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Is producing an area you’re planning on being very actively involved in in the future?
“Yes. I’ve spent the last six months really setting up my own production company. Even though I’ve been doing this since I was 18, I still ran around for six months just meeting producers and sitting down with them. Everyone from the studio head to a television producer to a guy who just does indies for $100,000. Just asking them about their experiences and asking for their advice. What I should know before I do this, because I want this to be a real company. I don’t want it to be just vanity projects that I’m trying to get made for me.
I really want to tell good stories and I really want to make films about young women in their twenties, men too, but I mean that’s an area of the market that’s lacking right now. They may have the abundance of work, but I don’t see young women in their twenties portrayed in a realistic way. It’s amazing time of life. It’s so insane. It’s so passionate. That’s when you grow up, not when you’re a teenager. You really grow up between 20 and 30. People get married, people come out, people become drug addicts. And they’re so passionate about their friendships, women in their twenties. They just hold so tight and they break up. That’s just such an exciting period of time. I’ve optioned two books right now.
There’s lots of soldiers coming home that are that age. There’s incredible stories of that that need to be told, so that’s another story idea that I’m in development with is the soldier’s story. Now I’m looking at writers, trying to find good writers.”
What’s the best advice the people you've spoken to have given you?
“Well there was lots of different kinds of advice. I got a lot of advice to define the company. That’s what everybody was saying, so I did that. The other thing was like, ‘How do you get a good script? How do you choose a good project that becomes successful? How do you choose your projects?’ And several of them said you’ve got to find your target audience. You read a script and how big is the target? If the target for a script is that big [indicating very small], that’s going to be a hard sell. But if it’s a big target, if you think it will appeal to a large audience, that’s a good project.
They have established relationships with writers - that was another thing. You’ve got to acquire property. And all of them talked about what a long process it is, which is why I never wanted to do it. It’s a lot of work. They have to believe in themselves. They were like, ‘If you choose a project, you could potentially be involved with that for 10 years.’ You have to really believe in the projects that you pick.”
Did this process of setting up your own company give you a new appreciation for the work of producers?
“Well I always have had a great appreciation of producers. That’s why I said I never wanted to do it, because I knew how hard it was. But I guess I really admire their tenacity because now that I am in a game that I’ve never played before, that it’s like the hunt for financing, the hunt for money, it’s so unpleasant and it’s so hard. It just takes so long. It’s worse than being an actor because as an actor, you’re taught in acting school - or one of the most important lessons I’ve learned was - never walk in the door with your hat in your hand. Never. And essentially as a producer that’s exactly what you’re doing.”
