The Exchanges

Q We've got a question from Dante Richardson, a twenty-three-year-old aspiring producer. He wants to start a production company in the near future. He's asking for your advice. What is the best advice you have for him if he wants to get started? What does he do first?

A Well, I think if he wants to be a producer, the best and fastest way to get going is to find a piece of material that he really loves. Little Fires, as Sarah was saying, is an amazing example of we read a book that hadn't yet published, and we loved it. And we saw it as something that we wanted to celebrate through our book club, but also we saw it as a limited series. We knew what the show was. So I think that my advice for him is try to find a book that you love. Try to find an article that you think would make a great movie or make a great television series, and then challenge yourself To take it and put all of the pieces of the puzzle together, find a writer that you love, come up with a take, you know, and then approach other producers that might be able to mentor you and guide you. We often partner with producers who have incredible taste, but might want to partner with us because we're gonna help them to flesh it out and bring it to life in the way that, that they really hope. So I think there are always opportunities, but it starts with great material.

AI assessment note: “the best and fastest way to get going is to find a piece of material”

Q Well, let me, let me ask you specifically about The Morning Show. I mean, that was season one. I mean, how are you gonna finish season two? Because I'm assuming it's not all filmed, right?

A It is not all filmed. We are figuring it out right now. We are talking to epidemiologists, to health and safety experts. We've got a COVID coordinator. We have a world-class team that is working with us to figure out every single day What do we do? We've had our epidemiologist came and looked at our sound stages and, you know, the ventilation and figuring out, you know, obviously there have been all of these white papers that have come out that talk about what is required in terms of health and safety, and thankfully each of the studios that are producing these shows also are doing their own sort of COVID bible, as it were, talking about all the precautions that they're going to be taking, and look, people are Taking this incredibly seriously. Health and safety is the most important thing. And in a very inspiring way, I think companies are working together to share, you know, information and ways that they can innovate together to get productions back on their feet quickly. And look, I mean, there are shows that are going to be going back in August from what I hear. So I think we're well on our way.

AI assessment note: “It is not all filmed. We are figuring it out right now.”

Q Is there a world, Lauren, where there's like, like how, how the NBA is doing a bubble, right? Everyone's in Orlando playing basketball. And staying in that bubble. Is there a world where like Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell and all these actors are in a bubble for like six weeks to finish filming?

A Well, our shoot is more like six months for a season. So it's a longer, it's a longer stretch. And I think though we aren't right now talking about going into a bubble quote unquote, I do think what we're talking about Is how to be as safe as possible, and obviously, you know, when you go into these, into these production papers, we're creating zones so that only the very most essential people would actually be on set, uh, so that we will be reducing risk, and everyone will be, you know, honoring everything around social distancing, and people making sure that they are appropriately covered, and that, you know, that everyone is taking all precautions. I think there are lots of conversations being had, but, but not ones To answer your question, not ones about a bubble in the way that the NBA is, though I think that people are talking about that when they think about shooting out of state.

AI assessment note: “we aren't right now talking about going into a bubble quote unquote”

Q This must be so weird. I mean, it's like, it's like time is frozen in Hollywood right now, in a sense, right?

A It is definitely weird. I will be honest. It does feel like things are a bit frozen, but I actually think things are also thawing. I think this is, An opportunity to slow down and to connect in ways that maybe we weren't slowing down and making time to connect before. I think that is the case internally at Hello Sunshine, but I also think in a very remarkable way, it is the case externally. I find that, you know, where typically we roll phone calls and we go from call to call to call to meeting to meeting to meeting, I'm hearing about people's kids. We're talking about school, how, people ask, how are you, and they really listen. We're really interested to know, and I, I think that we're doing something where we're building a foundation where when we do come back, we will be stronger and better because of it, and I think we're all looking out for each other in an extraordinary way, and I think that that was something we, we were all moving so quickly before. I think slowing down a little bit isn't necessarily the worst thing.

AI assessment note: “It is definitely weird. I will be honest. It does feel like things are a bit frozen”

Q from Sarah Hardin and Lauren Neustadter of the film and TV production company, Hello Sunshine. I know that, um, the mission of your company is to elevate, um, and to tell stories of women. From your perspective, Lauren, what is the state of, state of things now for, you know, stories about women, women writing screenplays, directing? How would you assess where Hollywood is right now with respect to that?

A I have to tell you, I think it's a great time to be a woman in Hollywood. Truly, you know, there are so many people that are doing incredible things, but I certainly put Reese at the top of that list. I think she has really devoted herself to putting women at the center of stories and advocating for women and cheering women on as they are doing the same and talking to them as they're creating production companies. I mean, we're constantly talking about You know, this person is creating a production company. Who would be a great person for them to hire? This book isn't exactly right for us, but maybe it's exactly the thing that this person is looking for. I think, you know, it's a really wonderful time of collaboration among women in Hollywood. I have been so inspired by the transformation that I have seen in the time that we have been working at Hello Sunshine. You know, telling stories about women has really come to the front of everyone's minds, and obviously also Representation and inclusion, which is a huge part of our mission at our company, I think has become something, obviously, that is at the forefront of every conversation in our industry right now, as it should be. Um, so I think it's a real time of opportunity, and it's, it's quite inspiring.

AI assessment note: “I think it's a great time to be a woman in Hollywood.”

Q With respect to your, some of your bigger shows, I mean, you've got, you work with Apple, obviously, on The Morning Show, and I think Little Fires Everywhere's on Hulu, and you work with different partners and platforms, um, Can you kind of walk us through what your strategy is for working, you know, with specific partners on specific projects and other partners on other projects?

A Absolutely. We are very lucky that we, we're pretty much in business with everybody. Um, we start with telling stories that move us, telling stories that we feel passionate about, and then what we do, we're very lucky because we're not tied to one particular place, so what we're able to do is find a story that we love, Find a story that we're passionate about telling. Put a writer into the project that we know is exactly the right writer. Find the actress that we think is perfect to star in that show. And then the Hollywood term is packaging, right? So we, we put the package together. We put the group of people together that we think is perfect for that project. And when we bring it out into the marketplace, we always choose the place that shares our passions, right? So when they love it like we love it, we know it's the right fit. And I think we've been very lucky, um, with so many of our shows to really find perfect partners. Um, and we've, we've had great success working with all of the different platforms. It's really been, it's been great.

AI assessment note: “we always choose the place that shares our passions, right?”