How to get your movie into Sundance with Producer Isen Robbins

#sundance #sundancefilmfestival #filmproduction #filmproducer #filmpodcast

This week I’m talking to producer Isen Robbins. Isen co-founded Intrinsic Value Films with Aimee Schoof and has produced over 40 films, premiering 10 of those at the Sundance Film Festival. He has worked in international sales attending all major markets, and regularly lectures on film finance and production.

I talked to Isen about how he got started in the industry, working on productions that have been accepted into Sundance and his tips for working in the industry. Enjoy!

Find out more about Intrinsic Value Films:  https://intrinsicvaluefilms.com/

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Transcript

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[Music] hi Jim here and you're listening to the honest filmmaker podcast career advice from people in the business this week I'm talking to producer Eisen Robbins Eisen co-founded intrinsic Valley films with Amy sackoff and has produced over 40 films premiering 10 of those at the Sundance Film Festival he's worked in international sales attending all major markets and regularly lectures on film finance and production I talked to Eisen about how he got into the industry uh how he works on those big Productions how they start how they get made and also his tips for working in the industry as a producer enjoy did you study did you go to UNI how did you kind of start your career off I was at the College of Sten Island my local community school and a man named Buddy janaza who works out of Germany now um do makes mostly horror films um he I I took a film elective he put a super eight camera in my hand there was this thing called Super Eight it was a film format a long time ago um I held it I was like this thing it's I just didn't know people made movies right like it just didn't occur to me that people made movies and it was like a hammer right to me it was a hammer I'm like oh it's a tool it's a hammer we can build something it's a construction job right right and so from that I'm sort of middle class not exactly but mostly middle class um and so from that perspective it just sort of hit me that there are human beings who make movies now I was I wrote the sopore Junior and to some degree senior high school plays I was an amateur actor just fooling around having a great time so I um in my youth I was Rocky in the local Rocky picture show that was really fun um so that all said I I enjoyed that but never did it occur to me that that would be a career choice and that day then I realized you built these things um and it was powerful um I was hooked and like it all I mean those are there were bread crumbs leading up to that for sure so then there I am in University flip my major um uh from psychology I guess is where I was heading and I will tell you that the abnormal site classes I took have been incredibly useful um in film making so unbelievably useful um I flipped my major pretty much that week right to film Theory and history um I got a m M's degree I just stayed in college for a long time uh you know there were little moments you don't know I there were moments where I applied to NYU got into NYU uh was at NYU and was just like oh I don't I don't think I'm a writer director I really can't sit still right like maybe if I had discovered riddlin um I would have been fine but I did not um and directing made me very paranoid I did not enjoy it right like a strong visual sensibility and a an understanding of narrative to some degree um directing made me crazy now at that point in University there were very few if not none uh producing program so what the hell am I so there I am at NYU surrounded by people who are super creative and I'm pretty creative right like I can run with them and frankly I do remember a bunch of them just kept stealing my ideas uh um like so like there was something I was generating that was interesting yet I I didn't have the follow through I didn't have the um will or talent to be that creature hard to say right like paths un unraavel um I dropped out again of that school I ran to the careers of my parents which was physics I realized I hated that I came back to the college just had an island they gave me access to the equipment room and then I started showing up at every film school there were people at the school there were teachers at the School of Visual Arts who thought I went to school there because I was on their shorts so much and so and that became my real education like I could show up with cameras don't tell CUNY and to your shoot and that got me in the door on a lot of student film shoots at that point I began production designing right like so I was sort of heading into that section of it and I'm a good set dresser right I'm fast with a drill I am like good at that but I can't really draw and I'm I'm a pretty good sculptural creature but so I did about six lowbudget features but it began on a film set in NYU he said he really liked my terrible shorts and the production particularly the production design in them so I showed up on his set I watched the producer do their job and I was watching him work and I was like that guy is so bad at this he's so terrible I can do that job one million times better than he is it was so incredibly stressful even thinking about it my blood pressure goes up um but we got into Toronto we got into Venice good machine which became Focus um produced it with me I started shooting without enough money to finish week On's crew payroll right like not even everybody's payroll it was so irresponsible um by the end of week one we had enough money to finish week one by the end of week two we had enough money middle of week two we had enough to get some payroll in like week two um a slight slow play I was very honest with people by the beginning of week three we had all the money needed to finish the film Ted ho James Sheamus Mighty Mighty Men come in and save us right like so we get saved as part of a development deal for the director's next film which never that that another next film eventually happens but um Hy was one of my dear friends is one of my dear friends so um and so that is kind of my origin and so then I was in and I suddenly like of the blue had two films at Ma had one film at Major festivals my next film and the film after that get into Sundance it's like it's a miracle right I didn't it was a miracle right I just was like oh you make a movie and it gets into a major Film Festival this is so cool yeah um so we've now made like 47 48 films um we have had 10 films at Sundance so that's pretty cool um and then wanted everything all the other Majors except for the can film festival which just continues to elude me yeah um but maybe one day so um and I'm not even sure festivals matter as much anymore right like it's all very confusing right now it is but it doesn't it doesn't look that bad does it when you've got Sundance above your your feature it's it's good right so two torontos ago nothing sold and so that caused a real freak out right like and look maybe I just worked with a studio that discouraged Me Maybe maybe I won't say for sure but maybe Studios don't care about film festivals because they're expensive right they're expensive and they're not worth the bang for their Buck now as in Indie if you don't have a sale I mean it's the best game it's the best game right like it's the right way to play so um so that was kind of our model so we had like 13 or like 14 films in majors and they sold relatively well usually and the rest it was a struggle yeah um that's not totally true um because some of those films sold quite well out of festivals so without festivals so so we're changing our model um did I answer your question so yeah yeah yeah that was a I I think from what I took away from that was uh entrepreneurial style film making from the start and learning kind of learning everyone's job on Set uh which then LED you to make these other films and sort of uh you know not luckily but you've got into these major film festivals which I'm sure made a huge difference um just talking about Sundance for a minute because it's not one I've ever been to and obviously I'm closer to can we go to can um what is that Festival like and is it a case of you get your film in you screen it and then people come and talk to you afterwards or you are you booking meetings before you get there how does it work well okay so like when I no I I have weaknesses Jim I just have weaknesses like like I don't book a lot of meetings at those things right I just don't I'm like this I'm just gonna sound terrible but it's it's very important to me to be on every VI every list at Sundance even if I'm not going to your party it's very I do not I'm probably over this but that was my that is my thing I was at every event that I could get to um and you could try my name so if you're at Sundance just TR try my name at the door it might work yeah so so with that that used to be super important and I was involved in some of the first party lists like that's carmichel and some other um my delightful Scoundrels um caused um like the early party list um and I was helping so I do that a lot usually I have a film there right so I tend to go when I have a film there I've gone three or four times without films it's lovely it's very relaxing super relaxing by comparison um so we're there like when I'm there I'm usually like wrangling Talent trying to get them into interviews I'm trying to get so like when you have a film there it's just different I am trying to I watch one movie it's the movie I came with usually and it is the thing I I I have to like super just focus on that so like my brain is not elsewhere having doing something I'm trying to focus on what's the next move I can make because like sometimes I don't know what my next move is I just don't know and like I wait and I think and I try and I make phone calls and then like all of a sudden at the last second there is a move so at Sundance I'm leaving the space open for that move like can I get this actor in here and get a move this and like get the oh I can get the director or manager that's cool um right like but like looking for opportunity to increase the sale the publicity my career you know like like but I've been bad at that part like I'm I'm we're really like in a existential moment of rethinking at all um you're doing all right you're doing all right yes right like there's people who like would kill to have my resume there's people I would kill to have their resue always like that the grasses like so so let talk to me about the one you've just got coming out at the moment 5 pounds of pressure so where did that come from that initial uh project 13 13ish years ago wow okay um I was at a party a theme of the day so I was at a party and I started talking to this fellow named Phil and I'm like go he looks like a rock and roll dude but um there's something about his intellect right this man I'm like I am definitely drawn to like the very very smart I just am um like yeah so I'm like and it's a maybe it's a flaw um but he's a genius and so I start talking to him and we're were just rolling through things and topics and having a very good time and then learn he's a filmmaker and he sends me a script I never read it right six six it's probably 14 years ago about six months go by my head of development at the time Joe um just is like you should read the script it's quite good it has some actors involved you should read the script you should read the script and so he tortes me Joe does not let me go for another two months so seven eight months after he sends me the script like a total a-hole I call him up and I'm like hey got around to reading your script seven mon later right like jerky and he's like all right you know and so we get together and we try to make that movie like I join up with his team with Steve Carr and Phil alako and we and some other producers who don't make it um and we struggle to get the film made and that cast kind of Ages out right of and or you know has their problems and what like so on and so forth careers change um six years ago so then we go and we make another movie with Phil called the truth about lives because we can't get this one made we make a lower budget movie um and then um that movie's picked up by a particular company in that company is a billionaire um that billionaire asks Phil what else is he working on we have this great like followup comedy and there's this old script five pounds of pressure he reads five pounds of pressure he's like I will back offers I will make your movie okay we're g yeah and we start making offers and we get to the Fantastic Luke Evans um and he says yes that's five years ago right um we we catch a young actor who has a lot of friends who are hitters in our end of the world um we meet Scott McFarland who brings uh with Mark down who brings Lion's gate once we have lion gate not like the stakes have just switched right like can't blow this um for us it's our second kind of studio so we we get serious and we just it has been a it really has been the hardest movie of my life like is folks you're not like I just didn't expect movie 46 to like shut me down for a year of combat um to get the thing into like shape to put into the world it was brutal it's very hard um we won't go into that but it did get into the world and it will continue to get into the world and I was at the this weekend was this weekend I was at the Afterparty of the you know the very gentle release in New York and the theater was packed and it was filled with the director's friends and I was at this party and I'm a little Co adverse um because it's been rough um so like I'm not really jumping into the party I'm sort of hovering on the outside of the party pulling people off who I know and it's nice and I see the director and he's surrounded by people he loves and people who love his movie and he has a big giant smile on his face and I I like I do the I do I wave but no one sees me I just put my hand up and I walk out the door and I close the door behind me and I say next and and it was so satisfying um so to me I think I kind of do it a little bit for them right like I summon a director adct like a an enabler in art enaer I like I like being next to this creative fire of these Geniuses we're getting pickier um Phil is the nicest person with talent I have met not say haven't met other nice people with talent but he is exceptionally nice human and gives a about other people and so in a real way and so so much so you follow him because he's such a good person and you want to help him right and that's it's an interesting way of running the ship yeah does does it so so it sounds like these projects are exciting and you're you're into them do where does the sort of uh business head come in does it come in is it always Talent first project first or are you to figure out is this actually going we going to be able to sell this or how does that work yeah we're changing because I oh oh this movie can't be sold really oh yeah it can't be made I'm gonna make it like I'm the underdog boy right like like I I will we were so anti Macho we became Macho we were so like we were so uh uh challenge for a long time I mean 20 plus years that was like yeah oh no one can make this I can make it oh like super producer a b and c have failed on this let me pick that up and get it made yeah I am not so sure that boy was so clever right like so so um with that I mean I I love a good brawl but um it's like my decisions have been very hard decisions like they have not made the path easy now I have no clue but so we really are assessing stuff like earlier in the day in Los Angeles a meeting happened and it's nice script and there's money and we're gonna pass right because we don't need to make that movie yeah and so like I used to say things like um like you emailed me what are your mottos right like and so models used to be um multiple attacks multiple targets yeah and firm intention loose direction right like so that philosophy you know quasi Buddhist um was you know the door opens you go through the door right like my have this vision of the end of the goal um but when you keep going through doors I'm changing my motel I think like going to use to just go firm intention yeah we're dropping the second sentence right so um but it take took a long time for me to get there I'm a slow slow learner do you I mean you've worked with uh a lot of these bigname actors now do you ever get star struck with anyone it always surprises me what like who messes me up right because sport St is bad right like like we're colleagues we got to work together yeah you know like holy crap she needs peanut butter jelly jelly sandwiches in the middle of the night and like and M crew keeps eating them right like you just have to have Rapport you have to find a way in like they're just people they're just people but then they're they're cuddled and like their heads get messed up and just the nature of what they do is dangerous like psychologically they become other people it's it's tough they get and like Fame is insane right it's just absolutely insane like we worked with Winona writer it was the most crazy thing I've ever seen and I've worked with a lot of famous people it wasn't the she wasn't back in quite at that point the paparazzi tortured her it was like I mean I almost hurt people like I was so mad at them um they were attacking my actor and you can't you can't actually can you're not allowed to throw them to the ground so um so with that said but they really are horrible right like hor not all of them I mean in England incidentally I the paparazzi was always there and we became buddies like like and it was fine and they weren't mean in New York they were like Savage yeah um trying to get her to cry trying to get like Get Like Me messing my set like why are you attacking my actor she's acting yeah like please go away uh we're working here so um who throws me off so I worked with Molly ringal like it's strange who gets you right like and I'm like oh my God it's Molly ringal right like it just caught me off guard totally caught me off guard but eventually we got to really cool I can't like she she is super down to earth and super cool like in a way like so few are like so down to earth and cool um and there was a moment where I knew as I always knew but now I knew for sure that I was in the school over but I was in The Breakfast Club like I was in like like I am like of the same world uh and worked with Ali sheii too and I have to admit like I like so for some reason the cast of The Breakfast Club just throws me um um I walked to Harvey kitel and he threw me right like but then like I loved hanging out with Danny Glover Ron Perman I loved hanging out with Ron Perman Mark Ruffalo is the sweetest guy on the planet Zoe Sal is amazing right like um we um Chris uh so many like there's so many fun people that I've worked with like it's just it's been great like it's one of the perks of our business it's hanging out with them Rory culen like I is a delight uh repeat you I'm just using him in everything I can because he's such a secret weapon um not such a secret anymore but like that guy can act we I I have found like I really have enjoyed most of them like Gina Davis I was a little star struck by Gina Davis and they became a little bit like friends is Right friendly um so so sure as a kid from Staton Island to be on a film set I brought my niece to meet um I brought my niece who's like a young 13-year-old actress um in plays and I brought her to a set where Brook Shields was and all these other actors who she knew better than I knew um all of them and her eyes lit up and I tasted it right like I like oh that first taste she's now hooked I've ruined her life right um and um I I started to cry I really did I could tear up like just that like her her vision of them to me like sometimes they're just like I've got to manipulate them I've got to move them around I've got to get the dude out of the trailer to onto the set the guy who everyone says is a nightmare I have to make sure he's not a nightmare yeah right I have to mitigate it and and I I abnormal sight classes back to the early part of this lesson really useful super useful and it's been fun I've had a lot of fun playing with them um uh Ethan Hawk is like a burning fire to be around in like such a good way right like like you get energy from them and then they're gone but sort for a brief moment like that moment Mark Ruffalo is in your life he is like he's so present like he's so with you he's so like I can't even I can't even pretend to be that like connected with a human being he's so there sharing his innermost secrets and like life and heart and it's just all there and then he's gone swoosh they get swept away yeah um so I've always kept my relationship with actors super professional um and like for that purposes right occas like L friendships begin and pass I hope you enjoyed this week's episode if you want more advice from industry professionals who are out there at the moment working or you just want to listen to some cool stories from film sets from around the world then please do subscribe[Music]