Debi Wisch: Documentary Film Producer
Introduction
Currently, Wisch is a documentary film producer. She is newer to the industry as she spent the first 3 decades of her career working in marketing and branding. The first film she produced, The Price of Everything, was sold to HBO and nominated for an Emmy. Wisch’s other works include Love Cecil and The Art of Making It.
“I feel incredibly lucky that I figured out what I love to do and what I’m best at.”
Wisch’s Past
Wisch was acutely aware of her passions and interests from an early age. She always loved writing and communication, and was a natural out-of-the box thinker. Even as a young girl Wisch knew she didn’t want to be stuck behind a desk, bt there was a time in her life where felt like she should be going down a more traditional career path. Following college, Wisch was contemplating going to law school because she was a good English student and enjoyed History. However, she really wanted to be in a creative field working with different types of people. Following college, she moved to Montreal and encountered a vibrance and energy she had never experienced while growing up in the Canadian prairies. Wisch dreamed of going to New York City, but first she traveled around Asia working on films and lived in Arizona working in journalism and public relations. These experiences taught her skills such as how to communicate with clients, keep spreadsheets and move projects on time and on budget. Little did Wisch know, she was learning the fundamental skills required for her current career. Wisch notes, “there’s sort of breadcrumbs that are spread, you do the right thing, check the right boxes, and you get there. I’ve never had a career like that.” The next step to New York was in Boston at a company called Cone Communications, where Wisch worked on one of the first social marketing campaigns for Reebok and Nelson Mandela called Free to be You. This project laid the foundation for future social marketing campaigns similar to the ones Vogue is currently doing: “it was one of the first… campaigns that had ever happened where a big brand… wrapped itself around an issue and gained an audience by doing that.” After Boston, Wisch finally made it to New York working on the strategic side of marketing and PR thinking through what meaningful publicity looks like. For the next six to seven years, Wisch worked towards bringing value to the marketing budget through real and meaningful stories. She ultimately ended up running her own marketing firm in Hong Kong. During this time, Wisch dabbled in screenwriting. She wrote a script about her early career days as a publicist and it was optioned by a production company that was working with Meryl Streep. Although the film was in development for a couple of years, it never made it to the screen. Wisch realized 99% of screenplays do not get made. Around this time, she also started settling down in her personal life and her “career” soon followed.
“You can be a very successful screenwriter and actually never see any of your work appear on screen, which is fascinating.”
During the height of Wisch’s parenting years, she started a jewelry company with a client. The company made one of a kind jewels and called themselves Serious Jewels that “don’t take themselves too seriously”. It was a “jobby” (job + hobby) for a while which allowed Wisch to stay involved in the art world while raising three children. The company was eventually valued at five million dollars, and suddenly her jobby turned into a real job. At this point, Wisch had a hard decision to make: either take the company to the next level or take a step back. Wisch and her partner decided to take a pause on the company.
Not having a company to run, however, gave Wisch the opportunity to do something new, like make a film about the art world.
Highs and Lows
‘The Price of Everything’ wasn’t at all the drastic shift in Wisch’s career that it seemed – if anything it was more resonant than her prior projects. Wisch had always known she’d do something creative. A conversation with her grandfather early in her career reinforced this. Prior to it, she thought she needed to go to law school to be credentialed but he dissuaded her from that path stating, “you’re seeing me 40 years into my career and the first 35 weren’t that much fun.” Wisch’s ultimate path was not smooth – she persevered through two career struggles until she found film and the art world. Coincidentally, many of her marketing skills applied to the film world. She noted that, “the skills you need to be successful as a film producer aren’t that different from the skills that you need in most professions.” In an effort to understand the ins and outs of filmmaking, Wisch decided to make ‘The Price of Everything’ through her own production company.
While making the film, Wisch faced many interpersonal challenges due to the creative and collaborative nature of the project. But by setting a high code of ethics for herself, she was able to balance multiple relationships. Wisch always made sure to have honest and factual conversations with her team. She created an environment where “integrity is first and foremost always” and hoped people do things the best they can.
On her next film ‘The Art of Making It,’ Wisch dealt with several challenges on a personal level as well. The task of creating a movie by herself from the ground up was stressful and daunting. She experienced many sleepless nights before it aired around the country. But because the documentary grapples with valuing things that have no commercial value, “seeing [The Art of Making It] have ripple effects in the world [was] very gratifying.” The opportunity to see the audience moved and inspired made all the work worth it.
Present
Overall, Wisch truly loves her career. Every day is different and she is able to meet interesting people who have unique stories to share. Wisch believes that a majority of her job is learning. She often finds herself in conversations about new ideas which allow her to think using many different parts of her brain. Wisch’s experiences have shown her that “great art and artists change you” and she is learning from them everyday. Despite entering the film industry later in life, Wisch mentions, “I feel incredibly lucky that I figured out what I love to do and what I’m best at” and how “there is only 10% of the job that annoys me rather than 50%.”
“There is only 10% of the job that annoys me rather than 50%.”
In the foreseeable future, Wisch wants to continue to make meaningful projects both for her and her audience. She loves discovering new artists and young talent. Last summer, Wisch mentored three hungry and curious college students about the filmmaking/production industry. She hopes to continue to build a portfolio of content within her own production company. As an independent filmmaker, Wisch enjoys taking the risk to create her own teams.
Life Advice
Every person has his/her struggles and for Wisch it was with her confidence. Wisch believes that the key to fostering confidence is honesty about your capabilities. In the past, Wisch would get defensive about her weaknesses. However, she realized that being able to own both your strengths and weaknesses builds resilience. The standard growing up was such that, “you couldn’t confidently own stuff, you had to really pretend everything was great and perfect and that’s not realistic. Life can be challenging. We rise and fall together and we have to be kind and nurturing of humanity.” The pretending part is especially harmful and it is overall more beneficial to be true to yourself. “Very few people are good at everything and love everything” and it is very rare that a career requires competency in all skills. Wisch believes there is more value in being able to recognize areas and strengths and weaknesses than being strong in all possible areas.
“Throw spaghetti at the wall sometimes it’s going to stick and sometimes it’s not.”
Overall, Wisch thinks that students should not be afraid to try new things. There is a lot of pressure surrounding the idea of success. Many people will not even try something out for fear of failure. Wisch hopes that more people will follow their passions because when you “throw spaghetti at the wall sometimes it’s going to stick and sometimes it’s not” and that is okay too.
