Interview: Ted Hope

Last December, I was fortunate enough to have an in-depth interview with movie producer Ted Hope, who is leading the charge to give the indie film business what he calls a “systems reboot.” If there is a person best suited for this task, it’s Ted. You can go here to read his Wikipedia page for a detailed background, but the highlights include dozens of movies which he has produced including The Ice Storm, Happiness, American Splendor, 21 Grams, The Savages, Adventureland, Martha Marcy May Marlene, and many more, 23 of which have been selected for the Sundance Film Festival. In 2011, Ted became President of the San Francisco Film Society, then just recently left that position to become CEO of Fandor, a subscription service that hopes to do for festival and foreign films what Netflix does for mainstream films and TV series.

Here are links to the four installments of the entire interview:

Part 1: “We are in need of a total systems reboot of the indie film infrastructure.”

Part 2: “The challenge remains, how do we make great work the subject of cultural conversation?”

Part 3: “Originality, ambition, and I would argue quality or depth of the idea. I want something that matters. I want something that resonates, that creates ripples and waves and hopefully can never be ignored.”

Part 4: “If you go up against a brick wall, time and time again, occasionally somehow it opens up and lets you through to the other side.”

You can learn more about Fandor here.

Ted’s blog (hopeforfilm.com) is here.

Anyone interested in movies, the indie film world and filmmaking should follow Ted on Twitter: @TedHope.

Comment Archive