A Lesson from Idyllwild: Give Voice to your Dreams

Last night, "Man of Action" picked up two awards at the Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema. One of the awards, the Mary Austin Award for Excellence in Producing by a Woman, went to a very surprised and grateful Karri Miles.

Karri Miles wins the Mary Austin Award
for Excellence in Producing by a Woman at the
Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema

There's a story behind this that is worth telling.

I've known Karri for almost five years. We met on my first job in California - I was a production manager on an indie feature called "Benjamin Troubles", and Karri did something or other in the art department. She eventually migrated into the production office and took on additional roles to help the film along, but I knew her primarily as an art department person.

In the years that followed, I brought Karri aboard some of my own projects as an art director and production designer. Since she knew about casting as well, I hired her to cast a few things here and there, too.

At one point, about a year and a half ago, Karri and I were talking on the phone. I don't remember what the immediate purpose of the call was, but something compelled me to ask: "what are your goals in the industry? What do you ultimately want to do?" I was surprised by the answer: Karri wanted to be a producer, with a particular focus on physical production.

At the time, I was in prep for an indie feature ("Glimpse") so I suggested that Karri come aboard as a line producer. She did a fabulous job.

"Man of Action" came along right around when "Glimpse" was completed. We needed someone who could handle physical production, so Karri was the obvious first phone call.

I don't want to suggest that I "made" Karri the producer she is - that would be ridiculous, and would undervalue the years of hard work that she has put into her career. Also, there was nothing charitable about offering Karri those jobs. I had seen her work, knew her to be bright and diligent, and so it was for the benefit of these productions that I brought her aboard.

But I bring up this story for one particular detail: none of this would have happened if Karri hadn't given voice to her aspirations. If she hadn't said "I want to produce", I wouldn't have thought to employ her in that capacity.

This is an important lesson for all of us with big dreams in Hollywood. We've got to give voice to those dreams, to define them and express them to the people around us.

I'm excited to see Karri's career shoot forward from here. I'm sure there will be many more productions that benefit from her producing, just as mine did.

-Arnon