Andre Gaines brings to life the story of The Lady and The Dale
Andre Gaines is a rising LA-based producer, writer, director and the founder of Cinemation Studios, a company that finances and produces content for the motion picture and television industries. Over the course of his fifteen-year career, Gaines hasfinanced and produced more than twelve documentary and narrative feature films. We sat down with the Executive Producer to talk about his new HBO four-part documentary series,The Lady and The Dale and his experiences in Hollywood as a black executive.
- You are currently the Executive Producer of The Lady and the Dale. Tell us about the project and what drew you to it?
Next to biographies and sci-fi, true-crime is my favorite genre. So many true-crime stories are stranger than fiction, and The Lady and the Dale remains at the top of my list as one of the most unusual stories I have ever heard. When co-director Nick Cammilleri brought this project to me and my producing partner Allen Bain, we just had to do it. Neither of us had ever heard of Liz Carmichael, but it took two seconds for us to jump in once we learned more about her story. She packed so many adventures into one life that it would have been a huge disservice for us to not tell this story. Thankfully Mark and Jay Duplass felt the same. And so did HBO.
2. Over the course of your fifteen-year career, you’ve financed and produced more than twelve documentary and narrative feature films. What is the most valuable experience you’ve had as an African-American producer?
Man, it’s so hard to pinpoint a singular experience as being the most valuable. Every experience I’ve had has been important to my growth, as a person and as a filmmaker. I’ve had a great fortune of being surrounded by incredible mentors and supporters, throughout my career. Each film I’ve made has opened my eyes just a few centimeters more to see the world more clearly, and make the next project, be it a film or TV show, that much better than the last.
3. Have you ever experienced a moment in your career where you were overwhelmed/frustrated with the “politics” of the industry that you wanted to stop?
I’d be lying if I said that the politics isn’t frustrating, but it never made me want to quit. It’s just part of the business. Years ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Cicely Tyson for my film about Dick Gregory, and I remember apologizing for the “chaos” surrounding a change in our production schedule. She waved me off and said, “Please, we work in the business of chaos!” You have to have a thick skin, and if you don’t have a thick skin, the business with thicken it for you, if you stick around long enough. But I love my job, I love telling stories, and never once considered abandoning it.
4. In the current social climate with the Black Lives Mattermovement, why is it important to have diversity both on and off-screen?
Inclusion is an on-going struggle, but I’m happy to see some of our industry titans, like Charles D. King and Ava DuVernay, to name a few, leading the charge. I’m also happy to see the industry as a whole finally coming to the realization that times have changed, and diversity matters. I have always said that diversity makes our stories better. Having diverse voices in the room, of all types, makes for better content, period, regardless of color or sexual orientation or gender. People might be surprised to discover that a Black producer is behind The Lady and the Dale, but I make what I want to watch. Like so many other Black people, I watch The Crown, I watch Queen’s Gambit, but I also watch Insecure, and Coming to America and occasional reruns of Martin. My lived experience made The Lady and the Dale better. The same is true for our directors Nick and Zackary [Drucker’s] experiences, or Mark and Jay’s experiences. Inclusion just yields better results.
5. You have worked with iconic talents such as Dick Gregory and Spike Lee. Tell us about your experience working with them.
I was an investor on Spike Lee’s movie Da Sweet Blood of Jesus back in 2014 so my experience with him was limited. He was also a professor at my alma mater, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where’d he regularly drop knowledge on the students. My experiences with Dick Gregory, however, were very intimate and personal, and ultimately life-changing. I started filming him back in 2015 through his death in 2017. Nearly every time Dick Gregory spoke, he said something profound, about politics, about class, race, gender, society, the government. He was truly one of a kind, not to mention that he had me cracking up all of the time. I’m really excited for people to see that film and it will be coming out very soon.
6. Finally, as Hollywood’s rising executive, what advice would you give to other aspiring producers, writers and directors?
The best piece of advice I ever got was early in my career from a writer/producer who told me to “just figure it out.” She said, everyone else had to figure out, and so can you. At first, it sounded like tough love, but it was the first piece of advice that I felt was truly honest. It wasn’t dismissive, it wasn’t rude, it was authentic. Had I not been given that small piece of advice, I wouldn’t have honed my passion, I wouldn’t have developed my talent in the right direction, I wouldn’t have dove head first into financing and producing movies. I might have waited for certain opportunities to arise, or for important people to call me instead of cold-calling them. I figured it out what worked for me, and every aspiring filmmaker has to do the same. Find those mentors and learn everything they are willing to teach. Grab a camera, which today is your iPhone, and just start making stuff. Eventually you’ll figure it out.