In which we chat with filmmaker and producer Toby Halbrooks about producing A Ghost Story, Never Goin’ Back, and The Old Man & the Gun.
At a recent packed-house screening of Never Goin’ Back at the Oak Cliff Film Festival in Dallas, Texas, Toby Halbrooks looked at home darting across the stage to introduce the film to a bristling audience. The film, directed by Augustine Frizzell, represented another successful indie hit for Halbrooks and his producing team at Sailor Bear with fellow producers Liz Cardenas and James M. Johnson and longtime collaborator David Lowery.
Along with Never Goin’ Back (which has recently been picked up by A24 for release in August 2018), Halbrooks has had a busy calendar lately, producing both A Ghost Story and The Old Man & the Gun with director David Lowery (the latter of which is set to come out in September 2018), as well as co-writing Pete’s Dragon and the upcoming Peter Pan reboot for Disney.
We caught up with Halbrooks after his stop at the OCFF to chat about his work on the aforementioned projects and solicit advice on how to make a career as a filmmaker and producer.
Work with People You Like Working with
Halbrooks’s career is a great example of why you should work with friends on projects that seem fun. Originally a musician, Halbrooks found himself working on commercial film sets from time to time where he befriended another film creative — David Lowery. The two became fast friends and are now longtime collaborators with shared creative energies. Halbrooks was best man when Lowery married his creative partner Augustine Frizzell, and the three of them, along with the rest of their Sailor Bear collective, have become one of the most dynamic forces on the indie film scene.
A Director’s Mindset
After working as a producer on early projects with Lowery like St. Nick and Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Halbrooks wrote and directed his own short film, Dig, which premiered at SXSW in 2014. (Watch it in full below.)
The project reaffirmed Halbrooks’s director’s mindset, as well as gave him more insights into just how much work goes into a film project, which requires great collaboration among directors, writers, and producers to get everything done.
Support Your Teams in Production
As Halbrooks and Lowery continued to refine their crafts, they were offered bigger and bigger projects. One of their most ambitious (at least from a budget perspective) films to date was their 2016 live action reboot of Pete’s Dragon for Disney. However, as they had done when first starting out, Halbrooks and Lowery collaborated successfully and kept up the mutual support — only with whole production teams and departments rather than their friends on weekends.
Trust the Process to Develop
After the box office success of Pete’s Dragon, which required Halbrooks, Lowery, and team to spend months abroad filming in New Zealand and promoting the film around the world, Halbrooks and Lowery decided to get back to their indie roots. They developed what eventually would become the 2016 indie film breakout A Ghost Story, reuniting the duo with Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara on a minimal production budget back and filming in seclusion in Dallas, Texas.
Producers Save the Day
A Ghost Story would go on to be picked up by A24 and released to widespread acclaim (ending up on many year’s best lists). From there, Halbrooks partnered up with Augustine Frizzell, David Lowery’s wife and fellow filmmaker and collaborator, on Never Goin’ Back. (Halbrooks had previously produced Frizzell’s short film “Minor Setback,” which was the blueprint for the feature version of Never Goin’ Back back in 2015.) Similar to A Ghost Story, they shot Never Goin’ Back on an indie budget in Dallas, Texas with Halbrooks wearing many hats to help the project develop throughout production.
Make Sure Your Actors Are Comfortable
While finishing up Never Goin’ Back with Frizzell, Halbrooks was also working double time as a producer on Lowery’s latest project, The Old Man & the Gun, which stars Robert Redford in his final on-screen role, Sissy Spacek, and Casey Affleck. While a step back in the budget from Pete’s Dragon, The Old Man & the Gun is another ambitious step forward with some of the biggest stars and most talented casts they’ve worked with.
If You Find Yourself Producing, You’re a Producer
When asked about how one could become a producer like him, Halbrooks gave out a slight laugh. He’s quick to point out that he never set out to be a producer himself — and frankly wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone. The producer has to wear the most hats and is very often the one driving to the ER in the middle of the night before rescheduling the next few days of production. For Halbrooks and his team of friends and collaborators, it might not always be the most glamorous job, but it may very well be the most important.