VP/Director of Content Production
Crispin Porter Bogusky
1) Think lean/scrappy, but not cheap. Make your own stuff as much as possible. Know lenses and DP language. Which means collaborate, but always have an opinion. Lean on your producer for creative advice because you might be surprised. Know who is paying the bills. Always be on time. In closing, the best way to get attention is to relentlessly pursue the right people, mixed with a bit of luck.
2) Know how to do something other than coordinate. Play music, shoot photography, cut some videos, etc. Play around and be your own artist. Make your own stuff. Or at least treat each project that way. Stay hungry too. The world of content and the definition of producer has changed. No longer are you acting as 1 type of producer. Wear as many hats as you’re allowed. Always ask for help, no matter the size of the question.
3) Projects are different now. It is now TV, online video, social videos, photography, celebrities, influencers, snackable content galore, with 1,000 deliverables for 57 websites, all with a different spec to deliver. And it all has to be done for the same budgets as a few years ago. I experienced this recently, and the biggest takeaway was that it demanded I get out of my comfort zone. Not enough money? Figure it out. Not enough time? Figure it out. What I discovered is that people want to work. They want to create. They want to be a part of something. I also discovered that good creative still gets attention no matter the issues or roadblocks ahead.
4) Late last year I produced a short documentary (for the American Heart Association) featuring a solo artist who had recently suffered a stroke. Pulling off the job required the exact mindset of the new way of doing things. No money. Four-man crew. I took photographs. The DP did sound. The art director shopped for props. Everyone chipped in. No egos. Cut it in two days. Shipped it another two. Wild ride.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More