Questions for indie film producer Ted Hope?
I’m excited to have scheduled this week a phone interview with Ted Hope, one of the most influential individuals in the world of independent film. Here is Ted’s Wikipedia entry:
Ted Hope (born 1962) is an American independent film producer based in New York City. He began work as Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society on September 1, 2012.
Hope has produced the first films of such notable filmmakers as Ang Lee, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, Todd Field, Michel Gondry, Moises Kaufman, Bob Pulcini, and Shari Berman, among others. In the early 1990s, Hope co-founded with James Schamus the production/sales company Good Machine, which he and his partners sold to Universal in 2002. That same year he co-founded This is That with his current partner Anne Carey, Good Machine’s Head of Business Affairs Diana Victor, and his former assistant, Anthony Bregman.
Among Ted’s twenty-three Sundance entries, are three Grand Jury Prize winners: American Splendor (2003), The Brothers McMullen (1995) and What Happened Was… (1994). American Splendor also won the FIPRESCI Award at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, the Critics prize at the 2003 Deauville Film Festival and was nominated for five Spirit Awards and one Academy Award. Hope has also produced two Sundance Opening Night selections: Nicole Holofcener’s Friends with Money (2006) and Moises Kaufman’s The Laramie Project (2002), which was nominated for five Emmys.
Hope was instrumental in organizing the successful 2003 anti-trust campaign against the MPAA and it’s ban on screeners, uniting a diverse constituency, strategizing the effort, and ultimately providing in court the oral testimony that helped sway the judgement. Although the MPAA head, Jack Valenti, claimed The Screen Ban was about combating “piracy”, it was recognized by the court as stifling competition, particularly that of independent filmmakers against Hollywood. Hope has claimed a double win in the court case, as it is also where he met his wife filmmaker Vanessa Hope.
In 2013, Indiewire named Hope to its inaugural list of Influencers, a list “dedicated to 40 of the people and companies who have captured our attention as we watch them try to figure out what the independent film industry is today and, more importantly, what it will become.”
The Hollywood Reporter cited Hope and his partners at This is That among the twenty-five most powerful people in the Independent Film business.
Ted’s blog — Hope For Film — is an absolute must-read as is his Twitter feed (@TedHope), so if you’re not yet following him, do it NOW!
This is a critical time for indie films, my sense that we are slowly climbing out of the collapse of the old business model and in the midst of a new, emerging paradigm, and frankly Ted is at the front edge of what is transpiring.
So if you are interested in independent movies as a screenwriter, filmmaker, or simply a consumer, here is your chance to post your questions to one of the leading lights in that arena.
More background on Ted:
Go here for the entire text of Ted’s keynote speech at this year’s Film Independent’s Filmmaker’s Forum in September.
Go here for Ted’s post: Why Indie Film Industry Needs Producers.
A speech Ted gave one year ago about the state of independent movies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKbg8Fon-PI