The Producers Guild of America has announced A Spotlight on Indie Producers and the Films that Inspired Them, a new quarterly speaking event as part of the Guild’s existing “Producers on Producing” series. A Spotlight on Indie Producers and the Films that Inspired Them will feature conversations between independent producers and the producers who made the films that influenced their careers. The first conversation will premiere on Tuesday, November 17 with prolific producer Stacey Sher, film/TV producer and founder of Shiny Penny Productions and one of the producers of the iconic film Erin Brockovich, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Sher is also a producer on the upcoming Aretha Franklin biopic Respect starring Jennifer Hudson and directed by Liesl Tommy, which will be released next summer. Selecting Erin Brockovich and leading the conversation with Sher is indie producer and partner at Killer Films, David Hinojosa.

“It feels so appropriate to revisit a movie as impeccably made and socially relevant as Erin Brockovich. That such sophisticated filmmaking could exist at that commercial scale inspired me to understand and pursue producing,” said Hinojosa.  A Spotlight on Indie Producers and the Films that Inspired Them is curated by the PGA’s Independent Film Producers Task Force, a group of members dedicated to protecting and advancing the interests of independent film producers. Click here to register for the event.

Launched in 2018 “Producers on Producing” is the Producers Guild of America’s series celebrating the unique and critical role that film and television producers play in taking projects from script to screen. Through lively discussions between producers spanning a project’s development, production and distribution, the series provides audiences with an insider’s perspective on how some of our most iconic productions came together and eventually cemented their place in cinematic history. Streamed live during this period of remote programming, “Producers on Producing” is a must attend event for producers, film students and interested public audiences. 

Erin Brockovich was produced by Sher and her then Jersey Films partners Danny DeVito and Michael Shamberg. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Susannah Grant, Erin Brockovich starred Julia Roberts in her Academy Award-winning Best Actress performance as the title character. 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of the film’s theatrical release by Universal Pictures. In addition to Erin Brockovich, Sher has produced more than two dozen major motion pictures amassing nearly $2.2 billion at the global box office. She is a two-time Academy Award nominee and an Emmy Award nominee. Her many critically acclaimed production credits include Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight; Out Of Sight, Contagion, Garden State, Reality Bites and Get Shorty.

While at Killer Films, Hinojosa has developed Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer’s Academy Award-winning Still Alice and Todd Haynes’ Carol which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and received six Academy Award nominations. Most recently, Hinojosa produced Josephine Decker’s Shirley, Janicza Bravo’s Zola, Mona Fastvold’s The World To Come, and Paul Schrader’s First Reformed.