Lori McCreary On Becoming a Producer: “You Don’t Need Permission. Just Do It”

Albright had been a guest star in its freshman season 201516 and that visit resonated with McCrearyamp160 amp8220We were doing a scene with series star Tamp233a Leoni and Albright had to take a callamp8221 McCreary recalled a hint of awe in her voice amp160amp8220President Obama was briefing heramp160on the Iran deal so it wasamp160life imitating art and art imitating life as we stood down waiting for her to finish that much more important callamp8221While McCreary continues to orchestrate similar accomplishments on Madam Secretary she also helps to oversee the National Geographic franchise The Story of God with Morgan Freeman which just began its third season amp160McCreary and Freeman cofounded Revelations Entertainment where Freeman is President and McCreary CEOMcCreary and I were dinner mates last year at an industry gathering with Freeman between us amp160A friendly womanamp160who laughs easily she recently reflected on her career trajectory and the obstacles she hasamp160overcome and offered advice in a wideranging interview with MediaVillageamp160 What follows is an edited version of that conversationJackie Cutler amp160How do you define the job of a producerLori McCreary amp160The producer is the captain of the ship in charge of between 100 and 500 people at once amp160We are in charge of the vision and making sure that everyone knows the direction we are goingJackie amp160How did you go from a UCLA computer science major to Hollywood producerLori amp160I grew up doing theater amp160From age eight I did probably six shows a year amp160When I was 14 I thought I would own a theater and put on musicals and shows amp160I love the house lights coming down and an audience coming in amp160I grew up in Antioch 45 minutes from San Francisco and our city council had a grant to develop a theater amp160By the time I was in high school I was the tech director of that little theater amp160I was sent to Ithaca College to learn how to run a lighting board amp160One day I was doing a play and the computerized lighting board did not work amp160It was one of those kismet things and I thought I better learn the computer thing and that39s how I studied computer science at UCLAJackie amp160Producing has long been a menamp8217s club amp160What was an overt example of sexism you encounteredLori amp160Back in 2005 Morgan and I started ClickStaramp160 It was channelized content streamed over the Internet amp160This was before anyone was doing online movies amp160We were pitching this and I was at big meetings with a lot of different people amp160At one of those I walked in with my thenassistant a young man amp160The chairman of the board walked over to him and introduced himself amp160My assistant said amp8216Hi this is my boss Lori McCrearyamp8217 amp160There was an assumption that whoever I was the male was the person the chairman needed to greet amp160This is a small thing but I see it as a good example because of the expectations amp160You can dash the expectation so quickly when you are the person walking in with the goodsJackie amp160How did you break throughLori amp160Producing is one of the professions one of the jobs where you donamp8217t have to wait for someone to hire you amp160A director is hired an actor is hired the crew is hired but a producer produces amp160We generate projects from nothing or from a book amp160The benefit for me is I did not have to ask for permission to be a producer amp160I just started producingJackie amp160Did you have a mentorLori amp160Fortunately for me it was on my first movie amp160Sherry Lansing the first woman to run a Hollywood studio generously agreed to do Bopha with Danny Glover and Alfre Woodard amp160Thatamp8217s where I met Morgan I hired him to direct amp160I asked Sherry if I could please call her every other month amp160I didnamp8217t want her to think I needed a lot of time amp160I wanted to be able to call someone and she was lovely and was very generous with her time and always picked up the phoneJackie amp160Do you mentor anyoneLori amp160I do The Producers Guild McCreary is on its board has a great mentorship program amp160Some time back I asked to form a group amp8220Breakfast with Loriamp8221 amp160Many of the questions my mentees were asking were very similar amp160When I started groups of potential producers I found a couple of things One everyone learned from each other and two they started teaming upJackie amp160Whatamp8217s your advice for women starting in the businessLori amp160We have so many great and important stories left to tell that I would encourage them amp160This is one of the most exciting times since I have been in it amp160People are looking for diverse voices and female and other gendersamp8217 points of view that 20 years ago werenamp8217t even a discussion amp160People now ask amp8216whyamp8217 if there are no prominent women in a story amp160If anyone reading this has the idea they would like to be a producer you don39t need permission just do itClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160

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Lori McCreary On Becoming a Producer: “You Don’t Need Permission. Just Do It”

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Jacqueline Cutler

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Lori McCreary On Becoming a Producer: “You Don’t Need Permission. Just Do It”

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