Summer 2024 NEWSLETTER: Member Spotlight ALLISON ROSE CARTER
Letter From the President
BUILT TO LAST, HERE TO STAY
"I come as one but stand as 10,000." ~ Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou's powerful quote remind us of the strength found in our collective membership. Each of us, standing together, amplifies our voice impact, embodying the essence of unity and resilience.
While our industry has made meaningful gains since the 2023 summer of solidarity, the return to work has not unfolded as we had hoped. The termination of DEI initiatives and the shocking closure of companies like Participant Media have altered the landscape we once knew. It is indeed a different world than before the pandemic, and as the Hollywood saying goes, "Nobody Knows Anything." Yet, despite the uncertainty, we forge ahead with the spirit of creativity and determination that defines us.
Our collective vision to be an intimate space of support and celebration for women producers continues to drive WIP's evolution and growth. Over the last several months, we've successfully expanded our reach, beginning with monthly soirées now hosted in Los Angeles, informal member meetups at festivals including Sundance and Cannes, and increasing our network with key industry allies. In addition to our programs and wellness initiatives from our WIP@Work resources, we've recently curated an Impact Portfolio of member project and sharing it with talent agencies and brands clients. We'll also be launching WIP on Groups -- a dedicated new platform featured on the Portrait app -- to debut during the Tribeca Film Festival. These efforts have strengthened our community and provided invaluable opportunities for continued connection and collaboration.
In these challenging times, our solidarity is more crucial than ever, and impact has become a real part of the creative conversation both in front and behind the camera. Unity is our greatest asset. We must continue to support one another, fostering an environment where our collective strength can thrive. Our Spotlight Member, Allison Rose Carter, featured in this issue, exemplifies that not only can community create opportunities but, for some, a sense of family. Allison’s journey underscores the power of our network and the profound impact of its mutual support.
As Producers, we take on great responsibilities that AI can never replace. Women Independent Producers continues to champion all our efforts and achievements to be seen and heard. We cheer our sister organizations, including Producers Guild of America (PGA), Documentary Producers Alliance (DPA), National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), Producers Union, Producers United, WIF:Reframe, NYWIFT, BGDM as well as advocates like Dear Producer, and many more who beat the drum for our fair, equitable, and sustainable creative rights.
Looking ahead, let's focus on what we can build together. Our upcoming initiatives, collaborations, and projects are testaments to our unwavering commitment to each other and to the industry we cherish. Let's harness the power of our collective strength to push forward, creating opportunities, and standing strong.
Onwards & Upwards!!
In Light...
Adetoro Makinde
President | Co-Founder
Women Independent Producers
ALLISON ROSE CARTER: Everything is Everything
by Erin Mae Miller
"It takes 9 meetings to be considered for meaningful business with someone.” Allison Rose Carter
Perhaps you have heard of a little movie called EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE. That film was produced by our very own Allison Rose Carter. What I love about our WIP community is how incredibly humble and community minded our producers are and Allison is no exception. We are so delighted to feature her as our Producer Spotlight.\
“I like taking on the challenges. I get stir crazy if I’m not challenged… I don’t come from a film family; my dad was in IT and mom was an accountant. It was happenstance. In high school I had to recreate a historic event and I took it way too seriously. I had the community college help me put in score and titles (I played flute and piccolo and was very into music). Movies to me are about collaboration, leadership, art, science, music."
Allison expresses gratitude for her parent’s support as she enrolled in film school at Florida State, a film school that many people are unaware of but is good, affordable, and one of the few schools to pay for your short film. “Everyone is on the same playing field. I didn’t have to go and raise money. In that bubble I realized producing is what I was most interested in. So it meant I produced a lot of people’s movies.”
When Allison graduated, she moved to LA for 4 years “but it wasn’t inspiring me and wanted to get back into movies. At the time, NYC was the indie film space.” Allison took her passion, moved to Cleveland, and shot a film while living in a friend’s family basement. That film, The Taqwacores premiered in Sundance. Allison has a knack for identifying good story. She says, “There’s the creative storytelling side and the industry side. Creatively, I’m drawn to very human stories but kind of weird. Grounded in humanity, not reality.”
Allison says she likes working with both new directors and established directors. And that she looks for kind people.
“In 2015, I was able to make my full-time job independent film. The budgets started getting bigger. You can only make so much money doing films under $2 million. I didn’t have a trust fund or nest egg. I decided to go the line producer route because I needed a fee. I did it out of necessity instead of jumping into creative producing. Which is good, because the bigger the budget the higher the fees.”
This is a tension I know many of us have felt. Allison and her producing partner Jon Read applied and were accepted into the Sundance creative producing lab in 2017. They strategized how to build a slate and build relationships. Allison’s rule of thumb is it takes 9 meetings to be considered for meaningful business with someone.
Of course, I was so interested in the phenomenon of Everything Everywhere All At Once. My question about the film was more of an excited fan: “Tell me everything!”
“Recreating that film would be impossible. At that time, I had made 2 films with A24. Jonathan Wong has been the Daniels' (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, known collectively as the Daniels} producer since college, and they were looking for someone to come on and everyone said it was impossible. I read it and said, this can be figured out. What saved the movie was the DP. Same with the production designer. He loves practical effects and building things. The Daniels knew visual effects and special effects."
All systems were go for the film, and Allison flew out in July of 2019 only to have an actor drop out a week later and throw the film back into development. This is where they took a step of faith in their film.
“But instead of returning to NY, we just started an elongated prep and worked through every element of the film. Zack Stolz was the VFX supervisor, and we asked could we build our own VFX house and make sure everyone is paid well and has a good experience. I spent a lot of time researching VFX and became as much of an expert in VFX as I possibly could. The other thing is stunts. How do you make an action movie with tons of stunts for a low budget? …I’m grateful for it. I’m in awe that it did what it did.”
Remarkably, Allison made this action-packed remarkable film for a $14.3M Budget in Los Angeles to critical acclaim. Absolutely amazing!
Perhaps what I loved most about our conversation is a question she posed to our community: how do we make the experience of making films more ethical and sustainable for the filmmakers, the crew, the families of the crew, and the environment? And considering these things is a deep privilege.
“It feels like this industry is off balance at times. There’s the sustainability idea: our industry is hard on the environment and there’s that side. Community outreach. We invade communities we shoot in, so when we enter a space how can we give back to the community? And also, the story itself. How can we make sure to impact that space in a meaningful way? Third is the onset way we make films - advocating for shorter hours - 10hr days, mentorship, diversity and inclusion, but I’ve been thinking a lot about accessibility for people with disabilities and mental health. We’re talking about safety, turnaround, shorter hours and general kindness. How do we make the onset experience safe and good for all people. I’m just now starting to put it down on paper. What I would love from WIP, anyone else who has been working on this, to share ideas about what has worked and hasn’t worked. One film we asked how can we make childcare part of this? On Halloween we did an 8-hour continuous day so people could take their kids to trick or treat. That level of collaboration is something that interests me and I’d love to discuss that with our WIP community."
Allison understands she is an optimist, unlike a lot of producers, and unbothered by the fact that “the industry evolves every three months. By the time someone reads this, it will have evolved. Because of that, you have control over how it evolves at times.”
When asked about the state of independent film and the current climate, while a natural optimist, Allison also is a realist, “I think the strikes hurt us a lot. And now the potential IATSE strike is making people wary."
There is a real sense of uncertainty, more than normal. I feel film itself is not something that will go away. We need cinema. I wish I was an expert who could tell you everything. A no today might be a yes tomorrow - there’s something amazing about that and daunting. You can’t think about it too much. You have to put your best foot forward. Let your enthusiasm affect others.”
And while everyone in the studio and streamers seem to move around every couple of years, Allison simply sees this as new opportunity. “Once we have 20 people who have moved, we set up meetings and head to LA.”
What advice might you give to your younger self?
Don’t spend as much time paying attention to what other people are doing. I spent too much brain space comparing my path to everyone else’s path and stressing about making the right decisions. Trust your instincts, trust your gut. I feel lucky I was able to make a lot of mistakes. Anytime you feel like something is really hard, take a step back and ask, ‘how we can do it smarter.’ When you don’t have a lot of money, you take on a lot of roles, I took on production accounting for my first 8 films and held onto that a little too long. I thought I could have just put a little more money in the budget to take things off my plate and ask for help instead of taking it all on.
Allison has straddled making films with A24 and the studios, to now having a deal with NEON.
At the beginning of last year, we signed on to consult with Neon, and we were non-exclusive. Then around the end of the year we realized we have similar tastes and got along really well. There’s our first look deal. There’s an overhead deal. And the consulting job turned into running production. We’re like half in house and half out of house. Days like today are really intense.
Keeping in line with our WIP commitment, I asked Allison what she may be able to offer WIP Producers:
"If anyone wants to talk about things like stunts or VFX, I’m happy to do that. Because I come from production, and you want advice to pull it off, maybe I have that experience and that’s my favorite part of my job. If you need recommendations, I’m happy to offer that too. I try to pay attention to who the up and comers are. I really love introducing people who are wildly talented. The minute I find someone who is incredible I tell everyone."
Then Allison mentioned a struggle that I think we all feel at times. “I feel bad that I rarely attend, but the monthly meetings are so important to me.” In 2017, she met Liz Rao and was a plus one. There she met Krista Parris who introduced her to Josephine Decker who has become a “dear friend… we are ride or die forever.” She joined them along with fellow WIP member Amenya Makuku to make the Sundance film Madeline’s Madeline. “I’m so grateful to make that meeting and how warm and welcoming the WIP community is.”
We are so grateful for all of you that make up our WIP Community. Together is better, and we learn so much from each other. Thank you, Allison for sharing your story and your experience. Watching your success is an encouragement to everyone!
MEET OUR NEW MEMBERS
With our increased national and international presence, WIP is excited to create space for more members to share, collaborate, celebrate and support.
Visit it our website and discover more about our dynamic new and current Women Independent Producers members.
EVENTS
Tribeca Film Festival Block Party
Tues, June 11 @6p-9p ET
Join members from Portrait, WIP, BGDM, and DPA, with generous support from our partners OTV, TFC, and ab8ve in celebrating our film teams at Tribeca Film Festival.
RSVP, then download the Portrait app to show at the door for check-in entry to the event. Need an account? Portrait will create one for you as part of the RSVP process.
SAVE THE DATE
NY Rooftop Summer Soiree
July 18, 2024
We're working on a little something for our members with creative industry partners. So, if you're in New York, or plan to come to town, this will be another one to remember. ...and we haven't forgotten about the west coast. Subscribe to WIP and stay tuned!!
We Think You Should Know About...
NYWIFT: New York Women in Film & Television advocates for equality in the moving image industry and supports women in every stage of their careers.
FILM FATALES: Community of women feature film and television directors
BROWN GIRL DOC MAFIA: Initiative advocating for women and non-binary people of color working in the documentary film industry around the world
PANO (formerly NYC WOMEN FILMMAKERS): a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization working towards inclusion & parity in the entertainment industry
DEAR PRODUCER: a platform where producers share their experiences, celebrate achievements, and provide mentorship for the next generation.
PGA: Producer Guild of America is a 501 trade association representing television producers, film producers and New Media producers in the United States.
WIF LA: Women In Film advocates for and advances the careers of women working in the screen industries—to achieve parity and transform culture.
NALIP: The National Association of Latino Independent Producers seeks to change media culture by advocating and promoting the professional needs of Latinx artists in media.
CAAM: The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to presenting stories that convey the richness and diversity of Asian American experiences to the broadest audience possible.
NYMI: The mission of New York Media Initiative is to come alongside media professionals, inspiring, equipping, and serving current and future leaders with a passion to use their profession to make a difference globally.
THE GOTHAM: The Gotham celebrates and nurtures independent film and media creators, providing career-building resources, access to industry influencers, and pathways to wider recognition.
SUNDANCE INSTITUTE: The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and composers from all over the world.
PRODUCERS UNION: The Producers Union aims to organize fiction, feature film producers in an effort to fight for equitable pay, protect producers’ creative rights, and to define, amplify and advance the role of the producer
BFTC: The Black TV & Film Collective facilitates career-advancing opportunities for creators of Black and African descent to achieve financial sustainability within the entertainment industry
DPA: The Documentary Producers Alliance sets standards for inclusive, sustainable and equitable business practices based on research, collective experience and input from strategic partners, amplifying the voice of documentary producers worldwide, while educating the industry about producers’ essential role from development through financing, production and distribution.
PRODUCERS UNITED: Producers United is a collective of Career Producers advocating for the sustainability of dedicated producing in film and television and to ensure its future.
RESOURCES
RESOURCES FOR CREATIVES: A list of grants, funds, and programs for women filmmakers
SUNDANCE Co//ab: Learn from a community of Sundance Advisors offering Masterclasses, webinars and more. (free memberships currently available)
FREELANCERS HUB: A community space designed to help New York City's freelancers
MOME: The City of New York Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment initiatives to address the underrepresentation of female and female-identifying creatives in film, television, and theatre.
ACTORS FUND: A partnership with other entertainment industry organizations to provide emergency financial assistance to those in immediate financial need.
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