Meet The Producer Jane Kosek

Meet producer, Jane Kelly Kosek, with whom I've corresponded because I found her blog about independent producing. She's graciously agreed to respond to my version of a Proustian questionnaire for producers, and I hope you enjoy reading her responses.

Thank you, Jane! And, many happy returns on all your projects!

Jane Kelly Kosek is an independent film producer and co-founder of Wonder Entertainment. Jane produced her first feature-length film, STRAIGHT LINE, with writer/director Sean Ackerman. Filmed in eight countries, this drama took two years to make and premiered at the 2005 South by Southwest Film Festival. This production launched Jane’s career as a producer of emotionally charged, character-driven motion pictures.

Originally from Livonia, Michigan, Jane attended University of Michigan—Ann Arbor and Oakland University. She worked for eight years in publishing as a writer and editor, both in Detroit and NY. Realizing that her passion was for the moving image, Jane began working in NY film production as an assistant coordinator. In 2001, Jane relocated to LA where she assisted Academy Award-winning screenwriter and producer Akiva Goldsman for three years at his production company Weed Road Pictures, located on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, CA. With Akiva, she worked on A BEAUTIFUL MIND, CONSTANTINE, STARSKY & HUTCH, and MR. & MRS. SMITH.

Jane is currently developing a biopic on the famous art forger Han Van Meegeren titled ART OF DECEPTION by Brandon Trenz. Dominique Deruddere is attached to direct and Hugh Dancy is attached to star. She is also working on attaching talent and securing financing for THE MAN IN THE WOODS by Russell Schaumburg (dir. Jeff Stephenson), THE DIARY OF PRESTON PLUMMER by Sean Ackerman (dir. Sean Ackerman), and FLOATERS by Ron Freidman and Steve Bencich (dir. Jeff Stephenson). With producer Rene Smallwood, she is developing adaptations of two books, SPOKEN IN DARKNESS by Ann E. Imbrie, and THE WHISPER OF THE RIVER by Ferrol Sams.

Sustaining the Muse

A Producing Questionnaire

• Please name all the "hats" you wear as a creative producer.
  

Every hat you can find, I wear.

• List all of the jobs you've held before or while pursuing a career in producing.
  

Writer, Editor (word not picture), Copy Editor, Proofreader, Assistant, Story Editor

• Do you have a Big Dream or career goal as a producer?
  

To make entertaining films that resonate with an audience.

• What inspires you to do what you do?

Good films that change my life, even in a small way.

• Please name five essential skills and/or traits a creative producer needs to sustain a career.
  

Obsessed with movies, persistent, outgoing, confident, creative

• Name a movie, or several, that you wish you had produced. And/or, producer(s) you admire (living or passed on).
  

Say Anything, Good Will Hunting, Forrest Gump, Dead Poets Society, Terms of Endearment, The Notebook.

• How do you define success for yourself?
  

Being able to wake up every day and work on movies.

• What's your motto when it comes to raising money for your project(s)?

Offer high quality projects and investors will come.

• How long did it (will it) take to support yourself as a producer?
  

I wouldn’t say a producer is ever supporting him- or herself on a steady, secure basis from film projects. It’s smart to have another skill to help supplement your income during the down periods.

• Who do you turn to when you need a pep talk?
  

My husband.

• If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
  

Be a billionaire so I could fund my own movies!