Carol Baum has produced thirty-four movies, seventeen of them independently. Before becoming an independent producer, Baum was co-president of Sandollar Productions, Dolly Parton and Sandy Gallin’s production company, for ten years, where she produced such hits as Father of the Bride; the Academy Award-winning HBO documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt; Tidy Endings; I.Q.; Jacknife; True Identity; Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Gross Anatomy; Shining Through; Straight Talk; and Kicking and Screaming. As an indie producer, Baum made, among other movies, The Good Girl; My First Mister; $5 A Day; You Kill Me; and Boychoir. She has produced five television movies for Hallmark and several documentaries. 

Baum currently teaches producing in the Film and Television Production Division at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. She is also a mentor for the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The lesson she learned working at her first job at Bantam Books which led to the purchase and development of the autobiography of Malcolm X

• Being an advocate for the material and develop your taste

• Getting pregnant and working freelance for awhile

• Her 5 years at Palomar Pictures working on projects like The Stepford Wives and then moving to LA with her husband and becoming the studio VP at Lorimar

• Becoming known for developing “The Shining” at the Producer’s Circle

• Being a VP at 20th Century Fox and what she sees as the difference between a producer and an Executive

• Working at Dolly Parton’s company Sandollar

• How The Fountainhead made her love the business and why she thinks its important for young producers to watch movies from the 40s and 50s

• Launching the careers of David O. Russell and Mike White

• The story of developing with Father of the Bride and getting the rights from Ted Turner, the invention of Martin Short’s character, and how Jack Nicholson was thrown as a possibility for Steve Martin’s role

• Developing multiple projects as a producer and how it’s all about timing. She said that if David Cronenberg hadn’t had success with The Fly, he wouldn’t have been able to do Dead Ringers.

• Her recommendations for writers on what is commercially viable right now

• Carol’s explanation for spec scripts for films

• Her recommendation for writers on how to get an agent

Guest:

IMDb Wikipedia Website

Buy her book!

Host:

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If you like this episode, check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠Excerpt from ⁠⁠⁠Creative Producing: a Pitch-to-Picture Guide to Movie Development⁠⁠⁠⁠ by Carol Baum

The Do’s and Don’ts of PITCHING YOUR FILM with Hollywood Producer Carol Baum

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