I was over the moon to learn that I was awarded a Sloan Fellowship to attend the 2014 Film Independent Producer’s Lab with the script The Buried Life by co-writers/co-directors Joan Stein Schimke and Averie Storck. This invitation would require me to spend four weeks in Los Angeles with seven other producers all of whom had projects at various stages of development. Our bi-weekly meetings were organized so that each night a different script or two were spotlighted during an open discussion with an industry mentor and moderated by Film Independent Artist Development team Angela Lee or Jennifer Kushner. Outside of these workshops, we also received an intensive one-on-one meeting with an assigned mentor who provided both project advice and career consultation. The Lab ended at a retreat at the Ace Hotel where we pitched our projects in a “speed dating” session to eight industry professionals who ranged from agents, private investors and production companies. The Lab experience began with quite an overwhelming feeling of euphoria having received a generous $30,000 grant provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, but what I left with is an experience that provided me a few things that I cannot put a price tag on. Validation, Inspiration, …“and then” Fellowship I was the first guinea pig during our initial Lab session. This means that on our opening night, not only was I responsible for contributing to the first round of evening snacks, but I also had to pitch my project in front of my peers and industry guest mentor. Well, of course, any indie producer can whip up some crudités; we have all had to be the “crafty person” at some point, but the pitch part was a little intimidating knowing that our industry guest was none other than legendary studio executive and “script whisperer” Lindsay Doran. I was a bit nervous about the whole situation. However, I like an opportunity to set a precedent, plus I’d rather take the bull by the horns rather than sit and watch others get tossed around while I wait to be thrown off the saddle. After surviving my pitch critique, it was onto the script feedback portion of the evening. Now this got a little tricky for me as my project was in the midst of a rewrite so I knew going in that both Lindsay and my peers were reading an older draft. Lindsay took our script, read the first ten pages out loud as if she was reading this as a potential project to produce or recommend for studios. This was mind-blowing on so many levels. The room got to hear what specifically she would look for in a script, what were our strengthens and weakness, and if we would survive the “read past page ten test.” Lindsay targeted all the areas in the script that my writing team and I had already agreed needed to be revisited plus shed light on a few more! This was a great sigh of relief and validated that the direction to which I was leading our team in providing notes. At the end of the evening, Angela Lee asked, “Did you receive your validation?” I confidently gave a resounding “yes” and recounted all my philosophical reflections of the session then proclaimed my rejuvenated enthusiasm for our rewrite. After kindly listening she was excited to hear this, but she was actually just asking whether I had received my parking validation. I learned an important lesson about Los Angeles that evening: if a meeting ends with someone asking if you received your validation—it just means parking. After the first session the concept of “validation,” was in the back of my mind while in Los Angeles. Participating in the Lab validated me being there, and it was a great platform to reach out and arrange meetings. To write and say, “I won a Sloan grant for an awesome project I’m putting together, and was invited to participate in the Film Independent Producing Lab, so I am in town. Care to meet?” With “validation” always looming, I couldn’t help but fantasize about the dream world where every meeting one left with a big flashing greenlight leading you out of that validated parking garage rather than the rejection red light staring you in the face? We have to be inspired by our stories, and we have to be inspired by the successes and failures of each other. I was enamored by the tales of our industry mentors. Every session started with “tell us how did you get where you are today?” All of us Fellows sat there doe-eyed and glued to every word as mentors Ram Bergman, Leslie Urdang, Lisa Bruce, Karin Chien, Eric d’Arbeloff and Cathy Schulman candidly told us the stories of their careers—and the wild rodeos they have survived. As our mentors recounted their professional life stories, I caught myself being hooked on a new phrase—“and then.” Just as Lindsay had noted to us in our opening session we should pitch as if every story point the listener would be so interested they want to know “and then what?” I found myself sitting there listening to each mentor go through his or her film chronology saying “and then… [insert happy casting moment or a dramatic moment of financing falling apart].” Everyone had both: successes and failures, but none of them let any momentary lack of validation diminish their perseverance, tenacity and determination to get their scripts made. They just kept going; there was always “and then…” So after a month participating in roundtables, listening to inspiring stories, and pitching our projects, “and then” what do Fellows do? Be Fellows to each other. The most important take away from this Lab experiment for me is the fellowship I established with: Mollye Asher, Dennis Bartok, Joanna Colbert, Justin Begnaud, Felipe Dieppa, Traci Carlson and Steven Berger. We have read each other’s scripts, given and heard all the advice shared from our mentors. We are genuinely interested in seeing each other succeed. If there is a resource that can be shared or introduction that can be made, we will do it for each other. There is no hoop to jump through to get to each other, no validation nor inspiration needed, but only a genuine fellowship that has been fostered through the Lab. The best result of this lab experiment is that moving forward, I am leaving with seven new producers added to my network. We have asked each other “how did you get where you are today?” realizing that our own stories are worthy of sharing; we should be proud of what we have accomplished to get us where we are now. We look forward to continuing along our respective paths so that when we speak again we can share without reservations all of our “and then’s.” Summer Shelton / Producer
