A few years ago, New York movie producer Ted Hope and his wife were celebrating his birthday at Masa, the upscale sushi restaurant in the Time Warner Center in midtown Manhattan when the lady seated next to him at the counter asked him what he did for a living. After he explained that he was a producer of independent movies - among them Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman - she remarked that her soon-to-arrive dinner partner would be thrilled to meet him.
It turned out that the dinner partner in question was fellow food-lover, lifestyle guru and media mogul - not to mention convicted white-collar criminal - Martha Stewart, having a last meal before heading off the next day to serve a five-month prison sentence for improprieties to do with the sale of company shares.
It's a tasty anecdote for anyone who's into food, celebrities and the movie industry, incorporating various tidbits of life in the Big Apple. Hope tells a good story - and he knows how to make a good movie too. Since the early 1990s, he's been involved in producing some 50 films, ranging from fellow NYU film school alumnus Ang Lee's earlier movies such as The Wedding Banquet and The Ice Storm to award-winning film festival favourites like The Brothers McMullen, Happiness and American Splendor.
Hope was in town for the first time last week as a featured speaker in the Forbes Global CEO Conference. His recent critical successes also include 21 Grams, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and In the Bedroom - all of which makes him a Top Banana in the independent film business.
'One of the nice things about making movies is that each film is like a new start-up,' says Hope, 45. 'I've created 50 companies, each with a new set of problems, a different team, new locations. Movies are like creating a full world, with nuances and details - there's no template and you just have to approach each thing individually.'
Hope has made many more winners than losers, and that makes him a valuable asset in the industry. Working with different directors, a full range of budgets and various genres keeps him fresh, says Hope, who adds that the average budget for one of his movies is US$11.2 million. 'The sweet spot is in the $8 million-to-$15 million range,' he points out, although the figure now ranges between $2 million and $25 million. 'The lower-budget projects tend to be labours of love.'
Hope says he tries to juggle several projects at the same time, making about two or three a year, depending on various factors. Given the current state of the US economy, it's fair to say that funding from traditional sources will dry up in the near future. 'We're working on 30 projects in development at any one time,' reveals Hope. 'I need about eight projects for every film I want to make.' As producer, Hope's role is to ensure that the script is ready, the actors and director he wants are available, and the financing and distribution of the film is in place.
'For the type of films I do, you can't just look at financial returns,' says Hope. 'There are also different types of profit, such as cultural profit, that brings people together. I've been attracted to films about real human emotion, things that talk about how we live. When people participate in our movies, they get that reward.'
One such example, he says, is The Savages, a critically acclaimed family drama which stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney (in an Oscar-nominated role). It was made for US$8 million and co-financed by private equity and Fox movie studio and ended up making a profit.
'One of the things film can do is it gives us a way to talk about difficult subjects,' says Hope. 'Movies can give us a lightness of heart - a film like The Savages talks about real issues in an entertaining way.'
Hope credits his successful career to working with talented directors right from the start. He has produced the first films of Ang Lee, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, Todd Field and Michel Gondry, among others. It wasn't always plain sailing, of course. Lee's agent dismissed him as a 'low-budget producer' and kept them from meeting up until one day, Hope noticed a stranger standing in a corner of his dingy office. 'He said, 'I'm Ang Lee and if I don't make a film soon, I'm going to die' - he truly said that,' remembers Hope, who ended up producing both of the scripts Lee handed him, Pushing Hands and The Wedding Banquet.
'Independent film is the most innovative sector in the film business,' says Hope 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is not the kind of film that could be developed in the studio system. We are innovators in technology, content, storytelling and in future, distribution too.' Hope predicts it won't be long before the launch of the first film that takes advantage of all the New Media platforms. 'Internet shorts, the gaming world, a story that builds over all the different windows - the potential is there,' he notes. 'The will, the need, the willingness to risk - it will all have to come out of the independent sector.'
He adds: 'The biggest challenge for me is, I can't afford to make just good movies - I have to make great movies. I haven't made that one film yet that people can't ignore - it's hard to even break down what the development process of that movie is, but the industry rewards quantity over quality.'
Hope says a successful movie has to be completely distinctive in the crowded marketplace. 'It's kind of like a luxury good - it has to provoke the kind of emotional experience that you've never had before.' He adds: 'I hope to make films that speak to an international audience - in that way, there's a real opportunity for international independent films with a sophisticated sensibility that speak about international life.'
One of the most important factors in the filmmaking process, says Hope, is to make sure that everyone is on the same page. 'You have to make sure that everyone's making the same movie, in line with what your goals are,' he explains. 'Film is the art of compromise - it's not about the fulfilling of a grand vision.'
This article was first published in The Business Times on September 19, 2008.
