Robert Schwartz is a veteran film producer with experience in both studio and independent features. Your Industry Insider profiled him for our “Inside Scoop” series last year, which focused on his path to producing and subsequent successes, but we wanted to check in with him about his consulting business, and his efforts to help others get their films made.

What made you create Seismic Scripts? I created Seismic Scripts to direct the flow of material and projects that came into our office, and ultimately help filmmakers chart a proactive direction for getting their movies made. On a regular basis, I would spend considerable time reading, then discussing the numerous aspects of a script, but then it would quickly crossover into legal, casting, festival circuits, distribution, etc.  I realized there was a substantial need for “producer’s coverage” to analyze their projects and assist them in all these areas.

There are a lot of script reading services that provide story feedback. How does Seismic take a more holistic approach to the script review process? Seismic Scripts is really not just a script reading or coverage service, though that element is an integral part of my process, as without a solid screenplay it all stops there.  I help writers, directors and producers improve their entire package (along with the screenplay itself) before submitting it in Hollywood, or to private investors. Alongside the creative story analysis, I also assess a project’s viability in the marketplace on a financial and strategic basis, and I help zone in on the elements that will drive the project towards production. In the end of the day, it’s really what I do as a working producer when I pull together a project I’ve decided to make inside our company. 

Who are your clients? Most of my clients are a mix of writers and writer-directors that are at various stages of development with a project, and occasionally that will include producers and investors as well. Many writers will use my services to look at the execution and commercial viability of their project, and explore how to best put it all together and focus their effort. Lately, I have worked with several teams (writer, director, and producer) that are financed, but in need of how the entire project should be viewed and structured, then put into motion to create the most commercial movie.

Explain the typical process of working with you. The process is fairly simple and starts with the writer.  In most cases, I first read the material and put together a 2-3 page summary overview of the project that speaks to a multiple of areas including story coverage, creative direction, financial, and strategic issues. The next part of the process varies greatly from project to project depending on the level of development of the initial material, and what the needs are. Sometimes, I will do a more in-depth story analysis or will reevaluate the material after the next draft of the screenplay. I am available to the project on various levels of involvement (see the Seismic website for details) from this stage forward, and on one occasion, I’ve consulted with a group all the way through their process of making and selling the film. It really depends on who is involved, but my focus is on all the elements with the script at the center.

What is the best thing about what you do through Seismic? I really do get a kick out of helping people realize their dreams, and after 30+ years in this business, I understand how complex the path can be between “having a good idea” or even a great script, and figuring out the smartest way to actually get it made. I really enjoy the process as a producer and sometimes it’s just helping people see what they have, and what they don’t, to begin fitting it all together. I am honest with people and that usually helps move the project forward if they have been relying on their friends for feedback and advice.

Are you still actively producing your own projects while doing your work through Seismic? And if so, can you share a little about what you’ve got in the works? I suspect I will be engaged in making my own pictures for a long time to come, as I really enjoy the process. My company, Seismic Pictures, is focused on studio-driven material and so the projects tend to be larger in scope. We are adapting the science fiction novel, “Mockingbird” at the moment, and completing a final draft on a fairly big war-based action film. Beyond that, we are always on the search…

To find out more information, go to the Seismic Scripts website.

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Anyone who has read the novel Push knows how challenging it must have been to get that story to the screen with its spirit intact. Sarah Siegel-Magness’s profile, with its lessons about passion, heart, and the entreprenurial mindset, will surely inspire readers to create or find material that moves them and have the courage to go the distance with it. Special thanks to Sarah for taking the time during what must be a whirlwind period as a producer of an Academy Award nominee to answer our questions.

College and degree:  I have a business degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Internships during college:  I worked as a College Rep for EMI Records, promoting music in college. While I was in school, I opened up a Celestial Seasonings kiosk on my college campus and sold a successful amount of tea and merchandise with my brother and a friend. This was my first stint in the entrepreneurial world and it helped get me ready to run my own company.

First job:  I started working at the age of 14 and my first job was working at Career-Track, a business Seminar and self-help company. I got to work in all of the key departments and learned how the business operated by spending time in each area.

Pre-entertainment career, if any:  After college, I moved to New York City where I got an internship at EMI World Records. I loved working in music, but my true passion was fashion and when I was 27, I founded the women’s clothing line, So Low. The idea for So Low came to me when I couldn’t find underwear that would comfortably fit under my low-rise jeans. I decided to make a pair and brought it to the California Merchandise Mart.  I had no idea that getting picked up by a sales firm with one style is unheard of, but my ignorance paid off because it gave me a sense of confidence and I found a buyer. I immediately developed three additional styles including boxers, tank tops and g-strings and eventually, with the help of my best friend from high-school, we expanded the brand into a contemporary women’s clothing line that sells everything from dresses to t-shirts to sweatshirts. 

First entertainment job: My first job in entertainment was producing TENNESSEE with my husband, Gary Magness and Lee Daniels. 

Why did you want to be a producer? What made you think you’d be good at it? I fell in love with the filmmaking process during the first week on the set of TENNESSEE. Lee Daniels made an effort to show us the magic of filmmaking and my husband and I were hooked. We knew that being on set, creating films with messages, and working with the talented crew that make stories come alive was what we wanted to do. I didn’t know for certain that we would be good at it, but we decided we wanted to give it our all.

First project you produced: The first project I produced was TENNESSE. We were first introduced to director Lee Daniels through a producer, Tom Heller, who cold-contacted me after reading about my entrepreneurial spirit and clothing line. We set a meeting to talk to Lee about his projects, but the meeting was eventually cancelled. A little while later, I received another call from Tom. He told us about Lee’s film, TENNESSEE, and we flew to where they were filming. We were immediately captivated by what Lee was doing. After seeing his talent, dedication and passion, we knew we wanted to be in business with him. The next day we agreed to finance a majority of TENNESSEE and became Executive Producers on the film.

Eureka moment: My eureka moment didn’t happen in one moment but instead happened during the overall production of TENNESSEE. I was really enjoying the filmmaking process and realized how wonderful it would be to be able to make films with positive messages. My husband and I knew that we wanted to work with Lee Daniels again, and that is when we decided to form our production company, Smokewood Entertainment, and commit to making additional films.

Lee had secured the rights to the novel, Push, by Sapphire and was interested in making it into a film. After reading the book, I fell in love with the story and knew we had to make it. Everyone told us we were crazy to make a film about a 300 lb black girl who was abused, but the story tugged at my heart and I couldn’t let it go. We struggled to cast the role of Precious because we didn’t want the actress’ real story to be what Precious went through.

Billy Hopkins, our casting director, made the amazing discovery of Gabourey Sidibe after she skipped class one day and came to an open casting call.  She had never acted before and Lee, Gary, and I knew within days that she was the right one for the role. Filming was intense, but everyone on the set knew that we were making something special. After finishing the film, we submitted it to the Sundance Film Festival and were not only accepted, but ended up winning three awards, including the Audience Award for best film. 

After Sundance, we started receiving interest from Hollywood studios. Both The Weinstein Company and Lionsgate were interested in acquiring the film, and ultimately Lionsgate ended up securing the rights. We then screened at the Toronto Film Festival and won the People’s Choice Award. No other film has ever won both the People’s Choice Award at Toronto and the Audience Award at Sundance before.

After the festival route, Lionsgate released the film in a limited number of theaters and eventually expanded nationwide. The film performed really well, earned record breaking revenue and defied all expectations. We started hearing buzz about possible award nominations and eventually received multiple nominations, including Best Picture nominations for the Golden Globe and the Academy Award!

Best thing about being a producer: The best thing about being a producer is being able to tell stories that I believe in and that hopefully make a difference. My husband and I founded the production company, Smokewood Entertainment, and it is important to us to make films with positive messages for diverse audiences.

Worst thing about being a producer: I would say the most difficult thing about being a producer is when fiscal responsibility is trumped by great creative vision. The producer has a financial and creative responsibility to the film and sometimes the two responsibilities do not go hand in hand.

Most surprising thing about being a producer: How long it takes some of the best movies in Hollywood to get made.  I recently participated on a panel with a producer whose film took 20 years to make.

Describe a typical work day in your current position: There is no typical work day when you are a producer.  Depending on where you are in the development process, a day can include being on the set of your film and working with the director to get the film made, meeting with potential directors, actors, etc. about your next project, doing interviews to promote a project, or reading scripts to find your next project.

Worst day in entertainment industry: I don’t believe one can have a worst day, because I believe we grow from difficult experiences. I find the most difficult projects in life are usually the most rewarding. 

Best day in entertainment industry: The best day is when a producer can celebrate the fruits of their effort. It’s a wonderful moment for any producer when a project is finally put on the screen for an audience to enjoy.

Brush with greatness: Some people are born to do certain things. I would say I was exposed to brilliance the first day Gabourey Sidibe started working on set. You could feel her greatness and the beginning of something beautiful. I was completely amazed that someone who had never been trained as an actress could perform so perfectly. This is when I realized that some people are born with raw talent.

Secret of your success/advice to the newbie: My advice to anyone new in this business is to go with your gut. Work on projects that move you. Always be humble and always be ready to learn.

Next move (or next five moves): Our next projects include a feature film based on the children’s book series, Judy Moody, and a documentary on an indigenous tribe in Brazil called AMOUNGST BROTHERS.

Know anyone who could use an entertainment industry insider? If so, please encourage them to subscribe to YourIndustryInsider.com and sign up to receive YII’s Mogul Mindset eBlasts today! Also, please visit Your Industry Insider Store to check out recommended books and DVDs. Content will be added regularly as suggestions come in from industry insiders!

Robert Schwartz is a prolific producer of both studio and independent films. He is known for his taste in material and his expertise in developing scripts and getting movies made. He recently agreed to give YII the Inside Scoop on his career.

The Producer In the Background Waving, at Left

Current position: President of Seismic Pictures, a new startup production company which produces motion pictures for the global marketplace. 

College & degree: BFA, Minneapolis College of Art & Design; University of Missouri, St. Louis 

Internship: Ah, that’s a long story and there were several internships in the early days! I started out in the commercial business in 1974 working with the top people in commercial advertising and production in Minneapolis. I started as a PA intern and worked my way up to producing by doing every job along the way, not counting makeup and wardrobe, which I would severely mess up.

First job in the entertainment industry: Oddly enough, I’ve never really had a job in the Industry. From the minute I got into feature filmmaking, studio or independent, I have always been a freelance, independent producer for hire or attached to a film project because I owned it. Though there was a period where I ran a Canadian production company for 4 years as the president of production.

Big break: I got the opportunity to help out on a film about jazz and blues (”Survivors: The Blues Today”) and this was really the moment I learned about feature length filmmaking. I ended up producing the film, but it started out as a documentary/ performance film that just kept growing in scale. It was 1984, and I had been working on many documentaries, but this was on a much bigger scale with acts from around the world, like blues legends John Lee Hooker and Willie Dixon, and we shot the picture with five Super-16 cameras and 24 track audio. It was a huge 3-day event and the film went on to be an enormous success, selling in 45 countries around the world and garnering awards in many countries.

Eureka moment:  People ask me all the time, “What is a producer and how did you become one?” I have to say that answering the second part of the question is my “Eureka” moment,” but it happened over a very long period of time. I started in art school and learned to make movies (my own movies) with some of the greatest filmmakers around, including Roman Polanski, Ed Pincus, and many more resident filmmakers. It wasn’t until fifteen years later, after working on many other people’s movies, that I started to realize that I am now back making my own movies again. Oddly enough, how I became a producer was by doing every job on the set until it was the only one left. I sort of backed into the position of producing and there was no question that making movies was what I was meant to do. There are many types of producers in the business, but I will always be one that is all about the material, and when I realized that, it was a moment that took me full circle.

Career path: I went to film school back in the mid 70’s and worked with many extraordinary filmmakers around the world making their films, and mine. I graduated in 1976, and immediately got a job in public television at the local PBS station where I shot and edited a 13-part series on the arts. It was a great experience and it led to my increasing desire to make documentaries for the next 8-10 years.

I shot numerous docs for PBS and cable (and won many awards in the process). In 1990, I optioned a screenplay (by borrowing against my car) about a dogsled race from two guys in North Dakota. I packed my bags and moved to Los Angeles and proceeded to find out that I knew no one in the business and it was hard to even get a meeting.

However, I had met this attorney who liked the screenplay so much that he was willing to send it out… and he did, to forty companies that all passed on the project. One of those companies was Disney, and I found a way back in to get them to look at the project again. They passed again. Then, I found a way to get Michael Eisner to read the script and he loved it. The third time was the charm. As they say, the rest is history as I was in production on my first studio feature, “Iron Will.”

The film was quite successful and so it started my career as a producer in LA and I opened my first indie production company, Wardenclyffe Entertainment and we went onto make seven movies, a television series, and buy books and screenplays and develop projects like THE ALCHEMIST (based on the worldwide bestselling book by Paulo Coehlo).

Worst job (or day) in entertainment industry:  That’s sort of tough to call, but I’d have to say it was when I was about to start a movie for a studio on a script I had meticulously developed with their executives. We were all signed off on the final draft, and I was on location building the film production around it when the head of production said we need to cut 16 pages from the script (it was only 112 pages long) as we just don’t have the money to do all this. Yes, I argued…yes, I lost the battle….for the moment.

I was shocked because they sent me the screenplay now at 96 pages and it was crap. It was the worst day I could imagine and fit all the stories one has heard about working with the studios. In the end of the day, it worked out just fine and I was given complete control to put the script back the way it was originally by someone higher up the chain of command.

Best job (or day) in entertainment industry: I have been fortunate to have many days that were fantastic in the business, but there are none better than sitting with an audience on a movie you have slaved over and having them respond to the picture with tears and joys and excitement.

Best thing/Worst thing about your current job:  Ironically, the best thing about my current job is also in part the worst thing. After 12 years, I opened a new startup production company, Seismic Pictures last fall, and our focus is on material strictly for studio pictures. It’s great because I am really focusing on the projects that mean something to me and our slate is becoming very diverse and interesting. I’m going after properties that really make sense to me on all levels, creatively, financially, and strategically.

Then of course, the worst part of this idea is the timing… there couldn’t be a worse time to try to fund something new in today’s economy.

Secret of your success/advice to the newbie: I get asked this a lot. There are all the typical pieces of sage advice like tenacity and perseverance, staying the course, and taking rejection in stride. If I would recommend anything as a secret to success, it would be to make sure you love what you are doing first. If you love the game of golf, no one has to push you out on the course to play 9 holes. You do it because you love it. Whether you want to write, direct, or produce, or any number of great positions there are in the making of a movie, stay with it because you love it and feel you have no choice but to keep pressing yourself to be better at it. If you have little or no experience in the motion picture business, see this as an advantage of trying many things out until the right one clicks with you.

Next move (or next five moves): I recently opened a new side business, a script and production consulting service. Over the years, I have been reading so many scripts for indie filmmakers and giving detailed story coverage along with all the layers of how to put the project together (i.e. financially, casting, distribution, etc) and I realized there was a much wider need for it. The new company, Seismic Scripts, is a wholly separate company that can really focus on all this and has already helped several filmmakers move their projects along.

On the Seismic Pictures side, we are in mad pursuit of financing and some days I think we are even getting close. Stay tuned…

Making Movie Magic on the Set of Blizzard

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Agent to Manager to Producer

Time Frame: 10 – 12 years

Degree of Difficulty: 5

Who is this person? Someone who went to law school or business school and is seriously in love with the art of the deal.

How did they make the leap? They built relationships with talent (actors, directors, writers) and helped set up projects, ultimately with themselves attached as producer.

Words to the wise: This is actually a pretty straight path. There is a preferred educational background involved (though not required) and having great relationships and top-level deal-making experience is perfect for a producer.

Line Producer to Associate Producer to Producer

Time Frame: 10 – 15 years

Degree of Difficulty: 7

Who is this person? A combination of a drill sergeant and a politician, someone who can move mountains on a tight budget and short notice.

How did they make the leap? They became the can-do person for a certain director, developed a reputation for getting a certain high-degree-of-difficulty movie done, and/or positioned themselves as integral to getting projects done, the only person who could do it right (applying the political skills), thus becoming the first one the studio or high-level creative producer calls when starting their next project.

Words to the wise: If you can’t handle 20 hour work days, traveling wherever the work takes you, untangling logistical puzzles, and dealing with sometimes very delicate egos, this option is not for you.

Development Executive to Production Executive to Producer

Time Frame: 10 to 15 years

Degree of Difficulty: 8

Who is this person? An extremely adept social creature with adaptive skills, great radar, and story sense and recall that allows them to pitch any project on command even in their sleep (after staying up all night reading 20 scripts, for instance).

How did they make the leap? After surviving the rigors of climbing the executive ladder at a studio or production company, they reached a point where they had enough high-level relationships and built a good-enough reputation to go out on their own.

Word to the wise: This path definitely involves some degree of luck. If you get under the wing of a rising executive above you and he makes it to the top of the studio or production company heap, you get a big advantage on your path to producer. If, on the other hand, you manage to alienate him/her (by giving him too much credit for a bomb or not enough credit for a hit, for instance) or, if your mentor gets ousted and replaced by someone you don’t mesh with, you can be set back several steps.

“Nobody” With a Great Script and a Dream to Producer

Time Frame: 5 to 50 years

Degree of difficulty: 10

Who is this person? Someone who is bold enough to embark on one of the toughest journeys there is in Hollywood, becaused on a combination of passion, drive, and ignorance.

How did they make the leap? They kept calling and calling and calling and eventually someone answered the phone. They did this 1000 times, ignored all naysayers, had the luck to run into a number of people who knew more than they did. They refused to hear no.

Word to the wise: This is harder than even I make it sound and, of course, very rewarding if it works out. You definitely have an advantage if you have a big pile of money when you set out on this adventure or a generous benefactor. So be a dot com billionaire first, if you can. It helps.

If you enjoyed this post, we suggest you sign up on our home page to have YII deliverd right to your email inbox. Also, please visit our Your Industry Insider Store to check out our recommended books and DVDs. Content will be added to regularly as suggestions come in from industry insiders.