Ben Proudfoot
January Filmmaker of the Month
PROFESSIONAL BIO
BEN PROUDFOOT – FILMMAKER
Ben Proudfoot is the creative force behind Breakwater Studios, an award-winning film studio focused on short documentaries. The studio is headquartered in the Los Feliz building where Walt Disney started his company in 1923. Proudfoot gets his inspiration from the master of dreamers and aims to build a new studio model that replicates the mastery and quality of Disney productions while incorporating the brand vision of companies looking to engage with forward-thinking consumers.
A leader in the short documentary space, Proudfoot has directed and produced over 50 noteworthy short documentaries for some of the world’s most admired brands, including Charles Schwab and Annapurna Pictures. Breakwater’s most recent project for The New York Times is Emmy-nominated Almost Famous, a series of short films for their Op Docs series featuring people who nearly made history.
Proudfoot was recently named one of Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 for his leadership and innovation in the brand-funded documentary space. Breakwater’s work has been recognized by The Digiday Media Awards, The Webby Awards, Telluride Film Festival, AFI, HOT DOCS, the Atlantic Film Festival, and the James Beard Award, among others.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has pioneered a remote method of filming subjects called SIP, which gives him the ability to get up close and personal with his interview subjects while never actually being in the same room.
Proudfoot hails from Halifax, Nova Scotia and is a graduate of University of Southern California. He is an accomplished sleight-of-hand magician and has performed at The Magic Castle in Los Angeles. Learn more at Breakwater Studios.
Filmmaker Interview with Ben Proudfoot
Filmmaker Interview
Tell us your backstory. How and why did you get into filmmaking?
I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. My father is a trial lawyer and my mother is a sociologist. I started in the entertainment business as a magician and that’s what first brought me to Los Angeles to join the Magic Castle Junior Program. When I decided I didn’t want to be a magician anymore as a teenager, I looked into film schools and I fell in love with the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts and that’s what started my career in filmmaking in Los Angeles.
What are the specific qualities that, in your opinion, make a film great?
I think any film that puts the audience’s experience first has a chance of being great. Any film in which the filmmaker has really pushed as hard as they can to get to the truth, can make it great. A great film is emotionally complex. A great film asks more questions than it answers. A great film makes the audience cry, not necessarily the people in the film cry. There are a lot of things that make a film great, but at the end of the day, I think a great film is a very impactful emotional machine.
What films have been the most inspiring or influential to you and why?
I was very inspired by Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis growing up: E.T., The Indiana Jones series, the Back to the Future series, Forrest Gump; and those films led me back in time to Frank Capra’s work and John Ford’s work. I love a lot of movies and musicals from the 90’s: The Lion King, the remake of Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, Singing in the Rain, Mary Poppins. I think the films that really speak to me are ones that seem to be made to inspire or bring a sense of wonder or comfort to their audience, and I try to make films like that.
What’s harder? Getting started or being able to keep going? And what drives you to continue making films?
I actually have no problem getting started and I’m usually the last one to give up! There are so many stories to tell so motivation is not really a problem for me. I think the hard part is deciding on which project to work on in the moment. But my drive is to try to use up my time and talent that I have here on Earth to make as many everlasting films as I can.
How do you know when your story’s finished, when to walk away?
Generally there’s a deadline that tells you when that moment comes but I suppose it’s also simply exasperation of not being able to make it any better. I subscribe to the idea that a film is never really finished, it’s only abandoned.
How many films have you completed? What is your favorite project you have worked on and why?
It probably depends on what you call a film. I’ve completed over 300 projects and maybe 75 of those are films I would call with a capital F. As for my favorite, because it’s at the top of my mind, I really loved ‘Concerto is a Conversation,’ the film I made with Chris Bowers recently. I think it’s a beautiful combination of all kinds of things I’m always trying to get at.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
Honestly, I get a lot of inspiration from the subjects themselves and their stories. When I hear their stories in total in their nine-hour interview form, I’m very inspired to try to distill that down so that people can fit it into their lives. I’ve had the pleasure of having that much time with the subjects, but after the interview, it’s my job to pare it down for people. So a lot of my inspiration comes from closing that circle: making the promise to the subject of working hard to tell their story in a special way.
What is your favorite aspect of film production?
Probably the recording of the score. That’s the process that I have the least involvement in. I just get to show up and hear this beautiful music being produced by this incredibly talented group of musicians and the film really takes on an extra sheen at that moment, so that’s a very exciting time in the process of making a film.
Why did you choose to submit to the Breckenridge Film Festival? What do you look for in a festival where you hope to show your film?
Breckenridge Film Festival is a reputable festival that has great relationships with the filmmaking community. We thought that the film we made with the New York Times as part of our “Almost Famous” series, “The Lost Astronaut,” would be well-suited for the Breckenridge audience.
You are a collaborator. Did you make any connections at the Breckenridge Film Festival that have led to collaborations with other filmmakers?
This year was certainly unlike any other for film festivals so I haven’t yet had the chance, but look forward to doing so.
Can you describe the business behind independent filmmaking and how you are trying to get your film seen?
It’s very difficult to make ends meet in independent filmmaking but we have figured out a way to do it by creating films that are commissioned by brands and institutions. Doing that is an affordable alternative to advertising, where there’s a lot of money being spent. So as the advertising model dwindles, filmmakers like myself have the opportunity to work with brands to bring the same kind of storytelling and brand affinity to the table, but at a much lower cost and higher quality than traditional advertising agencies are willing to provide.
What are the hurdles you have had to overcome in order to recoup the costs of producing the film? (If you feel comfortable discussing exact financials, you are welcome to do so.)
We made this film in collaboration with the New York Times’ Op-Docs but will not be discussing the financials.
What are the next project or projects you are beginning work on?
We’re working on a series of films with the New York Times about American victims of COVID-19 and the amazing lives they led. We’re also continuing our ‘Almost Famous’ series with the New York Times, in addition to projects with some other incredible brands that I’m super excited about and will be announcing in 2021.
If there is one or more thing you think would make the film industry better, what would it be?
The one thing we can do to make the film industry better would be to create a market around short documentaries. I think if you can do that, it removes the barrier to entry for new and young filmmakers. It’s one thing to figure out how to diversify who is directing our hundred million dollar movies but that is not a very iterative process — those are huge projects that take multiple years. So as we’re talking about how to bring more diverse voices, people of color, and more women into the mix, in terms of providing a platform for their talent, one way to do that is to create a market around films that cost less to produce.
With the internet and YouTube, some of my films have seen millions of views and tens of thousands of comments, which I would compare to the engagement on any big Netflix original documentary release.