Reel Q&A: Anish Savjani

POSTED BY Katrin Frick, 29 August 2007

Amid the outcry over Mumblecore's overwhelming "whiteness" (until now), it seems as though Anish Savjani has been forgotten. Sure, he isn't one of the lost 20-somethings in front of the camera or the one framing shots behind it, but he has been a big part in making some of these films a reality, as a producer.

In an interview with Eugene Hernandez over at IndieWire, Savjani discusses his past, present and future in filmmaking.

Savjani began his career as a DGA trainee on mainstream hits like "The Sopranos," "Law & Order: SVU" and "The Manchurian Candidate" (which found him working as an assistant to prolific producer Scott Rudin). In 2005, he formed FilmScience, and later worked with friends and busy indy producers Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy on "Gretchen" and "Old Joy."

Now Savjani finds himself in the midst of the mumblecore movement, having produced "Hannah Takes the Stairs" and now working on Joe Swanberg's next, "Nights and Weekends," as well as three other indies. He is also exploring the future of distribution.

"Models are shifting … It would be foolish to say that I am [only] in the feature-film business. We are in the content business."

And distributing and marketing that content to a wider audience via platforms like iTunes and B-Side will be Savjani's next challenge.