THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA // JUNE | JULY 2025
TRAILBLAZING THE CREATIVE JUNCTION OF VFX AND AI P. 32
PGA AWARDS RECAP: CREATIVITY AND RESILIENCE P. 68
“I came to the business with a mission. I wanted to break down stereotypes and prejudices.”
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CONSIDER THE SHOWS THAT GOT YOUR
OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
After
24 LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENTS
Stephanie Allain and Donald De Line share an update on production incentives in California and beyond.
DAY IN THE LIFE
Adventure travel producer and host Ryan Pyle goes all in. 32
TOOL KIT
VFX veteran Ben Lock zeroes in on the tools that level up his creativity.
36 ON THE MARK
The producers of three upcoming features get detailed about the work they did to earn the Producers Mark.
42 NEW MEMBERS
Meet the PGA’s newest members and discover what makes them tick.
90 STAR TIARA
Debra Martin Chase’s prized keepsake evokes Princess Diaries memories.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS
PRESIDENTS
Stephanie Allain Donald De Line
VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCING
Charles Roven
VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCING TEAM
Steve Cainas
VICE PRESIDENT, EASTERN REGION
Tonya Lewis Lee
TREASURER
Yolanda T. Cochran
SECRETARIES
Mike Jackson Kristie Macosko Krieger
DIRECTORS
Bianca Ahmadi
Autumn Bailey-Ford
Fred Berger
Melanie Cunningham
Linda Evans
Mike Farah
Jennifer Fox
Beth Fraikorn
DeVon Franklin
Donna Gigliotti
Jinko Gotoh
Bob Greenblatt
Lynn Kestin Sessler
Samie Kim Falvey
ASSOCIATE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Michelle Byrd
CEO
Susan Sprung
EDITOR
Lisa Y. Garibay
PRODUCERSGUILD.ORG
Vol. XXI No. 3
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818-312-6880 | KenRose@mac.com Todd Klawin
“SOUL-SHAKING TELEVISION .” “
THE YEAR .”
“AN ALL-TIME TECHNICAL MASTERPIECE.”
“ THE CLOSEST THING TO TV PERFECTION IN DECADES.”
It was an honor for us to address a room full of the most talented and accomplished professionals in the industry at the 36th Annual Producers Guild Awards. We are proud to say it was the best show to date on all levels. It meant so much for our community to come together in the aftermath of the wildfires that devastated Los Angeles.
Along with a recap of the show, including a glimpse behind the curtain with PGA Awards event chairs Mike Farah and Joe Farrell, this issue of Produced By includes the story about a remarkable effort undertaken by hundreds of members of guilds and unions who volunteered many hours to get desperately needed clothing to wildfire victims—and did so while protecting our environment.
During the awards show, we delivered a message of support for those in need and called on studios, streamers and financiers to bring production back to Los Angeles. It’s imperative that everyone who knows and loves LA demonstrate their support of the city by helping it rebuild.
But we know that the state of production is dire throughout California. The PGA remains active in the Entertainment Union Coalition’s Keep California Rolling campaign. PGA staff, along with 100 coalition members, traveled to Sacramento in March to attend hearings and advocate for the campaign’s California Film & Television Jobs Program, which will increase the cap on incentives to $750 million annually.
Thank you to each PGA member who sent in letters of support for SB630 and AB1138, the bills aimed at expanding the tax credit program. Overall, industry professionals sent more than 200,000 letters, which has resulted in meaningful progress. The Senate and Assembly bills have cleared their committees and are moving toward votes by the State Legislature.
We are continuing our work to get these bills passed. We invite you to reach out to us if you would like to join us on a lobbying trip to Sacramento. Or, if you are in production in California and able to offer set visits to legislators to help educate them on the importance of keeping production in the
state, let us know. On the local level, we continue to advocate for a reduction in permit fees as well as bureaucratic changes to ease the administrative burdens associated with filming.
In addition to all of our activity on the state and local level, we have had many meetings with the stakeholders and ambassadors advocating for a federal tax incentive and tax provisions to support domestic film and television production. For more details, please see the most recent industrywide letter supported by the Guild at producersguild.org/coalition-letter.
We will keep you updated as this work progresses. We continue to be inspired by the strength this community has shown and its collective resolve to keep working and creating. See you on set!
Donald De Line President Stephanie Allain President
“POP CULTURE’S MOST URGENT AND SALIENT WORK OF ART.”
For adventure travel producer and host Ryan Pyle, contraction and risk aversion has crushed the industry’s appetite for the inherently unpredictable programming he creates and loves. And so? It’s pivot time.
Intro by Keri Lee
Known as the Road of Ghosts, BR-319 is a 540-mile stretch of unpaved road that cuts through the Amazon rainforest from Manaus to Porto Velho in Brazil. When it rains, the dusty road becomes an endless pit of knee-deep mud that thwarts travelers at every turn.
Straddling his trusty motorcycle, Ryan Pyle eyes the start of BR-319 a month into Tough Rides: Brazil—season three of his Tough Rides series—with excitement and dread.
At one point during the long, brutal, rainy ride that would follow—after the millionth time he’s wrestled his sideways bike free of the relentless mud— Pyle admits, eyes wild with exhaustion, “This road, it just eats you up … and leaves you with nothing.”
In this moment, you believe him. And moments like this—unrehearsed, impossible to foresee—are exactly the point. For Pyle, adventure is by definition unpredictable. As such, he says, it’s hard to find true adventure travel series on TV today. Where they do exist, they’re built around celebrities, a competition, or the ability to know “what’s going to happen at the 35th minute of a 42-minute television show that you haven’t even gone out to produce yet.”
The point for Pyle is to take the journey first: Enter the culture, connect with people, reflect, and then find the story. That process, rooted in his own travels while living in China for two decades, is what he built several popular shows around, including Tough
The adventure always comes first for Pyle. Here, filming Extreme Treks: Bolivia.
“ One of the best TV shows of the year.”
“ The cast fits together like perfectly aligned puzzle pieces.”
“ Smart, warmhearted and consistently funny.”
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
Everybody Wants
”
Rides, Extreme Treks and Expedition Asia, all of which he independently produced and found funding and distribution for.
“Today, industry executives want you to completely produce and script the episodes before you’ve even been to the place and put boots on the ground,” he says. “That’s completely the opposite of an adventure.”
So, ever the fighter, Pyle has chosen to pivot rather than quit or change his ethos. In addition to pondering further possibilities for his extensive YouTube channel, he is setting his sights on a new medium—documentary film—as a vehicle to carry his franchises forward.
While working to secure financing and complete preproduction for a Tough Rides: Argentina documentary, he also produces and hosts a biweekly podcast, during which he talks with other creatives in his new home city: Los Angeles.
I love waking up at 6 and doing the tough work first. I played basketball for the University of Toronto, and we practiced in the mornings. I spent practically my whole life waking up at 6 a.m. That’s ingrained in me now forever.
I might start by doing research on various locations, reaching out to people for fundraising, reaching out to broadcast partners, setting up some calls. For the documentary, I might be figuring out how many days, what kind of crew, what kind of gear. And: What’s the magic number budgetwise?
Also, a lot comes in overnight. When you’re working with people in Europe and Asia and connecting with people around the world, you can wake up in the morning to a bunch of responses. Sometimes I’ll need to do an hour or more of
research about a location or something before I can get back to people.
I try putting all these deeper thinking tasks in the morning, because I’m quite sharp, quite awake. Plus the only way I’ve ever known is: Just do the hard stuff first. Then I go to the gym around midday. That’s kind of like my cleansing.
In the afternoon, I do the easier work, the more chill work: scheduling, connecting with podcast guests, planning and editing. I’ll confirm times with guests, sending them the Google Maps link to where the studio is, that kind of stuff. It’s pretty fun.
I only do face-to-face podcasts in my home studio. I do that because, number one, the audio quality is much, much better (than remote interviews). But also, this is about human-to-human connection and really getting to the heart of what makes someone tick. I feel like face-to-face is the way to do that.
I start my podcasts around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and they last between an hour and a half and three hours. So I finish off with the best part of my day, which is getting to learn about someone new.
To prepare, I’ll check out the person’s IMDB or LinkedIn page—or if it comes from a PR company, I’ll read whatever brief they give me—but otherwise I don’t plan out questions. It’s nice when two people can just sit down and talk without an agenda. I’m always amazed at what comes out of it. You can’t anticipate it and you can’t prepare for it. It’s organic and kind of beautiful.
You know, I love sleeping in a tent. I love waking up in the morning, cold, and having that first warm tea or coffee and then going out and hiking for 10 or 15 miles through the most gorgeous scenery in the world. That’s preferred. But if that’s not available, then getting to have some wonderful person come to my studio, excited to talk, is the next best thing. Everything’s trickier now in this business. It’s harder to raise money and it’s harder to do things. But I still love the process. I don’t know how to be anything other than a storyteller. It’s not something that I could just stop. Stopping is like—that’s when your heart’s not beating anymore and you’ve checked out. Until then, you just keep fighting. So, yeah, I wake up every day just ready to fight. And I love it.
VFX veteran Benjamin Lock is demonstrating that the right AI tools can fundamentally shift the creative process—and possibly spark a new genre of filmmaking.
written by LISA Y. GARIBAY
Benjamin Lock has been blazing trails from the start. As a kid intrigued by CGI, he taught himself audio and visual digital production while growing up in Cambridge, England. His first summer job was doing sound design at a VR company, which led to a job at Autodesk helping to develop emerging digital production workflows. Lock’s first studio role was head of digital production at Pepper’s Ghost Productions, where he supervised shows and designed creative and efficient ways to produce kids TV.
“I loved it so much,” Lock says, “I went back to school, enrolling at the UK’s National Film and Television School to really learn the details of how movies and TV get produced.”
Upon graduating, Lock’s talents and experience allowed him to work with industry legends at Aardman, Framestore and Lucasfilm, producing large-scale features for George Lucas, J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg. “I’ll always appreciate what I learnt working for the best in the biz,” he says.
Alongside VFX, Lock was driven to pursue producing given how the role entails both creative vision and enabling incredible talent. “Seeing a project through from idea to screen is an incredibly rewarding journey,” he says. “I especially enjoy collaborating with artists, directors and technology teams to figure out how we’re going to deliver something extraordinary. Producing animation and VFX lets me live in that space, shaping creative outcomes, working with cuttingedge technology and challenging the status quo.”
With all the noise artificial intelligence (AI) has been making in the VFX space, Lock points out that AI has quietly been part of VFX for years for such tasks as denoising renders, automating rotoscoping or predicting simulations. “But it was always tucked inside the tools we already used,” he says.
What has made the biggest difference recently is the leap into
generative
AI. “When I started seeing models generate concept art, animate elements and even synthesize voices, it became clear this wasn’t just another tool; it was a fundamental shift in how we create.”
This realization led Lock to join Asteria, an AI film company working with a clean, ethically trained model developed by Moonvalley. The model is being used on many projects including Natasha Lyonne’s Uncanny Valley, 2D and 3D animated features, live action series, documentaries, music videos and shorts.
“I think this will unlock a range of projects that couldn’t have been made before, enable a new generation of filmmakers and possibly spark a new genre of filmmaking,” Lock says.
Lock stresses that AI is not a replacement for artists. It can accelerate tasks such as cleanup or exploration, but it can’t generate meaningful work without human oversight.
“Storytelling still needs vision, taste, leadership and emotional intelligence. AI can mimic and synthesize, but humans are very sensitive to that, and VFX is often criticized for being fake if not done properly. The same will likely be said of AI output,” Lock says.
Another common fear Lock works to dispel is that using AI
“ THRILLING.”
“ONE OF TV ’S BEST SHOWS. This is a masterclass in how to end a sharp, politically imperative show in times of moral crisis.”
COLLIDER
“‘ THE HANDMAID’S TALE’ returns to form in A PROPULSIVE FINAL SEASON.”
means cutting corners. In practice, it’s often the opposite. “It’s not about doing less; it’s about working differently and focusing more on what tells the story,” he says. Done well, AI workflows require intentional design, technical planning and a deep respect for artistic input.
“I try to demystify this by showing real production use cases and speaking in spaces where people are trying to make sense of the noise,” Lock adds. “The more we can explain clearly, including what the tools do, how they work and where they fit, then the more we can steer the conversation toward creativity, ethics, and sustainability.”
Throughout the entertainment industry and many others, panic continues to build over the possibility of AI eliminating jobs by replacing the need for human effort and talent. Lock acknowledges that this is a valid fear given how much change has already taken place. But he believes that AI is not responsible for the current contraction of the entertainment industry, and that there are ways for VFX pros and producers to remain not just relevant, but necessary.
Lean in. Stay curious. Learn enough to direct the tools, not be directed by them. “There is time for people to learn and embrace these tools while they mature,” he says.
Ultimately, Lock is excited about the prospect of AI helping VFX artists become better storytellers. Automation can pick up repetitive or technical tasks so that animators, compositors, editors, lighters and FX artists can evolve into artists delivering entire shots, not just parts of them, and maintain creative agency throughout the process.
Lock believes that the emergence of AI has made strong creative leadership all the more important, both for producers and heads of department. “If we want to protect jobs and support artists, we need to be actively involved in how these tools are implemented so we’re shaping workflows that are ethical, efficient, and humanled,” he says.
Lock didn’t come up in the industry from traditional production but rather through the technology side, helping define VFX and animation workflows before many were standardized. “I wasn’t following a template. I was helping create it, and the same opportunities are there for people now,” he says. This experience taught him that producing in VFX is less about control and more about alignment. One need not be the most technical person in the room, but they do need to understand the intent behind each shot and the project as a whole.
Lock believes the most valuable producing skills are still the classics: clear communication, collaboration and the ability to stay calm in chaos. “Be curious. Listen to your crew. They often know exactly what needs to happen. You just have to keep everyone pointed in the same direction,” he says.
But today’s VFX producer also needs to be fluent in the variety of available methodologies and to understand their advantages and drawbacks. “Getting hands-on, experimenting and sharing knowledge is quickly becoming part of the job,” Lock says.
“Virtual production and GenAI are recent additions to filmmaking, so knowing when and why they are best used becomes important, rather than how.”
These are the tools that enable this VFX trailblazer to continue plowing forward fearlessly.
The people and the vision
What keeps me grounded at work is the team. The people I collaborate with every day, the shared vision we’re building, and the possibility of what it could become is inspiring. Outside of work, my son frequently reminds me of what matters most and how to have fun.
Newest toy: Marey, Asteria’s GenAI model
The most exciting tool I’ve worked with recently is our proprietary GenAI model, Marey. It’s built on clean, ethically sourced data and designed specifically for animation and VFX workflows. Watching it evolve from concept to creative collaborator has been a game changer.
Still hanging on: old-school text messaging
I still have to use SMS and Apple’s Messages app for messaging, but I’m slowly converting people to WhatsApp, Signal and Slack—one conversation at a time.
Lifeline: calendar alerts
Meeting notifications are what keep my day on track.
I’d love to say I have a beautifully organized digital workspace, but in reality, it’s my calendar app that keeps everything moving.
Drawing it out
Another essential is a sketch pad or a whiteboard tool such as Figma’s FigJam for visual thinking and breaking down complex ideas.
When Lock steps away from the whirlwind of tech, he finds restoration in a long run, a bicycle ride, or 60 minutes in a float tank. “It’s perfect when I need to reset, think clearly or put the noise in perspective.”
And last but not least, Lock relies on good oldfashioned human contact to keep him grounded. “I always need a network of smart people who say what they think and tell me when I’m crazy.”
Three producers pull back the curtain on the work they did to earn the Producers Mark.
It’s not easy to be a producer these days. The challenges and triumphs in bringing a story to screen vary by genre, budget, talent, location, distribution and more. Since 2001, the Guild has made it a priority to recognize those producers who do the yeoman work of bringing great stories to screen. In 2012, the PGA formally codified its standard through industrywide acceptance of the Producers Mark (p.g.a.). While the making of each film is unique, the denominator common to each producer who receives the Mark is that they have met the Guild’s standard: performance, in a decision-making capacity, of a major portion of the producing functions on that specific film.
Here, the producers of three forthcoming features discuss their own unique Mark-qualifying work.
Michelle
Wong, p.g.a.
When they aren’t selling out stadiums, K-pop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey use their secret identities as badass demon hunters to protect their fans from an ever-present supernatural threat. Together, they must face their biggest enemy yet—an irresistible rival boy band of demons in disguise.
CAN YOU DESCRIBE SOME SPECIFIC CULTURAL AND QUALITATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS YOU BROUGHT TO THE TABLE AS A PRODUCER WHO SHAPED THE FILM AND HELPED MAINTAIN THE CULTURAL AUTHENTICITY?
Initiating a research trip to Seoul
and Jeju Island was the first step in immersing the team in cultural specificity and scouting locations for our film. Exposure to the natural environment, the smells, textures, sounds and scope influenced the design and look of our movie immensely. Additionally, maintaining a team of Korean artists in every department was important as we crewed up the show, as they influenced not only the storytelling but the characters’ expressions and movement. Most importantly, embarking on a worldwide search for Korean voiceover talent as well as vocal talent who spoke Korean and English was a challenge that took years to accomplish. Having multiple casting directors for both voiceover and vocals, as well as casting calls in both the U.S.
and Seoul was daunting, but we are proud that the persistence paid off. Our cast speaks for itself.
MUSIC IS CLEARLY AN IMPORTANT PART OF THIS ANIMATED FEATURE. HOW DID YOU NAVIGATE THE CREATION, DEMOS, FINAL RECORDINGS AND MIXES OF SEVEN ORIGINAL SONGS WHILE ADHERING TO THE SCHEDULE, BUDGETS AND STUDIO APPROVALS? WHAT WERE SOME OF THE MAJOR CHALLENGES WITH THE MUSICAL COMPONENTS OF THIS ANIMATED FEATURE?
Creating seven original songs was one of the biggest challenges of KPop Demon Hunters, by far. In animation, crafting the story happens along the way and is not specific to the script alone, as iterations are made in storyboards, editorial and in voiceover sessions with talent. In a musical, this is compounded because the story is told through song, so any revisions to the story could change the structure, production and lyrics.
It was important for us to stay true to K-pop, so the songs not only needed to communicate the story, in both Korean and English, but they also needed to sound like fresh pop songs. With this in mind, we had an amazing executive music producer in Ian Eisendrath, who helped us collaborate with three music teams—hitmakers who have written for groups like Blackpink, Twice and BTS. While amazing at writing pop hits, catchy hooks and viral choruses, writing narrative lyrics for a movie was a new experience for all. This added another layer to the budget, schedule and executive approvals that should be evaluated closely when developing animated musicals.
CAN YOU DESCRIBE HOW YOU SUCCESSFULLY BALANCED THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN NETFLIX, SONY, AND KOREAN RECORD COMPANY THE BLACK LABEL TO ENSURE SMOOTH COMMUNICATION AMONG THE ENTIRE TEAM?
I tend to be an overcommunicator, which became a mindset that I
adapted to quickly when I started on the movie. In essence, I was working with two studios (Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix) that are both involved with approvals. With respect to The Black Label, smooth communication took more time. With that team based in Seoul, there were language, cultural, time and process differences. Balancing communication with their team took several iterations and processes until we found the right formula, which we eventually did.
Boy band? Or demons in disguise?
Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice
Andrew Lazar, p.g.a.
Writer-director BenDavid Grabinski’s Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is a buddy action comedy set in the criminal underworld starring Vince Vaughn, James Marsden, Eiza Gonzalez, and Keith David.
AS SOLE PRODUCER, CAN YOU DESCRIBE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU ENCOUNTERED AS BEING SINGULARLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PRODUCTION AND DELIVERY OF THE FILM? WERE ANY OF THESE CHALLENGES UNIQUE TO FILMING IN CANADA?
Every film presents unique challenges, and Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice was no exception. As the sole producer, one of my most significant hurdles was managing the film’s extensive action sequences within budgetary constraints. The script demanded elaborate set pieces, compounded by Vince Vaughn’s dual roles as Future Nick and Present-day Nick, requiring meticulous planning for scenes where both characters interact or fight.
While techniques like those used in Sinners with Michael B. Jordan provided a blueprint, executing these sequences efficiently was critical, as they’re inherently time-intensive. We relied on exceptional stunt doubles (matched to Vince’s physique) and Vince’s own enthusiasm for performing action. But balancing
creativity with practicality was a constant tightrope walk.
Further to the production budget, executive producer Richard Middleton and I did many different budget scenarios, and shooting in Winnipeg, Canada, was by far the most costeffective location with the exception of Sydney, Australia, which was slightly cheaper.
However, the local crew market was stretched thin by concurrent productions in Winnipeg, forcing us to bring in additional labor from Vancouver and Toronto. This introduced complexities with Manitoba’s tax credit, as there is a cap on out-of-province hires, a key consideration for mid- to largescale productions. Navigating these logistical and financial nuances, while
ensuring that the film’s ambitious vision remained intact, was a defining challenge of the production.
CAN YOU DESCRIBE SOME UNIQUE CHALLENGES THAT ARE INVOLVED IN THE LIFE CYCLE OF SPEC SCRIPT TO GREEN LIGHT? HOW LONG WERE YOU DEVELOPING THE SCRIPT BEFORE IT WAS SET UP AT 20TH CENTURY FOX?
The journey from spec script to green light is always a challenging journey. Writer-director BenDavid Grabinski and I had wanted to collaborate for over a decade, and when I first read the script during the early days of COVID, I knew immediately it was special. I specifically remember that during my first read of the script, a particular
scene had me laughing uncontrollably, and I thought, this is exactly why I want to make this film. That scene not only survived every draft but became one of the film’s standout moments. Given that BenDavid’s prior film was much smaller in scale—and Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice represented a significant budget leap with him attached to direct—financing required a strategic approach. Fortunately, I had strong relationships at 20th Century Fox, not just with creative executives Steve Asbell and Sarah Shepard, but also with Ravi Mehta and Richard Middleton, key figures on the physical production side who I knew would champion the film’s ambitious vision. Richard and I had worked together successfully multiple times in the past, and he ended up leaving his position as
a 20th exec to line produce the film. Twelve months after reading the first draft, we secured a deal with 20th, but only after ensuring their unwavering commitment to BenDavid as director—a nonnegotiable for me, given the script’s singular tone. While other studios were very keen on the project, I prioritized a partner who fully embraced our creative alignment. Now in postproduction, the film has tested exceptionally well during our preview process, but the work is far from over. As any producer knows, marketing and distribution are their own battlefield, so while we’re proud of how far we’ve come, the next phase is just as critical. Fingers crossed, but so far, so good.
Freakier Friday
Kristin Burr, p.g.a.
Freakier Friday is the sequel to the beloved 2003 body-swapping film with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan reprising their roles as Anna and Tess in a story with a multigenerational twist.
WE HEARD THE IDEA FOR THE SEQUEL CAME FROM JAMIE LEE CURTIS WHILE SHE WAS DOING PRESS FOR ANOTHER FILM. IS THAT TRUE?
Yes, Jamie had told us that in almost every interview she ever gave, she was always asked about a sequel. (Disney did a fun marketing reel of the cast being asked about a sequel repeatedly.)
So she finally called Disney and asked them! Meanwhile, I believe Disney was already discussing it internally.
WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN THAT INITIAL COMMENT AND GREEN LIGHT?
That’s a big question! Jamie called Bob Iger and Alan Bergman from Disney, and then Disney called me. I was the junior exec on the 2003 film. So (producer) Andrew Gunn, (executive producer) Ann Marie Sanderlin and I, along with Disney execs Allison Erlichman and Maria Ascanio, began looking for a writer and trying to figure out an idea worthy of a sequel.
We knew that we wanted Jamie and Lindsay to be on the same team this time so that they could be in a lot of scenes together. And we wanted Jamie to get to play a different type of teenager. The process was a real testament to everyone working together toward a common goal. The time from the original call to
completion of principal photography was under two years. There are always challenges with schedules and timing, but everyone was very excited to reunite.
WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES TO DEVELOPING THE SCRIPT FOR THE SEQUEL WHILE MAINTAINING THE INTEGRITY OF THE UNDERLYING IP?
Sequels are tricky. You want to be able to provide a new conflict with characters that have evolved, but you also want to be able to tap into the nostalgia that made the last film a classic. It might be bold to say, but I think we did it.
WAS THERE HEAVY RELIANCE ON FELLOW PRODUCER ANDREW GUNN, GIVEN
HIS INVOLVEMENT IN THE ORIGINAL FILM?
Andrew, Ann Marie and I became friends on the 2003 film and have remained friends. I cannot imagine working on this movie without them. They were invaluable.
WAS ALL PRODUCTION KEPT LOCAL TO LOS ANGELES, INCLUDING POST?
Yes. Jamie’s schedule only allowed her to shoot in LA. We were thrilled to get the California tax credit. We had shot the 2003 film in LA, too. Because of timing, we had almost no builds, and
we shot all on location. You get to see a ton of the city. And it’s beautiful. We shot in both the Palisades and Pasadena. Several locations are no longer there because of the fires in January, including the hero house. I’m so glad that we got to capture LA before the fires. It’s a loving tribute to our great city.
Clockwise from left: Kristin Burr, Ann Marie Sanderlin and Andrew Gunn on set; Burr and Sanderlin with costume designer Natalie O’Brien; Jamie Lee Curtis with Burr and Sanderlin; Walt Disney Studios SVP of Physical Production Diane Sabatini, Kristin Burr, and director Nisha Ganatra.
Produced By trains the spotlight on some of the Guild’s newest members, and offers a glimpse at what makes them tick.
Katrina Beshears
Katrina Beshears is a production manager with nearly 15 years of experience in feature animation production. She has played a key role in feature films for Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, Netflix Animation and Sony Pictures Animation. She spent the early years of her career at DreamWorks Animation and Prana Animation, working her way up the production ladder rung by rung. Her film credits include visually and technically innovative projects such as Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021), where she was part of the leadership core that developed a pipeline to successfully integrate 2D animation, CG animation, VFX and live-action footage.
What skills have best served you as a production manager/coordinator, particularly on animated features?
The soft skill that has best served me in production is empathy. In a team environment, approaching every interaction with an openness to seeing where someone is coming from helps expedite understanding how best to guide the next step. Bedside manner, people skills—or however you describe it—has always served me to put myself in my peers’ shoes to better communicate with them. Animation crews are almost entirely made up of art-producing staff— varied individuals with their own story to tell and their own foundational experiences. Understanding, acknowledging and celebrating our individuality provides a soft place to land when my crews are bravely pitching new ideas every day. Most importantly, as a storyteller, empathy helps deepen my connection with the viewer, as storytelling is at its core the observation of the human condition.
Christine
Beebe
Christine Beebe is a documentary filmmaker and CalArts-trained director whose work bridges independent and studio worlds. She was PGA-nominated for Hal (2018) and later was an executive in nonfiction development for Lucasfilm, where she developed More Than Robots, Jedi Temple Challenge, and the series Light & Magic directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Her documentaries have premiered at Sundance, Telluride, SXSW, HotDocs, AFI, IFFR and the Viennale. Her Emmy-nominated short-form series We’ve Been Around earned GLAAD’s Special Recognition Award and Outfest’s Audience Award.
Christine leads with integrity and collaborates closely with directors to ensure their vision is fully realized. She believes in paying it forward by mentoring emerging talent and being active in the queer community. Currently, she’s developing a global documentary on ocean degradation starting in Los Angeles and a project about iconic Angeleno Anaïs Nin.
What challenges are you most proud of having overcome while putting together the lauded and memorable documentaries you’ve produced?
Riding the tidal shifts of this industry is a long-game challenge, and breaking into Hollywood was the first and biggest. With Hal, we were unknowns asking legends to talk about one of their most beloved directors. Jane Fonda was our linchpin— her “yes” cracked the door. But it wasn’t easy. A well-known insider was actively making calls, imploring every person on our list not to speak with us. Hal Ashby’s longtime lawyer had it out for us. We persisted with no money and endless roadblocks, and somehow captured interviews with giants like Haskell Wexler, Robert Towne, Lynn Stalmaster and Norman Jewison. This was our film school.
Later, I was tapped to lead the new nonfiction division at Lucasfilm. Few get that level of access to the archives. It was a fantasy come true. Under Kathleen Kennedy’s leadership, I saw what excellence and reverence for legacy truly look like, and the completely new set of challenges that come with it. Indie or studio, it always came down to standing at the right door and knowing how to knock.
Amber ChambersOrtiz
Amber ChambersOrtiz produces animated film and television for kids and families, with a focus on franchise management and global brand development. With Apple
TV+ and WildBrain, she led the creative development and production management of a series of critically acclaimed animated specials for the iconic Peanuts brand. The specials received multiple Emmy nominations, an NAACP Image Award nomination for Welcome Home, Franklin and an Annie Award for One-of-a-Kind Marcie
Earlier in her career, Chambers-Ortiz managed global marketing campaigns and strategic brand partnerships for NBCUniversal and Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me/Minions franchise and Sony Pictures Animation’s The Angry Birds Movie franchise.
What is most rewarding for you about producing children’s content? What are the producing skills you call upon most when working in this genre and specifically in animation?
One of the most meaningful aspects of producing content for kids and family is creating stories that connect across generations. Whether it’s reintroducing a classic brand to new audiences or sparking imagination through animation, when a film or series evokes joy and wonder, it becomes more than entertainment; it becomes a shared experience, a lasting memory. The true reward lies in watching audiences of all ages connect, feel seen and leave inspired. There’s real magic in that.
Producing animation calls for clarity of vision, adaptability and relentless optimism. The medium brings together highly specialized teams over a yearslong process of design, iteration and collaboration. Success lies in aligning talent, managing resources long-term and making purposeful creative decisions that pave a clear path forward. And through every challenge, showing up with perspective, positivity and a commitment to building authentic stories that truly resonate.
For over 15 years, Casey Dale has thrived in unscripted television, contributing to more than 25 shows. Splitting his career between Los Angeles and New York City, he has collaborated with some of the industry’s leading organizations. His credits include work as a producer for Mark Burnett Productions, executive producer for Warner Bros. Discovery, and key roles with NBC on such series as World of Dance, Songland, Bring the Funny and The Voice. He also secured a development and showrunner deal with MyEntertainment, leading projects for Zak Bagans across multiple series.
Dale has pursued projects that challenge and inspire, from producing a documentary on Nikola Tesla to filming atop Mount Etna with scientists and exploring a World War II tunnel in Poland. His work with Zak Bagans on paranormal series stands out as a personal and creative highlight.
What makes you proud to be a producer, and what’s a challenge you’re most proud of having overcome?
I’m proud to be a producer because every unscripted show throws something new at you—and that’s exactly why I love it. No two days are ever the same. Every project brings its own set of surprises, and working with so many talented, creative people to figure it all out is what makes the job exciting.
One of the biggest challenges I’m proud of was filming on top of Mount Etna, an active volcano, while also showrunning a largescale paranormal series with tight deadlines and remote locations. There were definitely moments it felt impossible, but pulling it off with an amazing team made it one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had.
Katelyn Howes is an Emmy-nominated producer with a passion for crafting high-impact documentaries and scripted stories. Over the past decade, she has helped shape awardwinning projects in film and television, with credits including MTV’s Transformation, ESPN’s Queen Vee, A&E’s Kids Behind Bars and Showtime’s Prophet’s Prey. Known for her ability to balance creative vision with the realities of production, Howes works across development, budgeting, field production and post, guiding projects from the earliest pitch through final delivery. Her work has been recognized by such organizations as Sundance, BAFTA, IDA and the WGA.
Based in Los Angeles and Atlanta, Howes is committed to telling stories that resonate on both a personal and cultural level. In addition to her producing work, she is a published author and screenwriter, always looking for new ways to engage with powerful, human-driven storytelling.
What skills have best served you as a successful producer of documentary/nonfiction projects? What skills do you advise a producer to hone if they want to develop and produce nonfiction projects?
Wearing multiple hats, often balancing several at once, has been the key to my success as a documentarian. As a producer, you have to be equal parts therapist, logistician and creative partner. Having empathy for everyone involved— from the subjects to the crew—is nonnegotiable. These are real people trusting you with their stories, and that’s sacred.
Flexibility, both mental and physical, is critical. I genuinely cannot count the number of times I’ve contorted myself into bizarre positions to help get the shot.
In documentary filmmaking, things will go wrong, usually at the worst possible time. You have to pivot fast without losing your cool or your vision. For anyone wanting to produce documentaries, I’d say hone your listening skills, practice creative problem-solving and learn how to keep smiling even while crammed inside a closet next to your DP and an Amira. It’s all part of the adventure.
Hannah Myers is an associate producer who has spent the last five years concurrently producing Big Mouth (Netflix) and Human Resources (Netflix). Prior to these shows, Myers was involved in a range of projects that included live comedy tours, development of a CBS pilot, and the creation of an independent documentary series. Her focus has shifted to developing and producing a new slate of animated adult comedies from Brutus Pink. Originally from Toronto, Myers’ love of comedy started at a young age as a superfan of SCTV, Kids in the Hall and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Drawn to stories that explore the nuances of female friendships and embrace coming of age at any age, Howes crafts characters who find a way to choose optimism and humor in the face of darkness and despair.
What makes you proud to be a producer, and what’s a challenge or a daunting project you’re most proud of having produced?
A recent challenge, on top of producing two successful shows at the same time, was navigating the pandemic. In animation, we were lucky to have been able to continue working, but that meant we had to quickly figure out how to convert our in-person production elements to fully remote. With actors and writers scattered around the globe, coordinating time zones and creating DIY closet recording booths required a new set of creative skills.
Producing is not an isolated profession. Challenges are never faced alone, and successes are always celebrated together. In all my projects, I’ve been lucky to have worked with teams of creative, passionate and professional people who share a common desire to tell meaningful stories, and who have a genuine interest in supporting each other. I’m proud to be part of a talented and supportive team at Brutus Pink, where I am surrounded by generous and deeply talented role models.
With over 25 years’ experience, Alison Sandler is an executive producer and show caller based in New York City. She began her career in production management, working her way up to line producer and supervising producer. Credit highlights include NBC’s Emmy-winning primetime variety special Tony Bennett: An American Classic and many telethons, including Night of Too Many Stars with Jon Stewart/Comedy Central.
Additional experience includes being on staff at Fuse TV and going around the world with the first two seasons of The Amazing Race. She combines her love of music and spectacle while creative producing in the live-event space, serving as show caller for Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song on PBS—recently nominated for a 2025 regional Emmy Award—and coexecutive producing the Kennedy Center Honors on CBS. Currently, Sandler is executive producer for Fox upfronts.
What skills would you advise a producer to hone if they want to work in this area? While it may seem counterintuitive for live events, my advice would be to make sure you spend time in an edit. So much of building a live show is in the visualization beforehand to ensure you’re enhancing the experience in the room as well for the audience at home. Knowing how it’s going to edit together is imperative—what can be moved or lost for time, the best way to lay out the acts. I love being the person building the rundown to help solve those puzzles.
In addition to supervising writers rooms, I’ve spent time overseeing graphics, screens, edits and costing things out and scheduling in PM. All that comes together to inform me how far to push the envelope while still getting it done in time and on budget. So don’t be afraid to sit in on other departments’ meetings to learn. Make yourself a utility player who can speak all the different departments’ languages to bring together a seamless show.
“It’s about passion,” says producer Debra Martin Chase, whose drive and INSTINCTS have led her from Harvard Law to massive success in film, TV and theater.
written by LISA Y. GARIBAY
photographed by Ab Sesay
About to graduate Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in political science, young Debra Martin Chase had two worlds of possibility before her. In one hand was an application for Harvard Law School; in the other, an application for the USC Master of Fine Arts program. The hardworking student had grown up guided by her father, a film and TV buff, to cultivate an affinity for onscreen storytelling and an appreciation for its capacity to bring about change.
But Chase was also grounded in reality. She knew no one in the film and TV business, much less anyone there who looked like her. The law school application felt safest.
“I thought, ‘With this one, at least I know that when push comes to shove, I can put a roof over my head,’” Chase recalls. So that was that.
But it was far from the end of the story. After receiving her J.D. from Harvard (magna cum laude, again), a stint practicing law with major firms and Fortune 500 companies, and a now-or-never career pivot, the woman who would go on to lead Martin Chase Productions not only found firm footing in the film and TV business, but she also built a solid foundation for generations of producers who followed.
Chase’s tenacity and ingenuity—as evidenced by the success she’s racked up since her first leadership role steering Denzel Washington’s Mundy Lane Entertainment in 1992— should have been enough to ensure success in the industry. But on a wildly uneven playing field, having a law degree meant she might just be able to dispel bias and receive the respect she deserved.
“I’d walk into industry meetings and just knew they thought I was the assistant,” says Chase. “But because I went to law school and practiced law, I could say, ‘Listen, I have been in boardrooms. I know what I’m capable of.’”
What Chase proved capable of is astonishing. Her pragmatism and passion helped her become one of the most successful producers over the last three decades. Her work has earned Academy, Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, BET and NAACP Image Award nominations, a Peabody Award, a Critics Choice Award and three Tony Awards. At press time, the Chaseproduced Broadway play Purpose was in contention for six 2025 Tony Awards and had just been awarded a Pulitzer for drama, while the musical Death Becomes Her received 10 nominations.
A beacon of possibility, Chase became the first Black female producer to secure an overall deal at a major studio when she signed with Disney in 2001. She was the first Black woman to produce a film grossing more than $100 million with Courage Under Fire while at Mundy
Lane. Films Chase has produced have grossed over a half billion dollars at the box office, including beloved franchises The Princess Diaries and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which launched the careers of Anne Hathaway and Blake Lively, respectively. The second of Chase’s Cheetah Girls teen music trilogy was the most-watched movie debut in Disney Channel history.
The 2019 Chase-produced biopic Harriet employed more than a dozen women and people of color in leadership positions both above and below the line. The film garnered two Academy Award nominations for Cynthia Erivo— who was already a Tony winner—for Best Actress and Best Song. The 2023 documentary Being Mary Tyler Moore was nominated for an Emmy and a PGA award and won the Critics Choice Award for Best Archival Documentary. Chase ran Whitney Houston’s
I’d walk into meetings and just knew they thought I was the assistant. But I could say, ‘Listen, I have B een in B oardrooms. I know what I’m capa B le of.’”
company BrownHouse Productions from 1995 to 2000. There, Chase honed her TV chops producing ABC’s Emmy-winning TV musical Cinderella, a ratings success costarring Houston and young vocal powerhouse Brandy, who became the first Black actress to play Cinderella on-screen.
Chase’s 2003 Lifetime series Missing was the most-watched series premiere in the network’s history, while her TBS documentary Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream received both Academy and Emmy nominations and won a Peabody Award. Further proof of Chase’s business acumen is the partnership she secured with Mattel’s American Girl Company to develop and produce content around its products and merchandise, resulting in five TV movies that aired on NBC and the Disney Channel.
Martin Chase Productions signed an overall deal with Universal Television in 2017. The company went on to produce the five-season hit CBS show The Equalizer, starring Queen Latifah—who first worked with Chase on the 2010 film Just Wright—in her first leading role in a television drama.
Flipping the lead character’s gender was a gamble, a twist on the original ’80s series and 2010s trilogy of films led by Edward Woodward and Denzel Washington, respectively—as was the casting of a Black actress in the lead role. But Chase’s decision paid off. The series cultivated an impassioned fan base that rallied behind the show’s timely themes and Latifah’s compelling portrayal of a hero standing up against the most corrupt to help the most vulnerable.
There is perhaps no greater mark of one’s success than the achievements of those they have mentored. Yet another up-and-comer who benefited from being taken under Chase’s wing is now an undisputed ruler of the TV realm: Shonda Rhimes.
“She got me my first job as an
w hat chase proved capa B le of is astonishing. h er work has earned academy, e mmy, g olden gL o B e, sag , B et and naacp Image award nominations, a p ea B ody award, a c ritics choice award and three tonys.
n ina jaco
“an unstoppaBle-force quaLity.”
Nina Jacobson was copresident of the Walt Disney Motion Picture Group in 2000 when Debra Martin Chase pitched an adaptation of the YA novel The Princess Diaries for the screen. Disney greenlit the film with Chase and Whitney Houston as producers, pairing legendary actress Julie Andrews with 18-year-old Anne Hathaway and launching her career as a star. The box office hit led Disney to offer an overall deal to Chase, who became the first Black female producer to have a deal at a major studio.
The Princess Diaries was Debra’s and my first chance to make something from start to finish together. We had a shared dream of what that movie could be, and it remains one of the movies I’m most proud of.
The cross-generational component of The Princess Diaries—seeing a young woman taking the mantle of leadership and being built up and transformed by an older woman—meant a lot to both of us. That it turned out to mean a lot to other people, particularly young women, was everything that we had hoped for.
I was so impressed with Debra as a producer and as a partner that we (Disney) wanted to have a deal with her. It means a lot the first time you get a deal without a big piece of talent as the anchor, where it’s just about your talent as a producer. We were lucky to be able to invest in her.
Debra brings conviction and joy to the work. She always had a strong sense of certainty that she’s going to get her movie made, is going to get over whatever the next obstacle is—an unstoppable-force quality, but always gracious.
I ask myself every day, “What am I doing to get my movie made?” I learned that from watching Debra succeed as a producer.
I have even greater respect for Debra now, for how long she’s managed to do this, and all the people that she’s brought along with her. When you look back over her career, you really appreciate just how big the rock is that she pushed up that hill.
assistant. She got me my second job as a research director on the Oscarnominated documentary Hank Aaron She brought me in to write The Princess Diaries 2, my first big studio film,”
Rhimes recounted to Essence in 2020.
“She was also willing to dive into difficult conversations,” Rhimes added.
“When I was screwing up or acting like a hot mess, Debra flat-out told me that I was ruining my opportunities.”
Chase proclaims without hesitation that her dedication to mentorship is due to the support given to her when she was starting out.
continued on page 60
“an incredible role model for me.”
Pearlena Igbokwe—currently chairman, Television Studios, NBC Entertainment & Peacock
Scripted—was president of Universal Television when Martin Chase Productions signed an overall deal there in 2017. After a lightbulb moment during a general meeting with Chase and Queen Latifah, Igbokwe greenlit a remake of the drama series The Equalizer . With Queen Latifah in the lead role and Chase as EP, the show was an immediate hit from its debut in a coveted post-Super Bowl slot in 2021, running for five successful seasons.
I went to an event early on in my career, and when I saw Debra, I was inspired by how she was paving the way in the entertainment industry. She has been such an incredible role model for me from that day forward.
When I came to Universal Television, Debra was one of the first producers I made a deal with. She is an accomplished producer with a list of credits that includes some of my favorite movies and TV projects. I believed her experience and talent relationships could be instrumental in UTV’s success. And after five seasons of The Equalizer, I was proven correct.
People often tell you not to meet your heroes. But working in partnership with her continues to inspire me on a daily basis. Debra continues to exceed all expectations. She is a producer who “gets it.” She knows what the job is, and she rolls up her sleeves and gets it done. On time, on budget and with an unparalleled vision.
m arc p latt:
“formidaBle, intelLigent and such good taste.”
Producer Marc Platt met Debra Martin Chase in the early ’90s when he was president of TriStar Pictures and she was running Denzel Washington’s company, Mundy Lane. The two produced the 2022 Broadway musical A Strange Loop , which won Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Book, and 2022’s Topdog/ Underdog , which won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Their most recent stage productions, Purpose and
Death Becomes Her , received a combined 16 nominations for the 2025 Tony Awards.
I was impressed with Debra from the first day I met her—her keen intelligence, good taste and creativity. She has a strong point of view and she’s a good listener at the same time.
I’m always looking to bring new voices to Broadway—not only writers and actors, but also producers. Given Debra’s stature in the industry and her accomplishments as a film and TV producer, I thought, “This is someone who has so much to offer to Broadway.”
She jumped at the opportunity and has proven herself to be as formidable, intelligent, and in possession of
such good taste in theater as she is in film and television.
Because Debra and I have known each other for so long and have such mutual respect, there’s a lot of professional and creative trust. Not that we agree on everything, but we’re coming from the same place, both as creative and business individuals, and with the way we treat our colleagues and artists.
It’s easy when things go well. It’s far more challenging when challenges present themselves. You want to be linked with those you share trust, experience and values with.
Debra is someone I welcome on any production I pursue.
“A
continued from page 57
The groundbreaking roles, the first-oftheir-kind stories, the generation-defining talents, the vast audiences inspired and entertained—these may never have come to be without the generosity of Chase’s first mentor in the business: legendary studio head Frank Price.
As a lawyer, Chase had proven she could triumph in a tough arena. But her success was motivated by a fear of failure, she admits, more than joy and soulfulness. She was troubled by the prospect of waking up decades later chiding herself for not following her heart. So she decided to take the leap— she left law.
She was accepted into the executive development program at Price-led
Columbia Pictures, which brought in professionals from various disciplines to learn the business. By chance, Chase was seated next to Price at a program luncheon, and the two clicked.
Chase became Price’s executive assistant, shadowing him for a year with intimate access to how he conducted business. Every evening, they’d sit in Price’s office, where he would answer Chase’s questions about why a script was purchased or passed on, why or why not a project was greenlit, where he thought the business was going and why.
Price departed Columbia in 1983. But before he did, he made sure to put Chase on the creative staff at the studio. From that launching pad, Chase took off.
But it wasn’t smooth sailing from that point on. It’s a given that every producer will face challenges that appear insurmountable. Some, like Chase, will hit a wall after years of hammering away when they question whether they’re doing the right thing with their lives. (More on that in the Q&A that follows.) For Chase, passion was the fuel that saw her through.
“It’s a business about passion. If you don’t want it that badly, it’s probably not going to happen. It’s an up-and-down business, and you just got to stay the course. My dream growing up was to be sitting here now talking to you, and to have a library of things that I’m proud of to have done.”
Among her many points of pride is one that brings Chase to tears when she talks about it. In 2024, Mount Holyoke College received a large gift to endow two named faculty chairs. One of these is the Debra Martin Chase ’77 Chair in Film Media Theater. That young, soon-to-be-graduate conflicted about which path to follow likely never imagined such a distinction was in her future.
And after all this, as much as anything, Chase is proud to be able to state one fact: “I’m still here and I’m still relevant.”
HAS YOUR APPROACH TO PRODUCING CHANGED SINCE YOU STARTED
deBra martin chase: For me it’s always about finding that sweet spot—being cognizant of what people are buying, what’s working or not working for audiences, while having a vision for how to push the envelope. How do I do something that has not been done before, or not been done before in the right way, that will land?
When I sold Princess Diaries to Disney, the general wisdom was you could not make a movie for girls and have it do well. You could make a movie for boys, and girls would go to that. Nina Jacobson and Todd Garner had taken over as coheads of Disney. The studio had made The Parent Trap with Lindsay Lohan for a good price, and it had done well. Based on that, they said, “Maybe Princess Diaries could work.”
Our movie and Legally Blonde came out and did really well. Suddenly, it was like, “Oh my god, there’s this whole audience that hasn’t been served, this whole genre we’ve neglected.”
When I started out, movies were up top, and TV was the stepchild. If you were a movie producer, director or actor, you didn’t go anywhere near television. But I learned to find the material, then figure out what the right medium was. Not everything is a movie.
I came to the business with a mission. Growing up, I was a huge film and television buff, thanks to my dad. But I didn’t see a lot of people who looked like me on screen. So it was important for me to find material that I thought was marketable and could get made, but I also wanted to break down stereotypes and prejudices.
I had no idea when I came to Hollywood that I would be the first Black woman to produce a mainstream movie at a major studio. I was like, “Other people are producing movies. That’s what I want to do.” Then I got here and realized, oh my god, I’ve got to climb the mountain with weights to get there.
When I ran Denzel Washington’s company, I was talking with an executive about the script for Philadelphia. Denzel’s role was not defined from a race standpoint, but the assumption was always that he was white. I asked the executive, “Why couldn’t he be Black?” He was like, “Ohhhh … maybe so!” People just didn’t think like that.
When I hired a young Shonda Rhimes, who had been my intern, to write Princess Diaries 2, the first thing we did was to say, “We are putting a Black princess in this movie.” So we wrote it that way. We had to consciously do that so that nobody would question it or try and take her out.
People had no concept that they were being discriminatory. Not that things are perfect now, but they are so much better. The consciousness of the town is different.
A BIG PUSH NOW IS TO CULTIVATE A PROJECT BY PARTNERING WITH SOMEONE ON SOCIAL MEDIA WHO HAS A BUILT-IN AUDIENCE. DO YOU AGREE WITH THAT APPROACH?
deBra martin chase: Certainly, in terms of the marketing. Social media is hugely important, and aligning yourself with people who have their own base of influence is important. A lot of times, we don’t service the bulk of the country. There’s a whole country out there that we need to be servicing. So I think it’s really important for producers to be out in the world.
LA is not the world. LA is an industry town. And LA is one of the most
w hen I hired a young s honda r himes, who had B een my intern, to write princess diaries 2 , the first thing we did was to say, ‘ w e are putting a Black princess in this movie.’”
segregated cities residentially. In LA, you get a very distorted view on the world if you only stay in the city.
I think it’s about reaching as many people as possible. That’s how we define success in our business. It’s constantly walking that line between needing to be pragmatic and commercial, because then I get to do more stuff and people believe in me. On the other hand, I have messages that are important to me to impart that feed my soul.
HOW DOES YOUR TV, FILM AND THEATER BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM WORK?
deBra martin chase:The core of my business is television. I had the amazing experience of having five seasons of The Equalizer. It’s lovely because you create a family and you’re on this journey
together. The show was well received, and we were able to both entertain and have messages.
We started shooting in November 2020, pre-COVID vaccine, which was rough. But it was also fantastic, because we were giving jobs to over 200 people. And as a practical matter, to have five seasons of income from a show is fantastic.
The movie business has become so difficult that you just can’t count on it. Harriet took six years to get done. I’m hopeful that we will be doing Princess Diaries 3 next year. But it’s been a 10-year journey for Annie (Hathaway) and I to get here.
When I added TV to my portfolio, it was because it moved faster.
Traditionally, network TV is on a cycle, a season. The movie stuff just creeps forward. I needed to have some churn
emotionally as much as financially.
In today’s world, film, television and theater are all blending. Titles and actors and writers are in all three mediums. Theater felt like a natural extension of what I was doing, particularly since I’ve done a lot of musicals for screen. A good friend of mine, Stephen Sherrill, a longtime chairman of the board of Second Stage Theater, he invited me onto the board about 10 years ago. It was a good way for me to learn the business.
David Stone is a big supporter of Second Stage Theater. When we honored him one year, Marc Platt found out that I was on the board. We were old friends from when he ran TriStar, and he asked me, “Are you interested in producing theater?” I said, “Yes, it’s one of the reasons I’m doing this.” He and David have been amazing mentors.
YOU RECEIVED THE
PRODUCERS MARK FOR BEING MARY TYLER MOORE. WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF HAVING DONE ON THAT FILM TO EARN THE MARK?
deBra martin chase: I remember jumping up and down when I got the Mark. It was a big deal for me.
(Producer) Lena (Waithe) had the initial interaction with Dr. Robert Levine, who is Mary’s widower, and I was the next call. We put the thing together from there. We found the filmmaker, pitched it to a few buyers, and then worked with Endeavor Content to get it made. Mary was so important to me growing up. It means so much to know that we have solidified her rightful place in Hollywood history for a new generation. One of my assistants, who was in her 20s, had heard Mary’s name, but didn’t really know who she was. Now, she’s
like, “Oh my god, Mary Tyler Moore!” We producers play a big role in the business. We have to fight for the project, for the respect, for the money. We used to get development fees; now we don’t. Every time you turn around, they’re chipping away at what we do, the compensation and the title and this and that.
How many times have we been in a situation where the studio is negotiating a deal with a star and they throw in a producer credit because it’ll help them in the dealmaking, but then they don’t know how to produce? No one else’s credit just gets handed out. You don’t get a writer’s or director’s credit just because.
We as producers need to do a better job of educating the public and the industry about what we do. People think you just write a check. That’s why I think the PGA Mark has been great.
WHAT ARE THE STRENGTHS THAT PEOPLE COUNT ON YOU TO BRING TO A PROJECT? WHAT EXCITES YOU MOST ABOUT BEING A PRODUCER?
deBra martin chase: I’m a really good storyteller. I’m good about rolling up my sleeves and working with my writers. I love casting and have a pretty good track record.
It’s also about leadership. I believe that the producer and director set the tone for any production by saying that people need to respect each other, and we’re not going to tolerate bad behavior. You’re going to reward people, make it fun, and create a sense of family. People are working hard. They want to feel appreciated and protected.
When we started The Equalizer in November 2020 in the middle of the pandemic, I was on set all day every day not only to steer the ship, but also because people were out there risking their lives.
I’m a very hands-on, old-fashioned producer. I work with the writers, sell it, find a director, and then we cast together. I’m on set. I want to know that I’ve done everything possible to make something as great as I can.
I don’t easily commit. It needs to mean something to me to take that journey because you’re going to have to fight. You’re going to take two steps forward to take three steps back half the time. So I have to have a reason to take it on, to see it through.
In terms of marketing and publicity, I go out there and do my part to get the word out. Producers are an essential part of the process. We got stories to tell and advice to give. I do a lot of interviews and panels. I have a base that exists beyond Hollywood. For Harriet, I spoke at the NAACP national convention and debuted the teaser there.
We’re all trying to figure out ways to cut through the noise in the marketplace. To the extent that people know who I am and that I have a brand,
that can only be helpful in the selling of a project.
MANY PEOPLE IN THE INDUSTRY ARE STRUGGLING TO NOT ONLY PERSEVERE PROFESSIONALLY, BUT SIMPLY TO MAKE A LIVING, WHICH COULD MEAN LEAVING THE INDUSTRY. DO YOU HAVE ADVICE FOR PRODUCERS WHO ARE CONSIDERING A CAREER CHANGE?
deBra martin chase: About 12 years ago, I was at one of those points. Nothing was coming together. I had a big movie fall apart at the last minute. I thought maybe the universe was trying to tell me that I should be thinking about doing something else. Because I am a lawyer and I did practice, I explored that. I looked into film finance.
I’d had the good fortune of being based at Disney for 20 years. All of a sudden, I realized there was nobody left there who was personally invested in me and my career. People were very respectful, but they didn’t really know me. So I took a year to just breathe.
I’d reached a point where I had
changed, Disney had changed, the business had changed, the world had changed. So I needed to figure out how to reboot—how to remotivate myself and find new inspiration.
I had been friends with civil rights leader Vernon Jordan for many years. His stepdaughter has been one of my best friends since college. Toward the end of my walkabout year, I poured my heart out to him about not knowing if I should continue in the business.
He said something that was like a slap in the face: “You are too old to start over. You have great experience. You have great relationships. You have a great track record. People respect you. You need to figure this out.” It was the thing that I needed to hear the most, and it came at the right time. I realized I still had something more to say.
It came full circle with Harriet
We had our premiere at the African American Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., and Vernon’s daughter had a dinner party where I told the story of what Vernon had said to me. After I was done, he said to me, “I told you that back then because I knew you would end up here now.”
An evening of creativity and hope showcased the vital role of producers in shaping the cinematic landscape at the 36th annual PGA Awards.
Written by Laura Acosta photography by Jordan Strauss Photography
The industry’s brightest talents gathered on February 8 to honor the creativity and hard-won achievements of producers at the 36th Annual PGA Awards. Most importantly, it was a night of community for producers to come together and show their support for one another amid immensely challenging times. Across the board, awardees shared moving reminders of resilience, the importance of taking care of one another, and the craft of producing.
Among those celebrated were industry powerhouses Paula Weinstein and Lynda Obst, both of whom were posthumously honored with the PGA Trailblazer Award. The two pioneers died in March and October, respectively.
Jane Fonda opened the presentation paying tribute to the “oneof-a-kind, beloved, irreplaceable” Weinstein, whose career included serving as president of United Artists, executive vice president at Fox, and vice president at Warner Bros.
“Paula represented change in our industry—particularly for women,” Fonda said. “The results that happened when women began to show up in Hollywood became important for everyone because when women began developing and directing and producing films, films began to reflect voices that had been missing.
“In the ’70s, women began claiming their power, and Paula was one of the first,” Fonda continued. “First, she was my agent, then she became my best friend, and before I knew it, she was running a studio, and then she was a producer. And god, she was a good producer.”
Fonda described how Weinstein made a practice of marrying her values to wildly popular films and TV series she produced including 9 to 5, Grace and Frankie, Citizen Cohn, Too Big to Fail, Recount, Blood Diamond and The Perfect Storm
“But I think Paula’s biggest legacy, besides her enduring work making great films, is the hundreds of young people whom she found time to guide, including my own children and all the young women she mentored,” Fonda said. “So many of the movers and shakers in this town now were mentored by Paula.”
The irrepressible and successful Lynda Obst produced the 2003
comedy How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, launching the career of actress Kate Hudson, who vividly recalled the first time the two met and immediately connected.
“I feel incredibly honored to celebrate her tonight among those who know how hard it is to even get a movie made, let alone one that continues to resonate, generation after generation,” Hudson said. “There aren’t many films that actually achieve that, and I feel fortunate to have had that experience with Lynda.
“It is rare for someone to take a 22-year-old ingenue and empower them to be a side-by-side leader,” she continued. “The success of her work is a testament to her drive and fierce desire to tell stories in the right way.” Those stories included Flashdance, Adventures in Babysitting, The Fisher King, Sleepless in Seattle, Contact and Interstellar
Hudson recalled nervously accompanying Obst to a movie theater in New York City to see How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. But she needn’t have worried. Laughter filled the auditorium almost from the start.
“She’s like, ‘Do you hear that? It’s the sound of a hit movie.’ I would have never had that experience if she hadn’t grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into that room,” Hudson said. “That is what she did with me every step along the way. She swept me up and just propelled me forward.”
Taika Waititi, recipient of the Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television, delivered a quintessentially witty speech in which he highlighted similarities with the award’s namesake.
“Upon reflection, I think it’s pretty appropriate that I get this award because Norman and myself share a lot in common, (like)
making television. We share some excellent Russian-Jewish roots and genes, and both our dads went to jail,” Waititi said, eliciting laughter from the packed ballroom.
Waititi, who has produced lauded series including Reservation Dogs and What We Do in the Shadows , thanked FX for believing in Indigenous shows. He expressed special gratitude for Bird Runningwater, former director of the Sundance Institute’s Indigenous, DEI, and Artist Development programs, who selected Waititi’s first short film, Two Cars, One Night, to be screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002.
“That kick-started my opportunities and career in Hollywood. Without his support all those years ago, I wouldn’t be (this) stressed-out, anxiety-ridden shell of a human you see barely standing before you tonight,” Waititi joked.
Jon Favreau, who presented Waititi with the award, said that Waititi’s work—whether writing, directing, acting or producing—engages the audience through insight and laughter.
“His storytelling invites us all to see the world through the perspective of characters who are worlds away or right next door,” Favreau said.
Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger presented the Milestone Award to colleague Dana Walden, cochair of Disney Entertainment. The prestigious award honors those who have made historic contributions to the entertainment industry, with past recipients including Louis B. Mayer, Sherry Lansing, George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy, and Charles D. King, along with Iger and Walt Disney himself.
“She’s probably had a hand in more television series than anyone else in the business,” Iger said, praising Walden as “a person of courage, great instincts, and the ability to serve as a partner to the creative community and not an adversary.”
Walden recalled the first time she attended the PGA Awards in 1993 in support of The X-Files when no one could foresee that lead
character Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) would empower waves of young women to pursue careers in STEM. Walden likened this impact to the hope felt by so many young viewers watching a father accept his gay son on Glee, and how real teachers have felt seen due to the heartfelt comedy of Abbott Elementary
“Wonderful and unexpected things happen when you put great stories into the world. I’m so grateful to so many of you in this room who keep doing it year after year because those stories have never been more needed,” Walden said. “I am not exactly sure what’s going to happen next to this city that we love. What I am certain of, though, is that the people in this room will find creative, funny and beautiful ways to remind us of the importance of the industry in this industry town.”
Steve Carell presented Chris Meledandri with the David O. Selznick Achievement Award recognizing his impressive body of work. Carell joked, “Chris Meledandri is being honored this evening for one simple reason: He is better than you are.”
Meledandri, chief executive officer of Illumination—whose credits include the Despicable Me franchise featuring Carell—recalled his first day working as a runner for movie producer Dan Melnick at 20th Century Fox.
“I found a parking spot right outside the company offices with my name painted on it. Dan inadvertently gave me my first lesson in producing, which is that everybody matters,” Meledandri said. “Each time I pulled into that space, I imagined myself as the producer I hoped to one day become.”
While driving around Hollywood, Meledandri caught glimpses of Orson Wells, Billy Wilder and Francis Ford Coppola.
“I was in heaven,” Meledandri said. “I had been raised in New York City by parents who loved movies but would only take my sister and me to films they wanted to see—ironically, not a single animated movie.”
In his acceptance speech, Meledandri expressed gratitude to many of his partners, including Comcast and NBCUniversal. He encouraged filmmakers to continue their important work, especially during challenging times.
“As producers, we are entrepreneurs, and we must keep adapting to find ways to thrive no matter what. And to do that, we have to disrupt our own norm,” Meledandri said. “It’s up to us now to build on our strengths, to discover ways to keep
•
our movies, our process, our budgets, and our engagement with audiences searingly relevant.”
The PGA contributed a portion of its net proceeds to the Producers Guild of America Members Fund for members affected by the Los Angeles wildfires. Adding to the magic of the evening, the show put on a hilarious musical number honoring the perseverance
of producers during an acceptance speech for a fake award, with the hope that the room would be fooled into thinking it all was real. It worked.
Watch “The Making of ‘Miracle’” and all PGA Award acceptance speeches on the PGA’s YouTube channel.
Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
A Real Pain
September 5
The Substance
Wicked
Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion
Pictures
The Wild Robot
Flow
Inside Out 2
Moana 2
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures
Super/Man:
The Christopher Reeve Story
Gaucho Gaucho
Mediha
Mountain Queen:
The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa
Porcelain War
We Will Dance Again
Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Drama
Shōgun
Bad Sisters
The Diplomat
Fallout
Slow Horses
Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television - Comedy
Hacks
Abbott Elementary
The Bear
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Only Murders in the Building
David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Limited or Anthology Series Television
Baby Reindeer
FEUD: Capote Vs. The Swans
The Penguin
Ripley
True Detective: Night Country
Award for Outstanding Producer of Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures
The Greatest Night in Pop
Carry-On
The Killer
Rebel Ridge
Unfrosted
Walsh and Caitrin Rogers accepting the award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television
Lizzie Gillett accepts the award for Super/Man
George Hencken accepting the award for The Greatest Night in Pop
Milestone Award recipient
Dana Walden with Bob Iger
Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television
STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces
30 for 30
Conan O’Brien Must Go
The Jinx – Part Two
Welcome to Wrexham
Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment, Variety, Sketch, Standup & Talk Television
Saturday Night Live
Ali Wong: Single Lady
The Daily Show
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Award for Outstanding Producer of Game & Competition Television
The Traitors
The Amazing Race
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Top Chef
The Voice
Award for Outstanding Sports Program
Simone Biles Rising
Formula 1: Drive to Survive
Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants
Messi’s World Cup: The Rise of a Legend
Triumph: Jesse Owens and the Berlin Olympics
Award for Outstanding Children’s Program
Sesame Street
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
SpongeBob SquarePants
Award for Outstanding Short Form Program
Shōgun – The Making of Shōgun
The Crown: Farewell To A
Royal Epic
Hacks: Bit By Bit
The Penguin: Inside Gotham
Real Time with Bill Maher: Overtime
2025 PGA Innovation Award
Orbital (Cosm Studios / Planetary Collective / Kuva)
Critterz (Native Foreign)
Emperor (Atlas V / Reynard Films / France Télévisions)
Impulse: Playing with Reality (Anagram / Floréal / France Télévisions)
The Pirate Queen with Lucy Liu (Singer Studios)
What If…? – An Immersive Story (Marvel Studios / ILM Immersive / Disney+) ¢
For a complete list of producers associated with the nominated productions, visit producersguild.org/ producers-guild-of-americaawards-celebrates-top-honors
Zanuck Award nominees share insights and challenges at annual PGA Awards breakfast.
Written by Laura Acosta
Photography by Jordan Strauss Photography
The aftermath of the Los Angeles fires was top of mind for attendees of the PGA’s annual Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures nominee breakfast in February at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Despite the catastrophic losses suffered by many in the industry, the breakfast served as a poignant reminder of resilience as it honored the talented creatives behind some of the year’s biggest films.
“We understand how incredibly important your PGA community is to you, and it’s why events that bring us together and bring producers together are essential,” said PGA Chief Executive Officer Susan Sprung.
Television and radio host Jess Cagle served as the moderator of the event, which was sponsored by the Los Angeles Times. Cagle’s insightful questions prompted candid and often humorous responses from filmmakers addressing current challenges in the industry.
When asked about the most daunting challenge panelists faced during the filmmaking process, The Substance producer Coralie Fargaet lightheartedly joked that Wicked producer Marc Platt was his own biggest challenge, after Platt explained that it took him 22 years to convince himself to turn his hit Broadway play into a movie.
The veteran film and Broadway producer acknowledged that he did not encounter many of the same obstacles as his newer contemporaries, such as securing financing for his megahit. His struggle stemmed from deciding what to include and exclude from the Broadway production in the film adaptation. It was only after he met director Jon M. Chu that he felt ready to let go of his apprehensions.
“I think what was daunting,” Platt said, “was how do you go into a different medium and what do you take with you—what do you allow to blossom and elaborate in a different medium that will satisfy the legions and legions of fans who fiercely love the material? You bring cinematic experience, you bring the ingredients that are unique to cinema, and you also expand your audience globally.”
Writer-director-producer Fargaet’s top priority was to maintain creative control in bringing to life the monster she envisioned in her script. She believed that she wouldn’t be able to achieve this with an American backer, and securing financing in France was also not an option. Instead, she turned to a British film and television production company, Working Title Films, which allowed her to realize her vision on the screen. Working with a limited budget
Clockwise from top left: Mary Parent (Dune: Part Two) and Fred Berger (A Complete Unknown) listen as Tessa Ross (center) discusses the challenges of making Conclave.
Anora’s Samantha Quan. Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez) delivered a prerecorded statement. PGA Presidents Donald De Line and Stephanie Allain. Mary Parent (right) with Ali Herting (A Real Pain). Moderator Jess Cagle.
led her to film the movie in a “more indie way,” allowing her to concentrate on micro shots that created the film’s unsettling feeling.
“We had none of the process of the studios. We were shooting in France and had this kind of extreme freedom to go for crafting a movie out of the box, even in the way we produced it,” Fargaet said.
Jacques Audiard, the French film director and producer of Emilia Pérez, faced similar challenges in securing financing for his Spanish-language musical crime film. Due to the film’s mix of genres, he had to think creatively while seeking funding. He managed to obtain half of the financing from Saint Laurent Productions in France, which was willing to share the risks associated
with international sales, Audiard said.
“When one looked at the screenplay of Emilia Pérez five years ago, one really had to work hard to be able to see what the film is today, notably because it breaks with all genre code,” Audiard explained in a statement prerecorded for the event. “The major challenge for us was to convince and bring along with us our marvelous cast, our artistic and technical collaborators, but also our financial partners.”
He added, “When you see the long list of our dear partners, you understand the undertaking that the production of this film was, and perhaps the taste for risk that was ours.”
Samantha Quan joked that that she and her producing partner, writer-director Sean Baker, greenlit their film
Anora before any financing or casting was involved. Despite having a very limited budget, they were committed to preserving their creative freedom for the movie they wanted to make.
“I think something that’s really important to us is to maintain a certain amount of freedom to be able to experiment, to be able to change things, to keep a level of spontaneity with the scenes, with the actors, with the writing, so that we don’t feel locked into, ‘Well, this is the way we plan to do it. We have to stick with this.’ Which is a challenge, because it takes money to change things,” Quan said.
For some producers, casting the right actors for their roles was a considerable challenge. Several actresses turned down the part in The Substance due to the
“ WILDLY FUNNY WITH A TOP-SHELF CAST. STELLAR . ”
COLLIDER
film’s nudity until Demi Moore stepped in and took on the award-winning role.
For September 5, producer Philipp Trauer, the focus wasn’t just on finding the best actor to play ABC sportscaster Jim McKay; it was about capturing an authentic performance on screen.
To achieve that authenticity, the producers needed archival footage from ABC and ESPN, which proved to be difficult. After ABC and ESPN denied their request for the footage, the producers leveraged their connection to Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, to obtain it.
“We knew we’d need hands on a lot of archival footage, especially the footage with Jim McKay,” Trauer said. “When we came up with the idea, we saw some clips from him back then. It’s so intense. You would never be able to get an actor who can get the same tension.”
Producer Ali Herting said she experi-
enced a rolling set of challenges before and during filming A Real Pain. The production encountered difficulties that ranged from filming in a foreign country to securing permission to shoot in a concentration camp. Additionally, the production lost a third of its budget just eight weeks before filming began.
Creative differences between director Jesse Eisenberg and costar Kieran Culkin also contributed to the obstacles they faced. Despite these challenges, the team’s belief in the project made the experience worthwhile.
“If you just believe so much in what you’re doing, have a script like the one that Jesse wrote, and you have his care and eloquence and the thoughtfulness behind why he wanted to make the movie, you can move through all these obstacles,” Herting said.
The film Conclave took nearly a
decade to complete, but producer Tessa Ross believed that the final product was worth the wait. The project required significant time and effort, including the adaptation of Robert Harris’s book into a screenplay. The production process involved casting several high-profile actors from around the world, as well as extensive set design to recreate the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. Filming also contributed to the lengthy timeline of the project.
“There were a lot of beats of complicated issues to get over and finding that moment when everything could come together in the right way,” Ross said. “When not just Ralph (Fiennes) was available and Edward (Berger) was available, but actually all those elements were on offer to us, and that took a very long time.
“You believe in the film. You keep
going. It doesn’t work one year, so you go back to it again. That happened to us more than once,” Ross added.
Breakfast attendees laughed when Cagle asked Dune: Part Two producer Mary Parent about the most daunting challenge the production faced. It wasn’t the film’s desert locations that posed the biggest difficulty; rather, it was meeting the high expectations set by the first Dune and the challenge of bringing the book’s imagery—especially the sandworms—to life on screen.
“We were very proud of Dune One, but as (director) Denis (Villeneuve) said himself, it was an appetizer. So, for Dune: Part Two, it’s like, ‘OK, right, we actually have to see them ride a worm now.’ There’s no reference point for that. These incredible cultures, the world-building, everything Denis does is so intentional, so thematic,” Parent said. “Denis beautifully set these things up (in Dune: Part One ), but now we had to go into this world. We had to really dive deeper with the Fremen culture.”
Andrew Morrison highlighted the difficulties of producing a three-and-a-half-hour period drama like The Brutalist with a budget of $10 million in just one month. However, incorporating a 15-minute intermission was never an issue because it was included in the script from the very beginning.
“Brady (Corbet) and Mona (Fastvold) had always written it with an intermission,” Morrison explained. “From the beginning we knew this was going to be a three-hour-plus film. We knew it was going to be an epic. We thought it would be a fun way to create a communal experience.”
Filming a biopic like A Com-
plete Unknown presented its own unique challenges. With both music and dialogue, producer Fred Berger recalled that it felt as though the filmmakers were shooting two different movies simultaneously.
Timothée Chalamet raised the bar by fully immersing himself in his role as Bob Dylan, choosing to perform the music live instead of using prerecorded tracks. Following his lead, Edward Norton and Monica
Barbaro also performed live. As a result, the producers not only created a music-driven film, but also recorded a live album.
“The partnership that (director) Jim (Mangold) and Timmy and the rest of the actors had was that performance matters. That’s superlative. That’s the most important thing,” Berger said. “What it brought to the energy of the crew and the whole team was just magic every day.” ¢
PGA Awards event chairs Mike Farah and Joe Farrell recount the fun and challenge of producing a show for producers about producing.
As event chairs of the PGA Awards for the third year, visionaries and Funny or Die veterans Mike Farah and Joe Farrell faced the daunting task of producing a show that gave attendees a welcome opportunity to laugh while acknowledging tragedy. Here’s how they did it.
Mike Farah: The first Zoom to plan the show is typically around November. We have a meeting with the writing team soon after that. We had some ideas planned that we were really excited about, but because of the horrific fires, we moved away from those ideas.
We all wanted the show to go on because it employs so many people, but we wanted to handle it in a smart and sensible way. There wasn’t a lot of time between the fires and when the show occurred, but the team did an amazing job moving quickly and thoughtfully on how best to handle it.
Mike Farah: We intentionally didn’t want to start the show with a comedy bit. So (PGA Presidents) Donald De Line and Stephanie Allain came out and gave a great speech that reminded everyone why we were there and where everyone’s hearts were.
Joe Farrell: Our way forward is to try and feel as topical as possible and address what’s front of mind for people. We did a bit about the eternal struggle of trying to define what a producer does. Then we did a slightly satirical bit about production going out of town, which everyone’s very stressed about.
Our big production number was “Miracle,” a bait-and-switch musical number about hope and what it means for the next generation. Younger producers may feel that the industry no longer
has the opportunity it may have had for older producers. We wanted that song to speak to the hope that a younger generation might have, which can be inspiring to older generations of producers, while also ruefully recognizing that times are hard.
The writers are thrilled because it’s a nontelevised event and so industry-facing. We’re able to tell jokes that you can’t tell on any other awards show because they’re too inside. A national broadcast audience won’t get it if you talk about points on the back end or net points not being recognized.
This year, the writers had a bit where they wanted to do a children’s book called Am I a Producer? It had different scenarios about what it meant to be a producer, and they were all very funny. I had a feeling Alan Cumming would be at the ceremony because of Traitors. I also knew he was a children’s author. He’s got a great voice and an impish quality to his comedy. So we asked him to do it. We were so lucky he said yes.
I don’t think he had any concept of how much the room was going to eat up these jokes. The first couple of jokes hit so hard you could see his expression change, like, “Oh, this is going to go really well!” By the end, he had a calland-response going on with the crowd yelling yes or no when he’d ask, “Am I a producer?” It was really a great moment. If you honestly and passionately speak to the moment we’re in and not be glib about it, the room is pretty open and willing to laugh.
Mike Farah: I had a bunch of people tell me they thought these bits were real. They thought we actually had the New Hampshire film commissioner on stage telling people to shoot in his state. They thought Am I a Producer? was a book they could buy. They thought a young producer surprised everyone by pulling
out a microphone to sing this incredibly hilarious and well-produced song. I share this because I think it’s a testament to the writing and the creative execution. I think people were really ready to laugh.
But to Joe’s earlier point, because everything is created and curated for an audience of producers, we shouldn’t be surprised that some people took these things seriously. We’re grateful that the PGA and Donald and Stephanie trusted us to take those swings.
Joe Farrell: Like any good producer, you’re only as good as the team you put together. (Executive producer) Branden Chapman and (coexecutive producer) Carleen Cappelletti are the true producers of the show, and they do a fantastic job. It’s just a marvel to see how they’re able to put together all the constituencies, schedules, logistics and design and have it be so tasteful.
Branden and Carleen do big, big events. They’re very good at flagging things and saying, “This is gonna be tricky timingwise,” or “This might be a little too ambitious for what we can do.”
We’ve worked with the same writers—Matt Oberg, Jody Lambert and Lauren Cortizo—for three years in a row. We’ve known the two comedy writers, Jody and Matt, for years from our tenure at Funny or Die. Jody knew Lauren. We inherited Branden and Carleen, who have produced the awards for many years. They are the grizzled veterans of the awards who have worked with a lot of event chairs before us.
Carleen focuses on the aesthetic of the evening, the design choices and the actual event. Branden is the master of logistics and scheduling, putting the run of show together and coordinating all the talent schedules. So they’re really doing boots-on-the-ground producing.
As event chairs, we’re managing the creative process, developing the scripts, getting ideas codified, then delivering those produced elements to Branden and Carleen. Matt and Jody did the (children’s) book. I was very involved with getting the song produced with Jody, the songwriter Gabe Gibbs, and Bryce Charles, who performed it. There was a lot of stuff we were doing on our own because Branden and Carleen were doing the ceremony.
Lauren is in her own vertical, writing the actual show copy for the A-list celebrities, which is a massive logistical job. It’s not just lip service to say the team works so well together because we don’t run into each other. Everyone has a very defined lane that is very busy.
Mike Farah: We work a lot with the talent bookers, Jane Sarkin and Matt Ullian, to curate the talent list for the presenters. They do a lot of the work with those who are presenting on behalf of the nominated films.
For the last three years, we’ve tried to feature great up-and-coming comedians to shine a spotlight on them. This past year, we had Lisa Gilroy, who is continuing to blow up. Chris Fleming is very well known in the comedy community but not to the Hollywood community. Every year, we try and find folks we really believe in and think are funny and give them some stage time to do their thing.
Joe Farrell: We’re really lucky because Donald and Stephanie have been so great. Mike worked with Stephanie for years and has known her for decades. They’re really good at giving feedback and recognizing when Mike, the writers, and I are excited about something.
Mike Farah: I’m in the PGA because of Stephanie Allain. I used to be her assistant many years ago, and she’s just
Alan Cumming reading Am I a Producer?
incredible. I remember when we did our first Zoom as event chairs. There were like 30 people on, and everyone was so deferential. “What do you guys want to do? It’s up to you, Joe and Mike. We’ll do anything.” It’s very rare in Hollywood that people ask the producers what they want to do. That was a unique and fun feeling.
Everyone works so hard and works so well as a team. It makes for boring stories. In the exciting stories, everyone hates each other, but I can’t say that happened.
Joe Farrell: It’s very, very stressful on the night. Mike and I have been to a lot of award shows. We’ve been to ones where you sit there and think, “How much longer is this going to be?” So our big thing is to get people out in three hours and send them home with a breakfast burrito, thinking, “Oh, that actually flew by and was pretty fun!”
Mike Farah: You typically learn a lot more from the things that go south. This is one of those rare instances
where we’ve been fortunate enough to learn a lot even as each year has gotten better. It’s a great opportunity for many of us to be creative early in the year. Hollywood is typically a slow starter coming out of the holidays at the beginning of each year, so it’s been great to do some creative daydreaming early in the season. It sets a good tone for the rest of the year.
As a fan of entertainment—especially at this moment when it’s a challenge to get a lot of things made—to be a small part of people’s season of making outstanding things really excites me. I’m grateful that the PGA, Donald and Stephanie keep having us back.
Joe Farrell: It’s a show about good producing. So we try to right-size our ambition both to the budget and what we can pull off. The last thing we would want would be an awards show run by producers to seem like it’s poorly produced. We always joke like it’s a nontelevised room of alphas. Everyone in that room has an internal clock of things running behind schedule. You can’t fool that room. ¢
Locals go all-in and hands-on to assist members and the community at large.
Written by Lisa Y. Garibay
The industry rallied in full force after the devastating wildfires that ravaged parts of Los Angeles in January, amassing an immense amount of critical resources for those who had lost homes and livelihoods. Among the many supportive actions was a clothing drive put together by the Costume Designers Guild (CDG) IATSE Local 892 as part of IATSE’s Wildfire Relief efforts.
The drive, held January 9 to February 22, helped outfit anyone in the industry as well as community members of any profession who arrived in need. Clothing was offered to over 1,500 families and individuals thanks to the dedication of hundreds of volunteers including members from IATSE Locals B192, 33, 44, 80, 600, 695, 700, 705, 706, 728, 729, 768, 800, 839, 871, 884, 892; Teamsters Local 399; Basic Crafts; and PGA, DGA, SAGAFTRA, and WGA.
This was yet another collective effort among unions and guilds to raise awareness for sustainable practices within the industry, with a ripple effect well beyond on-screen depiction and onset implementation of environmentally responsible behavior and practices.
What set this drive apart was the fact that CDG applied its collective expertise to assessing every piece of donated clothing. Costume designers and costumers trained other volunteers— from key grips to teamsters to writers and performers—on how to determine the suitability of an item and channel it through the sorting pipeline.
“Members, studios, and Angelenos gave generously. Some things weren’t wearable, but we made sure nothing went to waste,” said CDG member Maggie Welsh. “Every day, we moved mountains of clothes. Volunteers sorted each item, asking whether it could be washed, repaired, recycled or reused. What couldn’t be salvaged went to other organizations or into a box for those who needed clothing to wear while sorting through the ashes of their homes.”
“We had over 700 volunteers looking carefully at each piece, making sure everything was something someone would want to wear today, that it wasn’t outdated, that it was clean and without noticeable defects,” said Brigitta Romanov, executive director of the CDG.
If a piece of clothing wasn’t up to standards, it was put into a secondary pile for volunteers to triage. During that stage, items were funneled into piles for cleaning, textile recycling or donation
RECYCLING FOUR TONS OF CLOTHING INSTEAD OF SENDING IT TO A LANDFILL CAN SAVE APPROXIMATELY 88 METRIC TONS OF CO 2 EQUIVALENT. IT IS COMPARABLE TO TAKING NEARLY 20 PASSENGER VEHICLES OFF THE ROAD FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR.
to organizations, including costume departments at community colleges and high school theater programs.
Donations were also set aside for EcoSet, a reuse center in Los Angeles where nonprofits, artists, theaters, schools and individuals can receive valuable materials for no cost, including sets, flats, furniture, decor, home goods, lumber, art materials and expendables.
“We did everything we could to make sure clothes weren’t going into a landfill,” Romanov said.
All told, the drive kept an estimated 100 usable items for every piece put into the recycling pile. But before that pile was sent off, items were washed and checked once again. If the item was able to be completely cleaned up, it would be sorted onto clothing racks for the community to pull from.
Clothing categorized for recycling was sent to Homeboy Threads, an LA-based nonprofit offering reuse and recycling services for apparel and textiles. This organization further examines donated clothing to assess whether it can be repaired for resale.
When the CDG center closed in February, several thousand bags of clothing were donated clothing to charities including the United Farm
Workers Union, Santa Monica College Basic Needs Program, Distribute Aid, St. Josephs Center, Eaton Renewal Project, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Outreach and Project Ropa.
Teamsters 399 provided all transportation, vehicles and tents for the donation center.
Four tons of clothing were sent out for responsible recycling. “That isn’t even close to what we upcycled. That amount only represented the unacceptable clothing that couldn’t find a home elsewhere,” said Romanov. “If we consider the 100:1 good-to-bad radio, it easily adds up to at least 400 tons of clothing.”
This achievement was significant on a number of fronts, not the least of which was educating those who helped with sorting to think twice about what to do with clothing they’re ready to part with.
“People ask, ‘Why should I want to recycle clothing?’ Often, when you give it to Goodwill and it’s not pristine or current, that clothing just goes to a landfill,” Romanov said. “They do not necessarily have the kind of dedication to sustainability that we would like.”
Recycling four tons of clothing instead of sending it to a landfill can save approximately 88 metric tons of CO₂ equivalent. It is comparable to taking nearly 20 passenger vehicles off the road for an entire year, not burning 10,000 gallons of gas or growing 2,199 tree seedlings for 10 years.
A lasting impact of this massive effort is the training it provided to help members of unions and guilds make informed, environmentally responsible decisions about how to dispose of their own used clothing.
“Our grounds were packed with clothing,” Romanov said. “We helped people understand what was being done with it. We tried really hard to give 700 people that exposure, knowing that we cared to get it recycled, that we didn’t want it to go into the landfill.
“Education is important, but when your hands are on it and you’re doing it, it resonates even better.” ¢
By Debra Martin Chase, producer, The Princess Diaries
“Ilove this tiara! It was a start-of-production gift from the studio (Disney). I assume they also made one for my producing partner, Whitney Houston. I was totally surprised, and it perfectly captured the magic surrounding the movie. The thoughtfulness of the gift really let me know that Disney appreciated all of my hard work—I took The Princess Diaries from manuscript to screen—on the movie.
“The Princess Diaries represented a big turning point in my career. It was the first big studio movie that I hands-on produced from start to finish. I learned so much from Garry Marshall about filmmaking in general and about how to run a great production where cast and crew work hard, have fun, feel respected and happily collaborate to try their best to create movie magic. I got to work with one of my icons, Julie Andrews, and we got to launch the career of my friend, the wonderful Annie Hathaway. The success of this movie immediately moved my career to the next level. The Princess Diaries will always have a very special place in my heart.”
THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
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