Darren and I talk about how producing 'Break' for himself to star in has elevated his career and lead him to 'Americano'.
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​Q: How did producing a film yourself change your career?
 
Darren: Before 'Break' started, I let go of my manager and my agent because I knew I was sort of betting on myself. Most of the roles that I've gotten in Hollywood have been off personal relationships getting me auditions, not so much my management team.  I knew I needed a stronger management team going forward to be in the rooms I wanted to be in.  After 'Break' I sent out some screeners and I met with a lot of big agencies and they loved that I was producing.  On their end they're like "Oh, you have a project? Why don't we just package it in-house and make all the actors from this agency?" When they see that you're being proactive, it's a lot more attractive to them, because they can sell as not only as an actor, but as a producer. 

Darren and I also talked about finding distribution for projects. 'Break' was acquired by Gravitas Ventures for worldwide rights and distribution.

Q: Take me through the steps of selling 'Break'. And did you have to incur any of the marketing costs or was that all taken care of by Gravitas?
 
Darren: So, you know, every movie is a little different. Sometimes you get accepted to film festivals and a lot of films that get accepted to film festivals. I know a few people that got accepted to Sundance and they still can't get their film sold. So, you know, there's a lot of different ways, but basically we hired a sales agent who has really good relationships., He took it out to the industry and the different distribution companies. There was four or five companies that were interested. We took meetings and we wanted to hear what each company's plan was to do internationally, domestically, how they wanted to market it. And some didn't want to market it or just said, we'll distribute it, but our marketing team will make a few pushes. And we wanted help on their end. We wanted a company that was going to be excited about it. And Gravitas was excited. So Gravitas has a marketing team, I also hired a marketing firm individually and we're sort of attacking it from both angles. I think the more marketing, the better.

Before Darren plays Jack in 'Americano', he produced in and starred in a film called 'Break' set in his hometown of Detroit. (Available on all platforms June 12th). I talked with Darren about actor producers and how he created his own opportunities. 

​Q: How did you get involved with ‘Break’ and what are your producing aspirations?
 
Darren: I'm an actor by trade. And as I've learned, I've been in Hollywood for seven years now and, you know, you audition a lot and I was getting roles, you know, I was getting, I was getting roles in big movies, but small roles where it would be a scene or two.
 
So over the pandemic, long story short, I was like, there's nothing going on in the industry right now. Why don't I create something that I want to play that I can tailor to myself? That's sort of how Break started.
 
I collaborated with some writers. They wrote it. We did some redrafts. I sort of told them what I was looking for in terms of theme, in terms of story, in terms of what I wanted to show as an actor, in terms of struggle, success, all the different things we came upon break. From there, you know, I just think being a producer opens a lot more doors than just being an actor, you know? So I was lucky enough to get the movie made. I went out and, um, got it funded and, you know, got some really great names attached and it adds credibility because, you know, when you look for representation of a manager or agent, they want to see that you're doing more than just acting, you know, cause they really only do 10%. It's like, what are you doing? You know, to further your career. And for me, you know, I sort of have a knack for bringing people together and bringing projects to life, you know, producing and putting myself in these projects has opened a lot more doors.

In 2022, I made my first short called 'Little Eden'. It was the proof of concept for a feature film that I hope would be my first. 

The reality is that the film I wanted to make was way beyond a budget that I could afford, an investment too risky for anyone to make and required a shoot that I wasn't experienced enough to pull off as a first time director. 

Nonetheless, writing, producing and directing this was a learning experience that propelled me toward the whirlwind that was 'Americano'.

Here is a little taste. 

A year after the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Hollywood is struggling to recapture the Barbenheimer craze of 2023. 

With a number of high-profile projects being pushed to next year, the Memorial Day Weekend box office struggled in a way unseen in almost 30 years.

What movies are you excited about this summer?

​So how does a movie go from page to screen?
 
If you’re in the industry already and live in LA, chances are meetings were set and pitch decks were made.
 
But what if you’re just starting out and nobody will meet with you?
 
Then you end up cold emailing countless people for every component of your film. This often begins by emailing people who can contribute whatever they can to make whatever version of your script you can afford.
 
And to show that you’re not just taking their money, you have to show some creative. At a minimum, you should show a synopsis, comparable films, your projects additive value and a log line.
 
This is the front page of a handout I brought to the American Film Market last November.

Our next filmmaker found her way behind the camera due largely to her success in front of it.

Greta Gerwig, who in the summer of 2023 achieved the highest-grossing opening for a female director with ‘Barbie’, started with every intention of being a playwright, but chose to start her acting journey when she was rejected from multiple playwriting MFA programs while still a student at Barnard. During this time she was cast in several supporting roles in films by Joe Swanberg and the Duplass Brothers. The former, Jay Swanberg, began a partnership with Gerwig that saw her act and co-write ‘Hannah Takes the Stairs' and co-write and co-direct her first film in 2008 ‘Nights and Weekends’.

In 2010, she was cast in Noah Baumbach’s ‘Greenberg’ opposite Ben Stiller, the first collaboration between the two. While on the festival circuit for the ‘Greenberg’, the two co-wrote Baumbach’s next film ‘Frances Ha’. Her Golden Globe nomination for ‘Frances Ha’ propelled her into a prolific acting career for the next five years.

Despite her equity with audiences on-screen and within the industry, her efforts to raise money for her solo directorial debut ‘Lady Bird’ proved challenging. She eventually secured financing through IAC Films, who produced in collaboration with Scott Rudin Productions. The film went on to win a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and was nominated for Best Picture, Original Screenplay, and Gerwig became the fifth woman ever to be nominated for Best Director at the 90th Academy Awards.

In 2018, her adaptation of ‘Little Women’ gained awards chatter as well, garnering six nominations including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. While she did not receive a nomination for best director, the repeat critical acclaim was enough to cement her place as one of the town’s best young directors.

In 2022, Gerwig was hired to direct her first major studio film with ‘Barbie’, which she co-wrote with her long-time collaborator and partner Noah Baumbach. The aforementioned historic opening further solidified her bankability not just as an actress but as a director.
 
Gerwig’s ability to find her audience through collaboration is a helpful lesson to any young filmmaker. Her ability to be versatile as both an actor, writer, and director not only kept her on sets throughout the different seasons of her career, but it kept her relevant with her desired audience and the industry at large.

By building a passionate audience within the independent film community and working within the constraints of lower budget films, her taste proved to be bankable which led her to have the opportunity on larger films that have also proven to be box office successes.

Do you think being an actor helped her better transition into directing?

During his spring break as a student at Occidental College in 2018, Cooper Raiff stayed on campus and decided to shoot a 50-minute short called ‘Madeline & Cooper’.

After uploading it to YouTube, he used social media to try to connect with Jay Duplass, one of his favorite filmmakers. Raiff used the old internet tactic of challenging someone to click on a link by saying “Bet you won’t click on this YouTube link”. As luck would have it Duplass not only clicked on the link but watched it to completion.

Not only did Duplass watch it, but he saw enough promise in Raiff to set up a meet-up. That meet-up turned into a partnership and that partnership turned into the fully realized version of ‘Madeline & Cooper’ called ‘Shithouse’.

​With Duplass guidance ‘Shithouse’ proved to be the big winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the 2020 South By Southwest. Not only did this catch the attention of those that attended the virtual festival, but it caught the attention of actress Dakota Johnson, who produced and starred in Raiff’s sophomore effort ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’. The follow-up film was bought by Apple through Johnson’s Tea Time Pictures for a sizable price tag.

Would Raiff's strategy work today?