From Shooters to Hollywood: Duke’s big screen alums return

Last week, Duke alums John Doherty and Charlie McSpadden flew from Hollywood obyo the Dirty-D and had a remarkable night at Shooters.

But long before their IDs were checked, the two hosted a sneak-peak screening of the film Everest for Duke students, as well as met with students to advertise and promote the Duke in Los Angeles program.

John, a 2007 Duke grad, works as a Creative Executive for CrossCreek Pictures, the producer and financier of Everest. Charlie, who graduated in 2010, is also a Creative Exec — but for Material, Tobey Macguire’s production company.

The Tab caught up with John and Charlie to hear about their time at Duke and why students who want to work in film instead of consulting need to hold their nerve.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOHS-mxn0RQ]

Hey guys, nice to meet you. Tell me a little about yourselves – professional role, graduation year, major?

John Doherty:  I’m the Class of 2007, I work at Cross Creek Pictures which was the producer and financier behind Everest, along with Black Mass.

The President, Brian Oliver, was gracious enough to promote me to Creative Executive. I work under his guidance and try to funnel projects, ideas and business into the company and help make his life easier.

Charlie McSpadden: I graduated Duke in 2010. I work at a company called Material, which is run by Tobey Macguire, the actor.

I was recently promoted to Creative Executive so I do a similar job to John, though we are not a financier—we are strictly a film and TV production company. I read a lot of books, a lot of scripts, I meet with writers, with directors, flag things for Tobey and his producing partner. It’s like a mini producer-in-training.

What kind of stories are you looking for? 

JD: Cross Creek Pictures looks exclusively for pictures which can be budgeted between $10-$50 million, and within those parameters we make our movies based on the foreign presale method, we sell the rights to distribute the film around the world. And we sell all those rights off before the film is shot.

Since the stories we’re looking for have to be popularized on a world scale, it’s more what we don’t do –we don’t do comedy, because subtitles aren’t funny; we don’t do purely U.S. history for the most part, and U.S. sports are tough. Due to the way our films are financed, we find ourselves with very filmmaker-driven character-heavy pieces which are actor-based.

CM: Very similarly, it’s a lot about what you don’t do, as well. You analyze each piece of material through a metric system, where you’re like, “Is this a true story? Will this be a bestselling book?” Obviously, you have to respond to the material as a story itself—is it challenging, exciting, progressive, character-driven, actor-based, director-based, something which will speak to someone?

Right now, TV is at its prime – it’s huge. What does mean for the film industry? Where do you see the film industry going?

JD: I don’t really see it as a challenge, but an ongoing conversation.

CM: I think there’s something undeniable of the experience of watching a movie, in a dark theatre, opening weekend, with a huge packed crowd and being part of a conversation which is happening immediately. People consume TV on their own and I think there’s something communal about film TV doesn’t have – it’s a different type of community and experience, I think that experience will always exist, it’s why people go to sports games, why people go to the theatre, concerts.

JD: If you look at the way the music industry changed, it’s synonymous – people used to buy albums, sit with their friends, listen to the album, talk about it, reflect on it, and that was that. [Now] people download their music, listen independently, so that communal experience fizzled out. But what has happened in return – people go to concerts way more than they used to. And now, that’s the communal experience.

Tell me a little more about your time at Duke. The film and visual media studies community here is very small. What advice do you have for Duke students who want to go to LA, or want to pursue a career in the entertainment industry? 

JD: It’s tough, obviously, when people are getting signing bonuses and there’s the competitive, “What are you doing when you graduate? Oh, you’re not consulting? You’re not going to business school?” You can feel a little lost, which is why we come back and do this meeting and promote the Duke in LA program.

What we encourage is to explain to the students how to go about [getting a job in the entertainment industry], to demystify it, to make it accessible, to encourage them that it’s OK to not know what you’re doing. It’s good the program is small because it gives you better access to the alumni, professors, and the support system.

It’s an apprentice-based career field, as well. It’s really about keeping the support because it’s a little crazy, especially when you’re a second-semester senior and everyone is getting jobs.

CM: When I was a student here, I was the film critic for The Chronicle, I was the film editor for the paper, so I did a lot of on the ground reporting and viewing of films, which has served me extraordinarily well.

Go do the Duke in LA program. That will get you a good internship. Take the film classes here—the hands-on, practical courses are super important, learning how to actually make something. Take film theory classes, know what the history is, know what all these references are, because once you get to where we are, you have to be in the room and be like “I know what you’re referencing.”

Practically, obviously, use the Duke network to your advantage. And if it’s not one of us that has an internship open, we know people and have friends who are looking for interns. It is a mentorship- and an apprenticeship-based industry and you have to get into the room somehow, and then someone will come along and things will happen for you naturally.

Constantly learn and search and exposure yourself to new stories and experiences. It all informs the process; storytelling is universal and can come from anywhere.

JD: Do every role – act in a movie, even if you don’t want to, direct a movie, work with the camera. Because if you really want to be a producer, you’re going to have to know how all these hundreds of people go about their jobs if you’re going to lead them. And if you’ve never acted in a movie, and you don’t know how to treat an actor as a director, or you don’t know how to treat a financier as a producer, or any of those other fun interpersonal relationships, you’re going to be a crappy executive, director, producer—whatever it may be.