LATINOORIENTED CONTENT THEY HAVE. I CAN’T, BECAUSE NETFLIX HAS DECIDED I’M NOT LATINO.”

“It was great to see a major Hollywood producer see the value of the Latino audience and make a real move in order to serve it,” says Granier. “I’m sure we are going to see a lot more of that in the space, and it makes me happy because I’ve fought for years to get that recognition.”

Hull acknowledges that the Revolution deal is still in the early stages but says Latin Everywhere is actively pursuing similar potential partnerships with other production and distribution shingles.

“Whatever it is that gets us content, that’s what drives us,” he says. “It’s that offering of content that we’re presenting. That’s what either makes us or breaks us.”

And of course Granier and Hull recognize that, even with their own proprietary platform technology, exclusive content, and current and future production company partnerships, it is Latin Everywhere’s unique ability to target and serve its demographic that has allowed it to become the digital leader in Hispanic film and TV content presentation—a notinconsiderable proposition when weighed against a currently estimated $1.4 trillion in Hispanic buying power in the United States alone.

“It’s the fastest growing demographic in America,” Hull says of Pongalo’s viewership. “And for Latinos, there’s nowhere else you can get the kind of content we offer, stuff you can’t get at Netflix, stuff you can’t get at Amazon. So we’re an alternative.”

“I think Latinos in the U.S. are finally realizing their own importance, both to the society and the economy,” says Granier. “In terms of entertainment, viewing, advertising and tech habits, we see that Latinos are early adopters of tech, want to be talked to directly by advertisers and want programming that’s relevant to them ... I think we have the best user interface and the most varied pure Latino content of anyone. If you want to watch telenovelas, series, superseries, movies and documentaries with Latinos, you come to Pongalo. It’s just like home.” ¢

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P G A AT YO U R SERVICE

NEW MEMBERS The Producers Guild is proud to welcome the following new members, who joined the Guild in May and June, 2016.

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PRODUCERS COUNCIL Rylan Aldrich Dominique Andrews Jordan Barrow Debra Bergman Roger Bobb Jeremy Bolt Chris Brancato Daniel Buckley Jess Calder Liza Chasin 1 Kevin Chinoy Bonni Cohen Chelsea Cohen Christopher Conover Andrew Corkin Lisa CortĂŠz 2 Philip Cottone Trevor Crafts L.C. Crowley Selin Darkalstanian Warner Davis Naomi Despres Scott DuPont Susan Dynner Hannah Erdheim Kevin Frakes Amy Freisleben Dany Garcia Jennifer Gelfer

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Charles Gogolak Steve Graham Brent Ryan Green Paul Greengrass 3 Chad Gunderson Hicham Gajji 4 Brion Hambel Mitch Harbeson Craig Harris Carolyn Hepburn Chuck Hogan Sandra Itkoff Kevin Iwashina 5 Rick Jacobs Anne-Lise Jacobsen Jeffrey Jampol Juliana Kim Natasha Kopp Chris Lauer Quentin Lee Sebastien Lemercier Brian Leonard Mark Lester Gary Levine Jacqueline Levine Deborah Liebling Gabriela Lugo Heidi Jo Markel Katherine Mota Patrick Murphy

Brian Nolan Glendon Palmer Brian Pilgrim Robert Profusek Shannon Prynoski Cat Rodriguez Eddie Rubin Jennifer Ryan Douglas Saylor Heidi Scheuermann Jennica Schwartzman Graham Sheldon Franceseca Silvestri Lisa Singer Mireille Soria 6 Peter Sullivan Don Thompson Christina Thornton Roberta Tollin Martin Tuchman Iyanla Vanzant Kevin Walsh Raymond Watt Angela Whie Stephen Whonsetler Marc Wolloff Jeremy Zag Olga Zhurzhenko

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NEW MEDIA COUNCIL Joseph Brisbois Shelby Brown Paul Caine Raul Celaya 7 Melissa Chapman Amy Cheong David Eisenmann Antonio Hernandez Matt Johnson Brian Kronenberg Sam Linder Carey Lundin Brent Lydic James Milward Corey Nascenzi Ben Proudfoot 8 Lisa Stephenson Jordan Weisman Andrew Wright

P G A AT YO U R SERVICE

AP COUNCIL ASSOCIATE PRODUCER/ PRODUCTION MANAGER/ PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR

Sabine Koch-O’Sullivan Tashana Landray 9 Cory Lewis Jennifer Madeloff Jesus Martinez Kevin McGrail Claire Munzer Donald Napoli Melissa Nathan Leslie Pao David Park Molly Perkins Rachel Raffael Sarah Rissmiller Robert Roath Shannon Ryan Lorry Shea Jaclyn Simon Patrick Stewart Russell Stough Lisa Sutton Jenni Tsoi Sasha Veneziano Christopher Voss Makiko Wakita Andrea Warren Hana Yoon Lulu Zezza 10

Lourdes Alba Nick Berry Rodney Brilliante Jane Buckwalter Krisy Cababa Danielle Cambridge Samuel Claitor Daniel Combs Pamela Darrow Louise DeCordoba Alexis Edelman Holly Edwards Mary Escobar Leslie Estelle Claire Faggioli Lisa Fotheringham Piper Freeman Nicholas Fuentes Allison Furgal Maureen Giblin Stephanie Hamilton Sarah Helton Richmond Horine Anthony Kemp

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SEGMENT/FIELD/ STORY PRODUCER Sirin Aysan Michael Beck Adam Bollinger Jason Goldberg Jessica Hernandez John Hiscock Jeffrey Laub Ellen Lowrey Joelle Luman Kendall Seyer Courtenay Singer Vicky Song 11

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Alicia Agramonte Russell Allen Jon Bryant Ramon Cardona Michael Coughlin Emily Davis Matt DeMartini Amanda Jones Kristina Lee Dan Leibman Lesley Lopez Gary Martyn Kristen Peterson Adam Schoon

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Lianna Sisinni Jeremy Slome Freddie Sulit

POST PRODUCTION Jason Cavanagh Ann Dingeman Rhonda Moore Andie Neumann Sabrina Parke Chekechea Pryor James Rodriguez 12 Paul Stanfod Taylor Ward

VISUAL EFFECTS Andrea Chen Lauren Ellis Jimmy Jewell Janet Lewin Mare McIntosh Julie Orosz Ashley Ward

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PRODUCED BY

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P G A AT YO U R SERVICE

MEMBER BENEFITS ■ Discounted registration for Produced By Conference and Produced By: New York.

■ Vote on Producers Guild Awards and receive discount tickets to the event, as well as DVD screeners for awards consideration.

■ Admission to special PGA pre-release screenings and Q&A events.

■ Full access to PGA website including events, calendar, social networking tools, members-only video library.

■ Eligibility for PGA Mentoring Program.

■ Listing of contact and credit information in searchable online roster.

■ Arbitration of credit disputes.

■ Eligibility for individual, family and small business health care options through Producers Health Insurance Agency.

■ Free attendance at PGA seminars.

■ Access to PGA Job Board, online resume search, employment tools and job forums.

■ Wide variety of discounts on events, merchandise, travel.

■ Participation in the Motion Picture Industry Health, Welfare & Pension Plan.

■ Complimentary subscription to Produced By.

PRODU CEDBY

PRODUCED BY

BUILDING A CASE FO DEBRA HILL p. 40 R THE PEOPLE VS O J SIMPSO Y OF S THE LEGAC N p. 61SURVIVING OTE p. 44 MPARE N THE GOL DEN AGE DUCERS CO OF Februa

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p. 41

ry | March

June | July 2016

ry | Janua

THE OFFICIAL MA GAZINE OF THE PRODUCERS GUIL D OF AMERICA // // APRIL | MAY 2016 JUNE | JULY ERS GUILD OF AMERICA

E OF THE PRODUC JANUARY ECEMBER | THE OFFICIAL MAGAZIN ERICA // D ILD OF AM DUCERS GU F THE PRO INE O AL MAGAZ THE OFFICI

2016

Decem ber

April | May 2016

PRODU CEDBY

PRODUCED BY

PC OD PBE RYD CDBEUYDC OBDYUCEDB U DRE O R P U D Y PRO Y? TWO PRO HATEFUL JO

THE OFFICIAL

MAGAZIN E OF THE

PRODUCER S GUILD OF

AMERICA // FEBRUARY | MARCH 2016

2016

Lesley Chilco

CHRIS MOORE | PRODUCED

BY CONFERENC E

NOAH HAwley

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NOAH

CHRIS

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SEE THE DIGITAL EDITION PRODUCERSGUILD.ORG LET’S GET SOCIAL

Advertising Info: Ken Rose at ken@moontidemedia.com or 818-312-6880

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PRODUCED BY

P G A AT YO U R SERVICE FINDING DORY Lindsey Collins, p.g.a.

NERVE Allison Shearmur, p.g.a.

Anthony Katagas, p.g.a.

GHOSTBUSTERS 3D Ivan Reitman, p.g.a.

Amy Pascal, p.g.a.

GLEASON: THE DIARY OF A SAINT Seth Gordon, p.g.a.

Kimi Culp, p.g.a.

Scott Fujita, p.g.a.

Mary Rohlich, p.g.a.

ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE Lori Forte, p.g.a.

INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE Dean Devlin, p.g.a.

Roland Emmerich, p.g.a.

Harald Kloser, p.g.a.

MARKING TIME The Producers Guild proudly salutes the following whose credits have been certified with the Producers Mark. This list includes films released in June and July.

Certification via the Producers Mark indicates that a producer undertook a major portion of the producing duties on the motion picture.

INFILTRATOR Miriam Segal, p.g.a.

Brad Furman, p.g.a.

Don Sikorski, p.g.a.

Suzanne Todd, p.g.a.

THE CONJURING 2 Peter Safran, p.g.a.

Rob Cowan, p.g.a.

Frank Marshall, p.g.a.

Gregory Goodman, p.g.a.

THE LEGEND OF TARZAN Jerry Weintraub, p.g.a.

David Barron, p.g.a.

Steven Spielberg, p.g.a.

Frank Marshall, p.g.a.

Sam Mercer, p.g.a.

EQUITY Sarah Megan Thomas, p.g.a.

Alysia Reiner, p.g.a.

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC Lynette Howell, p.g.a. & Jamie Patricof, p.g.a.

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE Scott Stuber, p.g.a.

Peter Principato, p.g.a

Julie Goldman, p.g.a.

Roger Ross Williams, p.g.a.

LIGHTS OUT

THE BFG

FATHERS AND DAUGHTERS Nicholas Chartier, p.g.a.

Craig J. Flores, p.g.a.

Sherryl Clark, p.g.a.

Alex Kurtzman, p.g.a.

Bobby Cohen, p.g.a.

POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING Judd Apatow, p.g.a.

Andy Samberg, p.g.a.

Jorma Taccone, p.g.a.

Akiva Schaffer, p.g.a.

PUERTO RICANS IN PARIS Joseph Zolfo, p.g.a.

THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR Jason Blum, p.g.a.

Sebastien K. Lemercier, p.g.a.

THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS Chris Meledandri, p.g.a.

Janet Healy, p.g.a.

THE SHALLOWS Lynn Harris, p.g.a.

Matti Leshem, p.g.a.

JASON BOURNE

LIFE, ANIMATED BAD MOMS

NOW YOU SEE ME 2

James Wan, p.g.a.

Lawrence Grey, p.g.a.

STAR TREK BEYOND J.J. Abrams, p.g.a.

Lindsey Weber, p.g.a.

Justin Lin, p.g.a.

SWISS ARMY MAN Lawrence Inglee, p.g.a.

Jonathan Wang, p.g.a.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS Michael Bay, p.g.a.

Andrew Form, p.g.a.

Brad Fuller, p.g.a.

ME BEFORE YOU Karen Rosenfelt, p.g.a.

Alison Owen, p.g.a.

MIKE AND DAVE NEED WEDDING DATES Peter Chernin, p.g.a.

Jenno Topping, p.g.a.

WARCRAFT Charles Roven,p.g.a. & Alex Gartner, p.g.a.

Thomas Tull, p.g.a. & Jon Jashni, p.g.a.

Stuart Fenegan, p.g.a.

To apply for producers mark certification, visit us online at producersguildawards.com.

PRODUCED BY

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THE BEST ON-SET PHOTO OF ALL TIME

THIRD AND LONG

Y

ou know what we love about this pic? Slap on a uniform and a windbreaker, throw a helmet over that legendary movie-star hair, and this is a photo of a quarterback and his offensive coordinator figuring out some way to get to the end zone before the clock runs out. It’s no wonder that so many Hollywood stories boil down to “the big game.” Regardless of how many days you have to shoot your movie or your episode, every one of them is precious. The truth is, every day a producer steps onto the set is the day of the big game.

In this shot, it’s 1977. We’re in the LA Coliseum. The gentleman on the left is 22 years away from receiving the Motion Picture Academy’s Irving Thalberg Award; five years later, he’ll take home the PGA’s highest honor, the Milestone Award. The fellow on the right is 33 years away from being elected president of the Producers Guild, and 35 away from being named president of the Academy. But that’s all a long time from now. In a couple of hours, 50,000 extras are going to pack those bleachers, and these guys and their team are going to have to stage the biggest of the big games, the Super Bowl.

This is, of course, the set of Heaven Can Wait. The quarterback (both on the set and in the film) is Warren Beatty, who would himself be nominated for four Oscars for the film, including a Best Picture nom as the film’s producer. The offensive coordinator is Hawk Koch, serving as the shoot’s 1st AD, soon to become a producer in his own right, of films such as Gorky Park, Wayne’s World and Frequency. Hawk is, of course, the one who graciously submitted the photo. Thanks, Hawk. It’s a winner. ■ We know what you’re thinking. “Best of all time? No way. I’ve got an on-set photo way better than that.” If that’s the case, we dare you to prove it. Submit it to BOSPOAT@producersguild.org. Before you submit, please review the contest rules at producersguild.org/bospoat. Because no matter how great your photo is, we have no desire to get sued over it.

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FUDGE YEAH, CHARLIE! ELLIE KEMPER OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS COMEDY

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