PRODUCERS AND THE PRODUCTION OFFICE

Job Overview

As president of Rialto Production Group, Tim Clawson manages the overall company operations and vision. “When customers sign on to what we do, I am the key person they are involved with.”

Rialto is a physical production department for hire. Traditionally, studios maintained their own physical production departments, but today many films are financed outside the studio system, leaving production companies and producers without production support. “Many companies don't want to carry additional overhead and bring on a staff when they really only need them going into production. It's an economical way for companies and producers to be able to have all the vital necessities of physical production handled for them at a fraction of what it would cost them to maintain that staff full time.”

Special Skills

Production executives must possess leadership skills, the ability to work with diverse personalities, and a solid working knowledge of the production and filmmaking process. Clawson also credits his success to having experience working in different media: feature films, commercials, videos, and television. “Each of those has what I call their own etiquette. Each is different in terms of how they are administrated … I understand the etiquette of each type of project because I have a solid knowledge of the production process, and am able to apply what works in one area to another.”

Learn the craft of filmmaking. Get your hands on a camera and shoot film. “You have to run film through the camera and make mistakes; have things come in and out of focus. You have to learn to edit things together, and see how things don't work and how they do work. Whether it's film school, with friends, or an internship, you have to get your hands on some basic equipment. It doesn't matter if it's film or video. You can learn about the filmmaking process even shooting a little DVD camera and editing on an Apple computer. It's also important to understand the film process—what happens when light hits film, what happens when film runs through a processor—understanding the basics of filmmaking from all aspects. There is no substitute for getting your hands on equipment and doing it.

“You don't necessarily have to get a degree. It's what you learn at the school that means everything. If you're a person that isn't great at school, you might find it easier to take an internship someplace or work for a lighting and rental company. Go to work for a theater company. Anything where you can get your hands on equipment and you're able to work with lighting, scenery, editing, or with cameras. You've got to get that experience. I was good at school, so school was a good structure for me. Film school worked for me because the structure of school worked for me.”

Advice for Someone Seeking This Job

“It's a combination of who you know, and being in the right place at the right time,” says Clawson, “which can sound really demoralizing to somebody who doesn't know anybody in the business and is sitting in their apartment thinking, ‘How do I find that right place and right time?’ You've got to learn to network. It's important because there aren't formal ways of getting jobs. There are job boards, but none of them mean anything. Even though the irony is that I've gotten two jobs in my career—which were both significant—by answering ads in Daily Variety, believe me: that's total, total, total luck. You have to find ways of seeking out people who need help. I was fortunate enough to find them. To work in this business you have to find ways of finding people who are looking for help.

“People would come to me at Propaganda all the time, which was a big, busy production company, and ask, ‘What's the best way to get in here?’ I would say, ‘Sit at the cappuccino bar,’ because suddenly a job would get awarded and a producer would be in need of a PA. The regular guy wasn't answering back and you're sitting there—you might get the chance. It's horrible to tell people, because you can't just hang out at companies, but it's an example of a way of saying, ‘Try to seek out those who need help and network the best you can.’ Try to be persistent without being too much of a pain for people. Immerse yourself in areas where the activity is going on that you want to work in. If you find yourself in the middle of the country, where absolutely no film production is going on, you have two choices: you can see what the local television stations are doing, or if that's not an opportunity, then you've got to go where the work its—you've got to go to Hollywood or New York or someplace where there is some activity; someplace where you can be in the right place at the right time.”

Professional Profile: Tim Clawson, President, Rialto Production Group

“I have always been a big movie fan,” states Tim Clawson. “It probably goes back to when I was in high school. I went to the movies every weekend and saw everything that came out, and I studied the old movies. I really enjoyed film.

Growing up in Southern California, he had ample opportunities to be exposed to the film business and industry icons like the Hollywood sign, Grauman's Chinese Theater, and the many studio lots. As soon as he was 16, Clawson frequently drove an hour north to Hollywood, just to drive past them all, reinforcing his desire to be part of the business.

He began making Super-8 movies at an early age. Junior and senior high school brought many more opportunities to study filmmaking and work on student projects. Clawson went on to study film at Orange Coast College and then transferred to University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Both schools had excellent programs where he learned the nuts and bolts of filmmaking.

Upon graduation, he created a résumé outlining his student film work and the various screenplays he had written. Then came his first timely break. “There are two ways people get into our business. One way is: you know somebody; the other way is: you get really lucky. I fell into the ‘I got really lucky’ category.” Seeing an ad in Daily Variety announcing a project in development, Clawson sent off a résumé, thinking they might need help. “Funny enough, I got a phone call from the director. He said, ‘We need somebody to come in and write a synopsis of the project so that we can raise money. We have a screenwriter, but he's off writing the script and we don't want to slow him down.’”

Clawson went in and met with director Elliot Hong, who pitched him the story for They Call Me Bruce? The film was built around the act of popular Korean comedian Johnny Yune. Clawson took copious notes and came back with a treatment a few days later. “I walked in the office and Johnny was there with the director and a couple of other assistants. It was a really weird vibe; like someone had died.” The screenwriter had delivered the first thirty pages of the script and they were terrible. The group was about to scrap the idea. “I'm sitting there and all of a sudden they ask, ‘What's he got?’ I said, ‘Well, I have the synopsis, but it doesn't sound like you need it.’” Reading the synopsis reinvigorated their desire to make the film. The development team simply needed to find a good screenwriter. That is when they turned to Clawson.

With Clawson hired to write the screenplay, Yune brought in his joke writer, David Randolph, and some of his comedian friends for inspiration. “We created characters around their acts. It was a hilarious time.” Money was raised and the film was made for $2.2 million dollars (a lot of money for an independent film at the time). In addition to writing, Clawson also served as assistant director and postproduction supervisor. He was just 21 at the time. He went on to write a couple more scripts for Hong, but they were unable to get money to make them. Clawson continued to write screenplays, thinking it was his calling.

His next lucky break came from answering another Daily Variety ad. London-based music video company Limelight was expanding into the United States and needed a production manager. When Clawson was offered the job, he was promised that he would have down time between projects to write or work on other projects. “I thought it was a great idea for me to make a little money and continue to write. From the day I joined them, I didn't have a day off for the next five years.” Then in the heyday of music videos, the company was responsible for producing many landmark productions such as Peter Gabriel's “Sledge Hammer,” Aha's “Take On Me,” Dire Strait's “Money for Nothing,” and many of Madonna's and Prince's early videos.

Clawson next went to work as head of production for Propaganda Films-Hollywood, remaining with the company for eleven years. At the time of his hiring, Propaganda had produced many videos, but had just begun entering the commercial market, and had produced only one or two low budget features. During the period of Clawson's employment, the company was involved with numerous commercials and videos, and between thirty and forty television shows and feature films, including Being John Malkovich, Candyman, The Game, Kalifornia, Nurse Betty, Ruby, and Sleepers.

The company was eventually sold to Seagram, and Clawson relocated to New York City to become president of Shooting Gallery Productions. Shooting Gallery had a big postproduction infrastructure and strong relationships with independent filmmakers, and was looking for a way to exploit those relationships and build commercial and music video divisions. Clawson was charged with the expansion. Under his leadership the company also managed production for film companies coming into the city to shoot New York segments. Unfortunately, the company folded six months after he arrived. Clawson remained in New York for a few more months as president of Lot 47 Productions. When production business suddenly dried up in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, he returned to Los Angeles.

In January 2002, Clawson was appointed president of the newly formed Rialto Production Group.

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