Occhi had the opportunity to sit down with internationally recognized producer, Zachary Weckstein. He is the founder of Pearl Pictures Productions. His combined approach of American and European filmmaking has birthed the riveting 2020 thriller, The Host. Our sit down revealed an intriguing process in producing a modern-day film.
I’m always curious about the early process of bringing a story to the big screen. What attracted you to this script?
I was like any new filmmaker trying to make it in the film industry, trying to build my stairs to becoming a film producer. A person came up to me with an idea, a very rough idea of a script in mind. Once I heard it, my brain “clicked” and I took it. The initial idea needed a complete redraft, but I liked the idea of taking an old familiar tale and modernizing it for the 21st century, and I knew I could present this to an audience as well as investors. Because it was my first feature film, and I was looking to bring in all independent investors, I knew it would be more feasible to create a film that was under a million euros and work to create a much higher production value. With my way of producing and increasing value without increasing the budget, this gave the filmmakers the chance to create a cinematic look and release. We brought on scriptwriters to create the dialogue, and of course, the cinematographer and director that went on to create the look of things. I was able to increase the production through the actors, cars, locations throughout London and Amsterdam, etc.. If you haven’t produced before and you have the beginnings of a production company, all film finance subsidies aren’t able to help you. So, the whole film was dependent on me getting independent investors to believe in the film and the story. Additionally, thriller crime mysteries are at the moment, popular with audiences globally as well as a profitable genre making this appealing to investors. Films must have different elements of excitement that people like to see and feel as well as providing a return on investment. Investors are only interested in a return, and you can tell them all of the amazing parts of the filmmaking process, but at the end of the day, part of your job as a producer is to look at the financial side of things.
I really enjoyed The Host. The film will absolutely challenge the audience’s expectations, with quite a few twists. How did you choose the director?
I was in discussions with several directors and wanted a director who could take the Vera character and do her justice. With the film’s female lead character who suffers from an abusive parent, I was looking for a director that was able to be sympathetic to her role. I brought on Oona Menges the cinematographer in the meantime as she is a good match with my philosophy of film production. As it’s so important for the director and cinematographer to have good collaboration and communication, I spoke with Oona about directors that she worked with in the past and knew. I decided on after a few meetings, Andy Newbery.
How hands-on were you?
I was but at the same time, I 100% believe in giving creative control to all heads of department and the people that work in them. The biggest thing was that I was there as more of a helping hand. A lot of the departments, because we were on such a small budget, they needed help. I told Oona that I didn’t want her to think about this film as a low budget film. Although we couldn’t see it as if we had all the money in the world, I wanted her to look at the story locations that we have and just go and give me your Christmas list. That’s what she did and that’s what she got. She got everything that she asked for.
What’s next for you?
Next big project, well I just finished producing The Host and it was released in North America on the 17th of January, with the release in the U.K. on the 17th of April. So for me, I’m concentrating on that, as well as at the moment I have a pile of scripts and deciding what’s going to be the best fit for the coming years. I am finalizing this at the moment, as well as concentrating on the marketing of The Host and the rest of its worldwide release.
Image: Zachary Weckstein with Actor Jeroen Krabbé (Courtesy of Zachary Weckstein)
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