Voices on the Art Form

Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 What do you think has changed in Hollywood that they are now becoming interested in these projects that have such depth to them?

Well, I think we've run the gamut of this disease of the week, rape of the week, incest of the week, exploitational bullshit. . . . Americans are such voyeurs and they love to sort of be Peeping Toms into the dirty, sordid lives of people. I think we've seen so much of that that people are just turned off on it. I think there's a very strong contingent of people out there who want very different kinds of material. So that kind of sordid stuff has fallen by the wayside, thank God! Because it went on far too long as far as I'm concerned. And now, the ones that are surfacing are the well-made dramas that really have to do with character growth and people's lives. Everybody is looking for something that can influence them a little bit by helping them get through their own lives, because all of our lives are difficult. . . .

Some of your projects have this motif of people overcoming incredible obstacles, and then being empowered by having gone through that. . . . Is it the luck of the draw in terms of what these playwrights are bringing to you, or do you intentionally look for that?

It's sort of an intentional theme of mine. We probably go through 1,200 pieces of material here a year, in terms of scripts, pitches, people approaching us. So to pick the ones that we're interested in - first of all, you weed through 90 percent of it. . . . Then you have the 10 percent left, and the 10 percent left are the ones that I'll invest my own time and money in, that have to mean something to me.

I'm very lucky. . . . I've been able to make a living on the kind of material that I like, so I haven't really had to fill out much by, you know, prostituting myself by saying OK, I'll make a slasher movie because I need the paycheck. So luckily the kind of stuff that I've been interested in, that I've liked, I've been able to do and that has influenced me a lot. It's also been encouraging to me because I find that people do want that kind of material, even though it's very hard to sell. Basically, the networks and movie studios don't want to have much to do with it because it seems, you know, non-commercial to them on face value. I have a lot of dog-and-pony convincing to do in order to try to make them believe that people will watch these things.

How do you convince the networks?

Some of it has to do with the credibility of the project: good writing, guaranteeing them that I can bring a good cast along. If you look at the body of the work that we do, most of these projects end up on the classy side versus the non-classy side. So they sort of have to take a leap of faith in it, that it's gonna work out that way, because a lot of times they don't believe it in reading it. Then it's up to us to deliver it.

I carry projects on my plate for long periods of time. I've had projects for eight years, some for 10 years. Actually, The Return of the Native I did as an off-Broadway musical in l972; finally, 20 years later I was able to make a movie out of it. I don't give up on projects that I have faith in and I just keep carrying them.

In looking at some of your projects, you have a lot of faith in people who work on those projects, that they really deliver with clarity of style. . . .

I love to surround myself with smart people who really enjoy what they're doing. They're not doing it for the job, but they're doing it because they're really greased on the project and there's a lot of enthusiasm there. Another thing the theater gave, which you won't find out here very often: When you're in the theater and you come from the theater, you do everything. You learn how to write, you learn how to sew costumes, you learn how to focus lights in the middle of the night and paint the scenery. You learn how to sell tickets and make a program and put it together. . . . So, when you know all those different crafts, and you come to this town, it helps you a lot because that can translate into being a well-rounded producer.

As you're saying, there's something to my work, and I think that what that is, is that I do have individual input into all the departments. I let people do their work, and I love to watch them do their work, but I also have a vision and I am able to sort of carry that vision all the way through because I have input into who is doing the props, and you know, what kind of actors that we want and what the locations are going to look like. So I'm very active in all of it, and therefore I think the care and the concern that I have comes across.