Prettybird’s partner and executive producer Ali Brown on breaking into the production industry

Ali Brown is Partner and Executive Producer at Prettybird in Los Angeles. She’s joining AdFest 2019 as a Jury President, where she will be Jury President of the Film Craft and New Director categories.

She’s also leading the festival’s Fabulous Five mentoring program for emerging directors. We thought we’d take the opportunity to ask her about everything from how she got her first big break to what she looks for when she’s hiring new directors, as well as her passion for improving diversity in filmmaking.

It isn’t easy to break into the production industry. How did you get your first big break?

Honestly, I sent out over 300 resumes via fax machine (if anyone remembers those!) and got a whopping zero responses. Then someone needed a temp receptionist to cover the phones for one week at a production company and I got my shot. Fortunately for me, they happened to change the phone system the week I was there. By the time the real receptionist came back from her vacation, I was the only person who knew how to use the phones. So they had to keep me!

From there, I just took every opportunity I could to meet people, learn new skills, and get on sets. I did everything from paint the walls in the office when they were scuffed to writing director treatments. I tried to make myself indispensable in a business where everything is disposable. The break was getting in the door with zero connections in this business. But I made sure I didn’t waste the opportunity once I had it.

You worked in the commercial and music video industry before moving over to feature films. What did you learn over this time?

I learned so much it’s hard to boil it down. But I had the privilege of working with Forest Whitaker who was truly a Renaissance man – actor, producer, director. I had a front row seat to so many facets of filmmaking: finding stories, developing them, bringing them to life, and making sure they were heard. I honed my skills as a writer and creative mind, while also becoming much more savvy about the business, not just the “show.”

Having an eye into the studio system and the independent film world, seeing everything involved in both worlds and the true balance of art and commerce – it was an incredible learning experience.

What made you return to the world of commercial filmmaking?

Ultimately in features you can end up developing projects that never come to life or working on some that do, but that you fall out of love with. That can happen in commercials too of course, but the lifespan is weeks versus years, so you quickly move into action and fall back in love. I returned to commercials due to an event in my personal life, but I see how my brain missed the challenge of the pace and ever changing needs of commercials. I could bring the passion, intensity, and focus I gained from my work in features and apply that into the wide variety of projects, people and challenges that advertising presents at its lightning pace.

And with Prettybird specifically, I saw the opportunity to not be limited to one genre or another, but to be a part of building a company that looked at producing holistically – creative and logistical, agnostic to the distribution outlet. I was fortunate to be given a long runway to try to build a company that wants and can do everything.

Can you tell us about your vision for Prettybird?

We have always wanted to create a company that is a living, breathing thing. We never wanted to be just a work-for-hire commercial production company like the ones many of us grew up in. We wanted to create a creative studio that could adapt and grow alongside our talent. As they pushed themselves into new genres, we would too. And vice versa – if we wanted to try something that had never been done, we’d push our talent to dive in with us. The goal is to have a company that is inspired by the community of creatives it is made of and is equally inspiring to them.

What projects are you most proud of producing lately at Prettybird?

Honestly, it’s so hard to pick as different projects have different aspects that make me proud. But I do think lately as a company there have been some pieces that are especially powerful in terms of their statements.

What my partner Paul Hunter did with Pharrell for Spotify was a piece that was beautifully simple but so important to be heard.

The piece Lacey Duke did for Netflix celebrating A Great Day in Hollywood was so powerful. To see her as a young director just commanding the set of all those incredible actors was really inspiring. I think about how she owned that opportunity – she made the most of it.

I do have this pride in the next generation of filmmakers coming up: directors like Jodeb who is an absolute genius. He is finally getting the opportunities to show his skills with his Jack White video and Under Armor work.

While I am so proud of these incredible directors getting their first big shots, I am equally proud of those who have grown with us for so long – talents like Daniels and Melina Matsoukas, whose work in brands and music are so consistently strong, but who are thriving in film and TV. They inspire me daily to keep up with them!

You have fought to increase diversity in the film industry through projects like Women in Film and Manifest Works. How did you get involved?

This business is full of barriers based on gender, color, socio-economic status, and access.  It is an industry built largely with nepotism at its roots – it was a “family biz”, in a sense.  And it was exclusive – so there weren’t that many jobs or ways in without a particular last name, a connection, or bank account.  And it was lucrative, so people weren’t really trying to share that wealth.

Thankfully that is changing now. There are incredible organizations that are encouraging diversity in all aspects of this business and they are starting with the notion of community. Creating communities that are supportive and give meaningful mentorship is critical to creating a pipeline of talent – whether above or below the line – that can not only diversify the voices being heard but make real, lasting change. These organizations are about not only creating opportunity, but making sure that when the opportunity comes, someone has the skillset to make the most of it. I think it’s important that those go hand-in-hand.

Manifest Works in particular is an organization that is giving an opportunity to those who were never given a first cha
nce in life. And rather than focusing on one barrier, it really covers all that I mentioned: women, people of color, socio-economic status, and access.

I have been lucky to find a career in this business thanks to someone taking a chance on me. It is my obligation to pay that forward to someone else.

You are overseeing AdFest’s 2019’s Fabulous Five mentoring program. What kind of skills do directors need to hone after starting out?

Mentorship is critical to the evolution and relevance of this industry. We cannot expect someone to be the most talented filmmaker we’ve ever met and also understand the nuances of the business. How to make sure they write incredible treatments, are charming and engaging on conference calls, know how to diplomatically get their vision across while incorporating that of the agency and client?

These are delicate dances to master and to expect someone to be the most incredible filmmaker and perfectly run their first set is unrealistic.

For us, we look for talent whose perspective is unique to them – who has some signature in their work that makes it identifiable to them and only them. How they see the world, tell a story, cast their talent, move the camera. It can be so many things but ultimately you want to be able to look at a body of work of a filmmaker and see them in it.

This is something we can’t teach or mentor. You just have to have it. But if you do, we can teach you the rest.

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