Young Detroiter Gains Success in Hollywood

ARTS&LIFE FILM

A scene from Plus One starring Maya Erskine and Jack Quaid, a film co-produced by David Devries.

Young Detroiter Gains Success in Hollywood

Producer looks for new projects to pursue post-pandemic.

RLJE FILMS

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Many people dream about making a movie or working in the movie business, but few fulfill their hopes in such a competitive field. One young Detroit native, David Devries, 31, has achieved a successful, expanding career in the rapidly evolving film industry. Los Angeles residents Devries and his wife, Nina Devries, also a Detroiter, spent much of the past summer visiting their parents in Oakland County while working remoteDavid ly. Devries is director of devel-Devries opment for Studio71, LP, a global media and production company that creates a wide array of content, including movies, TV shows, digital series and podcasts. In this position, he seeks out and evaluates new film and TV projects, critiques scripts and works to turn ideas into successful television shows and movies.

“Producing is a lot of project management,” Devries explains. Usually producers are on the film set, overseeing filming, whether the project is a movie, television show or a newer form of entertainment. The film industry has changed to digital technology, he says, which encompasses subscription services, free content, ads and, with the impact of COVID, there seems to be an increased number of animated shows.

A recent successful example of Devries’ production work is Plus One, an indie movie released last year starring Maya Erskine and Jack Quaid. It was an Audience Award Winner at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and is now streaming on Hulu. “I found the project from two writer/directors. I had seen some of their work,” Devries explains.

Devries was also involved in the development of the movie Jason Bourne starring Matt Damon while working at Captivate Entertainment, a production company.

Of course, Devries didn’t just walk onto a movie set with a job and script in hand. It took some entry-level jobs, including some work on the business side of filmmaking, which he said was good experience.

Devries’ path to a movie career began in high school. “I made a couple of short films while at Franklin Jewish Academy that I hope never resurface because I imagine they’re not very good. When choosing a college, I specifically looked for schools that have a good film program, which is what led me to the University of Michigan, among other things,” he says.

By his sophomore year, Devries knew he wanted to pursue a career in entertainment.

“At that point, I began committing the majority of my free time to making as many short films, music videos, commercials and sketch videos as I could, trying to gain as much production experience as possible before leaving the many great resources that U-M had to offer for their film students,” he said. Devries majored in film/cinema/video studies and psychology and was active in a filmmaking club.

During his college years, Michigan offered very generous incentives for film production in the state, but these were canceled by the time he graduated. This funding cutback drastically reduced local filmmaking opportunities. However, Devries connected with locally based screenwriter Dan Shere and did some freelance work for him.

Devries’ next step was working as an intern at several California production companies and then at a talent agency for a few years. He represented some major television directors and started overseeing contracts and payments for clients. From there, he progressed to professional positions at Captivate Entertainment and Studio71. Like many other businesses, most film offices are closed, remote work is the norm, and some projects are on hold.

“COVID has hit the entertainment industry hard like everyone else with a lot of layoffs and furloughs,” Devries says. “Almost nothing is getting filmed in the U.S. A lot of TV networks are planning to do production in Canada, which has a two-week required quarantine. They filmed with the approval of the unions, but it cost a lot of money to keep everyone safe. It took a couple of months for approvals. Fewer movies are being made, and they are costing more.”

In response to COVID, Devries says that some film stories are being revised to eliminate large crowd scenes, relying instead on a smaller number of actors and locations to reduce potential virus exposure. He predicts there will be some script rewriting to reflect the current political climate and COVID to make the stories more relevant.

But during this interim period, he and others are “busy doing development so that everything will be ready when production begins.” For Devries, that means looking for new projects and working to sell prospective concepts for shows and movies.

“People have always found a need for entertainment and the arts, and there are enough talented and passionate individuals out there who are ready and eager to work. What exactly the long-term ramifications will be, no one can say. But for now, I am very hopeful that things will start to improve sometime in the very near future,” he says.