Debra Martin Chase
Encyclopedia
Debra Martin Chase is a Hollywood producer and former lawyer who was named by Savoy magazine in August 2003 as one of the 100 most influential African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

s in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and by Black Enterprise magazine
Black Enterprise
Black Enterprise is a monthly U.S. magazine which describes itself as "the premier business news and investment resource for African Americans" and claims a readership of 3.7 million. It was founded in 1970 by Earl G. Graves, Sr.. The publication is known for its annual listing of the largest...

  in 2007 as one of the Top 50 Powerbrokers in Hollywood. Chase is the first African American female producer to have a solo producing deal at a major studio. Chase is also a two-time Emmy nominated television and film producer.

Background

Chase was born in Great Lakes, Illinois but moved to Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...

 as a child. She received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...

 in 1977 and J.D. from Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

 in 1981, where she met her husband, whom she later divorced in the late 1980s.

Working as a film producer, Debra Martin Chase is one of many minority women who has power at major studios. Overseeing production of new movies, she finally directed a movie hit in 2001 with The Princess Diaries
The Princess Diaries
The Princess Diaries is a series of epistolary novels by Meg Cabot in the chick-lit and young-adult fiction genre, and the title of the first volume, published in 2000....

. Starring Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway (actress)
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway is an American actress. After several stage roles, she appeared in the 1999 television series Get Real. She played Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries...

, the movie grossed over $109 million in domestic box office receipts and sold over 17 million video and DVD units. She also produced The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. In an interview with Essence 1997, she said "I'm the kid who was in the movie theater every Saturday," she told journalist Audrey Edwards. "I've been a movie fanatic since I was a child, and my images of the world were shaped by what I saw on the screen. I want to do my part to see that Blacks are not only represented in film but also enhance it."

Chase likes to travel, see what people are doing in the movie industry, and is adamant about producing movies that are universal. An amateur in the movie business, Chase spent time in New York to network and gain information. “I didn’t know the mechanics of how things worked. So I read books, went to seminars, met with anybody who’d meet with me just to information,” said in an interview with George Alexander (490) With some luck and perseverance, Chase was able to meet with the general counsel at Columbia PicturesAmerican film and production company through a good friend’s sister. Later, she was in touch with the chairman, Frank Price to talk about the projects at Price Entertainment. After a few months of working together, Price brought her up as his executive assistant. Chase worked with Price for a year, as his troubleshooter. She gained invaluable experience while working for him because he brought her to every meeting. A year after, Sony brought Mark Canton in for the top job, and Frank put Chase on the creative staff, before leaving the company.(Alexander, George)

The legal skills she obtained in law school have helped with being a problem solver as a producer. She has the authority to dismiss a writer if their script does fit well with the movie. In her position, Chase is responsible to keep the movie making process smooth and establish order on set. She stays grounded with the help of her friends and family. For Chase, making movies allow people to be transported out of reality to a different world. Her favorite producers are Samuel Goldwyn and David O. Selznick. The two directors that she respects are Carl Franklin, Steven Soderbergh, and Scorsese. With kids watching more TV than ever, Martin Chase believes it is important to contribute work that not only entertains but also delivers a positive message. "It's immensely rewarding to know that you are having a huge impact on the self-image, values and life perspective of kids," she contends.
In an interview with George Alexander, Chase offers advice for aspiring producers, encouraging those who want to further career to seek out as much experience as possible. She also states that there are people in the business for the wrong reasons, and Hollywood is not all glamour and glitz as people think it is.

Career

She practiced law throughout the 1980s, eventually moving to the film industry when she joined the legal department at Columbia Studios. She ran Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...

's Mundy Lane Entertainment from 1992–1995 and Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...

's Brown House Productions from 1995-2000. She formed her own company, Martin Chase Productions in 2000.
California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

In 1981, Chase took an entry-level associate job with a law firm in Houston. She realized that law was not the career that she wanted. "I hated every minute practicing law," she admitted to Essence in 2003. In the 80’s, she worked as a legal consulatant, a freelance writer, and for the 1988 presidential campaign of Democratic Party nominee Michael Dukakis.
In the late 1980s, Chase became involved with the film business and left Houston for Columbia Pictures in Los Angeles, California. She was selected a spot in its executive-training program. Chase was later promoted to become an executive assistant to the top executive with the studio.

After working up the courage to speak to Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...

 at Columbia studios, he suggested the set up a meeting. Later, Washington hired Chase to run his production company, Mundy Lane Entertainment.
Her work with Washington as executive producers of Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream, a two-hour documentary on the baseball legend, which aired on the TBS Superstation in April 1995, was nominated for an Academy Award and an Emmy. It won a Peabody Award, the Crytal Heart Award from the Heartland Film Festival and was voted Best Documentary by the National Association of Minorities in Cable.

Chase’s experience on the creative board consisted of reading scripts and book. She was also given the opportunity to input her opinion. Her role on the board lasted only a six months. Chase met Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...

 at a movie lot where she scored a meeting that would change her career. Washington offered Chase a job at his production company and she took it. Both Chase and Washington had a mutual friend and to her, “it was just a good fit.” (Alexander, 492)
The first company project with Denzel Washington’s production was Devil in a Blue Dress, based on a book by Walter Mosely. Chase and Denzel also produced a documentary on Hank Aaron for PBS in 1995 with Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins. It was nominated for an Emmy and an Oscar, and won a Peabody Award. Chase was submerged in the Hollywood business world, realizing that agents and screen writers were trying to bribe her to help them. Chase also pitched an idea for Washington for The Preacher’s Wife. Her work with Washington as executive producers of Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream, a two-hour documentary on the baseball legend, which aired on the TBS Superstation in April 1995, was nominated for an Academy Award and an Emmy. It won a Peabody Award,An annual, international awards for excellence in radio and television broadcasting the Crystal Heart Award from the Heartland Film Festival and was voted Best Documentary by the National Association of Minorities in Cable.

Overseeing production of new movies, she finally directed a movie hit in 2001 with The Princess Diaries. Starring Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway, the movie grossed over $109 million in domestic box office receipts and sold over 17 million video and DVD units. She also produced The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. In an interview with Essence 1997, she said "I'm the kid who was in the movie theater every Saturday," she told journalist Audrey Edwards. "I've been a movie fanatic since I was a child, and my images of the world were shaped by what I saw on the screen. I want to do my part to see that Blacks are not only represented in film but also enhance it." Her work with Princess Diaries was made to make, “Every girl, and the girl in every woman, [wish] that she would wake up one day and find out that she’s a princess.” (Alexander,497) Chase inspires young girls to be reminded that they have the power to do what they want to do. She sold it do Disney and wanted Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...

 to play one of the lead roles. The movie was based on a book by Meg Cabot.
Her company, Martin Chase Productions, has been affiliated with the Walt Disney Company for over seven years. Producer of three very successful movie franchises; The Princess Diaries, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Cheetah Girls, Chase is often referred to as the “Queen of Tweens.”

In the summer of 2005, Chase produced a movie for Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

 titled The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a best selling novel written in 2001 by Ann Brashares. The book follows the adventures of four best friends—Lena Kaligaris, Tibby Rollins, Bridget Vreeland, and Carmen Lowell, who will be spending their first summer apart. When a magical pair of jeans comes...

, based on a book by Ann Brashares, starring America Ferrera
America Ferrera
America Georgina Ferrera is an American actress, best known for playing the lead role in the television comedy series Ugly Betty...

, Blake Lively
Blake Lively
Blake Christina Lively is an American actress and model who stars as Serena van der Woodsen in the television teen drama series Gossip Girl...

, Amber Tamblyn
Amber Tamblyn
Amber Rose Tamblyn is an American actress and poet. She first came to national attention in her role on the soap opera General Hospital as Emily Quartermaine, followed by a starring role on the prime-time series Joan of Arcadia portraying the title character...

, and Alexis Bledel
Alexis Bledel
Alexis Bledel is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Rory Gilmore in the television series Gilmore Girls and Lena Kaligaris in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.-Early life:Bledel was born Kimberly Alexis Bledel in Houston, Texas...

.
Her company, Martin Chase Productions, has been an affiliate of the Walt Disney Company for over ten years. Chase was the executive producer of The Cheetah Girls, a movie and musc franchise on Disney Channel. Based on a best selling book by Deborah Gregory, it stars Raven-Symone, Sabrina Bryan, Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams and Lynn Whitfield. A second installment of the movie, The Cheetah Girls 2,was shot in Barcelona, Spain. It premiered in August 2006 was the most watched movie of the Disney network. The third installment debuted on The Disney Channel was The Cheetah Girls: One World, shot entirely in Udaipur, India premiered in August, 2008. The soundtrack for the first movie wne double platinum.

Chase was one of the executive producers of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella which aired in November 1997 on ABC’s The Wonderful World of Disney and stars Brandy
Brandy
Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...

, Whitney Houston and Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...

. The television musical became a gigantic hit with 60 million viewers. It was nominated for seven Emmys and won the Emmy in the category of Art Production.
Chase has also executive produced two multi-platinum soundtracks with a third soon to be released.

Chase was interviewed by George Alexander in 2003.

On top of all that, she co-created and produced, BYOU, a teen workout DVD that is a dance fitness program for girls, combining pop and hip-hop movement. Starring Sabrina Bryan from The Cheetah Girls franchise, the DVD is geared toward young girls. More than a quarter million DVD’s were sold.

Later this year(2011), she is set to produce Fast Girls, a movie about a girls' track team. She also is producing, along with Queen Latifah and Shakim Compere, Just Wright, a romantic comedy that will also feature Queen Latifah in the lead rote. Martin Chase Productions is now located at Disney, where she produced the hugely successful The Princess Diaries, a film that grossed more than $100 million in the United States alone. Chase volunteers for a number of organizations and is currently a "producing mentor" for the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

.

Honors

Chase has been honored by:
  • May 2007: Ebony magazine - Television and Film Award for Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communications
  • October 2003: Essence magazine - 50 African American women shaping the world

Producer credits

Martin Chase Productions:
  • The Cheetah Girls: One World
    The Cheetah Girls: One World
    The Cheetah Girls: One World is a 2008 Disney Channel Original Movie. It is the third and final film of The Cheetah Girls film trilogy, and premiered on August 22, 2008...

     (2008)
  • The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
    The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
    The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is a 2008 sequel to the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The original cast , return to star in the movie, which was directed by Sanaa Hamri...

     (2008)
  • The Cheetah Girls 2
    The Cheetah Girls 2
    The Cheetah Girls 2 is the 2006 sequel to the Disney Channel Original Movie, The Cheetah Girls. Its premiere received the highest ratings of all Disney Channel Movies at its time, a total of over 8.1 million viewers, beating the premiere ratings of High School Musical , and beating previous highest...

     (2006)
  • The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
    The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (film)
    The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a 2005 American film, based on the novel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares released by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by Ken Kwapis and written by Delia Ephron.The film's production budget was $25 million...

     (2005)
  • The Cheetah Girls
    The Cheetah Girls (film)
    The Cheetah Girls is a 2003 musical Disney Channel Original Movie, the first for Disney Channel, based on a bestselling series of young adult books of the same name by Deborah Gregory...

     (2003)


Brown House Productions:
  • The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
    The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
    The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement is the 2004 sequel to 2001's The Princess Diaries.Most of the cast returned from the first film, including Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Héctor Elizondo, and Heather Matarazzo...

     (2004)
  • The Princess Diaries
    The Princess Diaries (film)
    The Princess Diaries is a 2001 comedy film produced by singer and actress Whitney Houston and directed by Garry Marshall. It is based on Meg Cabot's 2000 novel of the same name...

     (2001)
  • Cinderella  (1997)


Mundy Lane Entertainment:
  • The Preacher's Wife
    The Preacher's Wife
    The Preacher's Wife is a 1996 romantic-family-dramedy-christmas film directed by Penny Marshall, and starring Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston, and Loretta Devine. It is a remake of the 1947 film The Bishop's Wife....

     (1996)
  • Courage Under Fire
    Courage Under Fire
    Courage Under Fire is a 1996 film directed by Edward Zwick, and starring Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips and Matt Damon. It is one of the first films to depict the 1991 Gulf War.-Plot:...

     (1996)
  • The Pelican Brief
    The Pelican Brief (film)
    The Pelican Brief is a 1993 legal crime thriller based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham. Directed by Alan J. Pakula, the film stars Julia Roberts in the role of young law student Darby Shaw and Denzel Washington as Washington Herald reporter Gray Grantham...

     (1993)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK