Effie Brown On Project Greenlight, Producer Pay & Why Distribution Eats First

Effie T. Brown is an award-winning producer, CEO of Game Changer Films, and a Governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her producing credits include Real Women Have Curves and Dear White People, and she made history when she challenged the lack of diversity on HBO’s Project Greenlight — a moment that helped spark the creation of the Inclusion Rider.

In this season seven finale of Sista Brunch, Effie delivers one of the most transparent and unfiltered conversations we’ve ever had:

— Growing up as a latchkey kid in New Jersey and seeing Alien as a child — the moment she realized women can save themselves and storytelling can bring everyone together
— Getting into the LMU film school on sheer audacity: “I’m gonna be bigger than Jerry Bruckheimer and Oprah Winfrey”
— The first class of Film Independent’s Project Involve
— The full Project Greenlight story: what happened at the premiere, reading Matt Damon’s microexpressions, and learning that she’d never hear from them again
— How that moment led directly to the Inclusion Rider and now state-level inclusion policy through the California Film Commission
— Real producer pay: $75K on Real Women Have Curves, underpaying herself on Dear White People, and doing Project Greenlight because her house was about to be foreclosed on
— Why producers should never defer their 5%: “You know who doesn’t put their fee back? The director. The actors. The writers.”
— Producers United and the fight for development fees and commencement fees
— Her quilting practice, Conjure Quilts: putting disparate pieces together to make something whole
— What verticals are and why they’re the future: “Candy Crush with a narrative”
— Her vision for a collective fund where multiple companies pool resources and replenish the pot
— 18 years sober, gumbo, and the advice to her younger self: have a lot of sex and learn about distribution because they eat first and eat the most

Effie was born at Fort Dix, New Jersey, attended Loyola Marymount University on a theater scholarship, and has spent her career making sure overlooked voices get heard, seen, paid, and credited.