Five Questions With Film Producer Katherine Lents
The new website is intended to be both a tribute to creators as well as a reminder to anyone who visits the site that individual creators are the true beneficiaries of copyright.
This week we would like you to meet Katherine Lents.
1. What was the inspiration behind becoming a film producer? What do you enjoy most about the creative process?
I came to film in an unconventional way. I started out as a graphic designer, but have always had an entrepreneurial streak. Many of my friends and my sister were in the world of film, and I saw a huge disservice being dealt to indie web producers. Many could not reach Netflix, even with high quality work, and most were forced to play the YouTube roulette game of chance among cat videos and late night clips. I took my branding and design skills and founded www.showup.media, attempting to create a space for high quality, curated web series and pilots. With this new platform up and running, I put resources behind developing Original Content as well with our local Austin film community.
What I adore about film is how collaborative it is. Whether your crew is five people or five hundred, you get a chance to put your vision out there, and it changes and grows based on the interpretations of your team and your cast. It becomes bigger than one person’s vision, even though this industry often only credits the Director.
2. Can you take us through your process? How long does it take? Does everything you produce make money?
This depends a lot on the project. One web series pilot went from concept to wrap in two months, and my most recent endeavor took over a year from script to editing room. These are only just now being put out in public, and only time will tell if they make money or get traction for my company.
3. What do you think is the biggest misconception about your line of work?
Many people think film sets are glamorous because of the Hollywood celebrity image. In truth, indie film is a lot of really hard work. From gaffers to production coordinators to actors, everyone has to do their part to make the day go smoothly.
4. What is your best piece of advice that you would give other creators in your field about copyright and how to protect themselves?
Realize that, although YouTube seemingly protects copyright of your uploaded video against other videos on YouTube, they can do nothing when someone downloads your video and re-uploads it to Facebook. This is increasingly common with sites like savefrom.net.
5. What is your biggest copyright-related challenge?
Many indie new media producers assume it’s fine to use the YouTube library of songs outside of YouTube. They’ll cut entire sequences and episodes to songs by Kayne or the Beatles, not considering this severely limits their film’s distribution possibilities.
Katherine Lents
Founder/CEO, ShowUp
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