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Name: Patrick Peach
Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona
Occupation: Line Producer
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What attracted you to the Entertainment Industry, and what was your first job or big break in the business?
What attracted me to the entertainment industry was:
It's not a "real" job. It provides the best way to get autographs. It is an extremely good way to avoid the law. Sleaze, egomania, greed and insecurity are rewarded. You don't have to have any real training, talent or expertise to become the highest paid person in your company. The Free Lunch, and last, but not least...What a great way to meet women!
In high school and college I did lots of theater and musical comedy. I came to Hollywood to write and act. I tried standup very briefly, but realized that constant humiliation and rejection as an actor/comedian would eventually cause me to become a lawyer to get revenge, but I didn't want to go back and get all that schooling. So, I chose the obviously less stressful path, Producing.
What is the biggest challenge you faced trying to break into the industry, and how did you overcome it?
Biggest challenge: Getting everyone to respect me for who I was, not my incredible good looks and amazing resemblance to Mel Gibson. I over came it by bribery and plastic surgery.
Biggest Challenge: raising equity financing for films. Overcame it by: stopped believing equity investors exist.
What advice can you give those trying to break into the "industry?"
Pay no attention to all of the "paying your dues" crap. Payoff anyone you can, kiss a lot of ass, sleep with whomever you have to and make sure your friends, girlfriends or spouse are people that can advance your career.
Seriously, work in any way you can, as much as you can. Be an Intern. Take any job, on any crew, for any pay, including no pay, until you know what you want to do and have established yourself. Have a great attitude because everyone you meet has the potential to get you your next job. The more projects you work on, the more contacts you have. The bigger your circle of contacts, the more jobs will come your way. Once you know what you want to do specifically, find a way to do it, at any cost.
Please describe your job for those who might not know what a Line Producer is.
There are so many different definitions of producer that the simplest one is the guy who takes the shit the director(or everyone else) deflects.
Someone has to worry about: the cast, the crew, where we should shoot, when we should shoot, who we should shoot or should we use gas or another form of execution, the footage, how much it cost, how it looks, is it good, are we on schedule, did the transpo coordinator really sexually harass the costumer or was he really just trying to help her up the honeywagon stairs, what department needs help and support, what extremely costly and painful mistakes can we avoid, decide to push or fire who, or give "how much more to what?", if it is better to say it was a camera error or a lab error to the insurance company, how to please the unhappy actor, how do we convince the union to let us slide on this one, where is lunch on the location scout, where should we have the wrap party and how the hell we are going to get through the next four weeks...24/7.
Can you share any tricks of the trade that help you work faster/cheaper/better?
Faster/cheaper/better: Tell the director he has one week less than you budgeted, only hire non-English speaking caterers, randomly walk on the set and yell "Cut!" Exactly 4 days into shooting, declare you are behind schedule and over-budget and you have to cut 20 pages (you actually may be).
The best way to work faster is to be prepared with detailed and organized pre-production. If the there is good communication between the director and all of the departments during pre-production, then, the fewer unknowns will pop up on set to hinder the pace at which the production moves. That requires you to have all of your locations, all of your cast and the Keys all knowing what the Director and the DP have in mind for each scene, in particular action and effects scenes as well as camera movement.
Cheaper and Better: have the most enthusiastic, experienced crew you can afford. Hire the right people. People that really want to be there are more likely to care on a more passionate level and will relate more to your cause as a filmmaker. This type of crew will be more sympathetic to budget constraints and will have the desire to help to "do the impossible" to get the director the best production value they can.
In any case, the crew must be treated with respect. Good communication; letting them know long hours are ahead, lunch will be delayed, changes in the shooting schedule, good directions to the set, etc., will make for a happier crew. Good food and craft service, concern for their well being with regard to weather and travel and
working conditions, and a very clear deal memo specifying all pay specifications and responsibilities for both the employer and the employee, will create harmony and a secure comfortable working environment, which will absolutely show up on the screen.
Please illustrate the way the performance of your position can help or hurt a movie. Name a movie that you've seen (or worked on) that we could view and understand the difference between a good job and a bad job.
If a producer is uninvolved in the production, there is a sense that there is no order and anarchy sets in. The director runs amuck, the depts. Don't get along and soon, suddenly like some third world country, the crew breaks into a multi factioned civil war where grip/electric and camera square off against Art, Makeup, Wardrobe, who square off against the Special Effects team, Transportaion and Stunts, all demanding their superiority over each other. The Cast becomes conscientious objectors and Production fights among themselves like a group shipwrecked
battling over the last can of tuna. The result is a fragmented, mismatched weird feeling film with really bad karma, that seems very uneven and hard to watch...With an attentive and involved producer, the exact opposite happens people care, the differences are solved as best they can be and the movie gets to be a movie.
Are you a writer, and if so, how many screenplays have you written?
Nominated or un nominated?
I have written 7 screenplays.
What's the best lesson you've learned in regards to working in Hollywood?
Trust no one, take no prisoners, take an extra pair of underwear, don't eat the props, all coffee is not the same, objects in mirror appear smaller than they really are, never pay retail, always give the temperamental actor what they want, 30% of all gas receipts will be unrelated to production, whatever the budget or schedule it will take at least that long and cost that much, Money talks, but talk is cheap, so...
Honesty, Loyalty, and Integrity speak for themselves. Those qualities create success.
What advice would you give to writers on how to craft a script that addresses practical production issues?
"My Dinner with Andre"... in prison.
I would never want to hinder a writer's creativity by thinking about production issues when writing their screenplay. That will come during rewrites when you get more notes than you ever thought possible from more people than you ever thought would be involved. You will also know what the budget of the film is and where it is going to be shot. Then, it's all about how creatively flexible the writer is when the studio/distributor/producer says, "The budget is two million dollars too high and we need to put 1 million more into cast."
What advice would you give a director on how to make production easier?
Do exactly everything I say.
Be decisive, be committed, but listen and be flexible. Collaborate with authority. Try not to take yourself too seriously. Stay true to your story without being unreasonable and unrealistic.
List your top 5 favorite films
- Harold and Maude
- Local Hero
- Annie Hall
- The Godfather(s)
- Braveheart
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