In a year that saw A Nice Indian Boy and Love Me premiere at major festivals, line producer Amanda Verhagen found herself navigating two wildly different but equally ambitious projects, one an intimate, culturally grounded romance, the other a conceptual sci-fi love story brought to life through animatronics, VFX, and an entirely non-human cast. Known for her meticulous planning, adaptability, and collaborative leadership style, she reflects on the unique challenges behind these films: from constructing a large-scale wedding environment from scratch to coordinating global shoots with complex puppetry and post pipelines. In this interview, she breaks down the craft of line producing, her approach to supporting director-driven storytelling, and what emerging filmmakers can learn from making ambitious work with limited resources.
Both A Nice Indian Boy and Love Me premiered at major festivals this year. What drew you to each of these projects, and how did your role as line producer differ between the two?
A Nice Indian Boy and Love Me are very different films on the surface, but the similarities run deep. Both are stories of connection and fighting against all odds, whether literal space and time or your own insecurities, to be with the ones you love.
I was incredibly lucky to be brought onto both films by legendary producer Daniel Bekerman and his team at Scythia Films. He is an incredible producer and mentor, with excellent taste in director-driven films.
Every film requires different skills from a Line Producer, and we learn to adapt. For A Nice Indian Boy, I studied Indian weddings, focused on cast and crew cohesion, and protecting time and space within the budget and schedule for the comedic elements.
For Love Me, there were new and constantly changing technical elements, as well as intricate builds. As a Line Producer, I want to be the person with the plan from start to finish; however, with Love Me, we had to be flexible, seek out experts, and learn as we shot each element of the film.
Love Me is a uniquely conceptual film without traditional human actors. How did that impact your approach to scheduling, budgeting, and working with the VFX and post teams?
We traded one actor for large animatronic Buoys and Satellites that required multiple puppeteers to program and control. In many ways, it was more complicated than having actors on set, as there are many small timing elements to sort out, like when does the Buoy blink? And how close does the shutter on the Satellite need to be to convey happiness?
Additionally, we had to have multiple animatronics for each character, depending on what elements they were in: studio, ice, water, sand, etc. They all have to match and be operational after shipping to different locations to shoot around the world.
This meant we needed everyone’s input with every movement. What was once a simple scene may now require motion capture, VFX plates, paint touch-ups on the animatronics, rehearsals, logistics considerations and more. Working closely and early with the post team at Elemental Post is essential.
A Nice Indian Boy tells a culturally specific, character-driven story. As a line producer, how do you support creative authenticity while still managing the practical demands of production?
I am not a South Asian woman, and cannot speak firsthand to that experience. It was important to me that I surround the film with as many crew members with that cultural background as possible. There are many nuances to the script and film, that I may never understand, no matter how much I research, as I haven’t had the lived experience.
I do my best to instill a proactive culture on our sets where the crew feels empowered to contribute ideas and report issues. This means that the crew is given a voice to lend to the authenticity of the film.
There will always be times when there are asks that are above and beyond budget, but as a Line Producer, I’m not here to say no. I’m here to provide options. We only ever have a certain amount of money to use, and we just have choices to make of what to do with it.
With two high-profile festival films in the same year, what were the biggest production challenges that stood out for you, and how did you overcome them?
I never thought when I read the script for A Nice Indian Boy that shooting two weddings would be so challenging. Turns out, trying to get a wedding venue for multiple weeks to shoot in, during peak wedding season, for a massive Indian-style wedding, is not an easy feat.
We actually couldn’t find a single venue that could properly accommodate us and ended up building a massive tent in the yard of a farm and decorating it with everything we needed.
If you can’t find it, build it!
It certainly came with its own challenges, like wobbly dance floors in the fields, additional costs for set dressing, and having to stockpile allergy meds for crew members’ hayfever. In the end, it looked better than any venue we scouted.
How early were you brought on to Love Me and A Nice Indian Boy, and what’s your ideal point of entry on a film when it comes to building a sustainable production plan?
I am typically brought onto a film right when the studio or production company is finalizing the cast and has or is close to closing financing. They are ready to look at where to shoot, and want to ensure their script matches the number they have in mind.
I love being in the conversation as early as possible. The earlier I can build a budget and start showing the team possible location ideas, the better. It’s always ideal to go into a film far before prep, knowing you have a shootable script that matches your budget and your shoot location. And the work to get there takes some time.
From your experience on these two very different films, what advice would you give to emerging producers or line producers who want to support ambitious, unconventional storytelling?
Don’t be afraid to make films that you don’t know how to make.
If you read a script, and it scares you, but you love the story, that’s ok. You’ll find a way. You’re not the only one making the movie, and you don’t have to have all of the answers. Filmmaking is a collaborative art.
Make the movies that scare you, that’s how we grow, get better and make more interesting work.
Thank you, Amanda!
