Hi, Mandy! Can you share a bit about yourself? Your preferred name to be known by the readers, the city/country you live in, your hobbies, anything!
My name is Mandy Marahimin. I’m a film producer based in Jakarta, Indonesia. I have been working as a filmmaker for more than 20 years in different capacities, and I love love love my job. Some people say working is my hobby, maybe that’s true, but that is only because I love my job so much. When I’m not working, I enjoy going to the cinema, reading a book, traveling, and eating! Food is another passion of mine, although I don’t cook.
What prompted you to be a movie producer?
When I went to college, I wanted to be a writer; I love reading and I want to contribute to the world. I thought writing was the only way to do it.
Then one day in 1995, I watched a film that changed my life. Don’t get me wrong, I love films — all of them. When I was still in junior high, I walked to the cinema after school almost daily to watch whatever was available. Good films, crappy films, I watched them all. This particular film, however, changed my views on audio-visual communication. It was so powerful that I thought, “This is it! This is the perfect medium for storytelling!” The movie was “Raise the Red Lantern” (1991) by Zhang Yimou.
From then on, I changed my mind and wanted to make films for a living. At first, though, I didn’t understand what a film producer does. I always thought producers were the people with money, and I didn’t come from a rich family or had rich friends. Naturally, I thought being a producer was not for me.
I then thought I’d rather be a scriptwriter or director to keep pursuing my dreams in film industry — but it was challenging: There was no film industry in Indonesia then. No Indonesian films were being produced apart from a handful of titles and I didn’t really know where to start at that time.
… How did it all started?
A friend called me and said a film producer is making a film and is looking for a publicist. I studied Communication back in my university years, and I didn’t know what a publicist does, but hey, it’s one foot in the door! So I said yes.
I borrowed a book from him about film publicity and learned from there. The film I worked on is titled “Ada Apa dengan Cinta?” and it was a huge hit, so much so the film’s producer, Mira Lesmana, asked me what I wanted to do in the film industry.
I didn’t know what to answer! I only said, “I want to be involved in the creation and the creative process, not solely on the marketing side of it.” She then kindly nudged me and asked what did I enjoy doing.
I said I enjoy writing, I enjoy working on budgets, and I enjoy scheduling. Excel is my best friend.
She said, “Then you should be a producer.”
Fun fact! “Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?” garnered commercial success in Indonesia and internationally, which reached 2.5 million tickets.
Source
What is the job scope of a movie producer? Why so many meetings? Who hold the creative vision of a movie?
If making a film is a train, the producer would be the locomotive. The job scope is wide, and it needs a lot of different skills in one. That is why there are many ”titles” of producers.
There is the executive producer. In film, they are the ones giving the money; in TV, they are the ones executing the production. There is a producer, the one who is responsible for everything that happens in a film production. There is a line producer that handles budgeting and scheduling, and many others.
It is also common for a film to have more than one producer because we need to share the workload, considering how massive the workload is. Also, some producers are better at one skill than the other, and by working together, we each bring our own strength to the project.
A film, by default, is a collective work. The director will find it hard to make it on his own. It is mostly made by a group of people, each with a specific job description.
One of the toughest jobs of a producer is trying to gather the right people for the film, and ensure the combination complements each other. There is also motivating them to always move forward despite all the problems, challenges, and egos since most of them are artists in their own right. This is exactly why we need to have many meetings to coordinate with each other.
The producer needs to switch hats often. Sometimes creative, sometimes managerial, sometimes financial. If anything is not going how it is supposed to be, then the producer should take care of it. Sometimes, that also means the producer has to do it herself. The producer is also the director’s best friend on creative decisions. She must always be ready to be a spring board for the director to throw ideas.
What is the most difficult part of being a movie producer?
Managing the different egos of the people working for you. You have to be a leader who is also a mother, manager, banker, and psychologist simultaneously. This is the most difficult part. You want to make sure people working under you have a comfortable working experience and give out their best, without straying away from the main idea or concept of the film in the director’s head.
What is the most fun part of being a movie producer?
Everything! It is really a perfect job for me who get bored easily. I get to experience different people, different skill sets, and different hats.
If a 13 year-old comes to you and said they want to be a movie producer, what advice would you share with them?
Don’t be afraid. Being a producer is a very hard job. You have to be detailed but also always have a helicopter view of things. You must be able to appreciate people, like artists, and all the baggage and ego that comes with them. But as long as you do it with love, everything will be okay.
If you can only pick three Indonesian movies throughout your career, what would be your favorites and why?
Three films (in order of years):
Gie (2005)
This, I must say, is my “film school.” I worked on the film for 3.5 years, from research to production and promotion. The level of detail needed for the film was insane, and all of us were forced to learn something. Since I joined from the very beginning, I feel I found a new understanding of how production should work. This has become the base of how I work until now.
You can watch the film on Netflix (please check whether it’s still on Netflix, though!)
Hotline 1998 (2022)
This is a short documentary on what happened in Indonesia in 1998 and I love this film because the topic was so important for me. A bit of fun fact: The movie was not supposed to be like this (the end result that’s available to watch); it was supposed to tell something else — about this specific character who had already passed away. When we wanted to make her story into a film, though, her mother said no; thus we want to honor that. We then made the decision to switch the focus to film the hotline volunteers of 1998.
The “1998” here refers to the financial crisis that loomed in Southeast Asia at that time and culminated to May 1998 Indonesia riots
Wikipedia article
It was not easy. Not everyone wanted to be filmed, and out of four people who agreed, only one person wanted to show his face so we had to animate the whole film. We also had to be really careful of our characters’ safety; we sent them the film before the release to let them know how they are being portrayed and luckily, all of them gave us their blessings.
You can watch the film here:
Crocodile Tears (coming soon!)
This is not out yet, as it is still finishing! But this one is the smoothest sailing of all the films I have managed.
I think all the years of experience boiled down to this one film. The crews were great and everybody worked together effortlessly. Even when we had problems in the set, the problems were easily solved because everyone was so helpful and positive. This was my first experience of a production so smooth and nice; all the crews thought the same, too. When things fall into place like this, every day on the set, we only feel love and the togetherness of a family, which feels great.
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