Inspirational Women In Hollywood: How Jean Lane of New York Women in Film & Television Is Helping To Shake Up The Entertainment Industry
Leading the industry to seek emerging talent at colleges and provide them with entry-level opportunities. I also try to offer my time as a mentor by participating in networking events and panels for Post Alliance New York, New York Women in Film & Television, and the Made in New York post-production training program.
As a part of our series about Inspirational Women In Hollywood, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Jean Lane.
Jean Lane is a freelance producer who specializes in post-production. She possesses a rare hybrid of post expertise in both commercials and TV/features. Lane divides her time equally between post supervising documentary and narrative features for theatrical and streaming release. She produces television series as well, recently season three of Hulu’s award-winning series Ramy. A glimpse into some of Lane’s skills include the management of client relations, business development, facility operations, and human resources. Lane is the former Executive Producer at Light Iron as well as Goldcrest Post where she oversaw post-production for Restrepo (Oscar nominee and Sundance Grand Jury Prize 2010) and multiple Ken Burns documentaries including The Roosevelts, The Central Park Five, and Prohibition. Prior to that, Jean served as Senior Producer at Lost Planet Editorial, where she produced innovative spots for MasterCard, Revlon, and the memorable Scorsese-directed American Express commercial starring Robert De Niro.
Her varied career in the post-production industry includes her role as a producer at multiple commercial editorial companies who are doing creative editorial work with top advertising clients. Lane’s career in the entertainment industry started as an assistant to award-winning casting directors in Los Angeles and New York. As a volunteer with the Bronx Documentary Center, she spent five years curating the programming of screenings and Q&As to enhance the annual photography exhibits. A filmmaker herself, Lane has produced and directed three short films that earned awards and were featured in the San Francisco and New York Asian American International Film Festivals.
Lane is a member of New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT), and one of 24 NYWIFT members who had projects premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. She was Post-Production Supervisor on Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s Sundance feature documentary King Coal, which follows a coal miner’s daughter exploring the region’s dreams and myths, untangling the pain and beauty, as her community sits on the brink of massive change.
She is a fan of going to the movies, nature walks, cooking, Iyengar yoga and Hello Kitty. She lives in the Bronx with her husband and two children.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I was born in Manila, Philippines and moved to the States at three years old. My early years were spent in Queens, New York then I was raised in Northern California in the East Bay. Although I’ve lived in New York a couple decades now, I’m very much a California girl at heart.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
After years of working in pre-production in L.A. and a stint in production in New York, I knew those areas of the entertainment industry were not a good fit for me so I looked to the last bastion, post-production. I discovered I had an infinite admiration for editors because they are the ultimate creative whereas they are responsible for making the script come to life. Their choices in picture, music and pace can make or break a film because it’s up to them (and the director) to choose the takes that offer the best performances from the actors and at the same time make sure that the scene, coverage wise, makes sense. I wanted to be an instrumental part of the process by supervising and managing the edit room as well as the entire post process.
Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
My favorite story is at the very beginning of my career. When I was a student at San Francisco State University, I sought an internship at the office of August Coppola. August was the father of Nicolas Cage and brother of Francis Ford Coppola. He was a renowned author and scholar and he was the Dean of the School of the Creative Arts. I mustered the courage to go to his office to see if there was a position for me. There wasn’t but he graciously took a meeting with me. He showed me his $10,000 espresso maker, made me and him a demitasse of espresso and showed me how to sweeten it for my taste. As he sipped his espresso and heard my story he thoughtfully sized me up and decided I could come to the office when I wasn’t in class to do odd jobs. I told him I wanted to be (at the time) a casting director in Hollywood so he generously offered to connect me with Francis Coppola’s longtime producer, Fred Roos, who used to be a casting director. August became my mentor and for years he encouraged me, challenged me, and helped me make connections which led me to where I am today.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Way back when I was working as a DI Producer at Goldcrest Post there was a prominent producer who was scheduled to screen his film at an outside venue. I was covering for another producer but I misunderstood the schedule, so I canceled the screening. I got an earful from the producer so I had to scramble to get the screening rescheduled. I learned that a post producer has to check and double check a schedule and it’s crucial to confirm with all parties before you proceed.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
When I was coming up at Goldcrest, the managing director was Tim Spitzer. He loved to educate us all explaining the many intricacies of post-production. We used to call him “The Professor,” which was really fitting since he grew up with parents from the academia world. I’d say most everything I know that’s technical about post, I learned from Tim. Although the technology in the post world rapidly changes, at the root of it are basic tenets that still hold true.
You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?
Post is a challenging field, but all the peaks and valleys make it a rewarding career. I constantly feel challenged and am learning something new all the time. For those of you, especially women of color, who have creative, technical, and producing interests I encourage you to look at the many jobs in post. We need more of you in our field!
Every industry iterates and seeks improvement. What changes would you like to see in the industry going forward?
I’d like to see more women of color in executive positions but in technical roles too. I feel our industry could do better seeking out emerging talent, particularly in high schools and colleges where people are unaware of the many exciting jobs in post.
You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?
I just delivered a film to Sundance for director Elaine McMillion Sheldon titled King Coal about the cultural roots of coal in the daily life of Appalachia and what that world looks like moving forward. I worked with Elaine a few years ago on her debut feature documentary Recovery Boys (for Netflix), so I was excited when she called me to post supervise her new film which was years in the making.
I’m looking forward to post supervising a couple more feature documentaries for two strong women directors, one for HBO and another about bioluminescence. And I typically like to mix up my projects and post supervise a narrative feature or post produce a TV series, so we’ll see what 2023 holds.
We are very interested in looking at diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture and our youth growing up today?
See above!
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
- Listen and observe then ask your questions.
- Be resourceful
- Study the credits and choices of the people you admire in the business and learn from them
- Understand your own values and try to stay rooted in them in whatever you do in the business
- Seek to work with the best people, even if it’s at a financial cost to you, it will pay off in the long run
Can you share with our readers any self-care routines, practices or treatments that you do to help your body, mind or heart to thrive? Please share a story for each one if you can.
Post can be brutal on one’s schedule so it’s important that you set boundaries and practice wellness to keep your sanity. Personally, I do yoga for exercise because it perfectly balances breathing exercises, challenging poses and meditation which helps me slow my mind down.
I also like to learn a new hobby so my latest is wheel pottery. It’s more difficult than it looks!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I have two I read recently. One from Robert Frost on perseverance: “The best way out is always through.” And the other from author Christopher Moore: “Children see magic because they look for it.”
The first is the perfect quote for when times get tough and you are in problem-solving mode, and the second is to remind me to keep movie magic alive which is my initial draw to the film business.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Leading the industry to seek emerging talent at colleges and provide them with entry-level opportunities. I also try to offer my time as a mentor by participating in networking events and panels for Post Alliance New York, New York Women in Film & Television, and the Made in New York post-production training program.
Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!
Pamela Adlon is my hero! I admire everything about her — she’s a badass actor, producer, writer, director, showrunner and she seems to have a joy for life. She loves to cook and share food with people which is something I love to do too.
Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?
I have one public profile on LinkedIn but my other social media I keep private.
This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
