By Dr. Ted Baehr
Producer
Getting into the producers Guild is difficult and is an honor for Robby and myself. Having been a member for many years, Robby and I have attended several of their yearly conferences.
In the past, renowned producers would ask me what we did. I would tell them about Movieguide®, and they would ask what’s Movieguide®?
This year the change for us my son and I was incredible.
Walking into the conference on Saturday with my son, Robby Baehr, , I started a conversation with a producer passing us, who suddenly said, “You spoke at three Writers Guild Christian conference. I was impressed and blessed.” Then, we discussed about their production plans.
In the pre-party early in the morning, one of the producers wanted to come to our How To Succeed in Hollywood class. Another producer said he was a fan of Movieguide®. In the theater for the conference, sitting next to Robby were two producers who said they subscribe to Movieguide® – for years. During the break, one producer stopped me and said, “You’re Ted Baehr: You’re a legend in the Entertainment Industry.” Of course, it would have been much better if they had said God was a legend in the Entertainment Industry.
These questions and appreciations for what we did continued throughout the day, with one of the producer saying he had produced one of the Epiphany Prize® Movieguide® winners and loved the Movieguide® Awards Gala.
At the conference itself, several speakers were Oscar winning producers of negative movies who contributed nothing in their talk that would help the packed room of producers succeed with an audience. Robby mentioned to me these edgy producers don’t understand the box office.
However, several of them did understand the box office, such as the President of Imagine Entertainment, Justin Wilkes, which produces some of the best movies and television programs. Justin talked about the many successes of Ron Howard and his partner and gave a very positive view of the future of movies and entertainment.
Jeff Wachtel also presented an intelligent overview of the industry and path to success. Jeff has been responsible for many successful television programs for many years and has been a head of Paramount Pictures and USA Entertainment.
A fascinating view of producing on a super low budget for Netflix were two Englishmen, Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, who produced and starred in the popular series ADOLESCENCE. Although the series has some tough issues and is concerned with a terrible murder, the approach toward production was fascinating. Each episode was a one camera shot covering the territory between the high school and the murder scene and the family home. Everyone was treated as part of a team, which brought the best out of each cast and crew.
The most important talk was with Ghaith Mahmood, Partner, Latham & Watkins and Kathleen Grace, Chief Strategy Officer, Vermillio, on The Fine Print of AI: Protecting Yourself & Your Production. They explained that as AI-powered tools become increasingly embedded in content creation, producers entering a legally complex arena. This conversation examines what red flags should producers watch for in contracts? Who bears responsibility regarding AI-generated content. Every content creator should have listened to this talk.
The highlight of my day was sitting at a small lunchtime roundtable with Eric Oleson. Eric has worked on some of the biggest television programs like Marvel’s DAREDEVIL, which Movieguide® likes. He calls himself the 911 Showrunner. When a series is having problems, they call him to fix it. In the process of fixing it, he often writes the scripts and corrects some of the episodes, directs some episodes, produces complex productions, and helps design the marketing. Eric grew up way outside Hollywood in Virginia. When a movie was being produced in his town, Eric at the age of 14 hung around and asked, “Can I do anything to help? He made such a good impression that he was asked to help with another production in Florida. Eventually, he became the go-to showrunner.
After years of listening to some of the biggest producers in Hollywood, who were not engaged with the family audience, with the faith audience, it was refreshing to see the changes. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, “God is on the move.” As a message to our readers, Hollywood is not beyond redemption, and I am grateful He’s used Movieguide® in that process.
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