Movie Producer – Adam Merims

“If you want to be a producer, you have to start working on movies. Find your peers who are directing – usually shorts. If you don’t know any, go through film schools, film communities, film clubs. Or get on professional films – start as an unpaid Intern.  Or as a Production Assistant; it’s not well paid, but you can make a living at it” …

Movie Producer – Adam Merims

Over his career, Adam has produced many popular films, most recently “Breach” and “Casanova.”

Describe the route you took to become a movie producer.

After college I worked as a Production Assistant for a company that made mostly “industrials,” filming interviews of corporate presidents and company overviews.

I saw that if I wanted to take a creative path [toward becoming a director] it would take many years for me to get real authority. But in production I could pretty quickly get authority.

I also learned that I was better suited to be a producer than a director – I’m not so much interested in creating stories as I am in telling them well.

Fortunately, our Staff Production Manager actually wanted to become Staff Cameraman. He glommed on to me, saying “I’ll teach you how to do what I do.” Soon I was doing his work.

But I wanted to do feature films. The Directors Guild of America offered a 2-year Assistant Directors’ Training Program. It’s a union apprentice program that was created back in the 1960s. Graduates become 2nd Assistant Directors.

You can take the test in either New York or Los Angeles. Thousands apply every year. I made it through 2 rounds of cuts and eventually was chosen as one of 7 DGA trainees in New York in 1984.

By contract, all DGA films in New York and LA are required to use a DGA trainee. These are assigned randomly among the trainees. One of my assignments was the opening episode of season 2 for the TV show “Miami Vice.” The Executive Producer was Michael Mann. His producers were planning a feature film called “Manhunter” that he would direct later that year. They asked me to come help them on that film.

I was the first trainee in my class to get an assignment outside Manhattan – the union requirement only governs DGA films made in the New York City and Los Angeles areas. Now it’s fairly common, but the rule remains the same: trainees are randomly assigned to films within Manhattan, but filmmakers can choose (if they want) any trainee they want to take on location.

As I approached graduation I realized I didn’t want to be a 2nd Assistant Director, I wanted to be a Production Manager, because I was more interested in the decisions that are made early-on in the timeline of the film: where to shoot, budget, etc.

I started essentially as an “Assistant Unit Production Manager,” which wasn’t a recognized title then but is now. [This is not the same as an Assistant to the Unit Production Manager. I was making the same decisions as a UPM, but without the title.]

On my 2nd project I met Ira Halberstadt, a Production Manager. I was adept at computers, and he wasn’t. We made a deal. I’d teach him how to use his computer, and he’d teach me how to budget a film. He took me along as Assistant UPM on a bunch of TV movies.

One of the biggest was the “Lonesome Dove” miniseries. I worked 88 days with the 1st unit, and 61 days with the 2nd unit. I learned I could handle more complicated, multi-level stuff. For example, I was doing a lot of animal stuff on “Lonesome Dove,” which included a large herd of cattle, several horses, and more.

With this experience, especially the animal experience, Buena Vista called me about doing lower-budget feature movies within Disney. I became a Production Executive for them. “White Fang” was one of the first. I did it for 1 year, and hated it.

Chris Menges, the noted Director of Photography, was going to direct White Fang. It was going to be his 2nd directing job. We identified a location in Alaska. But he quit over creative differences, which was really disheartening for me. Randall Kleiser, who is a great guy, came in to direct, but by then I had decided I didn’t want to be a studio executive so I quit. It’s the only time I ever quit a movie.

Mike Lobell, partner with Andrew Bergman, was White Fang’s Producer. He offered me a job as their Creative Executive. But I didn’t like the reputation that “suits” had on film sets, so I said no. I owe him a major debt because he said: “Look, this is a great opportunity. Think about it while you’re visiting your family in New York, and talk to me when you get back.”

While I was in New York I talked to people in the industry and everyone agreed it was a great opportunity. Working with literary agents, writers, developing ideas. All things I’d never done.

I worked with Mike and Andy on several movies, including “Honeymoon in Vegas,” “Little Big League,” and “Undercover Blues,” for which I also received Associate Producer credit. After that I got lots of job offers.

I helped start Nickelodeon’s film unit at Fox. But then the Paramount/Viacom merger was announced and they let go all of the original executives who started Fox.

I was bummed out. Didn’t know what to do next.

I realized I got into the business to make movies, not just develop them. So I went back to being a Line Producer. Often I was working on low-budget films that I didn’t like so much. But some were really interesting, like “Freeway,” which was where I first had the privilege of working with Reese Witherspoon.

Then producer/manager Craig Baumgarten proposed that I partner with him in his production management company. He managed directors, writers, and a few actors. I did that for a time, but got frustrated with the constant hours of reading scripts and taking meetings rather than making movies.

In 2001 I went back to being a Producer for hire. I like to call myself a “Working Producer.” Most often I’m a Line Producer, but sometimes I’m a Creative Producer. It varies with every movie.

The Line Producer handles the technical, physical aspects:

• Design the budget and schedule.
• Supervise hiring (with the Director and the Creative Producers) of the “stars below the line personnel”: Director of Photography, Editor, Production Designer, Costume Designer, etc.
• Work with the Director day to day to ensure we film what we need. Time constrains us as much as money. We have to make choices about what to film.

When I’m a Creative Producer I’m involved earlier, in fact from the beginning – lots of issues regarding casting, script formation, etc. The Line Producer doesn’t get involved until a script is “threatening to become a film.”

It’s very uncommon to play both roles on the same movie. The Line Producer is usually exclusively working on one movie, while the Creative Producer usually works on several at a time.

Since 2001, I’ve worked on “Levity,” “Shattered Glass,” “House of D” (David Duchovny’s directorial debut), “The Matador”, “Casanova,” “Breach,” “The Hunting Party,” and I just finished Neil Burger’s 3rd film which is tentatively titled “The Return.”

I like what I do, because the decisions about what to shoot when are very creative and are also business decisions. Our business is slimming down, and so it values people who know how to make a movie. In a new relationship, a director may not realize what I can do. So usually at the start I focus on schedule and budget issues. But it’s always very satisfying when he or she comes to trust my advice on casting decisions, script decisions, etc.

If you were advising someone who wanted to make movies, how/where should they get started?

First, you have to decide whether you want to be a director, a producer, or something else. It’s critical to suss that out. With Final Cut Pro and other tools, anyone can make and edit a movie. So do you have the bug?

If you want to be a director, it’s a different path than mine. You must start writing and directing your own movies. [For models] look at Kevin Smith, Robert Rodriguez and Jared Hess. They all demonstrated a lot of talent on micro budgets and went on to direct bigger budget successes.

If you want to be a producer, you have to start working on movies. Find your peers who are directing – usually shorts. I did that with Stacy Cochran who directed “Cocktails at Six.” If you don’t know any, go through film schools, film communities, film clubs. Or get on professional films – start as an unpaid Intern. Or as a Production Assistant; it’s not well paid, but you can make a living at it.

Parents usually teach you to look for a desk job. They’re hard to get in production – more common on the creative side. Instead, you should hook on with a Producer and learn the business.

Another route is to work in a talent agency. All of your peers working there will represent your “graduating class,” as you work your way up together. You will all start by getting coffee, working in the mailroom, etc. Many will drop out of the business over the years, but the ones who stay will be the ones you can contact when you need to.

I’m also a big fan of letter writing. And very few people write producers or agents, or entertainment lawyers. If you do you can probably get lots of meetings. I’m a big believer in informational interviews.

You can also make contacts by going to seminars. You have to be smart about when and whom to ask questions. Research the work of the producers, directors and other people who will be there beforehand. Being human, they will like to talk about their past projects. Identify the less well known ones that they are really proud of, and be able to ask questions about them. You can always get me interested if you ask about “Freeway” or “Manhunter.”

Are there specific steps that somebody should be prepared to take?

Although the job titles in the film industry – like 2nd Assistant Director, Assistant Unit Production Manager, etc. – imply a consistent hierarchy and a clear career path, the field is much more freeform than that. Every film is its own independent entity. Once you are working on a movie, look around at the others working around you. Ask them how they got there. The hardest part is getting the first job. After the first movie, you will have 30-300 people to approach for the next project.

Here are some rules I’ve used:

• Every time you re-meet someone, solidify the relationship.
• In every networking situation, be sure to meet one person and re-meet another.

Are there any obstacles to look out for?

Don’t get typed. People will tend to type you. Try various things.

The 3 things you need to produce a movie are money, talent, and intellectual property. When you are starting out, the money is most likely to come from your family and friends. Find the talent by partnering with young – or at least less experienced – directors and writers. Look for the intellectual property by reading scripts, books, articles. Find someone who is writing a screenplay.

To become more knowledgeable about scripts, get hold of 10 great scripts. For example, look for the scripts for “Traffic,” “Men in Black,” or any Quentin Tarantino film.

Entertainment lawyers can be very helpful, and almost no one contacts them for career advice. You will need to find one who can help you lock up a property you have identified anyway. As a would-be producer, contact them for informational interviews.

If you had taken a different path, what other career do you wish you had pursued?

In college I knew I would want constant change, because I get bored easily. I knew I would need a career that was based on a set of skills, but where each individual project was unique.

I thought law sounded interesting, but I learned that most lawyers quickly specialize and stay within that specialty. I also thought about journalism, because once you have the basic skills you can address any subject.

I decided to choose between 3 careers:

• Graduate degree in philosophy, because one of my favorite professors was a philosophy professor visiting from Exeter College.
• Artificial Intelligence, through the joint disciplines of philosophy, computers and psychology. I remember a professor at UC Berkeley was looking at the question of whether or not computers could be sentient beings. That would have been a really cool career. But AI didn’t pan out as quickly as expected back in the early 80s.
• Film.

Another career that has always interested me is the pathology side of medicine – that’s an amazing problem solving field. All of these fit my basic rule: learn a set of career skills, then find a job where each project, or patient, is unique.