Producer Steve Ecclesine: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became A Filmmaker

If you are going to succeed, you have to get lucky. The best definition of luck is when preparation meets opportunity. You have to make your own lucky break happen. Reading Variety or the Hollywood Reporter doesn’t mean you’re in showbiz. You can’t wait around for the phone to ring. You can find work in Hollywood if you’re willing to do anything. I befriended the assistant of a famous movie star and now we have three projects in development.

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 Steve Ecclesine.

Steve Ecclesine has been toiling in the Hollywood vineyards as an independent producer for over half a century and has produced over 700 TV shows and 16 movies for a wide variety of studios, networks, cable networks, streamers. His first jobs were in the editing room working for Roger and Gene Corman followed by a 2 ½ year adventure with Orson Welles. Observing these two legendary independent cinematic icons taught Ecclesine many of the unwritten rules of showbiz. 35 years later he wrote a book, So You Wanna Be A Producer? designed to be a Boy Scout Handbook for anyone wanting to jump into this shark tank. Ecclesine produced the CHASING HAPPINESS: JONAS BROTHERS documentary for Amazon and most recently finished producing/ directing a documentary film, HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT GREG? A Journey Through Alzheimer’s with Faith, Hope and Humor.

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 was the middle of eight kids born in Rye, New York. My parents were both writers, realized early on that I had a restless mind and they encouraged me to be creative. At 9 years old, I had a 70-house paper route, six days a week. In subcontracting other little kids to help with the workload and reconciling the books each week, I was actually learning a few basic skillsets required to be a producer.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

The summer between my freshman and sophomore years at Western Maryland College (1969) was spent in California visiting my family and I was excited to be on my first big-time movie set as an extra in Little Fauss, Big Halsy from Paramount starring a newly minted ‘Sundance Kid’ superstar, Robert Redford with Michael J. Pollard, Lauren Hutton, directed by Sidney J. Furie, produced by Al Ruddy. On day three, tired of being hit by dirt clods spit at the spectators by the racing dirt bikes, I wandered down to the circus and befriended Redford’s stand-in who was putting away a six-pack a day in-between setups. When his paycheck arrived the following Thursday, I got a look and it was three-time bigger than the paycheck of the steamroller driver back in Rye where I had worked the summer before. At that moment, the clouds parted and I heard the message, ‘Any business that pays a man almost a thousand dollars a week to stand around and get drunk could find a place for me.’ I returned for my sophomore year, immediately changed my career path and met the love of my life who I somehow managed to hold onto for the next 49 years.

Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your filmmaking career?

I have experienced more than a few interesting stories, most of the following were funny only in retrospect: when the director is in the middle of a messy divorce and stands on the studio roof threatening to jump, when the rich lady who rented you the mansion wants you to pay for a new marble floor in the foyer because someone lightly scratched the old one, when the prop man drives off with the hero jeep the night before, had a few drinks and doesn’t remember where he left it, when twenty of your videotape masters are strewn across Santa Monica Boulevard because the back door of a pickup truck flies open while they’re being driven to a vault for safekeeping, when the film lab calls Monday morning saying there’s been a shutter problem with the camera and your entire weekend’s shooting has been ruined, when your film has been stolen and is being held for ransom, when any of the above happens, as they happened to me, although it’s unfair, it is ultimately my fault because I wanted to be a producer.

Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?

Orson Welles, Timothy Hutton, John Landis, 11- year old Rachel Evan Woods, Alan Funt, Rob Reiner, Jonas Brothers, Kevin Bacon, Catherine O’Hara, Tim Curry, Randy Quaid. I realized through my Orson experience that famous people are human beings who have some distinguishing talent and had gotten very lucky. Having survived for fifty years in showbiz, there are too many stories to relate here.

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?

I was fortunate to befriend Samuel Z. Arkoff, one of the last of the independent film moguls who Executive Produced 500 movies over a 25-year career, 200 of which were produced by Roger Corman. The Arkoff twin cinemas on Saturday nights at Sam’s Hollywood Hills home featured unique double features like The Passion of the Christ followed by Pom Pom Girls in his living room on a drop-down screen and 35MM prints. Sam’s version of fast forward was to yell out to the projectionist to skip the next five reels and put on the last one! I ended up line producing 5 Creature Feature movies for HBO and Screen Gems over a six-month shooting schedule each featuring an original Stan Winston creature.

Sam Arkoff showed me how to be happy with a game you love that doesn’t always love you back.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Don’t want anyone to think I’m name-dropping but you asked. One morning but I was at the flatbed editing table in Peter Bogdanovich’s screening room that Orson Welles had converted into his editing bay because he had been living in the west wing of the house for several months. A lively conversation ensued w Orson in his giant white terrycloth bathrobe drinking morning coffee with Cybill Shepherd and Peter in their matching Dr. Denton pajamas. I interjected something and Orson turned and said, “No one cares what you think!” Cut me to the quick and I realized that just because someone acts friendly doesn’t mean they’re your friend. You will be tolerated as long as the work gets done. An invaluable lesson to learn early on. Nothing personal. During our time together, I showed the Great Big Man how to operate a simple video editing system, a new toy.

I am very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?

1. America sees itself through the eyes of Hollywood. The world looks at America through the eyes of Hollywood. For too many years, the media ignored people of color. Blacks, Hispanics and Asians didn’t exist other than in minor supporting roles or if an evil villain was required.
2. Underrepresentation by the media made it easy for the majority to ignore entire minorities. What had been an all-whitey club has opened up to a much broader representation of Black actors. Hispanics and Asians are still lagging behind in the mainstream media.

3. America was built upon the concept of, “All men are created equal” so we need to be less exclusive in our storytelling, accept and celebrate the differences. America is a nation of immigrants who were given a chance to shape their own destiny and it is a most amazing world because of it.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I have been prepping: a great baseball movie that after several false starts finally opened an escrow account, a TV series taking unique look at two of the most famous bands in the world, a twisted Twilight Zone type TV series with UK Producers, a couple of dramatic movies regarding race relations: The Orphan Mother and Growing Up White. I think the best is yet to come.

Which aspect of your work makes you most proud? Can you explain or give a story?

I love inspiring others to exceed their grasp, go for the brass ring. I was on the PGA Mentorship committee. Line Producers are basically the referee calling the game between art and commerce, show and business. Like any good referee, you have to earn the respect of both parties by understanding all the unwritten rules, learning when to push and when to pull and bring the show in on time and hopefully under budget or yours will be the first neck on the chopping block. If the readers get a chance to see my movie, you will understand that there is on greater feeling than being someplace where people are laughing, crying, reacting to something that you were responsible for.

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.

1. You have to protect your ideas by properly registering them with the WGA (Writer’s Guild of America and send yourself a copy by registered mail and tuck it away just in case) and then you have to be prepared to practically give them away until you attract some attention. You can’t be afraid to share your ideas because of potential IP theft. There are 40,000 new titles, books, and screenplays registered every year. 10% get optioned (4,000) and 15% get produced (600). If you have something great, show it around, find a good agent who believes in you and if it’s great, it will get discovered.
2. One-man bands don’t get very far in showbiz. The media is a collaborative business because nobody can do it all by themselves. Important not to spread yourself too thin. Finding people of a like mind to go on the roller coaster ride with you is important. Increasing your rolodex is most important. Hold onto, keep in touch with other like-minded individuals. A former Production Assistant now runs a major studio production arm. You never know what’s going to happen.
3. There’s much more work in TV than in movies. With the arrival of the streamers, this has never been truer with 400 + TV series in production. There’s a myriad of opportunities to work in TV to learn the craft of storytelling. The studios release less than 100 original films a year that they have produced. The balance are acquisitions from indie producers. Big budget studio and network films are primarily a closed game reserved for the already rich and famous. Every once in a while, a newcomer is allowed into the big budget club if they have generated commercial success elsewhere but if their first couple of efforts don’t succeed, they are dropped off at the nearest bus stop.
4. Everybody in Showbiz is a salesperson and they’re selling themselves first. Showbiz is a subjective industry based upon talents, dreams and egos. Every major studio rejected Star Wars when it was first pitched. Nobody is always right. Nobody is always wrong or you don’t get to hang around the betting parlors very long and absolutely everybody has an opinion. Any exec in a position of power who guesses right 20% of the time gets handsomely rewarded.
5. If you are going to succeed, you have to get lucky. The best definition of luck is when preparation meets opportunity. You have to make your own lucky break happen. Reading Variety or the Hollywood Reporter doesn’t mean you’re in showbiz. You can’t wait around for the phone to ring. You can find work in Hollywood if you’re willing to do anything. I befriended the assistant of a famous movie star and now we have three projects in development.

My sister asked what it’s like to be successful in Showbiz? I said I’m being yelled at by a better class of people.

When you create a film, which stakeholders have the greatest impact on the artistic and cinematic choices you make? Is it the viewers, the critics, the financiers, or your own personal artistic vision? Can you share a story with us or give an example about what you mean?

If the film is a studio project, there is a system in place that dictates how much or how little artistic leeway will be allowed predicated on the track records of the Producers, Director and caliber of actors. An experienced production team is allowed to find their way to the finish line. Newcomers are subject to the whims of TV executives who are still learning their way. Produced a one-hour drama about a high achieving collegiate athletic program and in the middle of day three of the pilot, an executive called and requested that we fire the lead actor because he wasn’t handsome enough. We did and he went on to become an Avenger and have a great ongoing career.

With an independent film, every project is a unique production experience. Whoever is putting up the money and taking 50% of the profits has a very loud voice when it comes to creative decisions. The producers/directors usually have to stake out their territory and should be trusted to make the right casting decisions (critical, the right post-production choices) because the investor rarely knows more that the creative team at the helm.

Most great filmmakers are making films for themselves hoping there are enough other people out there who like what the filmmaker likes and are willing to invest a little time and a little money to be told another good story, thus allowing the filmmaker to get to their next project.

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. :-)

I was hoping I’d get asked that question. In one of the poignant moments in the doc HYHAG.com, Greg tells the audience that it’s so, so important to find a cure but we’re all gonna die one day and what are we going to do about it?

HYHAG hopefully gets the conversation about AD closer to the front page where it needs to become part of the national dialogue. We want to encourage an increase in research funding so it’s at least at the level of Aids funding. Most importantly, we want to encourage people to pay attention to their own brain health next time they see their doctor. We are partners with Us Against Alzheimer’s who have produced The Brain Guide, a test you can take at home.

I want to encourage the Boomers whose lives have been touched by this disease to rewrite their wills and leave 10% behind to fight this disease so our kids and grandkids don’t have to fear it. Consider it a ‘Usage fee for visiting this planet’.

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. :-)

Having been a Dodger season ticket holder for 45 years, I’d love to meet Scott Boras, the biggest baseball agent, sit next to him at a game and discover how he looks at baseball.

Another person I’d like to meet is Dean Kamen, our modern-day Thomas Edison, inventor of the Segway among other things.

How can our readers further follow you online?

Soyouwannabeaproducer.com and on Linked in.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

About The Interviewer: Growing up in Canada, Edward Sylvan was an unlikely candidate to make a mark on the high-powered film industry based in Hollywood. But as CEO of Sycamore Entertainment Group Inc, (SEGI) Sylvan is among a select group of less than ten Black executives who have founded, own and control a publicly traded company. Now, deeply involved in the movie business, he is providing opportunities for people of color.

In 2020, he was appointed president of the Monaco International Film Festival, and was encouraged to take the festival in a new digital direction.

Raised in Toronto, he attended York University where he studied Economics and Political Science, then went to work in finance on Bay Street, (the city’s equivalent of Wall Street). After years of handling equities trading, film tax credits, options trading and mergers and acquisitions for the film, mining and technology industries, in 2008 he decided to reorient his career fully towards the entertainment business.

With the aim of helping Los Angeles filmmakers of color who were struggling to understand how to raise capital, Sylvan wanted to provide them with ways to finance their creative endeavors.