Made By Women Preview: Debra Martin Chase

The force behind movies from The Princess Diaries to Harriet, Debra Martin Chase is the first African American female producer to have a deal at any major studio – ever. In this preview of the fourth episode of our new series, Made By Women, the founder of Martin Chase Productions tells how she triumphed in a notoriously tough industry.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to this episode of Here's Something Good, a production
of the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio.
Each day, we aspire to bring you the good news,
the silver lining, the glass half full, because there is
good happening in the world everywhere, every day, we just
need to look for and share it. Here's Something Good

(00:27):
for Today. Challenging times call for a new way of thinking.
That's why we've added a new weekly podcast to the
Seneca Women Podcast Network, Made by Women, a series focused
on the incredible stories of women entrepreneurs and their businesses. Today,
we're thrilled to share with you a preview of our
next episode, highlighting a woman who has blazed an incredible

(00:50):
trail in the entertainment industry, Deborah Martin Chase. Now Debra
is the first African American female producer to have a
deal at any major studio. She's also the first African
American woman to produce a film that grossed over a
hundred million dollars. To date, her films have grossed over
half a billion dollars at the box office worldwide. She

(01:11):
has produced incredibly popular films, including the Princess Diaries franchise,
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Cheetah Girls.
She also produced Sparkle, a dramatic musical starring Jordan's Sparks
and Whitney Houston, and Just Right starring Queen Latifa and Common,
which won the n Double A CP Image Award for
Best Screenplay. Most recently, her company, Martin Chase Productions produced Harriet,

(01:35):
starring Cynthia Rivo. Harriet, of Course, is based on the
life of the iconic underground railroad freedom fighter Harriet Tubman.
In this week's episode of Made by Women, you'll hear
the incredible story of how she got her start in Hollywood,
how she worked her way to a position of power,
and how she now makes the most of her position
as a fierce advocate for women in the entertainment industry.

(01:58):
Here's a glimpse of what she had to say. When
I looked around the industry, you know, at that time,
basically if you were a black producer, you were only
making black product, whereas every you know, white producers, male, female,
Hispanic producers were making black product as well. So I

(02:20):
went to the agencies. At the time, I was with
the William Morris Agency, but I went to all of
them and I said look, you need to send me
the stuff that you send the white producers. Don't just
send me the stuff that you think I should be doing.
Let me make that decision. I had done produced Rogerson,
Hammerstun Cinderella, UM. And so the unpublished manuscript for the

(02:46):
Princess Diaries came to William Morris. It had been turned
down by I don't know fifteen publishers, and with the
agent called me. He said, well, you just did Cinderella
and thought that this might be up your alley. And
I read the book that night and I was like, oh,
I get this, and you know, sold it to Disney UM.

(03:11):
And then that you know, success helps you get more
success in the sense that you know, all of a sudden,
I was on the map as a as a you know,
established producer. Don't be afraid to go for what you want, right,
I mean, you know their boxes and and it's it's

(03:33):
it's kind of easy to to to to go into
a box, but you know, like create the life that
you want to live. Deborah Martin Chase is simply incredible.
Make sure to listen to the full conversation on tomorrow's
Made by Women podcast, and here in depth how she
succeeded in Hollywood, an industry that is notoriously tough on women,

(03:56):
especially Black women. So here's something Good for Today. Deborah
Martin Chase shows us that if you have a strong
sense of purpose, you can make amazing things happen, and
she also shares lessons everyone can use on how to
find your voice and why sometimes the best way to
move forward is to stop doing what you've always done.

(04:17):
You can then look for new opportunities and perhaps even
leap ahead. Make sure to subscribe to our Made by
Women podcast for valuable insights from successful entrepreneurs and business
lessons you won't get anywhere else. Please join me for
tomorrow's episode of Made by Women with Deborah Martin Chase,
and listen to Made by Women every week on I
Heart Radio. Thank you for listening, and please share Today's

(04:49):
Something Good with others in your life. This is Kim Azzarelli,
co author of Fast Forward and co founder of Seneca Women.
To learn more about Seneca Women, go to Seneca Women
dot com or down of the Seneca Women app free
in the app store. Here's Something Good is a production
of the Seneca Women podcast network and I Heart Radio.
Have a great day, For more podcasts from I heart Radio,

(05:17):
check out the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.