Creative Forces: Women in the BusinessHow to break in and stay in| 00:05 | Male speaker: Well, here we go with the Women's Panel.
| | 00:08 | First of all, I would like to thank
Sandy Stahl, our sponsor for the luncheon,
| | 00:12 | backstage this afternoon.
| | 00:15 | I also would like to thank Girls Inc.
of Santa Barbara for sponsoring the panel today.
| | 00:19 | Thank you all.
| | 00:22 | Okay. Let's get started.
| | 00:23 | We have a great panel this afternoon.
| | 00:25 | I want to introduce quickly here Colleen Atwood.
| | 00:28 | (Applause)
| | 00:31 | Colleen, there she comes.
| | 00:35 | Darla Anderson.
| | 00:42 | Welcome. Gloria Borders.
| | 00:47 | Lesley Chilcott.
| | 00:52 | And Alix Madigan.
[00:00:55.0 6]
And my son's godmother and my
favorite moderator, Madelyn Hammond.
| | 01:07 | Madelyn Hammond: All right! Welcome everybody!
| | 01:08 | We are so excited.
| | 01:09 | We usually do this on the second
weekend so we are thrilled to be here the first weekend.
| | 01:13 | Thanks Jeff.
| | 01:13 | I don't know what I am more proud of.
| | 01:15 | I am not really the real godmother.
| | 01:17 | I am just the faux
godmother because I love his kids.
| | 01:20 | So guys, here we are.
| | 01:21 | We've got an amazing panel today.
| | 01:23 | Before I make the introductions can I just
say how, you know, sometimes as women we think,
| | 01:27 | God, that we don't really get equal pay,
sometimes things aren't so great, but
| | 01:32 | I've got to tell you I am pretty proud of today.
| | 01:34 | If you look at this panel, two of
our five panelists are nominated for
| | 01:37 | Best Picture Oscar as producers.
| | 01:40 | (Applause)
| | 01:45 | Alix, raise your hand, producer for
Winter's Bone, and Darla for Toy Story.
| | 01:49 | (Applause)
| | 01:54 | One panelist is nominated for Costume
Design for Alice in Wonderland and also
| | 01:58 | has previously won Oscars and of
course that's Colleen Atwood. Coleen.
| | 02:01 | (Applause)
| | 02:06 | And the other two have already won Oscars.
| | 02:08 | They have those statues somewhere and
that's Lesley. Raise your hand, Lesley.
| | 02:12 | You guys can see.
| | 02:15 | For Inconvenient Truth and
then Gloria for Terminator.
| | 02:18 | So pretty good!
| | 02:20 | (Applause)
| | 02:24 | So let me just do some quick
introductions for those of you that might not know
| | 02:27 | who is sitting up here.
| | 02:28 | To my immediate left is Darla Anderson.
| | 02:31 | Darla has produced Toy Story 3.
| | 02:32 | How many people here have
seen it? I hope almost everybody.
| | 02:35 | All right!
| | 02:36 | Well, if you don't know, it is the
most successful animated film in history.
| | 02:43 | Which to date-- it's pretty awesome.
To date it has grossed over $1 billion.
| | 02:50 | (Audience: Whoa?)
| | 02:51 | Darla also is only the seventh--
| | 02:53 | Darla K. Anderson: And I got a percentage of it.
| | 02:54 | (Laughter and applause)
| | 02:55 | Madelyn Hammond: Love that, so great.
| | 02:59 | And Darla is only, if I can brag just a
little bit more about her, she is only
| | 03:02 | the seventh solo female producer
ever nominated for Best Picture.
| | 03:06 | So it's pretty cool.
| | 03:09 | (Applause)
| | 03:11 | Colleen Atwood, to Darla's left, is
an Oscar nominee and costume designer
| | 03:15 | as I said for Alice in Wonderland.
| | 03:17 | Her credits include Philadelphia, The
Silence of the Lambs, Edward Scissorhands,
| | 03:21 | Beloved, Chicago, Mission
Impossible 3, and most recently The Tourist.
| | 03:26 | Many other credits. These are
just some of the ones I listed.
| | 03:28 | Her last Oscar nomination was in 2009
for Nine, and she has also won Oscars
| | 03:33 | previously for Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha.
| | 03:35 | I love this.
| | 03:36 | Colleen, I was looking at your resume.
| | 03:39 | I mean not your resume but your bio.
| | 03:41 | You started out 30 years
ago as a wardrobe assistant.
| | 03:44 | Do you know it was 30 years?
| | 03:46 | Colleen Atwood: I don't want to
think about it. I'm a veteran.
| | 03:48 | Madelyn Hammond: You are a
veteran. That's pretty good.
| | 03:50 | Okay. Then we have got Gloria.
| | 03:52 | Gloria just recently was at Digital
Domain, which is an award-winning visual
| | 03:58 | effects and technology company.
| | 04:00 | She was there for a couple of years
where she ran the entire feature film
| | 04:03 | production, both for Venice and Vancouver.
| | 04:06 | They had two different facilities.
| | 04:08 | And before that Gloria worked at DreamWorks
Animation, where she oversaw Shrek the third,
| | 04:13 | Madagascar, and a bunch of other films.
| | 04:15 | And before that she was head of post
over at Revolution, where she oversaw all
| | 04:19 | their post and visual effects.
| | 04:20 | And then before that, 20 years
working as VP of Lucas Digital and GM
| | 04:24 | of Skywalker Sound.
| | 04:25 | She oversaw the soundtracks for Saving
Private Ryan, Titanic, the first two Toy Story's
| | 04:30 | and many, many others.
| | 04:31 | So thrilled to have Gloria with us.
| | 04:33 | Gloria Borders: Thank you.
| | 04:35 | (Applause)
| | 04:37 | Madelyn Hammond: And then
we have Lesley Chilcott.
| | 04:39 | She is a producer of Waiting for
Superman, which is out in theaters now,
| | 04:43 | Inconvenient Truth as I mentioned,
The Obama Documentary, and of course
| | 04:46 | my favorite, this great doc called It
Might Get Loud. It's about guitars. Guitarists.
| | 04:51 | She has her own company with Davis
Guggenheim called Electric Kinney Films and
| | 04:56 | they produce documentaries.
| | 04:57 | Before she was with Davis, she
produced hundreds of commercials, PSAs,
| | 05:01 | and music videos.
| | 05:03 | (Applause)
| | 05:08 | And last but not least is Alix Madigan.
| | 05:10 | She is currently head of
production for Anonymous Content.
| | 05:13 | She is also a producer of Winter's Bone and
nominated for her first Oscar, as I mentioned.
| | 05:18 | She previously has produced the cult
comedy Smiley Face with Anna Faris,
| | 05:22 | Married Life with Patricia
Clarkson and Chris Cooper.
| | 05:25 | She did a film called Cleaner, directed by
Renny Harlin, I think a Santa Barbara resident,
| | 05:28 | starring Samuel L. Jackson.
| | 05:31 | She exec produced Neil LaBute's film
Friends & Neighbors, starring Ben Stiller
| | 05:34 | and Nastassja Kinski and four years
ago she exec produced Sunday, which one a
| | 05:38 | bunch of awards in Sundance and Deauville.
| | 05:40 | So that is our panel.
| | 05:43 | Pretty good, huh?
| | 05:45 | (Applause)
| | 05:49 | So in no particular order I would like
to take a step back for a second before
| | 05:52 | we talk about the present and certainly
the future and what projects we have got.
| | 05:56 | But Gloria, I am going to
start with you and ask if you--
| | 05:59 | Let's talk a little bit about George Lucas.
| | 06:02 | Was he a mentor?
| | 06:03 | How much did you collaborate with him?
| | 06:04 | I mean, think about it.
| | 06:05 | 20 years working there and it was one
of your first jobs in this business.
| | 06:08 | So tell us how that relationship--
| | 06:09 | Gloria Borders: And I would have to
say absolutely George was a mentor.
| | 06:13 | When I started at Skywalker I was a
sound editorial assistant and went through
| | 06:23 | the ranks to be a sound supervisor
for about 17 years, and it was after--
| | 06:31 | And during that time, primarily because
we were so connected with ILM, we actually
| | 06:36 | worked on some pretty fantastic movies
like Terminator 2 and Forrest Gump and
| | 06:40 | all sort of fantastic sounding films.
| | 06:43 | And George was a mentor because he wanted
us to be the best sound company in the world
| | 06:51 | and he wanted us to get into that
level of organic detail sound work.
| | 06:57 | Also, Ben Burtt was there. There was
a whole group of people that he made
| | 07:02 | very special just by giving us
great films to work on and having this
| | 07:09 | wonderful company, ILM.
| | 07:10 | So yeah, George was amazing.
| | 07:13 | Madelyn Hammond: Do you
remember that first time you met him?
| | 07:15 | Were you a little bit intimated?
| | 07:15 | Gloria Borders: You know, I think I was?
| | 07:20 | I felt like an obnoxious teenager
maybe a little bit, but you know what?
| | 07:23 | I loved meeting George.
| | 07:25 | I also loved meeting Marcia Lucas,
who was his wife at the time, because in
| | 07:31 | college she was the picture
editor that I was adoring.
| | 07:35 | She just did amazing work
for Scorsese and others.
| | 07:39 | So the two of them were quite a
combo and yeah, George is fantastic.
| | 07:44 | Madelyn Hammond: So Alix, along
those same lines, you started your career
| | 07:49 | working for Alan Jay Pakula, who did of
course All the President's Men, To Kill
| | 07:54 | a Mockingbird, and a lot of other films.
| | 07:55 | What was that like and
would you consider him a mentor?
| | 07:58 | Alix Madigan: I worked for Alan
Pakula in, it was like 1987, and he had
| | 08:06 | just done Orphans and he was kind of
going into the second phase of his career
| | 08:10 | where he was doing The Pelican Brief
and all those other kind of movies.
| | 08:15 | He was a really wonderful man,
incredibly, incredibly smart.
| | 08:22 | Really only had women working for him,
which I thought was really interesting.
| | 08:25 | His producer was a woman named Susan
Solt, who I now think teaches comparative
| | 08:30 | literature somewhere, and Lisa
Lindstrom, who ran his story department.
| | 08:36 | And I loved working for him.
| | 08:39 | I don't know he would be a classic
mentor, because for a director to mentor a
| | 08:44 | producer, it's just a
different line of business.
| | 08:48 | Madelyn Hammond: But he gave you a shot.
| | 08:49 | Alix Madigan: He did.
Madelyn Hammond: And that kind of got you going.
| | 08:51 | And Darla, what about you?
| | 08:52 | Did you have someone?
| | 08:53 | Because you have been doing this for so
long. Was there a particular person that
| | 08:56 | gave you a hand early on?
| | 08:57 | Darla K. Anderson: You know, I would say I
was really fortunate enough when I started
| | 09:03 | in pictures 18 years ago,
it was really a great time.
| | 09:07 | It was a few years before Toy Story
came out and at the time Steve Jobs had
| | 09:14 | just recently bought Pixar from George Lucas.
| | 09:18 | And at that moment in time NeXT had just
dissolved his company, and so Steve had
| | 09:24 | a lot of time on his hand.
| | 09:25 | So Steve was at Pixar 40 hours a
week and just right down the hall.
| | 09:30 | And I had just gotten my first gig producing.
| | 09:34 | I have been doing commercials and
then I got the opportunity from Steve and
| | 09:38 | Lawrence Levy, who was our CFO at
the time and brought us public,
| | 09:41 | and Ed Catmull, who ran Pixar, and John
Lasseter, all these men gave me a big break to
| | 09:47 | go from 30 seconds to producing A Bug's Life.
| | 09:50 | But Steve was-- he was amazing.
| | 09:54 | He had everything. He was
really amazing, really dynamic.
| | 09:57 | I learned so much from
him and it was also intense.
| | 10:00 | Madelyn Hammond: I bet.
| | 10:02 | Darla K. Anderson: "Is the movie great yet?"
And I am like, yeah, it's great.
| | 10:06 | Madelyn Hammond: Oh yeah,
you never let him know.
| | 10:07 | Were you one of the first to get an iPad?
| | 10:11 | Darla K. Anderson: Yes.
| | 10:13 | (Laughter)
| | 10:15 | Madelyn Hammond: So Colleen, I don't know.
| | 10:16 | Because you have worked so closely with
Tim Burton, so I am not sure if he would
| | 10:20 | be the one that you would say really gave you
a shot, because you started off so long ago,
| | 10:24 | but I know you worked with him--
| | 10:26 | Colleen Atwood: Like 300 years ago.
| | 10:28 | Madelyn Hammond: That's right. 30 years ago.
| | 10:30 | Darla K. Anderson: Well,
she started when she was ten.
| | 10:32 | Colleen Atwood: Yeah, I started very young.
| | 10:33 | Madelyn Hammond: With your Barbie dolls.
| | 10:35 | Well, that's true. Did you dress
your Barbie dolls in a very stylish way?
| | 10:39 | Colleen Atwood: You know, my
Barbie dolls were often restyled by me.
| | 10:46 | I enjoyed cutting their hair off
and making them weird outfits out of
| | 10:51 | handkerchiefs and things like that.
| | 10:53 | Madelyn Hammond: See it
all starts at a young age.
| | 10:55 | Colleen Atwood: Started early, yeah. I
did kind of de-Barbie them a little bit.
| | 10:58 | (Laughter)
| | 10:59 | Madelyn Hammond: And Ken, was Ken part of
the whole situation too? Did you dress Ken?
| | 11:02 | Colleen Atwood: I didn't really
embrace Ken until I saw Toy Story 3
| | 11:05 | and I see a missed opportunity there.
| | 11:09 | Madelyn Hammond: It's true, Darla, Ken was--
| | 11:11 | Colleen Atwood: You brought Ken into the light.
| | 11:14 | Darla K. Anderson: Well, that first outfit is a real
outfit called Animal Lovin' Ken. That came in the box.
| | 11:20 | It was like Animal Lovin' Ken from 1985.
| | 11:23 | Madelyn Hammond: With the ascot?
| | 11:24 | Darla K. Anderson: With the ascot, everything.
| | 11:25 | The entire thing is a real outfit.
| | 11:27 | Animal Lovin' Ken, with his own
chimpanzee to care for and love.
| | 11:32 | You cannot make this stuff up.
| | 11:34 | Madelyn Hammond: No, you cannot. Oh no.
| | 11:36 | Do you see those billboards around LA
that say "Barbie, I want you back! Ken?"
| | 11:39 | Darla K. Anderson: No.
| | 11:41 | Madelyn Hammond: I don't
know, but that's all it says.
| | 11:43 | So I didn't know if it was something with
Toy Story 3 or just some other weird thing.
| | 11:46 | But Colleen, getting back to you,
was there-- getting back to Tim.
| | 11:50 | Like is it a good relationship or do
people think, oh, Colleen is with Tim, is it a--
| | 11:55 | Tell us what it's like.
| | 11:57 | Colleen Atwood: You can't work with a
director like Tim Burton as a costume designer,
| | 12:02 | pretty much anything, and
not have it be a good thing.
| | 12:06 | Tim gave me an opportunity to work on a
different kind of film than what I had
| | 12:11 | been working on before. I came from
New York, where it was sort of location.
| | 12:16 | Sort of that kind of film, not particularly
the hot bed of fantasy filmmaking at that time.
| | 12:23 | And Tim gave me a shot on Edward
Scissorhands to really do a different kind of
| | 12:29 | work than I had done.
| | 12:30 | I sort of had a taste of it prior to that
on a movie called Joe Versus the Volcano
| | 12:34 | that John Patrick Shanley wrote and
directed, which was just off enough
| | 12:38 | to make me like go, oh, this is kind
of where I belong, in this kind of film.
| | 12:43 | And Tim really gave me that chance and
has been incredibly loyal to me since.
| | 12:49 | We have a great time.
| | 12:52 | I am getting ready to start a movie
with him now called Dark Shadows and I'm...
| | 12:57 | Madelyn Hammond: Is that
based on the TV show I guess?
| | 12:58 | Colleen Atwood: From the old TV series, yes.
| | 13:01 | So yes, Barnabas Collins and
Mrs. Hoffman, all those people.
| | 13:06 | So I have been watching it a lot and
it's just like, oh boy, we are getting
| | 13:11 | together again, what are we going to do?
| | 13:13 | It's sort of like, almost like
theater in a way where you have that family
| | 13:16 | atmosphere, but not.
| | 13:18 | You are kind of all a little
bit dysfunctional, but it works.
| | 13:22 | Madelyn Hammond: Well, that's true,
but you've got the trust and the
| | 13:24 | collaboration and the shorthand,
which I assume is really important.
| | 13:28 | Colleen Atwood: Yeah, it's key, especially
now with the directors. They are all so...
| | 13:32 | They have so much to think about with
their work that you can't go, "Do you
| | 13:37 | think this style will work?"
| | 13:37 | You have to kind of organize
it so they can get a lot quick.
| | 13:43 | Madelyn Hammond: Did you ever have a
situation though with him where you were
| | 13:45 | very adamant about a particular look or
style that you wanted and he disagreed
| | 13:49 | and you guys just duked it out?
| | 13:50 | And did you win?
| | 13:52 | Colleen Atwood: No, not really.
| | 13:54 | I mean sometimes I go, "Don't you think
they might need to have a change there?"
| | 13:58 | Or "If there is going to be a lot of blood,
how many multiples do you think I need?"
| | 14:02 | And he will go "Oh, no blood, no blood,"
and then two days before he goes,
| | 14:05 | "You know, I was thinking,
there's going to be blood. Everywhere!"
| | 14:10 | So more of that than
really any of the other stuff.
| | 14:14 | Madelyn Hammond: And then Lesley, your
first job, which I think is super cool,
| | 14:17 | was with MTV Networks, and you
were actually part of the team that
| | 14:21 | created the MTV Movie Awards.
| | 14:23 | Now, did you have any idea back then
that it would have such impact on young
| | 14:27 | people and how they appreciate film,
because it really did change the whole sort
| | 14:30 | of landscape for award shows for younger people?
| | 14:32 | Lesley Chilcott: Yeah, what was interesting
about the movie awards is that we thought,
| | 14:38 | "Oh, we are a new program, we will
create new categories, so we will
| | 14:40 | have best onscreen kiss. Why not?"
| | 14:44 | And then it came time to have this live event
| | 14:46 | and we're like "We have a category
called best onscreen kiss and we have to give
| | 14:49 | this award to somebody."
And best action sequence.
| | 14:51 | And now there is a lot of award shows
that maybe the categories aren't quite as
| | 14:56 | silly as that, but there
are different categories now.
| | 14:59 | And so that other people who work very
hard on the crew or actors that work very
| | 15:03 | hard in doing something
nontraditional can get recognized.
| | 15:06 | So that part was definitely kind of fun.
| | 15:08 | But MTV was great training for anything.
| | 15:11 | Madelyn Hammond: I bet, because I bet at that time it
was just like a free for all, whatever, anything goes.
| | 15:16 | Lesley Chilcott: Yeah. I mean, when I
started I didn't know what I wanted to do.
| | 15:18 | And the first job, you are a production
assistant when you start and I showed up
| | 15:22 | and it was a live comedy show and
they are like, "Hi, what's your name?
| | 15:25 | Cue card person didn't show
up, can you write neatly?"
| | 15:27 | And I am like "Yes."
| | 15:27 | And so I got a pile of cue cards, a big
marker, two sets of headsets thrown on me,
| | 15:33 | and I am like fresh out of college.
| | 15:36 | And then on the headsets it says "Hi, I
am Beth McCarthy," who, for those of you
| | 15:39 | who know her now, directs Saturday
Night Live and she is a big director.
| | 15:43 | And she said, "Just hold up
the cue cards below the camera.
| | 15:46 | You're Camera 5. When you hear Camera 5
drop the cards or if you don't, @*&$ the show."
| | 15:50 | So I was like "Okay..."
| | 15:54 | (Laughter)
| | 15:55 | Madelyn Hammond: Well, how did
you do, did you @*&$ the show?
| | 15:57 | Lesley Chilcott: Thank God, no, because it was
live and that would have been really a big deal.
| | 16:01 | Madelyn Hammond: Wow, that's pretty good.
| | 16:03 | I like that.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Making an impact| 00:00 | Madelyn Hammond: All right! So
Darla, I have got to ask you.
| | 00:03 | There was a lull, wasn't it, with Toy
Story 3, which was like 11 years later when
| | 00:07 | you had to get things going again.
| | 00:09 | But things have changed so
much from a technology standpoint.
| | 00:12 | I mean, was that problematic?
| | 00:13 | I mean, think about 11 years ago.
| | 00:15 | Things were so different.
| | 00:16 | Were you looking at like hard copies of things or
were you just like, let's just start over, can't deal?
| | 00:21 | Darla K. Anderson: Yeah,
we pulled up everything.
| | 00:24 | We pulled up all of the old drawings and
all of the old technology that we could.
| | 00:29 | The hard thing was is that Toy Story, we knew at
the time when we were making it that it was not--
| | 00:33 | It would be obsolete looks-wise
pretty quickly, because we did
| | 00:38 | the best that we could do
with the technology at the time.
| | 00:41 | There was no mistake that we used hard
plastic, because that was easier back
| | 00:45 | then for the computer to compute.
| | 00:48 | So the human design wasn't very good
and some of this-- Everything just wasn't
| | 00:54 | as beautiful as it could be now, but we
had to stay true to the language of the
| | 00:58 | design of the whole thing.
| | 01:00 | So anyway, it was hard to stay true to
the feeling of Toy Story because it's so
| | 01:07 | beloved but still update it
with all the gorgeous new tools.
| | 01:11 | Madelyn Hammond: Keep it fresh.
| | 01:11 | Darla K. Anderson: Keep it fresh, but
we were the ones-- We hired all the same
| | 01:16 | folks that did Toy Story, the same
production designers and character designers,
| | 01:20 | so that helped a ton.
| | 01:22 | But we worked really hard on it, yeah.
| | 01:24 | Madelyn Hammond: So how much do
you get involved as a producer?
| | 01:27 | Because there are very
strong female characters in there.
| | 01:30 | So do you have any impact on that,
or is that just the writings,
| | 01:32 | is that Michael and everybody?
Because it's pretty awesome.
| | 01:35 | Darla K. Anderson: I would like to take
credit for that unless Michael is in the audience.
| | 01:37 | (Laughter)
| | 01:39 | Madelyn Hammond: I don't
see him... No, he is here.
| | 01:43 | But you do have a little bit of say-so?
| | 01:46 | Darla K. Anderson: Definitely, definitely.
| | 01:47 | I mean I definitely interject.
| | 01:50 | And it's hard. There is a lot of guys at
Pixar and I really believe that real art comes
| | 01:55 | from your truth.
| | 01:56 | And so when there is a lot of guys
telling their truth, that's what happens.
| | 01:59 | So I think it definitely helps
to have some strong women around.
| | 02:05 | But I have to say, Michael, and I think
he is in the audience right now, he was
| | 02:07 | amazing at-- He really was.
| | 02:09 | He was really great about coming
up with some strong women moments.
| | 02:13 | And also it's just fresh.
| | 02:15 | It's just interesting to do
something a little bit different and he is a
| | 02:17 | big proponent of that.
| | 02:18 | Madelyn Hammond: I have met him
before and I told him it was just awesome.
| | 02:21 | When a man writes good for a woman,
whatever it is, whether it's...
| | 02:26 | Oh, who is the guy who did Penelope Cruz
and all those foreign films? I can't think.
| | 02:31 | Various panelists: Almodovar?
| | 02:33 | Madelyn Hammond: Almodovar, yeah.
| | 02:34 | Whether it's him or Michael or
someone that does it and they capture it,
| | 02:36 | then you just know, this is great.
| | 02:38 | Anyway, all right, so Lesley,
I was reading some stats on Superman,
| | 02:43 | Waiting for Superman.
| | 02:44 | Each year 1.2 million students in the
U.S. fail to graduate from high school.
| | 02:49 | 1.2 million. And they also discovered
that there's a direct correlation between
| | 02:55 | kids committing serious felonies and education.
| | 02:58 | So my question to you is when all this
came out, as you got into it, were you
| | 03:02 | surprised at some of these statistics, or was it
like-- Did you know it was this bad when you started?
| | 03:08 | Lesley Chilcott: I think it-- No,
it was worse than I thought.
| | 03:13 | And we actually have something in the
film, for those of you who have seen it,
| | 03:17 | that compare the costs of sending a kid
to a private school for 13 years, like
| | 03:22 | including kindergarten, versus what it
costs to incarcerate someone for that period
| | 03:26 | and it turns out to be less to send
them to your average private school.
| | 03:29 | So there is a whole cradle, they call
it the cradle to prison pipeline, and
| | 03:34 | about 70% of inmates don't have-- It depends.
About where you are, but majority of them,
| | 03:43 | 68-70%, don't have high school degrees.
| | 03:45 | And what happens when you get
incarcerated at a younger age, a lot of the
| | 03:51 | prisons don't have the money anymore and
you don't continue to get an education.
| | 03:54 | Your education stops so the
recidivism rate is really high, and it's all
| | 03:58 | directly related to a lack of education.
| | 04:02 | I mean sure, there would be some
crimes no matter what, but to have such
| | 04:06 | high percentages of people across
the country in jail, and we have the
| | 04:10 | highest incarceration rate of all
other countries combined in total, and
| | 04:16 | then you say 70% of those people
don't have high school degrees, then you
| | 04:21 | know that it's related.
| | 04:22 | Madelyn Hammond: Has anything changed?
| | 04:25 | Tell us about what has changed, because
your documentary is what they call now
| | 04:28 | an advocacy documentary, where it's written
hoping that change happens. So what's the best thing?
| | 04:33 | Lesley Chilcott: Hoping that there is
some sort of-- When you make a film that
| | 04:39 | you think that affects so many people,
you design this advocacy campaign or
| | 04:43 | social action campaign to go along with it.
| | 04:46 | And we have been so lucky that such a
bright light has shunned on our film,
| | 04:51 | because - is that a word?
Shunned, shown, shined?
| | 04:56 | Shanned? Shined?
| | 04:57 | (Laughter)
| | 04:59 | I have a college degree
but you wouldn't know it.
| | 05:03 | So we have been very fortunate that
this has happened and as part of our social
| | 05:08 | action campaign we have held and we
continue to hold, I am going to Austin on Monday,
| | 05:13 | we have held townhalls all across
the country, and we invite people to
| | 05:17 | come see the film and then we
have a discussion afterwards.
| | 05:20 | And we have invited heads of unions.
| | 05:22 | We have invited Republicans,
Libertarians, Democrats, like the full spectrum,
| | 05:27 | and we say "Talk about what you are
feeling and what you saw on the film.
| | 05:31 | What did you agree with?
| | 05:32 | What did you not agree with?"
| | 05:33 | And the idea was we could never have this
perfect film where we covered every issue.
| | 05:38 | We could do a whole film about special
ed or I would love to do a whole film
| | 05:41 | about how amazing teachers are and how
teaching is the hardest job in the world
| | 05:45 | and should be valued and teachers
should be rock stars. All those things.
| | 05:50 | (Applause)
| | 05:55 | So I guess my point is that the life
of the film is ongoing and we have a
| | 06:00 | campaign associated with the DVD, where
if you buy the DVD you get a $25 gift card
| | 06:05 | to use at DonorsChoose.
| | 06:06 | I don't know if anyone knows about this
web site, but you go to DonorsChoose.org
| | 06:11 | and you can pick your hometown or
where you went to high school and teachers
| | 06:14 | have posted projects that they need money with.
| | 06:16 | Like I want to take my kids to The
National History Museum but there's no budget.
| | 06:19 | It costs $432 to take all 25 of my kids.
| | 06:24 | You can use your $25.
| | 06:26 | We did this with the film too.
| | 06:27 | Buy a ticket, you get a $15 coupon.
| | 06:29 | So you use the money to fulfill the
classroom project and DonorsChoose sends
| | 06:35 | them the money to go to the museum or they send
them the projector or whatever it is that they wanted.
| | 06:39 | So in addition to hopefully learning
something from the film or going to the
| | 06:43 | film and saying "I didn't like it,"
whatever, you got to contribute to
| | 06:48 | an actual classroom that
was in need or something.
| | 06:50 | Madelyn Hammond: Which is great, because
a lot of kids, they don't even know the
| | 06:52 | whole idea about contribution and
philanthropy and what it means, so you get
| | 06:55 | them hooked in that way. It's great!
| | 06:57 | All right, Alix, tell us about the
journey of Winter's Bone, because I
| | 07:01 | imagine that this, I think this is
one of the lower grossing films that has
| | 07:06 | actually been nominated.
| | 07:08 | So I want to hear about the journey.
| | 07:10 | And is it tougher now doing an
indie film, getting that audience?
| | 07:14 | Alix Madigan: Well, just to-- the
movie was started actually in 2005.
| | 07:21 | I was submitted the book.
| | 07:22 | I work at a company called Anonymous
Content in Los Angeles, and I met with
| | 07:26 | Debra and her producing partner,
creative collaborator, co-writer,
| | 07:32 | Anne Rosellini, and I had loved their
first film that they had done together,
| | 07:36 | a movie called Down to the Bone,
which kind of launched Vera Farmiga.
| | 07:40 | And Debra had won the directing award
for Sundance for that movie in 2004.
| | 07:47 | And I read Winter's Bone.
| | 07:51 | It was submitted to me as a galley.
| | 07:54 | It was by an incredible writer, a
gentleman named Daniel Woodrell, who lives in
| | 07:59 | that area of the Ozarks
where the movie took place.
| | 08:02 | And I read the book and I gave it to
Debra and Anne and I think we were all very
| | 08:06 | taken by the lead character.
| | 08:09 | It was just a woman who, as Debra puts it,
was just filled with moxie and would just
| | 08:15 | not take no for an answer.
| | 08:17 | And we started the long process
of putting the movie together.
| | 08:21 | Anne and Debra went away and wrote a
script, which I have to say was pretty near
| | 08:26 | perfect by the time I read
it about six months later.
| | 08:30 | We started really trying to put the movie
together in kind of the classic indie model,
| | 08:34 | which is essentially casting some
sort of name actors to try to get
| | 08:41 | foreign financing or some sort
of domestic company behind it.
| | 08:46 | And fortunately that didn't work out
and we ended up getting equity financed by
| | 08:54 | someone who really believed in Debra
and loved her vision for the movie.
| | 08:58 | For that reason we could cast unknown actors,
and you know what, the highest compliment
| | 09:03 | I think anybody ever paid me, paid the film, I thought
was Gregg Araki, the great independent film director.
| | 09:12 | And he said, "You know, I haven't seen
that kind of unusual world since Avatar."
| | 09:17 | Which was the most bizarre
comparison to compare Winter's Bone to Avatar.
| | 09:21 | But it was just like-- I think it was
that you could really escape to this world,
| | 09:24 | because we could cast people who
were amazing at what they did but
| | 09:29 | not really known names.
| | 09:32 | Yes, I think it is the lowest-- I think it's
one of the lowest budgeted movies nominated
| | 09:37 | and I think it's also--
| | 09:39 | Madelyn Hammond: It was kind of
a badge of honor in a weird way?
| | 09:41 | Alix Madigan: Yes.
| | 09:42 | Madelyn Hammond: Did you get involved a
little bit with the marketing and distribution?
| | 09:45 | Alix Madigan: I did.
| | 09:46 | That's the thing with working on an
independent film. When I have worked on
| | 09:49 | studio films you kind of like, once the
film is shot, you sort of like show up
| | 09:52 | now and again to kind of look at
finished cuts, see how things are progressing.
| | 10:01 | There are some marketing meetings.
| | 10:03 | But Anne Rosellini and I were the music
supervisors, we were the postproduction supervisors,
| | 10:08 | because we couldn't afford
these people on our small budget.
| | 10:12 | And we did get very involved with
the marketing and distribution of it.
| | 10:16 | We had Roadside, who were just
incredible distributors on this project and
| | 10:21 | they really had folks
primarily on documentaries before.
| | 10:25 | They had taken out The September Issue
and The Cove was there big documentary
| | 10:31 | that did very well for them.
| | 10:34 | But they just platformed the
release of this movie in an incredible way
| | 10:38 | and the movie really took off.
| | 10:40 | Our biggest, surprisingly our biggest,
sources of revenue were in places like
| | 10:44 | Tucson, in Milwaukee.
| | 10:47 | Middle America really embraced the film.
| | 10:49 | It didn't really earn most of its money
in the sort of standard specialty markets,
| | 10:53 | which was a surprise to us.
| | 10:54 | Madelyn Hammond: Yeah, I heard
like 16 weeks in Saint Louis.
| | 10:57 | Alix Madigan: It was.
| | 10:59 | Madelyn Hammond: That's crazy.
| | 11:00 | Alix Madigan: I know, it
was really unusual, yeah.
| | 11:05 | Madelyn Hammond: So Gloria, you are
certainly, I would say working in a man's type
| | 11:09 | of stereotypical man's field, with
sound and postproduction and all that.
| | 11:13 | Looking back on your career,
has it gotten better, same, worse?
| | 11:16 | Do you see changes?
| | 11:17 | Do you think it's more
opportunities for women and emerging filmmakers?
| | 11:20 | Gloria Borders: Yes and no.
| | 11:22 | I wish that there were more
women in visual effects especially.
| | 11:27 | I think that they are-- It's interesting.
| | 11:30 | It is something we can all talk about today.
| | 11:32 | There are many women that are producers,
but you don't see that many women that
| | 11:36 | are visual effects supervisors.
| | 11:38 | You don't see that many
women that are sound designers.
| | 11:42 | You don't see that many women that are mixers.
| | 11:47 | But there are more and more as each year passes.
| | 11:50 | But I think that we women are great producers.
| | 11:59 | You know whether we are producing
Winter's Bone or Toy Story or we are acting
| | 12:04 | like the president of a company like
Digital Domain, we are really good at
| | 12:12 | getting people to get along
and walk in the right direction.
| | 12:16 | I think that we, possibly as a
group, whether we are born that way or
| | 12:22 | genetically disposed to go there, we
should be helping women go into these
| | 12:30 | technical fields probably a little bit more.
| | 12:32 | There are great women animators.
| | 12:34 | I saw that at DreamWorks and I
am sure you see that at Pixar.
| | 12:38 | I don't see that many director
of animation, heads of animation.
| | 12:44 | I don't see that as much as we should.
| | 12:47 | Production designers, absolutely.
| | 12:50 | Madelyn Hammond: I agree with you.
| | 12:51 | I think that extra Y chromosome
does-- We are more collaborative.
| | 12:54 | We are nurturing. We know
how to pull people together.
| | 12:56 | Gloria Borders: I think that's what it is.
| | 12:57 | But yeah, it's getting better.
| | 13:00 | It's probably not as fast as it should be.
| | 13:02 | Madelyn Hammond: So along those lines,
Darla, what happens when you have something--
| | 13:05 | How do you get everybody, if
you have had a bad day on the set,
| | 13:09 | this goes to you too Alix, how do you lift
everybody's spirits and get them back on track?
| | 13:13 | I mean it falls on you, and you too Lesley.
| | 13:16 | I mean, I am sure that just like at work,
you have got good days and bad days.
| | 13:19 | So what do you do, because it's up to you
to change the tenor and the tone of the day?
| | 13:23 | Darla K. Anderson: You know it's-- I mean, I
actually laugh a lot. I crack a lot of jokes.
| | 13:32 | Madelyn Hammond: Jokes are good.
| | 13:34 | Darla K. Anderson: And I think that when-- Or you
know what, sometimes I just send everybody home.
| | 13:39 | Because I think a lot of times people
get-- We work so hard and we drive them.
| | 13:46 | The producers drive people to work so
hard, and they are just-- I think people
| | 13:51 | are shocked when you say, you know what,
I want everybody to just go home today.
| | 13:52 | I want everybody to go watch a
bad movie, or go just do something.
| | 13:55 | It just shocks people into
doing something different.
| | 13:58 | What I have found is that when you
do something like that or you throw an
| | 14:02 | impromptu party, and my favorite thing
is to go see a kooky movie, just take
| | 14:07 | the whole crew spontaneously.
| | 14:09 | I think that it gets more productive in the long
run, because it just shakes it up a little bit.
| | 14:13 | People see things from a
different point of view.
| | 14:14 | Madelyn Hammond: Yeah, it's an interrupter.
| | 14:15 | Darla K. Anderson: The burnout can be tough.
| | 14:18 | Madelyn Hammond: Well, Alix, on your
film, I mean there were some parts that
| | 14:20 | were so depressing and bleak.
| | 14:22 | You must have really had to like party on.
| | 14:25 | Alix Madigan: You know, it's funny.
| | 14:26 | Because when you work on a comedy,
like when I was working on Smiley Face,
| | 14:29 | it was a very like jubilant, fun
set and everybody joked around.
| | 14:32 | And when you do work on a darker movie, the
tenor of the set definitely changes I think.
| | 14:38 | But no, I totally agree with Darla.
| | 14:40 | I think it's a really important thing
to kind of treat the crew sometimes in a
| | 14:46 | way that you really want to-- I mean to
make them feel as valuable as possible.
| | 14:50 | And actually Renny Harlin was a
terrific director at doing that.
| | 14:53 | Like he would have like "Crewmember of
the Day" and that crewmember would get a
| | 14:57 | bottle of champagne.
| | 14:58 | And it's really nice to create that
atmosphere, I think, on set and a very
| | 15:04 | necessary thing to do as well.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| New directions| 00:00 | Madelyn Hammond: So Colleen, Alice
was a 40-day shoot and the rest of it,
| | 00:04 | there was a lot of CGI and green-screen.
| | 00:05 | So was that cool for you to work in such
a nontraditional way and do what you do,
| | 00:12 | but in a different and a more up-to-date format?
| | 00:13 | Colleen Atwood: Yes, it was different.
| | 00:16 | I think--Who told you it was a 40 day shoot?
| | 00:18 | Madelyn Hammond: Was it not 40 day?
| | 00:19 | Colleen Atwood: I think it
was a bit more than that, but---
| | 00:21 | Madelyn Hammond: 40 sounds
good. I mean, 40 is fast.
| | 00:23 | Colleen Atwood: It was a
long 40 days, yeah. But yeah.
| | 00:26 | Madelyn Hammond: It was
like 40 days and 40 nights
| | 00:28 | Colleen Atwood: There was so much to do
on Alice. We did Alice in three chunks.
| | 00:34 | We did the opening of the film, which is
set in real time in the 1860s in the UK.
| | 00:43 | So we designed the costumes for that
and made them, manufactured them, and then
| | 00:49 | we moved to the U.S. with a small
hiatus and started shooting the green screen.
| | 00:55 | While we were prepping the other,
while we were shooting the other,
| | 00:59 | we were manufacturing costumes for
the green screen portion of the film.
| | 01:03 | And as it went along we were making
more and more costumes, because Tim was
| | 01:08 | like, you know, "I like that person to be real."
| | 01:11 | So we kept going and going and creating
costumes and then they shot the green screen part,
| | 01:15 | which is probably the 40-day shoot.
| | 01:18 | And then a couple months went by
into post and then they decided
| | 01:23 | they wanted elements of the film like
the courts and all these other things to
| | 01:28 | be real and not be animated.
| | 01:30 | So I ended up making costumes for the
Red Queen's Court and the White Queen's
| | 01:34 | Court, and we shot that in chunks.
| | 01:36 | It was almost like doing
three mini movies together.
| | 01:39 | So it was kind of a good way to work
because you really had time to focus on
| | 01:43 | each thing and kind of get detailed time in.
| | 01:48 | Which was nice, because usually
the train's leaving the station and
| | 01:52 | you're on it and you just
have to blast through it.
| | 01:54 | So it was a different style, but I enjoyed it.
| | 01:57 | Madelyn Hammond: But in addition to all
that, didn't you have to also do a lot
| | 01:59 | of outfits for Alice.
| | 02:01 | Because her wardrobe shrunk and
widened almost as much as mine, I am sure.
| | 02:06 | So didn't you have to do like
more costumes per character?
| | 02:11 | Colleen Atwood: We did.
| | 02:12 | You know, we made a decision early on
that that we didn't want Alice to just be
| | 02:20 | a girl running through the
whole movie in the same--
| | 02:22 | Madelyn Hammond: Blue dress.
| | 02:23 | Colleen Atwood: Blue dress, because
we've all seen Alice in that light before,
| | 02:27 | and we wanted to make her more of
a real girl to people and more of
| | 02:32 | a modern kind of character.
| | 02:35 | And so the way the device that
worked for that, which was really in the
| | 02:40 | screenplay, and I think Linda's idea
was that as Alice shrunk and grew that
| | 02:47 | her clothes did not.
| | 02:48 | So she got out of her blue dress
quickly and we went into her underwear, which
| | 02:53 | like was a long slip that became a long dress.
| | 02:56 | And then she grew out of that and
popped off and then she was naked.
| | 02:59 | And the Queen made her a dress,
her court made her a dress.
| | 03:02 | It went with that court and then Johnny
made her a dress in the teapot, when she
| | 03:06 | had to get really, really tiny.
| | 03:07 | And we had these scale charts that we
worked off of, with the scale of each
| | 03:13 | character and height that we played with.
| | 03:17 | So there was a lot of work in
figuring out the scale of her stripes in each
| | 03:22 | element and how it worked on a human
body to make it look like she was bigger or
| | 03:27 | smaller to help sell that.
| | 03:29 | We also had that same thing with the Red
Queen's collar, because her head got so
| | 03:34 | huge that when your head gets big
like that, it covers up your neck.
| | 03:37 | So I cheated the top of the dress to
here, and we kind of faked that out and
| | 03:43 | then we made a collar that
help make the neck narrower.
| | 03:46 | Because when they enlarge the head,
the neck look like the torso of a man.
| | 03:50 | So, there are all those little kind of
weird tweaky things that you do as you go along.
| | 03:56 | Madelyn Hammond: God, you
don't even think about it, wow!
| | 03:57 | Colleen Atwood: Yeah, you
don't even think about it.
| | 03:59 | But all that stuff was happening as
we were discovering, all of us together
| | 04:03 | really, what we were doing here,
because nobody really had quite done it
| | 04:07 | that way before.
| | 04:08 | Madelyn Hammond: It's amazing and if
you haven't seen it, watch it again
| | 04:11 | with that in mind.
| | 04:12 | It will probably be like
seeing it all over again.
| | 04:15 | So Darla, I have got to ask you.
| | 04:17 | You hold the Guinness Book of World
Records for the highest per film box
| | 04:19 | office average for your four films to date, which is
Toy Story 3, A Bug's Life, Cars, and Monsters, Inc.
| | 04:25 | That's crazy!
| | 04:26 | (Applause)
| | 04:30 | So I am curious, and I am sure that
some members of the audience are as well.
| | 04:33 | Like who thought of that?
| | 04:35 | Because it couldn't have been you.
| | 04:37 | It must have been your fantastic publicist. And
what do you get? A certificate, an award, a note?
| | 04:40 | Madelyn Hammond: How did this
happen? Did you check the book?
| | 04:42 | Darla K. Anderson: No.
| | 04:44 | The Guinness World Book
comes up with this stuff.
| | 04:46 | Madelyn Hammond: They do?
| | 04:47 | Darla K. Anderson: Yeah.
Madelyn Hammond: Wow!
| | 04:48 | Darla K. Anderson: Yeah,
which I couldn't, you know--
| | 04:50 | Madelyn Hammond: Did you have the
phony phone call when they are like--?
| | 04:52 | Darla K. Anderson: No, they don't even call you.
| | 04:53 | But my godson was in the airport.
He had gotten it for Christmas.
| | 04:58 | So he was looking through the book and
somebody said, "Oh, Darla might be in there."
| | 05:02 | And I was like, "But why would I be in there?"
| | 05:03 | But, you know, it's for kids. Kids
love these things. So he opened up.
| | 05:06 | And it made it look like, actually
the way it was worded, it made it
| | 05:10 | look like I had $1 billion. It really did.
| | 05:13 | So my godson, he was like, he calls me,
"You have $1 billion!" So excited.
| | 05:17 | Madelyn Hammond: Almost, not quite.
| | 05:18 | Darla K. Anderson: It's more
exciting for the kids than anything.
| | 05:22 | Madelyn Hammond: Okay, so let's-- we
are going to open it up in just a few
| | 05:24 | minutes to the audience, but I got
to ask you, Alix, what's next for you?
| | 05:27 | What have you got in development?
| | 05:28 | What's happening?
| | 05:29 | Alix Madigan: There are a few things floating around
which hopefully one of them we'll take up this summer.
| | 05:36 | But there is a movie that we're
definitely doing which we'll shoot in Montreal
| | 05:42 | at the end of the year.
| | 05:45 | And the original-- It's been a movie that
we've had for 10 years-- a project that we
| | 05:50 | have for 10 years in development.
| | 05:52 | Madelyn Hammond: What's it about?
| | 05:52 | Alix Madigan: It's called Adeline.
| | 05:55 | It's about a woman who has a freak
accident at the age of 30 and stops aging and
| | 06:01 | then sees the rest of the century
enfold in front of her and ends up falling in
| | 06:07 | love in the process and has
to give up her immortality.
| | 06:15 | And we had a director and an
actress, they fell off, and now we are
| | 06:20 | negotiating with another
director and an actress.
| | 06:21 | So hopefully that will
happen and we'll go and propose.
| | 06:24 | Darla K. Anderson: Well, can I ask a question?
Madelyn Hammond: Yeah!
| | 06:27 | Darla K. Anderson: When Winter's Bone has
gotten so much press, does that help your endeavors?
| | 06:31 | Alix Madigan: You know, it's so funny, Darla.
| | 06:33 | I mean-- I think it's-- No.
| | 06:36 | (Laughter)
| | 06:37 | Darla K. Anderson: You think it would!
| | 06:39 | Madelyn Hammond: You totally would
think it would. That's not right.
| | 06:42 | Alix Madigan: Well, the thing is
that I think when you do a movie--
| | 06:45 | and I do believe this is right.
| | 06:47 | Essentially is, I think that the
artist find the movie, the talent, you know.
| | 06:51 | Obviously, Jennifer Lawrence
and fortunately John Hawkes too.
| | 06:55 | And the director, Debra Granik was so
amazing, her cowriter Anne Rossellini.
| | 07:00 | They're the ones who people approach for jobs.
| | 07:02 | Like, with a producer, you're kind
of like, all right, what do I do next?
| | 07:06 | I mean it's like you're kind of
reinventing the wheel again and trying to
| | 07:11 | your next project off the ground.
| | 07:12 | More people I think, I mean, people
take you a little bit more seriously,
| | 07:16 | I guess, if you come off it. And they
maybe call you back the same day as opposed
| | 07:21 | to three days later. But it's not--
| | 07:22 | Madelyn Hammond: It's not like people
are showing up with checkbooks saying
| | 07:26 | here is all the money.
| | 07:27 | Alix Madigan: No, not yet.
| | 07:28 | Madelyn Hammond: Not yet.
| | 07:29 | Maybe Darla can share some of her billion.
| | 07:31 | Darla K. Anderson: Yeah, I
am writing a check, right now.
| | 07:33 | Madelyn Hammond: But it's getting
better for-- it's changing for producers.
| | 07:36 | And so maybe in a few years
it will be a little bit easier.
| | 07:40 | Because now this year, for the first
year, the Producers Guild has what they
| | 07:43 | call a Producers Mark.
| | 07:44 | So when you start to see films,
you'll see next to Darla's name and Alix's
| | 07:48 | name and Lesley's name a little Producers Guild
Of America, just like you do with cinematographers.
| | 07:52 | Because what they are trying to do I
think is distinguish between people
| | 07:55 | that say they are producers and
others that are really there on the set
| | 07:59 | every day slugging it out.
| | 08:00 | Alix Madigan: It's such a-- I am so
glad that you brought that up because when
| | 08:03 | you have a movie that's for Oscar consideration?
| | 08:06 | I mean I know Darla had to go through
the same thing, and it's really amazing
| | 08:09 | that Darla is the sole producer that's
on any film that's nominated this year.
| | 08:14 | But you do have to go through this very
extensive process, which is part of the
| | 08:20 | truth in credits campaign
that the PGA puts together.
| | 08:23 | And essentially you fill out these
couple of sheets of paper and you know it's
| | 08:29 | for development, prep, production, post.
| | 08:33 | And you say that you were really involved,
somewhat involved or not involved at all,
| | 08:38 | and then you write essays and
address every single section.
| | 08:43 | Every single segment of the
project, and then they actually vet it.
| | 08:48 | The PGA vets it as well and they call a
key personnel, the line producer, the DP,
| | 08:53 | the writer, etcetera, to really see if all
that you're saying that you did is right.
| | 08:59 | And it's an arduous process, but I
still believe in it, because the producer
| | 09:04 | credit is a much-- It's an amorphous
one and it's been abused over the years.
| | 09:09 | So I think to have this strenuous process,
which has been brought about by the awards process,
| | 09:17 | I think is a really necessary
one and I am really glad that
| | 09:19 | the PGA is doing that.
| | 09:20 | I think it's great.
| | 09:21 | Madelyn Hammond: It is. It's good.
| | 09:21 | And I think it will clear up a lot of the confusion
about it, because it's not just writing the check.
| | 09:25 | It's actually doing, appearing on
set, which I know you did, Darla.
| | 09:29 | It was a long shoot, right?
| | 09:31 | Darla K. Anderson: Yeah, 4 years.
| | 09:32 | Madelyn Hammond: 4 years, that's crazy!
| | 09:33 | Well, and then you're not even
including all the crazy time in between, so
| | 09:36 | it was actually more.
| | 09:37 | Darla K. Anderson: Yeah, true.
Madelyn Hammond: Think about that.
| | 09:40 | So, I wanted to ask.. Oh Gloria, so you
are working on -- what are you doing now?
| | 09:45 | You just left Digital
Domain and you are working--
| | 09:47 | Gloria Borders: Yeah, I just finished
working on Tron for the last 2 years,
| | 09:50 | as well as several other pictures
that we're doing at Digital Domain.
| | 09:53 | And I was asked by my boss two times
ago, Joe Roth, if I would help produce
| | 10:02 | Snow White and the Huntsman,
so I think, well, I said yes.
| | 10:06 | And I think Darla was saying
something earlier that really resonated.
| | 10:11 | There is something about being either,
whether it's part of a-- Darla, did you say
| | 10:16 | or Colleen about being part of a
theater production doing a movie?
| | 10:19 | That makes me very excited, so I
thought this might be a great opportunity.
| | 10:27 | So I jumped in working on the Snow
White and the Huntsman, which, I don't know
| | 10:32 | if you guys have been reading it,
it's getting a little bit of press and
| | 10:35 | I am working with Joe Roth again.
| | 10:36 | Madelyn Hammond: Who is great.
| | 10:37 | Gloria Borders: He is great.
| | 10:38 | Madelyn Hammond: Is it going to be 3D?
| | 10:40 | Gloria Borders: It's being discussed. We'll see.
| | 10:44 | Madelyn Hammond: Sounds good. So that's cool.
| | 10:47 | And by the way, how excited were you
being from sound when Tron got a sound...?
| | 10:51 | Gloria Borders: Well I loved it
because of course they did it at Skywalker.
| | 10:55 | So I was really, really excited, and
there is a fantastic woman that was
| | 11:00 | the supervising sound editor
and so I am really happy for her.
| | 11:04 | Madelyn Hammond: That's so great. I love that.
| | 11:06 | And then what about you? Ae you
working on another documentary?
| | 11:09 | Lesley, what do you guys got going on?
| | 11:10 | Lesley Chilcott: I am in developmental,
although documentaries don't really go in development.
| | 11:16 | I just like saying that.
| | 11:17 | I have a documentary to direct, not
because I am switching careers permanently,
| | 11:23 | but I am obsessed with this particular topic.
| | 11:26 | So I think that's going to be
coming up in another month or two.
| | 11:29 | Madelyn Hammond: Well, can you
tell us what it is or it's a secret?
| | 11:30 | Lesley Chilcott: I can't get Davis to produce
for me though so I don't what I'm going to do.
| | 11:32 | Madelyn Hammond: Darn!
| | 11:35 | Can you tell us the topic or--?
| | 11:36 | Lesley Chilcott: It's on privacy
issues, online behavioral tracking,
| | 11:40 | careless social networking.
| | 11:42 | 13 year olds that have ruined their
chances of getting in college just because of
| | 11:47 | something they did absent-mindedly.
| | 11:49 | Madelyn Hammond: Right.
| | 11:50 | Oh, then that gets into the whole
online thing with about bullying and just
| | 11:54 | putting yourself out there.
| | 11:55 | And I mean it just snowballs. That'll be great.
| | 11:57 | Lesley Chilcott: Yeah. I mean there is a lot of
shocking-- I won't go into it, but like women that go
| | 12:01 | to battered women's shelters.
| | 12:04 | They take and destroy their phones, because there's
commercially available for free GPS tracking systems.
| | 12:12 | So that almost everyone that they were
trying to get away with was showing up
| | 12:15 | at the shelters and there was a lot of
-- And you can do it on the Internet.
| | 12:19 | So there are a lot of safety issues
and a lot of things that we are just now
| | 12:22 | beginning to think about and see.
| | 12:24 | Madelyn Hammond: Oh, it's crazy.
| | 12:25 | I sometime help people with their
resumes and I always tell women, take your
| | 12:29 | address off because you're posting
this thing online all over the place.
| | 12:32 | You really want them to come to apartment 208?
| | 12:34 | I mean, it's crazy.
| | 12:35 | We don't think about it, you know.
| | 12:38 | Also, I want to ask you too Lesley.
| | 12:39 | You know, we are talking about
giving back and the whole thing with
| | 12:43 | DonorsChoose, but you co-founded Unscrew
America, which focuses on environmental issues.
| | 12:48 | Tell how you got involved with that and a
little bit with what that organization is.
| | 12:51 | Lesley Chilcott: Sure. After An Inconvenient
Truth I was looking-- We call it the lightbulb moment.
| | 12:56 | After you go and see a documentary that
asks something of you, what can you do
| | 13:02 | that's really simple?
| | 13:04 | And, it's funny, because with Waiting for
Superman, if it hadn't been for DonorsChoose..
| | 13:09 | You don't just one day wake up the next
morning and say "I am teaching now" or
| | 13:13 | whatever it is that you wanted to do.
| | 13:15 | So I founded Unscrew America and
partnered with a lot of LED companies, because
| | 13:22 | CFLs I think are a temporary technology,
and there is also a lot of things that go
| | 13:26 | into making CFLs like mercury
that aren't good for the environment.
| | 13:29 | Madelyn Hammond: What's that?
Lesley Chilcott: What's what?
| | 13:31 | Madelyn Hammond: What's CFL?
| | 13:32 | Lesley Chilcott: Compact Florescent Lightbulbs.
| | 13:33 | Madelyn Hammond: Oh, okay.
Did everybody know that?
| | 13:35 | Lesley Chilcott: So, the idea was unscrew your
lightbulbs, this is kind of an older, old concept now.
| | 13:40 | I feel outdated.
| | 13:41 | Madelyn Hammond: I don't
like those new lightbulbs.
| | 13:41 | Lesley Chilcott: You screw in
something more energy efficient.
| | 13:43 | So next month we're actually, we
partnered with a California Lighting
| | 13:48 | and Technology Center.
| | 13:49 | We actually rated a bunch of bulbs
and we're putting that up on the site,
| | 13:52 | because even though everyone,
including me, wants to change your lightbulbs,
| | 13:56 | there's still aren't that
many great solutions offered.
| | 14:00 | So I went through and did what I
call the beginning good person rating.
| | 14:04 | So it was like ooh, warm light!
| | 14:06 | Great, awesome, good to read by!
| | 14:08 | And then the California Lighting and
Technology Center did a technical evaluation.
| | 14:12 | And so those will be side-by-side and then maybe it
will help people choose lightbulbs a little bit more.
| | 14:17 | Madelyn Hammond: Okay.
So what's the bottom line?
| | 14:18 | So the old ones-- the new ones have the mercury?
| | 14:21 | Lesley Chilcott: Well, the CFLs
usually have 5 micrograms of mercury.
| | 14:24 | Madelyn Hammond: Mercury, right.
| | 14:25 | Lesley Chilcott: And even so they say it's
generally better-- that's the swirly ones
| | 14:30 | generally and sometimes
they have cases on the outside.
| | 14:33 | Even so generally, it's better for the
environment because they use less energy,
| | 14:36 | but you have to remember to
dispose off them properly.
| | 14:39 | And all these groups
weren't teaching you that, right?
| | 14:42 | So, the newer bulbs are LED technology.
| | 14:45 | LED technology is the old
alarm clocks with the red lights.
| | 14:48 | Now they figured out how to have all
these different color temperatures that are
| | 14:51 | warmer and really nice light.
| | 14:53 | Only the bulbs are kind of expensive right now.
| | 14:56 | So within the next three years those
prices are going to come down and everyone
| | 14:59 | is going to have a lot more options.
| | 15:01 | Madelyn Hammond: Good to know.
| | 15:02 | See the stuff that you learn here? All right!
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Advice from the pros| 00:00 | Madelyn Hammond: So Colleen, what would
be one piece of advice that you'd give
| | 00:03 | someone if they said,
"I think I can be a costume designer.
| | 00:06 | I love color, I love fashion.
| | 00:07 | My friends always ask me if
this makes their butt look big."
| | 00:10 | What else do you need besides that?
| | 00:12 | Bigger collar, I assume.
| | 00:13 | Collen Atwood: Yes, it
does make your butt look big.
| | 00:17 | Don't be afraid to tell the truth. But also
like-- I have probably said it here before,
| | 00:25 | but I really think that as you
are in school, out of school,
| | 00:29 | whatever your position is, is that
even if you can get a job on something,
| | 00:39 | whether it's a dance thing, a
theatrical piece, an independent film,
| | 00:45 | as an intern volunteer
for no money, take the job.
| | 00:51 | Even if it relates to what you do.
And do the best work that you can do.
| | 00:55 | Because as you go through life,
these people reoccur in your life and
| | 01:00 | they reoccur in different formations.
| | 01:04 | And it's really important that maybe
you don't want to be the lunch girl, but
| | 01:08 | you go do to lunch really great with
enthusiasm, and somebody will remember
| | 01:12 | that you cared about it.
| | 01:14 | And I think it's really important for people.
| | 01:18 | Like it always irritates me when I get these interns
that go, "Can I make the dress over there," and you go, "No."
| | 01:28 | This woman that's sitting here that's
making the dress, you might be able to do it,
| | 01:33 | but right now it's not your time to
make the dress, because this person has
| | 01:38 | actually done this for of more than two weeks.
| | 01:42 | And is technically incredibly skilled.
| | 01:47 | And there is just sort of a beauty in the
naivety that you think that you can do it.
| | 01:53 | And you can do it.
| | 01:54 | But also a sort of importance to recognize
that the people are very committed to this work
| | 02:03 | and care about it in a way their whole lives.
| | 02:07 | It's not just something
you care about for one job.
| | 02:11 | It's a commitment.
| | 02:12 | Madelyn Hammond: Well, especially that
person then, it took a long time for them
| | 02:15 | to get that position to make that
dress, and then someone new who comes in,
| | 02:18 | it's very all about Eve.
| | 02:20 | It's great to have that...
| | 02:21 | Collen Atwood: It's great to find new talent.
| | 02:23 | I mean nothing is more
exciting than talent in this world.
| | 02:26 | It's a very exciting feeling to really
find somebody that's really an artist,
| | 02:32 | that's working for you, that's a young
person, and sort of to say, "All right,
| | 02:36 | go over there and dress that person"
and you kind of watch how they do it.
| | 02:40 | And you go, "Great, you did it.
| | 02:42 | You figured it out."
| | 02:43 | It's really a very good feeling, but it might
not be what you do the first day you are at work.
| | 02:49 | Madelyn Hammond: Yeah, I agree. You got
to do it right. What about you, Lesley?
| | 02:51 | What if someone says, "I love docs. I
want to do it too. I have got an idea"?
| | 02:55 | What do you tell them? Run?
| | 02:57 | Lesley Chilcott: Well, run.
| | 02:59 | I think what's great about docs, with all
these consumer digital technology available,
| | 03:05 | is you can just make one.
| | 03:06 | I mean that sounds-- I am
oversimplifying a little bit.
| | 03:09 | You don't have to cast actors.
| | 03:10 | You don't have to come up with the money.
| | 03:12 | You don't have to figure out
what your distribution chain is.
| | 03:14 | At least not until later.
| | 03:16 | So, you can-- Our crew
generally consists of five people.
| | 03:20 | So if you could get a group of friends
that were into doing this with you or
| | 03:25 | when I'm in situations, I do sound.
| | 03:27 | I do cameras.
| | 03:28 | What you do, you kind of learn
to do whatever you need to do.
| | 03:31 | So I think documentaries are a great
way for people to enter the industry and
| | 03:36 | it's a great boot camp.
| | 03:37 | You can learn about every position and
you can just go and do it and if no one
| | 03:41 | wants to see it, you can just put it up
on YouTube and people will still see it.
| | 03:44 | (Laughter)
Gloria Borders: So, it's a good idea.
| | 03:46 | Madelyn Hammond: That's true.
| | 03:47 | There is an audience and now with all
these different kinds of alternative forms
| | 03:50 | of distribution, it isn't
just going the theatrical route.
| | 03:53 | And I know, Alix, you must have thought
a time or two with Winter's Bone before
| | 03:56 | Roadside picked it up.
| | 03:57 | Which is, God, what are we going to do?
| | 03:59 | Do we have to go VOD? But you have got to get
it seen and now there is more options for you.
| | 04:02 | Alix Medigan: That's very true.
| | 04:03 | Anne Rosellini, the other producer,
and I reminisce about the fact that right
| | 04:08 | before Sundance last year we
were looking at a DIY options.
| | 04:11 | And our biggest dream in the movie
really was to get some sort of small
| | 04:15 | theatrical release for it.
| | 04:16 | It really was. We never expected
it to have the life that it did.
| | 04:21 | Honestly.
| | 04:23 | But this year's Sundance was
particularly robust and there were a lot of really
| | 04:28 | healthy sales and particularly for
films that didn't have huge casts in it.
| | 04:32 | So I think it's-- I hope it's not an
isolated bubbled year and all these films
| | 04:37 | don't do well at the box office and
then we're kind of back to square one.
| | 04:39 | But I think it's a hopeful time again for
independents and that's really exciting.
| | 04:43 | Madelyn Hammond: I think you're right.
| | 04:43 | I think Sundance this year,
| | 04:45 | there was more deals this year than there has been
in quite sometime and great film, and you are right.
| | 04:50 | You never know what's going to happen.
| | 04:51 | Was it the Sundance's crazy fever that happens and
some people just buy things up? But you don't know.
| | 04:56 | The one that I heard was,
if you went to Sundance,
| | 04:59 | did you see The Devil's Double,
the one of Uday Hussein's?
| | 05:01 | Alix Medigan: I didn't. I
really want to see that though.
| | 05:03 | It sounds amazing.
| | 05:04 | Madelyn Hammond: This actor Dominic Cooper and
he played-- I haven't seen the film obviously.
| | 05:07 | I didn't got to Sundance.
| | 05:08 | But he played the double for Uday
Hussein and obviously all the horrific
| | 05:13 | things that happened.
| | 05:14 | But they said that that amongst many
other films made people just talking like
| | 05:18 | it was a real resurgence of
love for independent film.
| | 05:21 | Alix Medigan: It sounds great.
| | 05:21 | Madelyn Hammond: When they are talking about the
Uday Hussein film, that's pretty darn good, right?
| | 05:26 | So Gloria, so if someone says, "
I got to get into it. I love it.
| | 05:31 | I love the whole craft of
making the film with visual effects.
| | 05:34 | I am on my computer 50 million hours a day.
| | 05:36 | What do I do? Do I have a future?"
| | 05:38 | I know you said more now, more than before.
| | 05:41 | Gloria Borders: Well, I agree with
actually philosophically with what
| | 05:44 | everyone is saying.
| | 05:46 | Just do it.
| | 05:47 | Madelyn Hammond: But is there
a class, a school, a college?
| | 05:50 | Gloria Borders: Well, there is, there is.
| | 05:52 | But actually I will go back to
when I was at DreamWorks Animation.
| | 05:57 | At one point I was very much involved
in the college outreach program, which I
| | 06:05 | had never done before.
| | 06:06 | And it was fascinating, because you
would think that-- where am I going to get
| | 06:12 | really great animators?
| | 06:13 | Where am I going to get really
wonderful effects artists for the next Shrek?
| | 06:18 | And we were going to computer science
programs into schools that you would never think.
| | 06:26 | First of all, there was no animation
program at any of these colleges and we were
| | 06:32 | just finding incredible students,
men and women that were, just they were
| | 06:39 | the computer science background.
| | 06:41 | Whatever was going on in the left
brain, the right brain, they were also
| | 06:45 | painting at night or they
were taking photographs.
| | 06:48 | So I think the bottom line is-- By
the way, you can do any of this online.
| | 06:55 | You can take courses online.
| | 06:57 | You can post what you are doing on
YouTube. It's exactly what Lesley is saying.
| | 07:01 | There is a lot of ways to start building a reel,
but and also yes, go make coffee, go be an apprentice.
| | 07:08 | Madelyn Hammond: Be great at it.
| | 07:10 | Gloria Borders: Just get in there,
because once you're in there and once you
| | 07:14 | start as a PA, you quickly rise. You're a
coordinator and then all of a sudden you're
| | 07:20 | helping out and lighting or whatever
it is. You actually rise pretty quickly
| | 07:26 | if you show that degree of
initiative and that you want to be there.
| | 07:30 | It's pretty remarkable how fast you
can go if you really stick with it.
| | 07:35 | Madelyn Hammond: Darla, last one for you.
| | 07:37 | In animation, it seems like it's such a
close-knit group and it's the same old--
| | 07:42 | The pros, not old, but the same pros that go from
film to film and there is not that many of them.
| | 07:47 | So, if someone that wants to get into
animation, are there more opportunities
| | 07:50 | today then ever, and is it like
Gloria said, just get out there, do it,
| | 07:54 | post your stuff and you will get a shot?
| | 07:56 | Darla K Anderson: Every single thing that
everybody said, I have said to many people.
| | 08:00 | Because if you show up, however
you get your foot in the door.
| | 08:03 | And I can speak to myself.
| | 08:06 | I did a lot of things for nothing.
| | 08:08 | Once I decided I wanted this
profession, I just showed up and it is pretty
| | 08:13 | surprising once you get traction.
| | 08:17 | People get sick, people get a cold,
something happens, and you get your
| | 08:21 | opportunity if you have that degree
of enthusiasm and show-up-ed-ness.
| | 08:26 | Which is not quite the same thing as "shown."
| | 08:29 | It's just another word
that I have made up today.
| | 08:32 | Lesley Chilcoot: I love it.
| | 08:33 | Madelyn Hammond: Talk
about our education system.
| | 08:35 | Darla K Anderson: But I do... I think
that there are so many opportunities today.
| | 08:39 | The sector of all that blows my mind
and I don't know even that much about it
| | 08:45 | is the whole video game industry.
| | 08:47 | It has exploded and the level of
artistry in that industry is mind-blowing.
| | 08:55 | And that it seems like there are so many jobs.
| | 08:58 | But one thing for me when I am hiring
somebody, pursuant to everything everybody
| | 09:02 | said here, if you aren't in this day
and age just doing it in some way, because
| | 09:09 | people will say "I want to
direct, I want to produce."
| | 09:11 | I think there are no excuses for
not having tried to do something.
| | 09:15 | It doesn't have to be great.
| | 09:17 | For me, I am very impressed by those who try.
| | 09:20 | Even if I don't love the aesthetic,
even if I don't love the finished product,
| | 09:25 | the fact that any particular individual
has begun a small project of their own
| | 09:31 | and completed it, it puts
them in high esteem in my view.
| | 09:37 | Madelyn Hammond: Gloria, want to add something?
| | 09:38 | Gloria Borders: Yeah. You are actually reminding
me when I was in college, I was desperately trying
| | 09:44 | to figure out in San Francisco how to
get a job, because I wasn't in LA and
| | 09:51 | someone asked me to help out on a
documentary on how to give yourself a cervical exam.
| | 09:58 | (Laughter) And it was like, yeah, you know what?
| | 10:01 | I'm in there! Let's go.
| | 10:04 | And well, what was fascinating as that it
led to the making of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
| | 10:10 | (Laughter)
| | 10:11 | Which got me to Lucas films.
| | 10:15 | So you know what, you never
know what's going to happen.
| | 10:19 | And that's why-- And the kids that I went
to school were like, "What, you're going to
| | 10:25 | work for free on that?"
| | 10:26 | And I was like, yeah!
| | 10:30 | It's like movement begets movement
and you just keep moving, is really
| | 10:35 | the point of the story.
| | 10:36 | It's like keep moving, keep
trying, make whatever movie it is.
| | 10:40 | You're going to get it to Darla.
| | 10:42 | She's going to see it, it's going to
work out, and you just don't give up.
| | 10:47 | Madelyn Hammond: I don't know.
| | 10:48 | You just changed the way I am
going to look at this whole...
| | 10:50 | I'm going to go to the doctor and I want to be like,
"Have any institutional videos I might check out?"
| | 10:55 | Anspiring filmmakers.
| | 10:56 | Gloria Borders: You know, it was the 70s.
| | 10:58 | Madelyn Hammond: That was great.
| | 11:00 | So, speaking of that first
job, okay, so we know yours.
| | 11:06 | Okay, so forget that. Your first, first job.
| | 11:10 | So you are a teenager, what's your
first icky job? Did you work at McDonald's?
| | 11:14 | Darla K Anderson: Uh no, I worked at
Tiffany's Bakery in the Glendale Galleria.
| | 11:18 | Madelyn Hammond: Nice.
| | 11:19 | On the sales side or were
you making the popovers?
| | 11:21 | Darla K Anderson: Both.
Madelyn Hammond: Both?
| | 11:23 | Darla K Anderson: Yeah, I loved it.
| | 11:24 | Madelyn Hammond: Okay. Colleen, first icky job?
| | 11:26 | Colleen Atwood: My first icky job
was hoeing weeds for my father who was
| | 11:33 | farmer, for a milkshake.
| | 11:36 | Madelyn Hammond: Did he pay you?
| | 11:37 | Colleen Atwood: No, I got a shake.
| | 11:38 | Madelyn Hammond: You got a shake. Okay. Lesley?
| | 11:40 | Lesley Chilcott: Paper route.
| | 11:41 | Madelyn Hammond: Paper route?
| | 11:42 | Lesley Chilcott: Yeah.
| | 11:42 | Lesley Chilcott: It wasn't icky except for the
fact that you had to do it at 4:30 in the morning.
| | 11:45 | Madelyn Hammond: Four in the morning! Alix?
| | 11:46 | Alix Madigan: I was a veterinarian's
assistant, which when I was 13, which was a
| | 11:52 | little icky with cleaning up the cages,
but I actually really loved the job.
| | 11:55 | Madelyn Hammond: Then Gloria?
| | 11:56 | Gloria Borders: Oh, boy!
| | 11:58 | I was a nurse's aid at a nursing home.
| | 12:02 | Madelyn Hammond: Oh, oh! That could be good.
| | 12:04 | Gloria Borders: I loved it.
Madelyn Hammond: Did you?
| | 12:05 | Gloria Borders: Yeah. It was weird, I know.
| | 12:06 | Madelyn Hammond: And I was the salad
girl at the Sizzler, very proud of it.
| | 12:11 | This was the old days.
| | 12:12 | I used to give everybody extra
dressing, because I liked it so I thought
| | 12:14 | everybody wanted it.
| | 12:17 | To this day though, I can't be
around Thousand Island dressing.
| | 12:20 | It makes me gag.
| | 12:21 | Anyway. So guys, we could go on,
except we have to be-- Especially, we have
| | 12:30 | to congratulate, because Lesley is going to the DGA
so she has to hop in her car and get on her outfit.
| | 12:36 | So we are going to wrap it up.
| | 12:38 | But also thanks to everybody.
| | 12:40 | Thanks Alix, and Lesley, and
Gloria, Colleen, and Darla.
| | 12:43 | And thanks you guys for
coming and I appreciate it.
| | Collapse this transcript |
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