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5 Qualities Great Directors Have – Robert Rippberger

Robert Rippberger, Filmmaker: This person could get upset about something and could walk and the entire day would shut down.

Film Courage: Does a director automatically deserve respect once they show up on set?

Robert: A director doesn’t deserve respect but a director better earn people’s respect or it’s not going to be a very good set. For me there’s some core things, I am always the hardest working on set. If other people are working longer I’ll be there with them. There’s been times where I’ve helped load G/E trucks, there’s been times where I’ve helped mix blood and mud and all these things and everybody knows that I value their time extremely and their contribution as fellow artists and it’s super important to me that I respect them and that it’s vice versa. To use the Hannah Arendt line that it’s action in concert and it’s so much about the sum of the parts which also goes to say if people aren’t respectful then we get them off set. That it really is your people who want to be there, your people who are engaged, your people who have bright ideas and your people who are in a frame of mind to really produce as good a film as possible.

Film Courage: What’s your image of a bad director?

Robert: I think an image of a bad director is one that doesn’t listen to outside ideas, that feels like they’re better than other people, that is also just not a very nice person. I really feel film is such a collaborative medium and that’s where you are getting your best ideas. Some of the directors that I look up to have always treated their sets as almost families. So yeah. I think if you don’t respect those that are doing the work, then you shouldn’t be a director.

Film Courage: It sounds like going back to what we talked about the one philosopher, not just their philosophy but their whole idea of being, not outside of the world but in the world? Who was this?

Robert: Martin Heidegger.

Film Courage: You said you like to operate like that in terms of you’re in the world, you’re in the set, that they’re all these moving pieces?

Robert: Yeah, exactly. It’s sort of like acceptance of the infinite vulnerability of being on a set and for me it’s leaning into that even further and knowing…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).

Scarlett Sperduto in THOSE WHO WALK AWAY
BooBoo Stewart (seated) and Grant Morningstar (TV screen) in THOSE WHO WALK AWAY
 

BIO:

Robert Rippberger is a filmmaker with a broad array of creative and executive experience. He most recently directed and produced the film “Those Who Walk Away” starring BooBoo Stewart (Descendants, X-Men) and prior to that directed and produced the Harlem drama, “Strive,” with Danny Glover. Both were released theatrically and received dozens of accolades worldwide. Directing and producing documentaries, Robert released in 2019 ‘Public Enemy Number One’ from Executive Producer Ice-T about the U.S. war on drugs. Prior, Robert directed/produced the documentary “7 Days in Syria,” a look at the human side of the war in Aleppo, Syria. The film was championed by Angelina Jolie, screened at Britain’s House of Lords, to senior members of the U.N., and was released on Hulu and Amazon. As an executive producer, along with Jason Blum, Robert did the feature doc, “Alive & Kicking.” The film was sold to Magnolia Films after its debut at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival where it received a Grand Jury nomination. The film is available on Netflix. Robert received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from UC, Berkeley in 2012 where he was awarded the Eisner Prize for his film “In the Middle.” It is considered the highest achievement in the creative arts given on the UC, Berkeley campus. Robert is a member of the Producers Guild of America and is on the PGA’s Social Impact Entertainment Task Force. In addition to SIE Films, Robert is also the founder and co-executive director of SIE Society, a leading global alliance of Social Impact Entertainment filmmakers.

His latest film is Those Who Walk Away (Now in theaters and on VOD) starring BooBoo Stewart, Nils Allen Stewart and Scarlett Sperduto.

 

CONNECT WITH ROBERT RIPPBERGER

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Robert Rippberger, Danny Glover and Joi Starr on the set of STRIVE (2019)
 


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