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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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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