Meet Mynette Louie, a New York-based independent film producer. She produced Tze Chun’s award-winning CHILDREN OF INVENTION, which premiered at Sundance 2009, played over 45 film festivals, and won 16 festival awards. She co-produced Andrew Bujalski’s MUTUAL APPRECIATION, which was named one of the top ten films of 2006 by Entertainment Weekly, Film Comment, the Village Voice, Artforum, Greencine, and The Onion’s AV Club, among others. Mynette also produced several award-winning narrative short films by minority and women directors that have screened at film festivals worldwide.
Currently, Mynette is in post-production on P. Benoit’s UNTITLED HAITI PROJECT, a Sundance Lab project starring Edwidge Danticat. Additionally, she is developing several narrative features, including Eric Lin’s WHY WE PULL THE TRIGGER, Rory Kelly’s THE END OF SOMETHING, and Tze Chun’s YOU’RE A BIG GIRL NOW, with which she was selected for the 2009 Sundance Creative Producing Lab and Fellowship. Mynette was also selected as a fellow of the 2008 Rotterdam Producers Lab and as a participant of the 2010 Berlinale Talent Campus.
Mynette is on the Selection Advisory Committee of the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program, and along with Tze Chun, was named in Ted Hope’s list of “21 Brave Thinkers Of Truly Free Film” for their hybrid distribution strategy for CHILDREN OF INVENTION.
Previously, Mynette served as Economic Development Specialist at the Hawaii Film Office, where she authored the state’s 15-20% refundable production tax credit, oversaw the $7.3 million renovation of the state-owned film studio, and developed programs to foster local independent filmmaking.
A native New Yorker, Mynette graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University with a B.A. in East Asian Studies, focusing on Chinese film and literature.
SUSTAINING THE MUSE
A Producing Questionnaire
- Please name all the “hats” you wear as a creative producer.
Enabler, problem solver, firefighter, den mother, leader, executor, enforcer, mediator, negotiator, therapist, researcher, analyst, strategist, editor, critic, accountant, drill sergeant, cheerleader, networker, spin doctor, juggler, babysitter, sanitation worker, etc. etc. And these days, distributor.
- List all of the jobs you’ve held before or while pursuing a career in producing.
- Associate Marketing Manager, TIME Magazine
- Book Critic and Editor, aMagazine: Inside Asian America
- Research Associate, E-Commerce & Web Technologies, Jupiter Research
- Film industry positions other than producer: production assistant, production coordinator, line producer, first assistant director, art department coordinator
- Economic Development Specialist, Hawaii Film Office
- Business Development Manager, SportsIllustrated.com
- Do you have a Big Dream or career goal as a producer? What inspires you to do what you do?
My dream is simply to keep making good, thoughtful movies without starving. Because of changes in technology and consumer behavior, and the collapse of the economy, the old models of independent film financing and distribution don’t work anymore. Producers have to squeeze down budgets more than ever now, making it difficult for filmmakers and film workers to earn a living making movies. It’s important for me to try to use film as a medium not just to entertain, but to move, provoke thought, and inspire social change. I want to tell stories that are marginalized by the mainstream media, but in ways that don’t bore or alienate audiences.
- Please name five essential skills and/or traits a creative producer needs to sustain a career.
(in alphabetical order)
- Chutzpah
- Empathy
- Leadership
- Persistence
- Taste
- Name a movie, or several, that you wish you had produced. And/or, producer(s) you admire (living or passed on).
There are too many films I wish I had produced! To name a few, Paper Moon, Nights of Cabiria, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Chan is Missing, The Sixth Sense, Marie Antoinette, Raise the Red Lantern, Gerry, Blue Valentine, The Up Series, Pride & Prejudice (the BBC ’95 version), and on and on. As for producers, I admire and have personally learned from Paul Mezey, Jeremy Kipp Walker, Ron Yerxa, Ted Hope, Anne Carey, Mary Jane Skalski, Lynette Howell, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Karin Chien, and Anish Savjani. I also admire the careers of Christine Vachon, James Schamus, Peter Saraf, Anthony Bregman, and Scott Rudin.
- How do you define success for yourself?
Ending up with a body of films that I can be proud of having produced and being able to sustain a living just by making the films I want to make.
- What’s your motto when it comes to raising money for your project(s)?
Don’t stop believin’.
- How long did it take to support yourself as a producer?
This is an ongoing struggle, more so now than ever since the film industry and economy took a nosedive. If people don’t know by now that independent film producing is no Shangri-La of financial stability, they need to know that! I didn’t enter the film industry until 2003, working in various physical production positions and moving quickly to producing (basically my first film gig was PA-ing for 3 days on an NYU short, and my second gig was producing another NYU short). After a year of getting my feet wet in producing, I ended up taking a full-time job at the Hawaii Film Office, where I did stuff related to film–like tax credits and policies to support the film industry–but not production. After 3 years of this, I moved back to New York in 2007 to pick up where I left off.
- Who do you turn to when you need a pep talk?
My longtime boyfriend and fellow producers.
- If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My workaholism. Producing is so all-consuming that it’s easy to get obsessed with work, and I often do, neglecting my family, my friends, and even myself.
Shameless plug!! We love them! Please support Mynette’s film and read on.
From Mynette:
Tze Chun’s CHILDREN OF INVENTION, a film I produced that premiered at Sundance 2009, won 16 festival awards, and was released in 8 cities launches on cable VOD today, June 4! To check your local listings, please visit http://childrenofinvention.com/screenings.htm. We’re also coming to theaters in New Orleans and Gainesville, FL on June 11. Finally, we’ve just lowered the price of our DVD! You can purchase it now at http://shop.indieblitz.com/childrenofinvention Also, consider making a tax-deductible donation toward the research and development of a new feature I’m producing, also by Tze Chun, called YOU’RE A BIG GIRL NOW: http://syncopatedfilms.com/biggirldonate.htm
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Thanks for the inspiration! I won’t stop believin’.