Dana Offenbach: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became A Filmmaker
An Interview with Elana Cohen
…Stay focused on what you love, don’t give up, and keep pushing forward. It’s important to surround yourself with supportive people who believe in your vision, and always remember to take care of yourself mentally and physically. It’s also crucial to network and build relationships with others in the industry. And never be afraid to ask for help or advice from those who have been successful in the field.
I had the pleasure to talk to Dana Offenbach. Dana is an award winning Writer, Producer & Director and member of the prestigious Producers Guild of America and New York Women in Film & Television. Her films have won Best Short Film, Best Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay, Best of Festival, World Premiere Honors, Honorable Mention, and an NAACP Nomination for Outstanding Independent Feature. Dana has had a long and varied journey, and her credits include feature films, TV, shorts, television commercials, awards show segments, public service announcements, interstitial programming, documentaries and music videos. She is a writer, producer and director and moves seamlessly between these disciplines depending on the project. In 2011 Dana opened her indie production company CinemaStreet Pictures, LLC in her hometown of New York City. The company produces original content for worldwide distribution on all platforms with annual budgets in the millions.
Could you walk me through how you got into the film industry and if it was something you always wanted to do? Did you attend film school?
DO: I didn’t go to film school. I went to the school of hard knocks. I was always drawn to the arts and knew that was the industry I wanted to work in. I attended music and art high school and was a theater major, but eventually transitioned into film.
There were a couple of things that inspired me to pursue this path. Firstly, as a child, I watched The Wizard of Oz and realized there was a platform to share the stories in my head. Secondly, when I was a teenager, the first Star Wars film came out and that solidified my desire to work in film. Once I saw the whole world that was created, I knew that was where I wanted to be and so I made the switch from theater to film.
What was your first project in film and how did you get into it? Did you find it through networking or did someone recommend it to you?
DO: Well, I was working in advertising and my first film projects were actually TV commercials. But I knew I wanted to transition into long format. So I started talking to people about my goals and aspirations. And then, one day, there was a project for the United Way that needed a little film when Lee Brown became the commissioner of New York City. They wanted to put beat cops back on the street and I saw an opportunity there. So I went to the people in charge of the project and offered to do it for free. And that’s how I got my foot in the door. My first film was for the United Way in the New York City Police Department. And it was pretty amazing — I got to shoot out of helicopters, use a helicopter to light up a coast guard boat on the water at night, and even had to shut down the Verrazano bridge. After that, my first feature was a film called “Hav Plenty, which really started to move my career forward.
Awesome. And so how did you decide to work on these passion projects as well?
DO: When it comes to passion projects, it’s really about finding something that resonates with me on a personal level, something that I’m passionate about, and then figuring out a way to make it work within the industry. And that can take some time, you know, it’s not always easy to get financing for a project that you’re really passionate about, but I think the key is to be persistent and to really believe in what you’re doing. And for me, it’s always about the story. it’s really about finding those stories that you’re passionate about and then figuring out a way to make them work within the industry.
I first find stories or they come to me, stories that I feel need to be told. Hopefully, there’s a filmmaker attached that I like because that’s really important. This relationship is a marriage for a couple of years, making a film takes a few years. Let’s just tell people honestly what that process is. You’re working on something that’s really difficult. I’m an indie film girl. I don’t work in the studios. This is a really difficult process. And I say this to everybody all the time, you have to have the stomach for independent film, and not everybody does. So, you’re jumping into a foxhole with people and if you look, I’ve worked with a lot of first-time filmmakers. I’m not afraid of that. But sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But I believe that everything starts with the story, 100%.
Do you see the film industry becoming more inclusive or are there still significant hurdles to overcome?
DO: While I do believe there has been some progress, there is still more talk than action. Personally, I have spent years advocating for the advancement of women and underrepresented groups in storytelling. As someone from Washington Heights, I come from a diverse and resourceful background. I believe that as artists, we don’t need anyone’s permission to create our art — if you’re a true artist, your work will find its way to people. So while we can acknowledge the industry’s flaws and the lack of progress in certain areas, I would prefer to focus on what inspires us and how we can continue to move forward despite the obstacles.
Definitely. And I think my next question is, you’ve talked about the type of stories that inspire you. When filmmakers and people that have written scripts come to you, what kind of scripts do you gravitate towards and what types do you like to stay away from?
DO: The only thing I’d stay away from right now in my career is something that I feel I could never get made, right? So a $20 million independent film, it’s just not gonna happen. That’s the other thing that’s really important when you take people’s money. You have to believe that you can make money for them. My relationship to money and growing up as a lower middle class kid has created this value for money that might not exist in other places. So I don’t take anybody else’s money very lightly. The only thing I would stay away from right now is something that I really didn’t believe that I could be helpful by attaching to.
Right, that makes a lot of sense. And you must be reading my mind because I was gonna ask about funding next. So how do you go about looking for funding and investors? I know in different industries there are so many different ways. Do you have people that you’ve worked with before? Do you kind of start a campaign for things? What’s your process?
DO: It’s always challenging, but I want to talk about something where I think I could be most helpful to people right now, because everybody in the industry, you know, there are people who just have lots of money and have access to lots of money. I don’t. There’s always this scraping and, you know, there’s a couple of things I want to say. Most people will get their first film financed by friends and family. That’s just hands down, and there’s other ways. But one thing I really want to talk about that people don’t talk about is soft money. And what is that? And I had heard about soft money for a long time and didn’t understand what that was. And there’s ways of finding soft money, and, you know, I have found sponsors on almost every film, and that’s just money that will come to you. And it has to be right, either put a product in your film or a mention of something where you can get some soft money that doesn’t have to be repaid. And of course, the other is, which I’m really good at, is tax incentives, and that’s just free money for filmmakers. And so what I would say is get to know those tax incentives.
Don’t try to raise it all in one place. And that’s a really big piece of advice that I would give people trying to get their little independent film made. And I’m saying, keep it little, think of it that way, scrape and scratch, and do whatever you can. Get mom or aunt to come and cook the food, and you figure it out, just figure it out because if you are an artist and you have talent, just get that first film made, and the doors will open.
Great! So, I was wondering, who would you definitely want to meet in the industry, alive, not alive, or maybe even outside the industry, and why? Maybe someone who’s an influence on you or someone you’re just a big fan of?
DO: Well, I’d say most of the people who have inspired me are probably dead, but there’s actually someone who I feel makes the most interesting choices in terms of the kind of films that I hope to continue making, and that’s Reese Witherspoon. I have nothing but the utmost respect for her and what she has accomplished, and how she spends her money and her power to tell the kind of stories she wants to tell. She’s always on my mind when it comes to filmmaking. My hat’s off to her, and I think she has made us women look good. She’s someone who can put a rom-com out there and then follow it up with something like “Marie Antoinette”. I think those are the kind of people to work with.
When casting for your projects, what qualities are you looking for in your actors?
DO: To be honest, as a producer and also someone who directs, I wear different hats. As a director, I look for the right person to embody the character that I have in my head. But as a producer, I also look for someone who can bring value to the project. Unfortunately, the industry still has this old-school mentality where a famous name can dictate the value of a film. However, I believe the streaming platforms are changing that by creating new stars. I look forward to the day when we can cast based on talent alone, not just on fame. I think we are moving towards a TV environment with series and streaming, rather than feature films, and it’s exciting to see everything changing.
As for advice for female filmmakers and producers, I would say to stay focused on what you love, don’t give up, and keep pushing forward. It’s important to surround yourself with supportive people who believe in your vision, and always remember to take care of yourself mentally and physically. It’s also crucial to network and build relationships with others in the industry. And never be afraid to ask for help or advice from those who have been successful in the field.
How did you get into your passion and what advice would you give to someone trying to break into the industry?
DO: I would say do whatever you have to do to keep working and earning a living so that you can make choices and work on your passion projects. I mean, there’s still a lot of work that I do that’s either what I do for free or that I finance. I’ll finance the development or the casting director because we have a passion. I went and financed a couple of my own short films. I run a women’s screenplay contest through the CinemaStreet Women’s Short Screenplay Contest and we just started raising some of the money to produce and we were committed to producing work for women who just can’t break through and become produced. So, you know, I think of myself sometimes as an octopus and I’ve got my tentacles out.
So, what’s next for you?
DO: I have a couple of projects right now, both with first-time filmmakers, both of them who have done a lot of things.
One who’s really hot on the film festival circuit. I’m working with Colin Costello on a really interesting script called Naomi. And I’m working with Paula Walker, who came out of music videos, big, big music video, commercial, female director on a film called Lush Life. And I also own a true story that we just finished writing, getting the book done. I hired a young writer who was amazing and it’s an amazing story. We’re working on something serious, just a million things and that’s what you have to do. Somebody said this to me and I’d love to end with this: if you’re a writer, if you’re a producer, if you’re a director, just do it. Don’t wait for anybody’s permission. Don’t even wait to get paid again. Think of yourself as an artist. If you’re an artist, just go make your art. Picasso didn’t wait for anybody to give him permission.
Well, that’s amazing. And I cannot wait to see the film. It has been an absolute pleasure speaking with you. I can’t wait to see where you go.
DO: Thank you very much. Very kind words are much appreciated.
How can our readers continue to follow your work?
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Offenbach
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0644382/
Free The Bid: http://freethebid.com/directors/dana-offenbach/v
