RH: Please tell us how you chose to pursue a career in film/TV. What kind of training have you had to prepare you for this career?

SS: It was the summer after my Sophomore year in college (I went to VA Tech). I moved to Southern California to live with my uncle for the summer and to play in a couple summer baseball leagues. I was recruited by a couple California colleges and decided to stay in CA and transfer out here.

While living with my uncle I met one of his friends, Wendy, who had been in the entertainment industry for decades. During this time, I also hurt my shoulder and had to have surgery, effectively ending my baseball career. Up until that point, all I had really wanted to do was be a baseball player. I didn’t particularly like school and had no idea what else I wanted to do.

I’d always been somewhat creative, and business-minded, so the entertainment industry seemed like a good fit. I always loved movies, and some of my happiest memories as a kid are centered around movies: from seeing Return of the Jedi in the theatre, to watching Batman in the theatre on vacation, or seeing Christopher Reeve’s as Superman then running around with a towel wrapped around my neck as a cape for weeks. I still remember the day my dad brought home our first VCR and how excited my brother and I were, and how we used to watch movies like RAD or TOP GUN a hundred times. And I used to spend hours at the local video rental store after school. So, I transferred back to VA Tech at the end of that year and switched my major to Communications with a minor in Theatre, and a concentration in Mass Media, Film and Broadcast, with my new goals to work in the entertainment industry.

What was the first professional project you worked on in film/TV and what are your memories of working on that?

I started in the industry as a free intern. I worked three days a week for a company called Berg Saccani, reading scripts and doing research, while I also worked at Kinko’s from midnight till 8 AM to earn money. My two roommates who moved out from college with me also worked at Kinkos. One of my friends was making copies for a woman, and they were call sheets. He asked what it was for, and she said she was the production coordinator for a series of BMW short films/commercials. He told her that he and his roommate (me) had moved out here to be in the industry. She hired us both as PA’s and we worked on three or four of those projects. I remember being excited and thrilled to be making like $700 a week as a production assistant. I’d carry equipment, lock down sets, was the first to set and the last to leave. Often working 18-20 hour days. Some of the hardest days where the overnights we had to shoot in the canyons. It was cold, and I would have to carry heaters around and move chairs, but I loved every minute of it. I remember my buddy, Clint, turned a heater on and it exploded in his face and burned off all his eyebrows. They had to rush him to the hospital. We also were responsible for driving the production cube trucks.

I have come to know your work as a result of your company Cartel Pictures. What is the story of how this company came about and what was your first production from that company?

I founded the Cartel in 2011 with my friend Jeff Holland. Jeff and I had both been agents prior to that, and we were both managers at our own shops. Jeff reached out, as I was having some success and my clients were getting hot and suggested we work together. We found an office in West Hollywood (it was an old small factory and we turned it into an office). At that point, I had produced two feature films, but the core business was managing writers and directors. We grew that company, and I had brokered a deal to produce a series of low-budget films with a partner out of Canada. I reached out to my friend, Eric Woods, and asked if he’d like to share the office space and if he’d like to start a low-budget production arm of the business. He and I started Pulser Productions, which we later rebranded as Cartel Pictures.

Cartel Entertainment (the management/production company I own with Jeff) began to grow and we hired amazing managers to join the company: Geoff Silverman, Bradford Bricken, Evan Corday, Corey Ackerman, Matthew Ellis, and launched a NY office and UK office. We also hired development executives for that company and began producing a lot of content (mostly TV). Meanwhile, Cartel Pictures (the company I own with Eric) became a large production, finance, and service company. We’ve produced somewhere like over eighty movies (at last count I’ve personally produced ninety-six movies and TV series). We make around twenty movies a year and have heads of production, development executives, a full post-production staff, a COO, and own a four-building studio complex in Hollywood where we house both companies. Both companies work well together, and often Cartel Pictures will hire Cartel Entertainment clients to write or direct movies, and often Cartel Entertainment will sell content that Cartel Pictures then finances and produces.

Ties That Bind TCA Panel

The first significant thing I watched from you was Ties That Bind. What is special and memorable about this project for you?

Ties That Bind was an original idea from a very special client of mine, Sheryl J. Anderson (She’s also the showrunner of the new series SWEET MAGNOLIAS which premiered on Netflix on May 19). I told Sheryl that I had been working to get UP TV to get into scripted TV. I had pitched them on a business model that I knew we could execute. And Sheryl came up with several pitches. She came to my office and the first pitch she gave me was Ties That Bind. After she was done with that pitch, I said, “That’s it, I don’t need to hear anymore, this is the one.” Sure enough, she pitched it to Barbara Fisher (UP’s exec at that time) and Barbara loved it. We then did a couple pitches over the phone before Sheryl and I flew to Atlanta to pitch it to the heads of the network. The series was a blast to make; Sheryl is an incredible showrunner, and our client Steven R. Monroe directed four episodes of the show, including the finale. We also had my friend McNamara shoot the pilot. The cast was amazing too.

Which movie was your first Hallmark movie? What did you know about Hallmark before this first film?

We did a Hallmark series of movies called The Fixer Upper Mysteries which starred the artist, Jewel. We were executive producers on those movies, but we were not the production company. So, I had many conversations with the head of production at Hallmark, who I had known at other places over the years, and he gave us an opportunity with a movie called Love At First Glance starring Amy Smart and Adrian Grenier. We did a good job on the movie, kept it under budget, and tried to make the network’s job as easy as possible. From that experience, we started doing more and more movies for them, and now they are one of our most important partners.

What I had known about Hallmark prior to working with them is that they were easily the gold standard for TV movies. They did great movies and respectable budgets and always had a great cast. We have also had a lot of clients write and direct movies for Hallmark over the years, so I was very familiar with them as a company. Also, I had watched probably fifty hallmark movies as research before trying to break into that market.

Since that time, you’ve had a steady stream of Hallmark films (in addition to Lifetime and elsewhere). What do you enjoy about working with Hallmark? Why do you believe they continue to have such success?

I believe that the executives at Hallmark genuinely love what they do. They’ve always treated me, my company, my clients, and everyone involved in a production with the utmost respect. I think Hallmark has found an incredible niche in bringing positive, hopeful, and inspiring content to TV audiences. They are passionate about their mission, they’re passionate about their content, and they’re passionate about their fans. They also are very involved in the development and making of their movies. They hire smart and hard-working executives, and they work with trusted production partners.

Your three most recent Hallmark movies–Two Turtle Doves, Merry & Bright, and Fashionably Yours. What has been special/memorable about these three films?

Michael Rady, Nikki DeLoach, Michaela Russell Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

Two Turtle Doves gained a lot of fans and spoke to a lot of people. It was a more dramatic movie than we had done before. The cast on that movie was outstanding. Nikki DeLoach, Michael Rady, Michaela Russell, Zach Tinker and Heidi Fielek were a dream to work with.

Jodie Sweetin, Andrew Walker Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

Merry & Bright was a ton of fun. Gary Yates is a director we work with a lot. He always delivers and makes my job so much easier. Also, it was the second time I’ve worked with Jodie Sweetin, so that was a lot of fun, and I’ve worked with Andrew Walker a couple of times. This movie actually took a long time to get made. We originally optioned the story from the amazingly talented and prolific writer, Mary Kay Andrews, and our clients Karen Wyscarver and Sanford Golden wrote the first couple of drafts, then our client Erinne Dobson wrote a draft. It was a lot of fun seeing that go from Mary Kay Andrew’s original concept to completed movie.

Fashionably Yours

Fashionably Yours was a really great experience. We shot in Vancouver and in Seattle. Kat Graham was absolutely amazing to work with. I would work with her on anything, anytime. She was such a pleasure. It was fun shooting in Seattle for two days as well, and fitting in a lot of shooting into a couple days!

As an executive producer/producer, what are your typical responsibilities in these films?

With Steven R. Monroe and Sheryl J. Anderson

It varies. Sometimes I develop the concept and set it up with Hallmark. Then hire the writers. Sometimes I find the IP and sell it to the buyer and develop it with writers. Then we’re responsible for putting together the budgets and schedules and finding the locations and hiring the crew and overseeing the creative and the post-production, as well as managing the money and making sure everyone gets paid. Sometimes we finance the projects based off of commitments, sometimes we finance the projects with no commitments. Basically, the job is putting the project together, getting it set up, overseeing all elements of production and post-production through to delivery of the project.

Any other recent/upcoming works you can mention?

Greg Nicotero and Stan Spry at Creepshow premiere

We have Creepshow that just recently started airing on AMC (originally it aired on Shudder), and we are starting production on season two in Atlanta as soon as it’s safe to do so. We have Day of the Dead coming up for Syfy, and will be shooting in Canada as soon as it’s safe (our writer’s room is currently working via zoom). We have over a dozen Hallmark movies in development, and we have about thirty independent films in different stages of development and pre-production.

During this pandemic crisis, what have you been doing to keep yourself occupied?

Day of the Dead

Working. Our management business has not slowed down at all. Writers are still working; we’re still selling projects. We also have been doing a ton of development and preparing for productions. We’re working on overall business strategies as well.

For those who may be considering a career in film/TV, what is your advice?

It’s a great career. But it’s hard. The failure rate vastly outnumbers the success rate. If someone wants to be successful in this industry they have to work hard for it. They will fail, many times, but they need to keep picking themselves up and trying again. No one is entitled to be successful in this business. If people come to it with any sense of entitlement, they’ll mostly be chewed up and spit out. Be willing to work insanely long hours. Be willing to work for peanuts and give up some luxuries. It’ll pay off. I did it; most people I know did it at one point or another, and worked for a couple hundred dollars a week, while figuring out side hustles to make the rent (I started a club promoting company when I was an assistant to make extra money). But the best advice I could give would be to just do it. Try it. If it’s something you really want, you’re going to have to make sacrifices to be successful at it. But every journey starts with a first step, and the first step is just doing it.

Creepshow Premiere

We Hallmark fans are immensely blessed to be the beneficiaries of such devoted talents both in front of and behind the camera. Stan is one whose name appears on such a wealth of films that I have truly lost count of how many of his works I have seen. I sincerely believe that whenever his name is attached to a project and I make the decision to watch it, I am going to thoroughly relish what I witness on-screen from the story to the actors to the production value. While we all have our distinctive tastes in films and shows we choose to consume, I believe that the works in which Stan and his company are involved are diverse enough that even the most discriminating viewer is bound to find something that appeals to his/her sensibilities. I would invite my readers to visit all of Stan’s links below and consider following him where applicable. While I have never met Stan in person, I will state that I am consistently impressed with the array of talent that is apparent in his films and shows, and I look forward to even more from this leader in the world of television and film in the months and years to come. In short, I can’t thank him enough for the hundreds of hours of quality programming and joyous escapism he has provided for my household and countless more around the world. Long may this trend continue!

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