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