Meet Rosser Goodman | Film & TV Director, Producer, Writer, Executive Producer, Production Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rosser Goodman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rosser, how do you define success?
This is a great question. It used to mean money to me; how much I earned. While that’s still important – it is not my definition of success. Then, too, my definition of success as a freelancer was how much the phone rang. How many jobs calls? How booked was I? How many shows I had done? Eventually, I began to believe that the success I wanted wasn’t based on what it “looked like,” but what it “FELT” like. Even then, recognizing my own success was elusive. They say that in Hollywood, no matter how high up the ladder you go, you always want/need to go higher. So, that feeling of achieving success could never really happen. Only recently have I begun to “feel” the success that I’d sought. I had to release my old expectations and open myself up to something new. I did not know what that looked like or felt like, but I just had to be willing to let go of the old expectations to make a space for what organically could be next. These days I am focussing not only on film, but finance and social impact was well – and I am extremely passionate about this wider direction where I have chosen to now executive produce movies (when I am not directing them) putting DEIA hiring at the center of both in front of and behind the camera. My assessment of success no longer revolves around judging myself and driving myself in ways that result in feeling bad, hopeless and tone deaf to my actual successes over the decades. For me, I would say to someone not only go where the love is around you, but go where the love is inside you, listen to it, embrace it and all else will follow.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
First I am a filmmaker of the last 25 years, next I am memoirist/essayist of the last year and half, and next I am a “dapper doodle dandy.” I doodle which somehow becomes art. It’s a gift. People respond to it and it’s a side t-shirt business I have at DapperDoodleDandy.com. As for writing, thanks to the Writing Pad’s amazing classes, I have re-discovered my love for writing prose. It’s the most fun aside from screenwriting which is very structured and formulaic, as a personal essayist my structure is my own. It flows.

In filmmaking of any kind my iron clad knowledge of production is my greatest gift. I get people, I get circumstances, I get which corners can be cut and which corners never, ever to cut. I am unique in that way when it comes to safety, crew pay and schedule. I balance the creative with the practical to get things done. In all of these ways, I am most proud of the first feature film I directed – Holding Trevor – the little film that could – and went onto garner a theatrical release and critical acclaim.

I am where I am today because, “I gave up many times, but I never quit.”

As anyone can imagine, there is abundance of lessons to learn along the way of any career path – for me I learned a lot of lessons, even if I was unaware of the lessons at the time. I see now that something I thought was a bad decision or perhaps a complete waste of time never was and actually propelled me to my next steps of my success. That’s when I learned other lessons too. Like it’s good to be wrong, just because you don’t have an Oscar nom in your first 30 years of arriving in Hollywood doesn’t mean judgmental family members won’t be proud of you. What? Oh, at the end of the day how did it all make me feel? Now, I can say I feel pretty amazing. Now, I know I’ve learned how to be on the right path; a path for me.

My brand / story is kindness. I say “I practice diplomacy everyday by smiling” especially smiling at the folx you don’t know, the folx who look the most down or lost…, the folx who least expect it. There is no greater joy than making emotional space for someone who feels they have none. At the beginning, middle and end of the day, all of us just want to be heard.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Beach, mountains, and Hollywood Boulevard.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Ha, another excellent question, but one that’s hard to narrow to just one time, place or person. Hmmm, so, okay, when I first broke into Hollywood, I had a wonderful boss, mentor and friend. She opened that door for me when we were still just strangers. I had to show up, prove myself and do all the hard work. In many ways I feel like I owe my entire movie making career to her. Pam Kuri, a Director’s Guild 1st Assistant Director, to this day has been the best boss I have ever had. Pam gave me a shot on an NBC series as a Set P.A. The hours were brutally long and the crew was a tight family as both are so often the case in episodic. On the show, thanks to Pam I learned everything I needed to know to be a successful producer, director and executive producer. The show was huge and union. It was very clear what to do and not do. It became the basis of which I have hung every set experience on since. Even when I directed my first and second feature films on micro-budgets, I knew I could, because I knew production. And, everything tried and true I had learned was directly from Pam herself and of course the size and scope of my first network show.

Website: https://rossergoodman.com/

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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rossergoodman/