 NOVEMBER 5 • 2020 | 31

M

any people dream about making 
a movie or working in the movie 
business, but few fulfill their 
hopes in such a competitive field. 
 One young Detroit native, David Devries, 
31, has achieved a successful, expanding 
career in the rapidly evolving film industry.
Los Angeles residents 
Devries and his wife, Nina 
Devries, also a Detroiter, spent 
much of the past summer vis-
iting their parents in Oakland 
County while working remote-
ly. Devries is director of devel-
opment for Studio71, LP
, a 
global media and production company that 
creates a wide array of content, including 
movies, TV shows, digital series and pod-
casts. In this position, he seeks out and eval-
uates new film and TV projects, critiques 
scripts and works to turn ideas into success-
ful television shows and movies.
“Producing is a lot of project manage-
ment,
” Devries explains. Usually producers 
are on the film set, overseeing filming, 
whether the project is a movie, television 
show or a newer form of entertainment. 
The film industry has changed to digital 
technology, he says, which encompasses 
subscription services, free content, ads and, 
with the impact of COVID, there seems to 
be an increased number of animated shows. 
 
A recent successful example of Devries’
 
production work is Plus One, an indie movie 

released last year starring Maya Erskine 
and Jack Quaid. It was an Audience Award 
Winner at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival 
and is now streaming on Hulu. “I found 
the project from two writer/directors. I had 
seen some of their work,
” Devries explains.
Devries was also involved in the devel-
opment of the movie Jason Bourne starring 
Matt Damon while working at Captivate 
Entertainment, a production company. 
Of course, Devries didn’
t just walk onto 
a movie set with a job and script in hand. It 
took some entry-level jobs, including some 
work on the business side of filmmaking, 
which he said was good experience.
Devries’
 path to a movie career began in 
high school. “I made a couple of short films 
while at Franklin Jewish Academy that I 
hope never resurface because I imagine 
they’
re not very good. When choosing a 
college, I specifically looked for schools 
that have a good film program, which is 
what led me to the University of Michigan, 
among other things,
” he says.
By his sophomore year, Devries knew he 
wanted to pursue a career in entertainment. 
“
At that point, I began committing the 
majority of my free time to making as many 
short films, music videos, commercials and 
sketch videos as I could, trying to gain as 
much production experience as possible 
before leaving the many great resources that 
U-M had to offer for their film students,
” he 
said. Devries majored in film/cinema/video 

studies and psychology and was active in a 
filmmaking club.
During his college years, Michigan offered 
very generous incentives for film production 
in the state, but these were canceled by the 
time he graduated. This funding cutback 
drastically reduced local filmmaking oppor-
tunities. However, Devries connected with 
locally based screenwriter Dan Shere and 
did some freelance work for him. 
Devries’
 next step was working as an 
intern at several California production 
companies and then at a talent agency for a 
few years. He represented some major tele-
vision directors and started overseeing con-
tracts and payments for clients. From there, 
he progressed to professional positions at 
Captivate Entertainment and Studio71. Like 
many other businesses, most film offices are 
closed, remote work is the norm, and some 
projects are on hold.
“COVID has hit the entertainment indus-
try hard like everyone else with a lot of lay-
offs and furloughs,
” Devries says. “
Almost 
nothing is getting filmed in the U.S. A lot of 
TV networks are planning to do production 
in Canada, which has a two-week required 
quarantine. They filmed with the approval 
of the unions, but it cost a lot of money 
to keep everyone safe. It took a couple of 
months for approvals. Fewer movies are 
being made, and they are costing more.
” 
In response to COVID, Devries says 
that some film stories are being revised 
to eliminate large crowd scenes, relying 
instead on a smaller number of actors and 
locations to reduce potential virus expo-
sure. He predicts there will be some script 
rewriting to reflect the current political 
climate and COVID to make the stories 
more relevant. 
But during this interim period, he and 
others are “busy doing development so that 
everything will be ready when production 
begins.
” For Devries, that means looking for 
new projects and working to sell prospec-
tive concepts for shows and movies. 
“People have always found a need for 
entertainment and the arts, and there are 
enough talented and passionate individuals 
out there who are ready and eager to work. 
What exactly the long-term ramifications 
will be, no one can say. But for now, I 
am very hopeful that things will start to 
improve sometime in the very near future,
” 
he says. 

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ARTS&LIFE
FILM

David 

Devries

Young Detroiter Gains 
Success in Hollywood 

Producer looks for new projects to
pursue post-pandemic.

A scene from 

Plus One starring 

Maya Erskine and 

Jack Quaid, a film 

co-produced by 

David Devries.

RLJE FILMS

