![]() When Steward received Lonergan’s script, she locked herself in the bathroom of her temporary apartment, sat on the floor and devoured the entire story. ![]() But Damon had to drop out due to scheduling, and he suggested Affleck as his replacement. Matt Damon, who brought the idea to Lonergan several years ago, had planned on starring, with financing secured from Gigi Pritzker’s OddLot. The project had a long road to the big screen. But as they were trying to get that project off the ground (it’s still part of their upcoming slate), “Manchester by the Sea” arrived at their door. Steward and Beck took meetings with executives and agents, and scooped up a Black List script last year called “Conversion,” about a mother who sends her gay son to conversion therapy. “We were both looking for the right partnership,” says Beck, 39, a former advertising executive who had produced short films on the side. It was there she met Beck, and they eventually decided to try their luck in the movie business. At 19, she owned her first business - an events and bridal planning service.Īfter college, she moved to New York and worked at Women’s Wear Daily as a fashion assistant, and in 2010, she started the Kess Agency for makeup artists and photographers. Louis, where she quickly developed an appreciation of movies through her film-buff mother, Thelma, who introduced her to directors like Bergman, Kubrick and Polan-ski. Although “Manchester” was the toast of Sundance, financing a dark movie headlined by indie favorites Affleck and Michelle Williams with a running time of more than two hours was clearly risky. ![]() While Steward’s company is still in its formative stages - she doesn’t even have office space yet - she envisions producing another movie this year, and continuing to build from there with her small staff of four employees, including Beck as head of production and Josh Godfrey, who’s assisted big-budget directors and producers, as head of development. But Steward joins such deep-pocketed producers as Ellison (who came to last month’s SXSW with Richard Linklater’s “Everybody Wants Some!!” and Seth Rogen’s raunchy R-rated comedy “Sausage Party”) and Broad Green’s Gabriel and Daniel Hammond. are looking more at properties aimed at television, and Focus Features is undergoing its second makeover in two years. On one hand, industry heavyweights like the historically movie-centric Weinstein Co. Indeed, it’s the best of times and the worst of times to be in the indie film business. “I have a lot of work to do to catch up with her,” Steward says, admiringly. Now, agencies are sending her their top-tier scripts, and Hollywood insiders are already comparing her to Annapurna Pictures founder Megan Ellison. If the movie lands a best picture nod (which some say seems likely), Steward would be the second black woman - after Oprah Winfrey - to receive an Academy Award nomination as a producer. Amazon is planning a formidable awards push for “Manchester” after it earned rapturous reviews at Sundance similar to those that followed “Boyhood’s” Park City debut two years ago. And while the producer has never been to the Oscars, 2016 could be a banner year. “And I haven’t turned to a pumpkin,” she adds with a smile. ![]() “It’s overwhelming, and I’m grateful,” says Steward, who compares her recent journey to being crowned a Disney princess. ![]()
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