HUFFINGTON
06.17.12
CINEMA VÉRITÉ
“I feel like I couldn’t be in
better hands for a project like
this,” says Rapp, whose film
is being co-produced by Rudin and Parts and Labor. “In
some weird way, these guys
act like they’re working nonfor-profit, and I know they’re
not, but it just feels like
they’re making art.”
The truth is that, like all
producers, you hope for a
hit that will move you out
of hand-to-mouth territory
once and for all.
“I think we all know that
there’s a possibility for a
breakout,” Van Hoy says,
“and we want to be smart
about it, so that if it does
happen it benefits everyone
who’s been involved with it.”
In your keynote speech at
last year’s Sundance Film
Festival Producers Luncheon,
you pointed to a few examples of such “breakout” films
and emphasized that too
many indie producers “are
too busy adapting when we
should be innovating.”
You set up a new organization, the Independent Producers’ Alliance, whose goal
is to get producers to col-
laborate on a range of issues,
from health insurance to online distribution platforms.
“What’s come about in the
past four to five years is that
there’s a different kind of
camaraderie among producers,” says Van Hoy. A decade
ago, “there was a sense of
activity in New York. There
were jobs, there were people
working all over the city, and
assistants that did all kinds
of things. And that doesn’t
exist in the same way anymore. There are definitely
production companies, but
they’re streamlined to the
point that there are three or
four producers sharing an
office, with a folding table in
the middle of the room.”
So no, you’re not a saint.
And you’re definitely not
running a charity. The truth
is, there’s no room in your
world for the old Hollywood
bullshit. It wastes time, and
it doesn’t pay.
“You can slash and burn
your way through your career,
but what do you have to show
for it at the end?” Van Hoy
asks. “I think those
days are sort of over.”
IT DEMONSTRATES THAT
WE’RE CAPABLE
OF PRODUCING
A FILM THAT
WILL BE RECOGNIZED BY THE
ACADEMY AND
THAT WE’RE
ABLE TO DO IT
ON FILMS
THAT AREN’T
SO EXPENSIVE”
— Van Hoy
on Plummer’s
Oscar Win
for Beginners