Matt Brady, the Emmy-winning executive producer of Grassroots, not only makes a living at film production but also continually expands the scale on which he does it. What gave him the courage to launch his company, MRB Productions?
“Primarily because ABC was slow to pay,” says Matt, sitting with me across from the production office in the currently empty extras holding area, which, unlike the office, is air-conditioned. “For example, sometimes it would take six months to pay production assistants for a shoot, which was unacceptable.” So he streamlined the payment process. “I’d ask for a single invoice and then pay our employees.”
His problem solving has paid off. MRB has had nine Emmy nominations and two wins.
Matt’s efficiency is especially valuable on independent film shoots, which he says are “harder work than any other type of project. “ Having produced Dahmer, starring The Hurt Locker’s Jeremy Renner and the documentary I Trust You to Kill Me with Kiefer Sutherland, he explains this is mainly because “if you run out of money, there’s really no money left.”
For television segments and commercials, says Matt, a producer can call network officials or company executives to supplement funding if necessary. But on an independent film, there is no one to call.
An additional challenge with Grassroots has been working in the small film market of Seattle. Matt acknowledges that small markets afford more bargaining power when it comes to locations and more eager background actors. Seattleites are not as used to having films shot around them as people in Hollywood, so they’re “non-bitter,” to use the word Matt made up with a chuckle.
A disadvantage of Seattle’s small market is that it does not have a large number of vendors who provide services needed on set. Matt came face-to-face with this fact when issues emerged with a local honeywagon vendor the day before the shoot. He had to hustle to find another vendor in Los Angeles in the span of twelve hours; Hollywood Honeywagons rolled in to the rescue.
So what attracts Matt to such a difficult process? More specifically, what attracted him to Grassroots? “I was drawn in by Stephen’s vision,” he says. “And the script, of course – the script is great. We actually had a table read starring MRB staffers in my office when we were deciding whether we wanted to produce it.”
Matt’s been involved with the project since March and sat in on the casting sessions. “It was exciting seeing well-known actors auditioning for this indie project. For instance, we had four CW actors came in to read.”
Matt’s been involved with the project since March and sat in on the casting sessions. “It was exciting seeing well-known actors auditioning for this indie project. For instance, we had four CW actors came in to read.”
Straddling pre-production and post-production in his Los Angeles office with the shoot up in Seattle has been an additional challenge. “We have six MRB staff members working on this down in LA who don’t know the crew up here.” Next week, the shoot will be done, post-production will launch down in Los Angeles, and Matt will localize operations as much as he can for his burgeoning, multi-platform production company.
http://www.grassrootsthefilm.com/
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