PGA Nominees Daryl F. Zanuck Share Insights on the Challenges of Producing Before the Awards Show
During a lively celebration on Saturday honoring the nominees for the PGA Awards’ Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures, Miri Yoon, producer of Weapons, delivered a candid reflection on the challenges of filmmaking. The event took place at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
“Everything’s hard. Producing is hard. It is ghetto. It is difficult. There are problems to fix every damn day. It never ends,” Yoon remarked, describing the complexities faced by producers. She recounted the struggles her team encountered, including a complete cast overhaul due to the strike and the logistical challenges of shooting in Atlanta during the sweltering summer while aiming for a fall aesthetic typical of the Pacific Northwest. “And then we had kids, 17 of them, and their parents,” she noted, detailing the added complications.
Yoon articulated her view of the producer’s role, stating, “At the end of the day, the way I see our jobs as producers is that we’re in the service industry. We’re in service of a crew that’s busting their asses for us. We’re in service of actors who are putting their craft front and center. We’re in service to whomever is financing the movie. And we’re in service of the filmmaker and the vision they’re bringing to the table.”
The panel also provided insight into the various hurdles faced by other nominees. Knudsen shared that it took eight years to bring Bugonia to life, a remake of the 2003 South Korean film Save the Green Planet! For Bruckheimer, the challenge lay in refining the screenplay for F1, given the vast array of drivers and events involved. Eli Bush spoke about the difficulties of training a sea lion to play ping pong, while Sara Murphy navigated the emotional toll of losing producer Adam Somner and adapting to Benicio Del Toro’s temporary absence for a different project. Pippa Harris discussed the complexities of rebuilding the Old Globe Theatre, and Sev Ohanian humorously recounted unexpected encounters with alligators during shooting, declaring, “I hope we got an A.”
When asked to share how they began their careers, del Toro’s childhood memory of making a Super 8 film about a killer potato stood out. Ohanian, Ottmar, and Schwarzman shared their distinct journeys, with Ohanian reminiscing about a viral YouTube video, Ottmar explaining her transition from engineering to assisting Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Schwarzman recounting a strategic plan that involved pitching creative solutions while balancing his law career.
“I knew that they were going to have a problem that they were talking about in the elevator, and I would give them my idea, and then they would realize that there’s, like, creative merit, and I could get into the creative side of filmmaking,” Schwarzman expressed, adding a lighthearted note about his less-than-stellar academic performance.
“But a good storyteller,” del Toro interjected, affirming the importance of narrative in their work.
In addition to the nominees, the Producers Guild is also set to honor several industry figures this weekend. Jason Blum of Blumhouse will receive the Milestone Award, while Amy Pascal, known for her work on the Spider-Verse franchise, will be awarded the David O. Zelznick Achievement Award. Mara Brock Akil is slated for the Norman Lear Achievement Award.
