KELLEY SMITH WAIT : EXECUTIVE PRODUCING BETWEEN THE US AND AUSTRALIA 

Kelley Smith Wait is an executive producer with Mosaic Media. Her producing credits include both Scooby Doo films, ‘Three Kings’, ‘City of Angels’, ‘Fallen’, ‘Twelve Monkeys’, ‘Angus’, ‘Man’s Best Friend’ and ‘Bulletproof Monk’. AUSUS Magazine spoke to Kelley about shooting in Australia, her career to date and what she likes about executive producing.

Q: How did you become a producer?

I majored in broadcasting in school and I always wanted to be behind the camera. I never wanted to be in front of the camera. There was a television show here called ‘The Mary Tyler Moore’ show and she was in the news. So growing up I always wanted to be Mary Tyler Moore and wanted to produce the news. Doing that, however, involves a lot of writing and I’m not a very strong writer. I really liked television so I decided I’d like to produce it. Right out of college I moved to Los Angeles and found it very difficult to get a job. There’s a lot of nepotism and ‘who you know’ so when you don’t know anyone it’s really hard. I went through a series of probably ten jobs in ten months and you hear all those horror stories of people that don’t pay you and so on. I experienced all of that. I worked for a guy who wrote a book who said he was producing it who paid me a hundred dollars a week. I worked for another guy who said he was making a film in the hopes that the movie would go forward and I would gain experience. He paid me four dollars an hour. Neither film ever got made.Eventually a friend of mine told me about a producer named Chuck Roven who was producing a movie that had Christopher Penn and Lori Singer. So I thought wow, a real movie and a real job. I met with Chuck and that was seventeen and a half years ago.

Q: What is it like working with him?

It’s great. He’s a really, really smart man. I’ve learned a lot. We were a very small company back then. He gave me the freedom to learn about a lot of different areas. I got really involved in the legal area, learning and understanding how contracts work, learning how deals were made. We were in development and I watched how he’d develop various ideas and set them up with the studios. I’d been with him about a year and a half when we went to Canada to produce a film. It was a disaster. They ended up shutting us down after a day. In any event when I came back I realised that I really liked the idea of production. So we talked about me getting more involved in the physical production. I began learning about various DP’s and designers and how movies were made and so Chuck promoted me into the physical production range.

Q: Then you worked on a film that was shot in Australia?

Yes. I supervised production on the first movie we did in Australia which was called ‘The Blood of Heroes’. I was the US co-ordinator and post production supervisor when it came back. From there on every movie I’ve done a little bit more. Always from the physical aspect. Hiring of the line producers and the DP’s. Finding the costume designers and the set designers. Giving ideas and suggestions and working with directors on who they want. Management. How the movie is shot, scheduled, budgeted. I also do all the legal affairs work.

Q: How many movies have you produced since being here?

Twelve. Each movie, although there’s a lot of similarities, is different. From each movie you learn something new. I’m the kind of person that although it’s the studios money, the financiers money, I treat it as though it’s my money. But at the same time it’s all about making the best movie you can.

Q:  Do you collaborate with the major studios?

Yes. For example with Warner Bros. We’ve done ‘Fallen’ and ‘City of Angels’ and two Scooby Doo’s and ‘Three Kings’ so we’ve done five movies with them. We actually looked into going to Australia for ‘Three Kings’ but the locations weren’t suitable.

Q: What is the current status of the independent production companies here in LA?

I think that a lot of independent production companies are struggling. You see them come and go. Unfortunately nothing is shot here in LA. I wish more production was shot here but we haven’t done anything here since ‘City of Angels’. Eventually I just want to produce produce. Storylines take projects out of LA but it’s mostly economic. The reason we went to Australia was because of it’s financial viability. Canada is also a cheaper place to shoot. It’s really expensive to shoot in LA. That’s part of the reason it’s difficult for the independents to survive.

Q: Back to ‘The Blood of Heroes’ for a minute. When did you shoot that film?

We shot it in 1988. In Sydney and Coober Pedy. With Vincent D’Onofrio, Delroy Lindo, Joan Chen and Rutger Hauer. I remember when we went to Coober Pedy it rained. Of course it never rains there but when we were there it rained. We were supposed to be there three weeks but it became four. It was funny because they had a power outage there and I remember waking up one morning at three a.m. and I couldn’t see. Even putting my hand in front of my face I couldn’t see anything. I went to the window and I still couldn’t see anything. I remember thinking ‘…oh my god. I’m blind!’ The next day on set I found that other people had experienced the exact same reaction. I also remember that fine red dust they have which caused us a lot of problems by getting into the equipment. We also spent two months in Sydney. We used an old cigarette factory as our stage and the cafeteria was our production offices. The only Americans down there were myself, the director and the four main actors. Chuck was only there periodically.

Q: Which casting director did you use for ‘Scooby Doo’?

We hired a woman named Maura Fay who traveled back and forth between Sydney and Queensland. We’d used a different casting director for ‘The Blood of Heroes’ but she wasn’t available. Maura took care of all the Australian casting. She also brought Isla Fisher, Shaggy’s love interest to our attention. We flew her here to read with Matthew Lillard. Our US casting director brought us our American leads.

Q: Did you use any of the crew you’d worked with previously?

 We used the same DP, David Eggby, the same script supervisor, key grip and so on. It was actually difficult to use all the same people because many of them had become involved with the Matrix sequels and ‘Kangaroo Jack’. Other people too were still tied up with ‘Queen of the Damned’ and in New Zealand with the Lord of the Rings series. Disney was also shooting a family movie on the Gold Coast.

Q; How involved do you get in the casting sessions?

I don’t other than trying to find the right casting director. The producers do. For ‘Scooby Doo’  Richard Suckle was at the casting sessions and Chuck  reviewed the tapes. The studio also has a say. You end up sending them tapes of who your selects are.

Q: Do you know of any productions heading to Australia in the near future?

I know Warner Bros. is talking about taking another project there. They have a lot of tie in with the Australian studios. Village Roadshow Australia is one of their partners.

Q: Why was ‘Scooby Doo 2’ shot in Canada, not Australia?

The primary reason we didn’t go to Australia was that the director’s family was here at the time. They also couldn’t guarantee us a stage space. ‘Peter Pan’ was still down there and Matrix still had the Sydney stages  so we were having a hard time finding anywhere to shoot. It was a shame because technically they’re up to par with anybody and there are tax incentives to shoot there. The weather is also good. Part of my job is finding where you can get the best value for your dollar and I think everybody always explores Australia.

Q: What are the tax incentives offered in Australia?

It keeps changing and it’s different with each state. Queensland offers certain labor credits that we were able to get. And there is the country one where, depending how much of your film is shot there, you can apply for a rebate on how much money you spend down there. And it varies from year to year on the rates and what actually qualifies. It’s usually around five and a half to seven percent. We shot ‘Scooby Doo’ for around eighty million and the dollar was around fifty three so with rebates it worked out very well for us.

Q: What type of movies do you like and enjoy making?

As a consumer of movies I have a pretty wide variety of things that I like. I like action movies, tear jerkers, art films, I like interesting films where they’re willing to take some risks. ‘Scooby Doo’ is a family genre but we went to the extreme of trying to make it cartoon like and so it was very colorful and very fun and that’s what I enjoyed about that. And with ‘Three Kings’, which I think is one of the best movies that we made. We really pushed the envelope on the look we wanted and the story we were telling. All the way through I was a little unsure about it working but it came out brilliantly. And with ‘City of Angels' I liked it's message, the beauty of it. I’m not a big foreign film fan. We’ve done a couple of those that haven’t done well. I’ve never done a broad comedy. I’d like to try that but I think it would be really hard. I’d also like to work on a film that requires a lot of special effects. But ultimately I think it’s about the story. And honestly I think what happens is that even if I read a script and don’t necessarily love it, once I start becoming involved with the whole making of the film, you know, the art department, the director and so on, I get sucked into this vortex and it becomes the greatest story ever told. That’s what I love about movie making, working with the people. The below the line people especially. They’re just normal people doing a job. I like the creativity and the problem solving. All working together to make the best product that you can.

Q: How many projects do you work on at the one time?

For every movie that is being made there’s probably twenty to thirty other projects being developed at the same time. Hoping they’ll go forward. In my job I’m fortunate enough to go through the entire process. From ‘…okay, here’s the script. How do we make it’ to the very end sitting in the theatre seeing if the sound is good, and they start making the release print. That’s what’s great about my job.

Q: How do you want your career to have looked when you’re done?

I would eventually like to be a producer producer. I’d like to find a piece of material that I’m really passionate about and make a really good simple movie. One that’s about the characters and the story. To be really proud of it. Something that brings a lot of value to people. Something that one day my kids can enjoy. I’ve done the executive producer and the associate and the co producer but it’s still a goal to have the movie say ‘produced by’. I want the film to be a slice of life.

Q: Are there any movies that you’ve seen that might fit that category?

There’s a lot of movies I go to and think that I’d like to have been a part of. I had a friend who just did that movie ‘Thirteen’. It was hard to watch, especially having a daughter, but I think she did an amazing job. That was a little darker than I’d like to do but it was still incredible. ‘Seabiscuit’ is another example. Who wouldn’t want to have their name on that? But I’m also very proud to have my name on some of our films.