In the second half of our interview with
Ali Brown, we find out what PRETTYBIRD looks for when hiring new directors.
Brown is joining ADFEST 2019 as Jury
President, Film Craft Lotus and New Director Lotus. She is Partner and
Executive Producer at PRETTYBIRD in Los Angeles – a cutting-edge company that
was named Creativity magazine's Top
Production Company of the Year in 2015.
You are overseeing ADFEST’s Fabulous Five mentoring program next year for emerging directors. Why are programs like this important?
Mentorship is critical to the evolution and
relevance of this industry. We cannot expect someone to be the most talented
filmmaker we’ve ever met and also understand the nuances of the business. How
to make sure they write incredible treatments, are charming and engaging on
conference calls, know how to diplomatically get their vision across while
incorporating that of the agency and client?
These are delicate dances to master and to
expect someone to be the most incredible filmmaker and perfectly run their
first set is unrealistic.
For us, we look for talent whose perspective
is unique to them – who has some signature in their work that makes it
identifiable to them and only them. How they see the world, tell a story, cast
their talent, move the camera. It can be so many things but ultimately you want
to be able to look at a body of work of a filmmaker and see them in it. This is
something we can’t teach or mentor. You just have to have it. But if you do, we
can teach you the rest ;)
You were working in the commercial and music video industry before moving over to feature films. What did you learn over this period?
I learned so much it’s hard to boil it
down. But I had the privilege of working with Forest Whitaker who was truly a
Renaissance man – actor, producer, director. I had a front row seat to so many
facets of filmmaking: finding stories, developing them, bringing them to life,
and making sure they were heard. I honed my skills as a writer and creative
mind, while also becoming much more savvy about the business, not just the
“show."
Having an eye into the studio system and
the independent film world, seeing everything involved in both worlds and the
true balance of art and commerce – it was an incredible learning experience.
Why did you return to commercial filmmaking?
Ultimately in features you can end up
developing projects that never come to life or working on some that do, but
that you fall out of love with. That can happen in commercials too of course,
but the lifespan is weeks versus years, so you quickly move into action and
fall back in love. I returned to commercials due to an event in my personal
life, but I see how my brain missed the challenge of the pace and ever changing
needs of commercials. I could bring the passion, intensity, and focus I gained
from my work in features and apply that into the wide variety of projects,
people and challenges that advertising presents at its lightning pace.
And with PRETTYBIRD specifically, I saw the
opportunity to not be limited to one genre or another, but to be a part of
building a company that looked at producing holistically - creative and
logistical, agnostic to the distribution outlet. I was fortunate to be given a
long runway to try to build a company that wants and can do everything.
You have fought to increase diversity within the film industry through projects like Women in Film and Manifest Works. How did you get involved?
That could be an article in and of
itself! This business is full of
barriers based on gender, color, socio-economic status, and access. It is an industry built largely with nepotism
at its roots – it was a “family biz”, in a sense. And it was exclusive – so there weren’t that
many jobs or ways in without a particular last name, a connection, or bank account. And it was lucrative, so people weren’t
really trying to share that wealth.
Thankfully that is changing now. There are
incredible organizations that are encouraging diversity in all aspects of this
business and they are starting with the notion of community. Creating
communities that are supportive and give meaningful mentorship is critical to
creating a pipeline of talent – whether above or below the line – that can not
only diversify the voices being heard but make real lasting change. These organizations
are about not only creating opportunity, but making sure that when the
opportunity comes, someone has the skillset to make the most of it. I think
it’s important that those go hand in hand.
Manifest Works in particular is an
organization that is truly giving an opportunity to those who were never given
a first chance in life. I have been lucky to find a career in this business
thanks to someone taking a chance on me. It is my obligation to pay that
forward to someone else.
