Bob Degus – DIRECTOR/PRODUCER

Well, it is entirely accurate to say I was “born” into the “film” business. 

...while majoring in photography in college, I happened by chance one morning to see, for the first time, Louise Brooks, in GW Pabst’s 1928 film Pandora’s Box. 

And it was at that moment that I put my two passions of theater and photography together.  Theater, plus photography equals movies.  Revelatory. 

Or did I just really just become enraptured with Louise, this intoxicating older woman of 21?  Older woman of 21 . . .

Hmmm. . . Louise is now the younger woman of 21. 

Anyway.  All true. Take your pick. 

Years later, after coming to Los Angeles with no money and no car, and knowing no-one except the girl I was dating, I find myself the producer of two Oscar nominated short films, a two-time Cable-Ace Award nominee and an Indie Spirit, Golden Satellite nominee. My films have been screened at Sundance, Toronto, Austin, Boston, and AFI Film Festivals.

I started from the ground up and have, at one point or another, done almost every job in filmmaking; including writer, director, cinematographer, editor, post-production supervisor, Oxberry-animation cameraman, and most importantly, caterer.

Okay.  I’ve never worked in the wardrobe department, (huh? clothes?) and the only time I’ve ever questioned if I really had “what it took” to make it in movies was after a 24-hour stint in the art department as an Art PA. 

Well, that wasn’t the only time I questioned... 

Of everything I have done I am most proud of my directing debut on the independent feature, 9/Tenths, starring Gabrielle Anwar, Henry Ian Cusick and Dave Baez.  I grew so much on that film.  My goal was to be a true actor’s director by placing my trust fully in the actors I had hired, helping them believe fully in themselves, and creating a space where it was safe to experiment, explore and share.  It was about the actors. ~ Yes, everything else mattered too. ~ But it was about the actors and what they needed to give real and intense performances.

It is a privilege to get to direct a group of actors and I feel fortunate for that experience on 9/tenths.  Any individual ever walking on a film set should be required to read Judith Weston’s utterly brilliant book “Directing Actors” for a first hand understanding of what it IS that actors actually do.

I also directed and edited a 35mm short film, Another Round. The story of a waitress on Valentine's Day trying to fugure out whether to break up with her boyfriend by fantasizing about the private lives of the customers she waits on.

The film received an award at the Houston Film Festival, was invited to screen at the Los Angeles AFI International Film Festival where it was purchased by Showtime for airing on their network.

Filmmaking’s hard work.  To say, I’ve produced films starring Brad Pitt, Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, Gary Sinise, Vin Diesel, Elijah Wood, and so on, sounds glamorous and exciting.  And there are those occasional moments that are.  But actually it is a group of people coming together to work very hard, hopefully to do something they all believe in.

My job as a producer is, along with the director, to build the best possible environment, making it easier for everyone else to add their contribution as fully as possible. I don’t know who first said this but as a director or producer you are always the host of the party and never the guest.  I think this is true.

I probably produced or worked with more first time directors than just about any other producer in Hollywood, most notably producing Gary Ross’ feature debut film, the triple ACADEMY AWARD nominated Pleasantville which I produced alongside Steven Soderbergh and Jon Kilik. 

It is the second highest personal achievement in my career. 

We did the impossible, and the film is in many ways creditied with developing the Digital Intermediate. I continued to work with Gary Ross over the next five years.

I was the Production Executive on F. Gary Gray’s highly successful feature-directorial debut film, Friday and also worked with Gary again on Set It Off (which was New Line’s highest grossing film the year it was produced) and I later was one of the producers on his A Man Apart.

I’ve also worked as a Production Executive at New Line Cinema, where I oversaw Austin Powers, Trial and Error with Jeff Daniels, B.A.P.S., with Halle Berry, to name a few; and numerous independent projects including the film adaptation of the Broadway play Love Valor, Compassion.

Much later in my career, I produced and conceptualized the innovative FUNK BLAST, the première 70mm centerpiece attraction at Paul Allen’s “Experience Music Project” Museum, in Seattle, where we brought together James Brown, Maceo Parker, Bootsy Collins, George Clinton, Chaka Kahn, and Herbie Hancock, producing a state-of-the-art 70mm ride-film, which dramatically advanced editing techniques in ride movies.  

Okay.

I’ve got to say, standing literally ten feet from James Brown as he was performing “Sex Machine” was a life changing event. 

I have it on the authority of the members of P-Funk – after MUCH work and effort on THEIR part - that now “I’ve got the funk.”  I am funky.

And that was no small accomplishment, given the music I was raised around... anah one andh two...

All of these experiences have given me a unique perspective on the art of filmmaking and the business called show business (like no business I know). And the delicate balance and intersection between the two.

In addition to all this, I am an active, voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and a member of the Executive Board for my branch.  I regularly enjoy serving on the Foreign Language Film Award Nominating Committee ~ seeing as many of the approximately fifty submitted films from around the world as I can, because there is something wonderfully comforting about the universal state of the human experience, be it in Nepal, Iran, South Africa, or Thailand. 

Girls and boys kiss each other - in every country. Men and women make love - in every country.

People eat. They sleep. They solve their problems and try more than anything to fulfill their deepest dreams and passions – no matter what the language.

Somehow cinema transcends spoken language (and bad subtitles) and communicates all this.