Don’t Kill the Messenger welcomes multifaceted producer and studio executive Amy Baer

Kevin welcomes his Amy Baer, a trailblazer in the entertainment industry, to the studio. With a diverse background that includes work at major studios, heading an independent development fund, and producing, Amy’s expertise is unparalleled. Her impressive track record speaks for itself, with films under her supervision and/or production grossing a staggering $2 billion worldwide. But that’s not all, Amy is also a champion for women in the entertainment industry, serving as the board president of Women in Film and the head of Landline Pictures. Get ready to be inspired by Amy’s journey and insights into the industry

The audience is all that matters

Kevin kicks off the podcast by delving into a topic that holds great significance to both him and Amy – the importance of knowing your audience. Amy talks about creating content, any content, and how important it is to know who you are creating that content for.

The reality is if you don’t know who you are making a piece of content for, and I say content very intentionally, because it isn’t just film or television, it is all content. If you do not know who the audience is for what you’re making, don’t make it.

– Amy Baer on the audience

Heading up CBS Films

Kevin asks Amy what it was like running CBS films for four years and having the authority to green-light movies. Amy talks about her experience running the studio in a tumultuous time in the entertainment business during an actors’ strike, a writers’ strike, and an economic downturn. The pair discuss what a tremendous responsibility it is to make the decision to green-light a film and the business factors that go into making that decision.

Landline Pictures and the importance of knowing your audience

Sticking with the theme of knowing an audience, Amy discusses her new production studio, Landline Pictures, where the focus is making movies for older audiences. Kevin talks about the importance of research, and Amy shares the amount of research that went into deciding to make films for this specific audience.

What we did is looked at 30 years of movies and saw that there are certain creative thematic casting and financial guidelines, signposts, that if the movies adhered to that, they almost always succeeded. I would literally say to you, the rate of return on them from, from a success standpoint was about 80%

Amy on the audience for Landline Pictures

Growing up with a famous father and making it on her own

Kevin asks Amy what it was like growing up with Happy Days’ Tom Bosley as a father. Amy shares childhood memories of visiting the set of Happy Days and hanging out with her father’s work friends including Ron Howard. The pair discuss nepotism in Hollywood and how Amy made it on her own.

Advocating and fighting for women in the entertainment industry

With her extensive entertainment experience, and as board president of Women in Film, Amy has a unique perspective on being a working woman in the entertainment industry. Amy discusses her early female mentors and successfully maintaining a work-life balance as a Hollywood executive. Amy stresses the importance of communication and community with other women as something that is needed in the industry.

I think the more that women are in communication with each other, in community with each other, the more they understand that they’re all in it together. So that’s really what matters to me most. And one of the reasons why I wanted to take on the board president role is because I think building community for and with and amongst women is something that is desperately needed in this business.

– Amy on Women in Film

What’s next for Amy Baer

Kevin asks Amy what she is currently working on, and what she is excited about. Amy discusses two new projects at Landline Pictures including Back Nine, a new film starring Renée Zellweger.

I think that the opportunity for Landline is something that I’m really excited about because I think in the same way that Jason Blum sort of cornered all things horror with Blumhouse, I think being able to own a lane is a really exciting opportunity.

– Amy on Landline Pictures

Join Kevin and his guest Amy Baer as they discuss Amy’s impressive career in the entertainment industry, her advocacy for women in film, and the importance of knowing your audience. Check out the fascinating discussion, and enjoy some insider stories on Kevin’s podcast, Don’t Kill the Messenger!

Don’t Kill the Messenger, hosted by movie and entertainment research expert Kevin Goetz, brings his book Audienceology to life. This bi-monthly podcast takes a peek behind the filmmaking curtain as Kevin talks with famous filmmakers, studio executives, stars, and other creatives about movies, filmmaking, audience test screenings, and much more.