Oliver Ridge: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became A Filmmaker
Final cut. Who gets it? Who deserves it. This has to be handled carefully. I’ve had projects where I wish the director had final cut and ones where I wished he didn’t. In an ideal world, it’s always collaborative but sometimes film is not an ideal world.
As a part of our series called “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became A Filmmaker”, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Oliver Ridge.
Oliver Ridge is a British-born filmmaker who is a graduate of the prestigious Drama Centre acting school in London where notable alumni include Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, and Pierce Brosnan. Ridge has been making a name for himself by creating independent films all over the world. To understand film from an actor’s perspective, he also took a course in acting at the Vancouver film school. After graduating from the Drama Centre with a Master of Arts degree in Acting, Ridge began his career behind the camera, cutting his teeth and producing his first indie film THE NEIGHBOUR, starring William Fichtner and Michael Rosenbaum. Legendary author Stephen King tweeted his praise, giving the film a great deal of traction and Ridge’s career began to build momentum. His next feature film, BODY BROKERS’ was top 3 on Netflix, the film shared a real-life story about insurance scams surrounding the opioid crisis in America and was acquired by HBO Max. His first documentary VALERIE based on the life, career, and illness of actress Valerie Perrine — won the American Documentary Film Festival (AMDOC) and was in Oscar contention that year.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit of the ‘backstory’ of how you grew up?
I grew up in front of the television, but that television was located in Hampshire, England. I was born in Portsmouth, but we moved around a bit before settling down. My imagination would often run wild. I was known to drag my family into supporting roles as I acted out whatever cartoon I happened to be watching. In the beginning, both of my parents were working so I spent a lot of time with my Malaysian grandmother on my mum’s side. We would binge-watch her VHS collection, I was introduced to foreign films and strong coffee at a very young age.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
I was miserable at business school, so I left. I then tried a variety of different jobs before I met a commercial producer. From there I started to consider making the things I watched instead of just watching them.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your filmmaking career?
My first film came out and people weren’t responding to it. It was handled all wrong and I learned a lot from that experience. But as I’m feeling down and out and a failure, legendary author Stephen King tweets about how much he likes the film. I can’t tell you how happy that made me. I called my parents and woke them up. I believe that tweet from him was the catalyst for the film as it slowly found a wider audience and a better home.
Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?
I got the opportunity to sit down and have a drink with Quentin Tarantino once. It was a small table and he held court over it. I sat and listened in awe. Eventually, he started asking me questions and he asked me to pitch him my newest film. After I was finished, he extends his hand and pulls me in close and says “it sounds like a film I would love, I’ll look out for it”. I smiled like a lunatic for days.
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?
This is tough. I have had some wonderful mentors throughout my career. Mark Hedges gave me my first job. Rob Barnum helped my career get momentum. Sandro Monetti saw promise in me. I have never made a single project without Doug Mercer and working with Jamie Wollrab has made my recent and current work so much better.
But the truth is I’m indebted to my parents. My mother taught me how to dream and my father taught me how to make those dreams a reality.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I’m torn between quotes. So here are two.
“An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.”
From this, I take away that you should trust yourself and your heart to get an emotional reaction from your audience. Don’t overthink it.
“How you do one thing is how you do everything.”
From pre-production to the location scout to the smallest of prop details. How you do one thing is how you do everything, with all your heart and soul.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
I’ve begun moving into creating my own stories and not just telling someone else’s. I’m prepping my directorial debut. A science-fiction love story between a reclusive man and a runaway female android.
I am also creating several television concepts. One is about female bootleggers and the other is a science fiction horror show called The Walled Garden.
Which aspect of your work makes you most proud? Can you explain or give a story?
The finished product. It’s always the finished product. I love what I do and I sometimes hate what I do but when it’s up there on screen immortalized forever. It’s all worthwhile and I’m always so proud (even of the early ones).
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
- Be wary of Sales Companies.
I’ve worked with some great ones and I’ve worked with some not-so-great ones, beware of hidden fees.
2. Final cut.
Who gets it? Who deserves it. This has to be handled carefully. I’ve had projects where I wish the director had final cut and ones where I wished he didn’t. In an ideal world, it’s always collaborative but sometimes film is not an ideal world.
3. Get a good lawyer.
This ties into my first piece of advice. You spend so much time with the contracts but you need to be protected and you need a good lawyer in your corner. In Ron Levin, I have a great lawyer in my corner.
4. Rehearsals!
The first film I ever made we got one of the main actors signed three days before we started shooting and she had scenes on day one. As the film moved through production, I watched her grow and grow and her relationship with the man playing her husband get better and better on screen. How I wish we had that from day one. I’ll never direct a piece without rehearsals. They’re expensive in film, but they’re worth it.
5. Just ask.
Once we couldn’t find our key location. Our heroes home. Location scouts weren’t giving us options we loved. We drove around neighborhoods looking and we found it. The perfect house. We put a letter through the mailbox, and they called us two days later saying they were interested. It made the film so much better. I’m so happy we asked them.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Any movement I would want to start would be about the environment and about how we are running out of time to help it. We worry too much about comfort that we turn a blind eye to real change at the risk of being inconvenienced. So many films and documentaries are trying to get governments to listen and change but it’s not working. I would love to set up a series of short-form content that shows simple changes governments can introduce and how new jobs can be created in renewable energy sectors.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this.
Sam Lake. I really want to talk to you about some of your IP sir.
How can our readers further follow you online?
I’m @omridge on Instagram and my new company is @spacepilotmedia
This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
Thank you!
