It's really about realizing we can own a piece of each other's successes, and in so doing, learn to become successful ourselves. Lois Shelton, Foxglove Films         WIF Featured Member: Jane Charles, award-winning producer Meet JANE CHARLES, award-winning producer of over a hundred projects: feature films, like Stakeout 2, Bird on a Wire, commercials, series, Airwolf, 21 Jump Street, music videos, and documentaries. Jane talks about studio productions VS Indy films, recounts great set stories, talks about women in production, how to succeed, and… Johnny Depp. “Work on projects you love with people you love and don't ever give up.” – Jane Charles With formal training in Broadcasting and Public Communications, as well as gaining membership in the Director's Guild of Canada, Jane has garnered over twenty years experience with every aspect of filmmaking from Assistant Director to Producer, working on series such as 21 Jump Street, Wise Guy, and Booker, as well as feature films: Bird on a Wire (Mel Gibson, Goldie Hawn), Pure Luck (Danny Glover, Martin Short), and Run (Patrick Dempsey, Kelly Preston). In the early 90's, Jane began producing commercials and shows for television which included: Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Home Away from Home, and music videos featuring Sting, Our Lady Peace and Harry Connick Jr. Her feature films, Cyberteens in Love and Once in a Blue Moon, premiered at major film festivals and were distributed world-wide. Currently, Jane is working on an LA based feature film, Floating Bridge, a story set in 1968 Seattle about four teens who set out one summer night to find Jimi Hendrix Floating Bridge hopes to shoot in Seattle sometime spring 2009. Other projects on Jane's development slate include Sold, to be shot in India and Nepal, Trance of the Kalahari, which takes place in South Africa, and Gemini Summer, a young adult novel adapted for the screen about a young boy who's believes that the dog that he has adopted embodies the soul of his dead brother. Women in Film asks Jane about her life in production. WIF/S - How did you become involved in filmmaking? Jane - I was on my way to becoming a journalist in Southern California in 1983 when I met and married a Canadian and was given the opportunity to move to Vancouver, BC. The relationship didn't last but I'm forever grateful to him for two things: 1) my daughter, Jessica and 2) that I arrived in Vancouver prior to Expo 86, a city that was at the humble beginnings of becoming one of the worlds largest film centers! Once in Vancouver, I set out to begin my career in journalism and landed a job as a writer/producer/reporter for a local magazine show called Metromagazine where I concentrated on behind-the-scenes video shorts about the films and TV series being produced in Vancouver. The industry, being fairly new, and me being excited, fearless and driven, helped me gain liberal access to producers, directors, and actors, including the cast and crew of Stakeout 2, Wise Guy, Airwolf 2, 21 Jump Street, Bird on a Wire and many others. I was instantly hooked and applied to the Directors Guild of Canada, worked my 120 days in production on many different shows and gained membership. I was so happy to just be there that I smiled from ear-to-ear as I stood in the pouring rain and showed people where to park, kept pedestrians from walking on to set and quieted barking dogs… the glamorous film industry! Eventually, I was taken under the wing of some very talented location managers, A.D's, and production managers, for whom I will be forever grateful. WIF/S - You've worked in a variety of film markets, including Canada. What is the climate for women filmmakers there and does that differ from your experiences in the States? Jane - Because the film industry was new to Vancouver and spear-headed by an amazing female film commissioner, Diane Neufeld, there was no “old boys” network. The industry started and continued in a very open way for anybody who was driven to work in film and learn the skills needed to succeed. I had some great role models like Casey Grant, a production manager/producer, who moved up through the AD ranks and worked on many of the large films and series in Vancouver. Now I see that most of the female location managers and AD's that I worked with in the 80's and 90's are now production managing and producing. Not as many are directing and I see this as an issue in the film industry as a whole. I don't know if more males are offered the opportunity to direct as a next step or if they go after it more aggressively than their female counterparts. We see this regularly in television series where a male AD is given the opportunity to direct an episode as part of his deal, but not so much for women. I see women gravitate toward directing independent films and documentaries where they have more freedom and creative control. WIF/S - Having worked in a variety of production positions, do you think this experience has helped you become an effective producer? Jane - Tremendously. I was told early in my career not to lose my curiosity. I wanted to know how everything worked and constantly spoke with all of the department heads about what they did and how it fit in with what we were shooting. I would ask, “What is that light fixture called?” “How long did it take to build that set?” I was happy to be there but I never just showed up, I absorbed every bit of information around me. WIF/S - As a producer, what do you think the key is to pulling together a great team? Jane - For me, this has always been a very fluid process. It's most important to me to find people who are not only skilled at what they do but who resonate with the material we're producing, have a positive attitude, and are excited and driven to work on the project. Then it's about personality. Will they work well with the director? Will the DP and director communicate well? Will the art director and location manager compliment and support each other? Experience is an asset but even more importantly I need to have an instant sense that this person will make things happen when we need them to, that they will do everything humanly possible to make their department shine. I have to believe in them as a person as well as a team member. WIF/S - What advice can you give women who are considering producing their first film? Jane - LOVE the script. You'll be spending between 1-4 years on this project and it will forever be one of your children. Believe in the story and the director. If you don't, don't do it. Surround yourself with experienced people. Your DP, Production Designer and PM will make or break the look of your film and budget. Balance experience with belief in the person. Then, DO NOT GIVE UP. WIF/S - You have worked on major studio productions as well as independent projects. What are the major differences in producing a studio project verses an independent project? Jane - When I worked on major studio projects it was with the DGC as an AD and not as producer. Both worlds have their challenges. Studios of course have the money to hire name talent, do big stunts, build great sets, and employ large crews. One would think that more money would make things easier but with more money comes more pressure and a much larger machine to manage. Production is production but there are more political layers and communication protocol with studio pictures. Independent films are more compact and simple, yet challenging in a different way because money is always tight and there is less time to finish everything. WIF/S - 21 Jump Street and Johnny Depp. It must be interesting to have been part of the beginning of such an amazing acting career Jane - At the time they were all just kids starting out. They were all good but it didn't take long for people to recognize that Johnny Depp was going to be a star.Then things got very interesting for the producers of that show. Johnny left before the show's run was over and was replaced with Richard Grieco for 18 episodes. Richard went on to star in his own short-lived spin-off called Booker. I also worked as a PA on a little-known Patrick Hasburgh pilot for a TV series that didn't get picked up called, The Kids Are Alright. One of those kids was Brad Pitt. WIF/S - Do you pick your projects or do the projects pick you? Jane - Both. In the past, I have mostly been approached by writers, directors or producers to work on projects with them but I've now optioned some books to develop and adapt for the big screen. WIF/S - What are you working on now? Jane - Sold, Gemini Summer, a TV series, Trance of the Kalahari, Five Days of the Ghost, and a slate of family films. WIF/S - Do you have a favorite project? Jane - I'm developing a television series, based in Seattle, that I'm very excited about. Also, Sold is close to my heart because it deals with an issue that has to be brought to light: human slavery, and in particular, young girls who have been sold into the sex trade from Nepal into India. The script by Joe Kwong is fantastic and has been adapted from a very beautiful book by Patricia McCormack. WIF/S - Do you have a favorite industry experience/memory? Here's a few… Jane - I was working as an AD on a feature film called Run that originally starred Tracy Pollen and Patrick Dempsey (Tracy bowed out and was replaced with Kelly Preston). It was a three month night shoot and there was a lot of pressure from Hollywood Pictures. They weren't happy and we kept having to re-shoot scenes. They changed Tracy's hair, the color of the Jeep, etc. Patrick Dempsey, (then 24) was married to Rocky Parker (then 54) at the time. They had two Yorkshire terriers that would attack me every time I left their trailer. Rocky said that it was because they didn't want me to leave. Some days into the shoot, Nike delivered a stack of running shoes as gifts to the actors. I was bringing some of them to Tracy and was in the elevator, heading up to her apartment when Michael J. Fox walked on. I had worked with and met many actors at that point but this unexpected close encounter stayed with me because I felt like I was riding the elevator with my brother, he was friendly and so very familiar. I was struck by how this must always be for him. I remember a time shooting a scene for the second unit of a big budget feature film where a senior stuntman would dive off of a 30 story building, held by a crane and harness. The preparation for something like this takes most of the day with the SPFX crew lugging the equipment to the top of the building and setting it up. Sandbags were dropped for testing, many measurements were taken. Several cameras were set up and I was on the ground making sure no pedestrians walked underneath the drop as the stuntman came down, and, to be there with the team as they released him from the harness. The time for the drop came and our guy dove, very dramatically, and stopped about 20 feet above the ground. It was perfect and we had it in that one take. Next, the crew set a camera into the harness, re-measured the equipment and dropped the camera to get a POV of the jump. To our horror, the camera hit the ground and smashed to bits about 10 feet from where I stood. Needless to say, everybody was a little shaken for the rest of the day and our stuntman was not happy, knowing that it could have been him hitting the pavement instead of the camera. I love traveling with crews and filming in remote locations; it bonds the team and adds to the intimacy of the film that you can't get when you’re shooting in the city with everybody going home or back to their hotels. We shot some scenes in Princess Louisa Inlet, up the coast of BC. There are no roads leading to this location and the only access is by float plane or boat. Scouting the location during the summer in float planes was a magical experience. We flew the cast in by float plane and chartered a boat to bring the crew and equipment in. Everybody stayed in cabins, ate oysters fresh off the rocks, and wondered at the eagles, otters and other wildlife in the area. Unfortunately, the weather turned and we were stranded for 3 days in rain, wind and high seas before we could shoot and then get the cast and crew back to Vancouver. WIF/S – The bliss of location shooting! What is your ultimate goal in your film career? Jane - To develop a film fund that I can access for many of the projects that I love. To be able to produce films that bring joy and healing to the world. WIF/S – Is there life for you outside of filmmaking? Jane - Yes! I can finally shut off my phone when I need to and spend time with my family, hiking with our two dogs, snowboarding, doing yoga, and eating some great meals that my husband Marc, cooks. We're traveling less and spending less but savoring the time together. WIF/S – Do you have any words of wisdom to offer the WIF community? Jane - Work on projects you love with people you love and don't ever give up.