A Connection to Community: A Conversation with ‘Fancy Dance’ and ‘Outer Range’ Producer Heather Rae

Making movies is hard. Making great movies that emotionally stir, connect, and leave a great impression on the individual audience member, frankly, is really hard. Yet, it becomes inherently “easier” as you dedicate your time, put in the work, and keep up your stamina, but also choose your projects with great care. Because what’s really the point of working on a film that you’re either writing, directing, producing, editing, etc. – if you don’t care about the project?

The proof is in the pudding when you take a deep dive into producer Heather Rae’s filmography. Every story and filmmaker she chose to collaborate with, to shepherd, to protect as a producer – wasn’t just for a paycheck. These stories and storytellers sparked something within her to dedicate her time to and put in the necessary work to help create some of the most powerful films and television shows to date.

I had the great fortune of speaking with Heather Rae about her prolific career as an independent producer, namely about her two latest creative endeavors as a producer on filmmaker Erica Tremblay’s feature Fancy Dance and TV creator and writer Brian Watkins’ Outer Range. Plus we talk about her ethos as a producer, what types of stories she feels drawn to, the importance of company culture as well as programs that facilitate systemic change, and so much more.

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

Sadie Dean: I’d like to start from just the very beginning - your origin story. Knowing that you grew up in Idaho, you weren't necessarily surrounded by the hustle and bustle of Hollywood. But I'm sure you were surrounded by incredible unique voices and stories and storytellers. What was that thing that sparked your interest in wanting to become a filmmaker?

Heather Rae: I did not grow up with film and television, necessarily. Where I grew up was very rural. I grew up in the mountains of central Idaho. And for a number of years, we didn't have electricity, or running water for that matter. And so, I didn't grow up with television and the nearest movie theater was about 75 miles away. So, seeing a movie was a really big deal. It was very epic - an event basically. But I was very influenced by the storytellers that I grew up with - many musicians, mountain musicians, including my father. And just people who were incredibly creative, and artistic, and all have their own ways. And so, I grew up with art, and I grew up with story.

And so when I went on to go to college, I was studying cultural anthropology, I was studying creative writing. I started to sort of get a sense of what it meant to actually tell stories and the moving image. It was during the video era. And ultimately ended up transferring to Ever Evergreen State College in Washington state, and getting a degree in cinema studies and multicultural studies. And from there, went on to Los Angeles and started working in the industry. It really came out of my university experience in many ways, and just realizing that you can tell stories with the moving image.

Sadie: Looking at your body of work - your filmography - it's definitely one of those dream scenarios for any filmmaker - every movie and TV show that you're putting your hands on, seems to have a purpose and how it evolved with your own journey. Can you talk about the importance of choosing those projects?

Heather: Thank you so much. I appreciate that. I feel like I've always been drawn to stories that have some kind of authenticity, but also a connection to a place, and a connection to a story that is rooted in, whether it be a family or a community or a location or region, I definitely am drawn to things that bring you into a world, that may be a world that you've never seen before. I really love stories that take you someplace where you can learn something, discover something, be moved and inspired by something. I think if there's any concomitant - a lot of the films I've worked on, are grounded in social realism, in terms of genre but also, they're rooted in something…there's a message, but certainly there's meaning - the consistency of some kind of meaning in the stories that I've been a part of.

Sadie: Fancy Dance, how did you initially become attached to that project? And your collaboration with Erica [Tremblay], and making sure that you and your producing team were staying the course collectively to make sure that you're protecting her vision in telling the story.

Heather: I love that you said that because I really see myself as a protector. That I am protecting artists, that I am there to provide safety, that I'm kind of wrapping my arms around this process. And Erica is somebody whose work I became familiar with because she was a fellow at the Sundance Institute. She had been a part of the Indigenous Program and had been supported as a writer-director. Her longtime friend and producing partner Deidre Backs, who was the lead producer on Fancy Dance, they had also made a short film, which was Erica's first piece of work, which is a short called Little Chief which also stars Lily Gladstone.

I became familiar with Erica's work from Bird Runningwater, who ran the Indigenous Program at Sundance for many years and is a longtime friend and collaborator of mine. And then when the film Fancy Dance was starting to develop, and it was generating in terms of looking for producers and looking for financing, Nina Yang Bongiovi, who's an incredibly prolific producer, and also a friend and producing partner of mine, she had been approached by the agency that represented at the time both her and Erica, which is WME. And Nina was the one who said, ‘I think Heather needs to be involved.’ So Nina pulled me in. And then Sundance took the film to Tommy Oliver, who I had known for many, many years, Nina had known Tommy for many years. So, it very quickly became a kind of family web of people that came around this project.

It was really magical and very wholesome, the way that it all came together. And we've all worked as a team in a really wonderful way, and very much with a commitment collectively to protecting Erica and her vision, to supporting the film and all that it represents, the way that film was engaging with the community and all of that.

Sadie: With Outer Range, as a producer and in terms of different genres, are you essentially playing with the same deck of cards when it comes to sci-fi versus drama, does anything change?

Heather: I think that my work has covered quite a bit of genre. But I have to say, I'm from the American West, I'm a Western person, grew up with a cowboy father. So, I love all things from the Western landscape. And when Outer Range first came my way, I was so excited, it felt like it was a world that I could buy into, because it's the Western space, but it's weird, evocative, and so many things. I'm interested in mysticism, and so many kinds of things.

Although I've been working in the television space for six or eight years, Outer Range is the first show that I've worked on that actually went into production and is on air. So, I'm incredibly thankful that that was my foray into television. It's kind of where I got my sea legs in the television space, because I think it's something that's different.

The first show that caught my eye, in terms of having and being intrigued by television, because I've been an independent filmmaker for so long, the very first show that caught my attention was Jane Campion's Top of the Lake. That was the first year that Sundance Film Festival showed television at the festival, and now there's a section that shows pilots and things like that. I went and watched Top of the Lake in its entirety at the festival. And I can recall thinking to myself, ‘You can do this in television? I can't believe this.’

We have seen such interesting work in the last decade in television. And we've seen so many filmmakers, and even independent filmmakers, come into the television space and begin to work. So, I think the storytelling has become more interesting. And I feel like Outer Range falls into that. The show's creator, Brian Watkins is a playwright. And he's in the theater world. And he's also a guy whose family is from Wyoming and so there was something really kindred for us because I'm from Idaho, and he's from Wyoming - neighboring states. We come from Western culture. And I loved that Amazon signed on to do something with somebody who came from the theater world.

Sadie: Is there anything that you carry with you from project to project to keep yourself grounded, but also just to make sure, and we talked about protecting an artist’s vision, but the set and how that ecosystem moves for that period of time?

Heather: I have strong feelings about company culture. And the ways that we talk about or think about how we create these spaces. And, interestingly enough, I'm actually in a master's program right now. I'm pursuing a master's in social work. And one of the reasons I'm doing that - it's been something I've been interested in for a long time - and I finally made the decision to just do it. But one of the reasons I'm getting a master's in social work is because I'm very interested in all the ways in which we bring ourselves together in spaces and the ways that we create systems for how we bring ourselves together. So, I have really strong feelings about set culture and company culture, and how you build that out, how you create safety, how you protect artists, some of the things we've already talked about, it's really important to me.

I think that our industry and the people who work in our industry, particularly the creatives, need to have ethics, like an ethos that you work from. And it's kind of missing. It’s one of the reasons why we see so much and such a history of workplace brutality is that there's really not these measures in place to protect people. And it's starting to change slowly but surely, but there's still a lot of work to do.

Sadie: I'd love to highlight some of the wonderful programs and initiatives that you’ve either spearheaded or helped create, like IllumiNative, the Indigenous Producers Fellowship with Netflix, and the Director Shadowing Program with Amazon Studios. What’s the importance of doing that work and creating that space for your community? But also, what do you hope the longevity of this will be -I hope there is some.

Heather: Absolutely, I think these programs are really important. And I had the really good fortune of working with IllumiNative for the first six years of the organization. My work ended in December when they sunsetted the pop culture program. But I think that creating ways in which we can support emerging voices and foster and strengthen the industry's ability to bring new voices in, I think that's something that I've always seen as being missing in the industry. And my own personal ethos has always been, ‘If a door kicks open for me, I'm going to bring as many people through that door as I possibly can.’

I'm in my sixth year in a first-look deal at Amazon. And so, for example, when we did Season Two of Outer Range, it was really important to me that we found a way to bring Indigenous directors into the process. And to be able to shadow the directors. We also had two native directors, Blackhorse Low, and Catriona McKenzie, and it was really wonderful to be able to have those two directors contributing to the show. And we had an Indigenous director shadowing everyone who worked on this season.

Those kinds of programs that facilitate systemic change…change, it can work at a glacial speed. [laughs] You're moving big systems. So, I'm a big believer in finding all ways that one can create change.

Sadie: I know that you're working on a project with your daughter, how has that creative process been like, especially in supporting her vision?

Heather: My daughter is 21. And she has been acting, I think her first acting gig was when she was seven years old. She, from a very early age, tried to express to her dad and I, who is also in the industry, that she wanted to act. It was absolutely against our will [laughs] we did not want to support this, but she was so adamant that it was her calling. And you have to on some level, listen to your kids and work with them. And at one point we said to her, ‘OK, we will agree to you going on one audition and see what happens.’ Well, it just so happened that that audition was for an NBC series called Believe which was Alfonso Cuarón’s foray into television, it was a Bad Robot show. And she got the part!

But she continued to act, she took a period of time where she really just wanted to be a kid and go to school. And then at a certain point in time, she came to me and said, ‘I want to do more than just act. I want to be actually in the process of creating. Can we work together?’ And it was just such a great moment. And I just said, ‘Absolutely!’ So we're starting to produce together, we're starting to create together, we're going to work on a number of different projects. And to me, I love working with my family. There's something really great about that. And I'm really excited to work with Johnny [Sequoyah], and it's just really exciting that we're going to be creating things together.

Fancy Dance is now in select Theaters and available for streaming on June 28, 2024 on Apple TV+.

Outer Range Season One and Two are available to stream on Amazon Prime.