Edward Pressman: ‘Ahead of the Wave’

Films that trace their roots to independent producers may outnumber those from the major studios when Academy Award best movie nominations are announced Wednesday morning.

“The Player,” “Howards End,” “A Few Good Men,” “The Crying Game” and “Unforgiven” came from independent producers, best defined as companies that operate either totally outside of the studios or those whose financing isn’t entirely studio-based.

The Academy Awards could turn into a testimonial for independence.

This would be no surprise for producer Edward R. Pressman, the virtual dean of American independent producers. He’s been at it for 24 years with 40 movies carrying his imprint, last year alone with “Hoffa,” “Bad Lieutenant” and “Storyville.”

Educated at Stanford and the London School of Economics, Pressman has backed several directorial debuts: Oliver Stone with “The Hand” (later producing “Wall Street” and “Talk Radio” with him), Terrence Malick with “Badlands,” David Byrne with “True S t ories,” even Sylvester Stallone with “Paradise Alley.” Brian De Palma’s first commercial hit was “Sisters” for Pressman, who also produced the first Taviani brothers’ English-language film, “Good Morning, Babylon,” and Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “Despair.”

As a veteran independe n t producer, Pressman has one other distinction: Museums and film societies, accustomed to honoring directors and actors, give his films retrospective showings. He was interviewed in his Beverly Hills office.

Question: A writer once described you as “stealing the spotlight from the studios” because of the quantity and quality of your movies. Accurate?

Answer: Literary license. We’re independent but we’re in business with the studios in a significant way. But today’s American independent film movement is a truly amazing development. There’s a flourishing of independents and the studios are becoming like record companies working label deals with them. The percentage of movies that go through the majors is probably as high as it was during the golden age of the Hollywood system. The difference, though, is that earlier there were primarily the Goldwyns and the Selznicks as independents but now there is a constellation of independent companies providing probably three-fourths of commercial movies.

Q: Your films seem to come from a mixed menu. How do you define them?

A: They break into three broad groups:

One, pop fantasy like Brian De Palma’s “Phantom of Paradise” or “Conan the Barbarian” or “The Crow,” which just started filming, and the upcoming major studio, big-budget project, “Judge Dredd,” which is based on a cartoon character.

Two, sophisticated, urban films like “Wall Street,” “Reversal of Fortune” and “Hoffa.”

Three, films without any studio involvement like “Bad Lieutenant,” “Talk Radio.”

Q: In your last two released movies, “Hoffa” and “Bad Lieutenant,” and in your scheduled spring release, “Dream Lover,” there are as many producers in each as stars. Why this epidemic of producer credits?

A: The credit is a medium of exchange for independent filmmakers. My job is to get films made and to achieve the filmmaker’s vision. The credit can be a useful tool, reflecting all kinds of contributions from rights to investment.

Q: “Hoffa” had half a dozen producers, including you and your company. Why?

A: My role was to find the financing and put the package together. Joe Isgro (executive producer) earlier had the rights to the Robin Moore screenplay, which I had acquired. Those rights became the basis of our deal with Fox, but the script didn’t become the movie. When David Mamet wrote our script he had his own idea of what the movie should be.

(Danny) DeVito asked for (and got) producer credit after we were well into production. He did much more than direct and co-star. He invested in the movie and helped get it made. Another producer was Caldecot Chubb who was working for me and gave the pitch at Fox that defined the deal. It was an award. I can’t pay what the studios pay. I’ve always had to do it this way, using little bits of money from lots of people.

Q: Do you finance your films yourself?

A: We develop our own films. We now have a partner, the Japanese company Ascii, which invested $15 million for a one-third position. In the past we did three or four independent films each year and one movie like “Wall Street” or “Reversal of Fortune” or “Conan” with a studio or through studio distribution. Now we’re changing the ratio. The majority will be studio-connected films, as “Hoffa” was. But we’ll always make truly independent films each year. I remain very much writer-and director-driven.

Q: Beyond the money, how are you involved in your films?

A: It’s always different. When Oliver Stone made “The Hand” I was very much on the scene and not as much when he made “Talk Radio” and “Wall Street.” “Bad Lieutenant” was very integrated with all parties. That’s the way Abel Ferrara, the director, works. With “Dream Lover,” our next release, the first-time director, Nicholas Kazan, worked with Alon Dershowitz of our firm. With “The Crow,” which is shooting, I will be much more involved.

Q: In 24 years of filmmaking, how has the business changed?

A: When I started there were only seven institutional sources for financing the distribution of a movie, the major studios. There was no video money, no independent distributors like Miramax. When we made our first picture, “Out of It” in 1969 with Paul Williams, it was almost unheard of to sell an independent movie to a studio. When we sold “Badlands” for $1 million and “Phantom of Paradise” for $2.5 million they were unprecedented deals. Now there are many companies because of cable, video and, more recently, international companies that will help finance a movie.

It’s easier today but we’re taking greater risks with bigger budgets. It’s still a tough game no matter how many times you’ve done it. Take “The Crow.” A few months ago we were in pre-production, constructing sets, the actors were set and on payroll and our foreign investor quits, gets out of the film business. We’re still putting the pieces together. Once I’m in I have to finish my movies. We’re not like a studio that can throw away $3 million because someone doesn’t like the first day’s dailies.

Q: Have you ever aborted a movie?

A: No.

Q: Do you think an independent can become a major studio?

A: Not likely. My models have been Selznick and Goldwyn who built companies in alliance with studios. They were independent but connected with a studio. Their idea to make films of quality and to have some ownership in those films is the basis of the Goldwyn company today and the Selznick library is still a foundation for the Turner enterprises.

Q: What’s in your production pipeline?

A: A dozen films, of which we plan to make three to five this year. There are the big action studio films like the remake of “Capt. Blood” and the new “Judge Dredd” and “City Hall,” a film about big-city politics. There’s a studio film we’ll do with Amy Heckerling, a comedy called “Rat Race,” also an independent production, “Shango,” with Zoetrope and directed by David Byrne.

Q: Where do most independents find backers?

A: It’s constantly changing. The independent has to be agile and ahead of the wave. When I started, I borrowed and sold shares like a Broadway show and used my credit card. At another point when we produced “Das Boot,” German tax shelters were being used. Then American tax shelters were tried. Then came HBO and Showtime as participants in financing. Now it’s the international media-buying companies, overseas television networks and distributors. There are always new participants. The independent has to adapt.