MARK WOLPER...PRODUCER.

 Mark Wolper recently returned to Los Angeles from Melbourne, Australia, where he spent seven months as executive producer on 'Evil Never Dies' and the remake of 'Salem's Lot'. He has also worked as an executive producer on mini series such as 'The Mists of Avalon', 'To Serve and Protect' and 'A Will of their Own'. AUSUS Magazine spoke to Mark about the various classifications of producers, shooting in Australia, and the remaking of 'Salem's Lot'.

 Q: Where do you come from Mark?

 I was born in Santa Monica, California, and raised in Greece. My mother and father had gotten divorced and my mother married a Greek so her and us three kids all migrated there. I was there for twelve years and then moved back to the U.S.A. to go to college. I've been here now since 1979.

 Q: What did you do before you became a producer?

 I went to college here at the University of Southern California (USC) and while studying film, taking night classes, I was working during the day as a runner, production assistant, any job I could get in the business, because I figured I didn't want to graduate after four years and be starting out new making contacts. I wanted to be making contacts while I was going to school.

 Q: What was your first job as a producer?

My first producing job was on a show called 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', which was previously a play and a book. I was the associate producer. I was actually the location manager but the producer got fired because the executive producer happened to be so angry with him that one day, right in the middle of the cameras rolling, he walked up to him directly in front of the cameras and the actors and said '...goddamit, you're fired!' And then he said '...from now on'...and he looked around and then he pointed at me...'from now on you're the producer'. That's how I got my first producing job. It actually wasn't as haphazard as that. I found out later that he'd already decided he wanted me to be the producer. He wasn't looking around to pick someone out. He was looking around to find me. So that was my first producing job and then I worked for many years as an independent producer. Later, about twenty years ago, I did a project for Warner Brothers. It was the Betty Ford story. The movie got an Emmy award nomination for best film and Gena Rowland's won best actress. My first film for Warner Brothers did so well I figured I'd stay here. Q: You also worked on 'The Thorn Birds'? I did. I was the associate producer on that. The first Thorn Birds shot in the U.S., in Simi Valley and also in Hawaii. The second one was called 'The Missing Years'. When we did the original we didn't do the whole book, we only did three quarters of it. So about eight years later we went back and did the rest. The first one was a twelve hour mini series with Rachel Ward, Bryan Brown and Richard Chamberlain. It was the show that Bryan and Rachel met on and started having an affair. The second one was a six hour mini series. Rachel didn't want to come back so we used another actress, Amanda Donohue, to play that role. It was shot in 1995.

Q: Can you clarify what a producer does?

A pretty simple way to describe it is that a producers job is to do whatever is necessary to get the show financed, made, sold and successful. Whatever it takes. That's why there's so many producer titles. Because it often takes many, many people to get that process to happen. In the television world the executive producer or show runner is the king. In the feature film world, the theatrical world, the guy who's called just 'producer' is king. Why it ended up that the two mediums kind of got the words different I don't know. But the producer in features is exactly the same as the executive producer in TV.

Q: What about other levels of 'producers'?

 The line producer is in charge of the production period. Then, in both TV and film, there's the associate producer who's usually responsible for the whole post production period. Also, often in feature films there's the executive producer who's usually the person who got the rights, or got the book or the script, but couldn't quite get it made because he wasn't powerful enough. He's in charge of pre production and getting it sold. The producer oversees all these people...in film. Finally, in film, there is also the producer who is either the guy who found the property and, or, will help to get the property sold.

Q: Why are so many films shooting in Australia these days?

 The reason it was happening in Australia, and unfortunately that's about to change a little, is because the exchange rate is so good. When I went to Australia my money was basically doubled. Unfortunately, while I was in Melbourne the exchange rate lessened for us as a result of the war. The primary reasons I, or any producer will shoot in another country is one, a good exchange rate, and two, the quality and depth of the crews that exist there. By the depth I mean that if there are five really good crews in Australia, but there are already seven movies shooting there, then you don't want to go there because the good crews are probably already being used. That's why a lot of filming goes on in Canada, which probably has forty good crews and a good exchange rate. So it can be easier to go to Canada. But it's almost better now to shoot in the U.S. Another factor, however, is that Americans like going to Australia. If I say to an important director or actor that we're going to go and shoot in Bulgaria, they say '...oh, I don't know'. But if I tell them we're going to the Gold Coast they're much more likely to accept. So it's also easier for us to get people there. And there's a very good talent pool there too. If I go shoot in Bulgaria I've got to bring in a lot more of the cast, put them up, pay per diems and so on. But in Australia I don't have to do that.

 Q: Is there a law regarding the percentage of Australian actors you have to use?

 Australia has a very soft policy on this. However, there are certain tax breaks and funds that are available to us. And each one of these 'deals' does have certain requirements. If I have all my money and I don't need any money from Australia I can bring as many people as I want. But if I want to access some of those funds then I need to meet those requirements.

 Q: What was the ratio of Australian to American actors in 'Salem's Lot'?

 Well in 'Salem's Lot' I brought seven actors over from the U.S. and we hired about sixty five to seventy locals. Some of them were pretty big parts, maybe about ten or so.

 Q: How involved do you get in the casting process?

Pretty involved. In the TV business the producer is very involved. In the feature business he's less involved, the director does more of it. TV is a producers medium and film is a director's medium. I go to the call backs. We shot 'Salem's Lot' in Melbourne but as many of the actor's were in Sydney we'd look at tape on them and then if we liked the tape we'd fly them down for a face to face. We used Maura Fay casting in Melbourne.

 Q: What did you like about the Australian actors?

 The Australian actors were great. They've all gotten to a point now where they can use the American accent. Even the young kids are good at it because they've all seen so much American TV now they know how to do it. The hardest thing, actually, is the older, established actors. They don't seem to be as willing or as able to do it. Sometimes we'll have to bring someone in from the U.S. to play those older character parts.

 Q: Is there a dialect coach on set?

Yes. But sometimes we'll still have to re voice them later in post. We have a coach on set every single day. Any time there was an Australian actor, even if they were good at the accent, we'd have a coach tracking every single word.

 Q: Why did you remake 'Salem's Lot'?

 Well Stephen King always does very, very well...always. I was looking at titles of his. In particular I was looking at Stephen King's that were made a long time ago and were really bad and 'Salem's Lot' fell into that category. Actually not that it was really bad. It was quite successful when it came out, but it's become really dated. So I said let's do an updated version of it because it was done so long ago. Any time ten or fifteen years passes on a show you can try making it again because the audience has all sort of grown up and moved on. I don't know why people give producers and director's and studios grief for remaking films. It's a re-interpretation. What would happen if 'My Fair Lady' or 'Cats' or 'The King and I' were only made once. In theater you bring it back to life again with new nuances, new changes, new actors and a new way of approaching it. Why is that so acceptable in theater but whenever it's done in film you get criticized. It's an opportunity for a director to re invent a property again.

 Q: Where in Melbourne did you shoot 'Salem's Lot'?

All over. A lot on the outskirts. We were trying to make it look like New England. Primarily we shot on some stages in St.Albans, an old ice cream factory we had converted for the shoot.

Q: So what's next?

I just started on a new production called 'Helter Skelter', about Charles Manson. That's all shooting here in LA. I Might go to Australia next on a big mini series for NBC called 'The Witching Hour'.

Q: So if you were to look back on your career at age seventy five what would you want people to say about it?