Debra Martin Chase

Debra Martin Chase (born October 11, 1956) is a Hollywood producer and former lawyer who was named by Savoy magazine in August 2003 as one of the 100 most influential African Americans in the United States and by Black Enterprise magazine in 2007 as one of the Top 50 Powerbrokers in Hollywood.^[1] Chase is the first African American female producer to have a solo producing deal at a major studio. Chase is also a two-time Emmy nominated television and film producer.

Background

Chase was born in Great Lakes, Illinois but moved to Pasadena, California as a child. She received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in 1977 and J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1981, where she met her husband, whom she later divorced in the late 1980s.
Working as a film producer, Debra Martin Chase is one of many minority women who has power at major studios. Overseeing production of new movies, she finally directed a movie hit in 2001 with The Princess Diaries. Starring Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway, the movie grossed over $109 million in domestic box office receipts and sold over 17 million video and DVD units. She also produced The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. In an interview with Essence 1997, she said "I'm the kid who was in the movie theater every Saturday," she told journalist Audrey Edwards. "I've been a movie fanatic since I was a child, and my images of the world were shaped by what I saw on the screen. I want to do my part to see that Blacks are not only represented in film but also enhance it."^[2]

Chase likes to travel, see what people are doing in the movie industry, and is adamant about producing movies that are universal. An amateur in the movie business, Chase spent time in New York to network and gain information. “I didn’t know the mechanics of how things worked. So I read books, went to seminars, met with anybody who’d meet with me just to information,” said in an interview with George Alexander (490) With some luck and perseverance, Chase was able to meet with the general counsel at Columbia Pictures^{[note 1]} through a good friend’s sister. Later, she was in touch with the chairman, Frank Price to talk about the projects at Price Entertainment. After a few months of working together, Price brought her up as his executive assistant. Chase worked with Price for a year, as his troubleshooter. She gained invaluable experience while working for him because he brought her to every meeting. A year after, Sony brought Mark Canton in for the top job, and Frank put Chase on the creative staff, before leaving the company.(Alexander, George)

The legal skills she obtained in law school have helped with being a problem solver as a producer. She has the authority to dismiss a writer if their script does fit well with the movie. In her position, Chase is responsible to keep the movie making process smooth and establish order on set. She stays grounded with the help of her friends and family. For Chase, making movies allow people to be transported out of reality to a different world. Her favorite producers are Samuel Goldwyn and David O. Selznick. The two directors that she respects are Carl Franklin, Steven Soderbergh, and Scorsese. With kids watching more TV than ever, Martin Chase believes it is important to contribute work that not only entertains but also delivers a positive message. "It's immensely rewarding to know that you are having a huge impact on the self-image, values and life perspective of kids," she contends.^[3] In an interview with George Alexander, Chase offers advice for aspiring producers, encouraging those who want to further career to seek out as much experience as possible. She also states that there are people in the business for the wrong reasons, and Hollywood is not all glamour and glitz as people think it is.

Career

She practiced law throughout the 1980s, eventually moving to the film industry when she joined the legal department at Columbia Studios. She ran Denzel Washington's Mundy Lane Entertainment from 1992–1995 and Whitney Houston's Brown House Productions from 1995-2000. She formed her own company, Martin Chase Productions in 2000.^[1] California.^[4]

In 1981, Chase took an entry-level associate job with a law firm in Houston. She realized that law was not the career that she wanted. "I hated every minute practicing law," she admitted to Essence in 2003. In the 80’s, she worked as a legal consulatant, a freelance writer, and for the 1988 presidential campaign of Democratic Party nominee Michael Dukakis. In the late 1980s, Chase became involved with the film business and left Houston for Columbia Pictures in Los Angeles, California. She was selected a spot in its executive-training program. Chase was later promoted to become an executive assistant to the top executive with the studio.

After working up the courage to speak to Denzel Washington at Columbia studios, he suggested the set up a meeting. Later, Washington hired Chase to run his production company, Mundy Lane Entertainment.^[5]
Her work with Washington as executive producers of Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream, a two-hour documentary on the baseball legend, which aired on the TBS Superstation in April 1995, was nominated for an Academy Award and an Emmy. It won a Peabody Award, the Crytal Heart Award from the Heartland Film Festival and was voted Best Documentary by the National Association of Minorities in Cable.

Chase’s experience on the creative board consisted of reading scripts and book. She was also given the opportunity to input her opinion. Her role on the board lasted only a six months. Chase met Denzel Washington at a movie lot where she scored a meeting that would change her career. Washington offered Chase a job at his production company and she took it. Both Chase and Washington had a mutual friend and to her, “it was just a good fit.” (Alexander, 492) The first company project with Denzel Washington’s production was Devil in a Blue Dress, based on a book by Walter Mosely. Chase and Denzel also produced a documentary on Hank Aaron for PBS in 1995 with Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins. It was nominated for an Emmy and an Oscar, and won a Peabody Award. Chase was submerged in the Hollywood business world, realizing that agents and screen writers were trying to bribe her to help them. Chase also pitched an idea for Washington for The Preacher’s Wife. Her work with Washington as executive producers of Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream, a two-hour documentary on the baseball legend, which aired on the TBS Superstation in April 1995, was nominated for an Academy Award and an Emmy. It won a Peabody Award,^{[note2 1]} the Crystal Heart Award from the Heartland Film Festival and was voted Best Documentary by the National Association of Minorities in Cable.

Overseeing production of new movies, she finally directed a movie hit in 2001 with The Princess Diaries. Starring Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway, the movie grossed over $109 million in domestic box office receipts and sold over 17 million video and DVD units. She also produced The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. In an interview with Essence 1997, she said "I'm the kid who was in the movie theater every Saturday," she told journalist Audrey Edwards. "I've been a movie fanatic since I was a child, and my images of the world were shaped by what I saw on the screen. I want to do my part to see that Blacks are not only represented in film but also enhance it." Her work with Princess Diaries was made to make, “Every girl, and the girl in every woman, [wish] that she would wake up one day and find out that she’s a princess.” (Alexander,497) Chase inspires young girls to be reminded that they have the power to do what they want to do. She sold it do Disney and wanted Julie Andrews to play one of the lead roles. The movie was based on a book by Meg Cabot. Her company, Martin Chase Productions, has been affiliated with the Walt Disney Company for over seven years. Producer of three very successful movie franchises; The Princess Diaries, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Cheetah Girls, Chase is often referred to as the “Queen of Tweens.”

In the summer of 2005, Chase produced a movie for Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. titled The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, based on a book by Ann Brashares, starring America Ferrera, Blake Lively, Amber Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel. Her company, Martin Chase Productions, has been an affiliate of the Walt Disney Company for over ten years. Chase was the executive producer of The Cheetah Girls, a movie and musc franchise on Disney Channel. Based on a best selling book by Deborah Gregory, it stars Raven-Symone, Sabrina Bryan, Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams and Lynn Whitfield. A second installment of the movie, The Cheetah Girls 2,was shot in Barcelona, Spain. It premiered in August 2006 was the most watched movie of the Disney network. The third installment debuted on The Disney Channel was The Cheetah Girls: One World, shot entirely in Udaipur, India premiered in August, 2008. The soundtrack for the first movie wne double platinum.^[6]

Chase was one of the executive producers of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella which aired in November 1997 on ABC’s The Wonderful World of Disney and stars Brandy, Whitney Houston and Whoopi Goldberg. The television musical became a gigantic hit with 60 million viewers. It was nominated for seven Emmys and won the Emmy in the category of Art Production.^[6]
Chase has also executive produced two multi-platinum soundtracks with a third soon to be released.

Chase was interviewed by George Alexander in 2003.

On top of all that, she co-created and produced, BYOU, a teen workout DVD that is a dance fitness program for girls, combining pop and hip-hop movement. Starring Sabrina Bryan from The Cheetah Girls franchise, the DVD is geared toward young girls. More than a quarter million DVD’s were sold.

Later this year(2011), she is set to produce Fast Girls, a movie about a girls' track team. She also is producing, along with Queen Latifah and Shakim Compere, Just Wright, a romantic comedy that will also feature Queen Latifah in the lead rote. Martin Chase Productions is now located at Disney, where she produced the hugely successful The Princess Diaries, a film that grossed more than $100 million in the United States alone.^[7] Chase volunteers for a number of organizations and is currently a "producing mentor" for the University of Southern California.^[4]

Honors

Chase has been honored by:^[1]

• May 2007: Ebony magazine - Television and Film Award for Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communications
• October 2003: Essence magazine - 50 African American women shaping the world

Producer credits

Martin Chase Productions:

• The Cheetah Girls: One World (2008)
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008)
• The Cheetah Girls 2 (2006)
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
• The Cheetah Girls (2003)

Brown House Productions:

• The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004)
• The Princess Diaries (2001)
• Cinderella (1997)

Mundy Lane Entertainment:

• The Preacher's Wife (1996)
• Courage Under Fire (1996)
• The Pelican Brief (1993)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/news/newsfull.shtml?portal_id=2JGDhD~HryUDcnDQiDD~nhQU&node=5187646&full=1
2. ^ http://biography.jrank.org/pages/2450/Chase-Debra-Martin.html">Debra Martin Chase Biography - Selected works
3. ^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117993338?refCatId=3262
4. ^ ^{a b} http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=1005&category=EntertainmentMakers
5. ^ http://biography.jrank.org/pages/2450/Chase-Debra-Martin.html">Debra Martin Chase Biography - Selected works
6. ^ ^{a b} http://www.ted.com/profiles/bio/id/637333
7. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_10_61/ai_n26933704/

Brashares, Ann. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Dell Books. May 23, 2006

Cabot, Meg (2001). The Princess Diaries. New York, New York. HarperTrophy. ISBN 0-380-81402-1.

George, Alexander. Why We Make Moves: Black Filmmakers Talk About the Magic of Cinema. Harlem Moon. 2003

Footnotes

1. ^ American film and production company

1. ^ An annual, international awards for excellence in radio and television broadcasting

External links

• Debra Martin Chase at the Internet Movie Database
• Biography
• Chasing Hollywood -Mount Holyoke College
• For 'Princess' producer, movie dreams really do come true - USA Today
• Hollywood Hit Maker

Persondata
Name	Chase, Debra Martin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	11 October 1956
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death