被炒鱿鱼的经历如何引导《饥饿游戏》女制片人走向成功

    “如此热爱故事的制片人是相当罕见的，”《饥饿游戏》导演弗朗西斯·劳伦斯说。“没错，有许多制片人亲自出席剧本的改编会议，并且有自己的想法，但我不认为他们能够企及妮娜的水准。”

    雅各布森是故事作者和电影公司之间的沟通渠道，需要管理制作成本和编剧关切的问题，并且就她认为某部电影需要何种元素发表主张。雅各布森的背景让她有能力协调商业要求和创意需要。“很多时候，人们只能看到事物的一个层面，” 《饥饿游戏》的监制，狮门影业公司(Lionsgate)联席总裁埃里克·费格说。“而她既能看见森林，又能看见树木，这种品质确实难能可贵。”

    除了《饥饿游戏》外，Color Force公司已经获得了玛丽亚·森普尔的小说《你要去哪儿，伯纳黛特》(Where’d You Go, Bernadette) 、唐娜·塔特的小说《金翅雀》(The Goldfinch)和凯文·关的小说《疯狂的亚洲富人》(Crazy Rich Asians)等作品的改编权。但首先要开发的是根据杰弗里·图宾作品《他的人生赛跑》(The Run of His Life)改编的《人民诉辛普森案》系列(The People Vs. O.J. Simpson)。这部影片预定于2015年开始制作。

    在闲暇时间，雅各布森总是贪婪地浏览各种媒体。她阅读《纽约客》(The New Yorker)、《纽约》(New York)、《得克萨斯月刊》(Texas Monthly)和Longreads.com，聆听《美国生活》(This American Life)、《广播实验室》(Radiolab)和《非虚构》(UnFictional)等广播节目。她目前还在追看《黑色孤儿》(Orphan Black)、《神探夏洛克》(Sherlock)、《透明人生》(Transparent)、《婚外情事》(The Affair)、《守望尘世》(The Leftovers)和《谍影巾帼》(The Honourable Woman)等剧集。她最喜欢的记者皆是一些佼佼者，比如劳伦斯·怀特、乔恩·克拉考尔、大卫·库什纳和帕特里克·基夫，后者是2014年国家杂志奖之特稿写作奖(National Magazine Award for Feature Writing)得主。

    雅各布森对如何讲述一个令人信服的故事有着深刻的理解，而且往往能引起与其合作的作者和导演的强烈共鸣。劳伦斯说，“她让我觉得可以安安稳稳地创意。”他特别指出，哪怕是雅各布森的批评意见，也是值得聆听的。“每当她谈论自己对这部影片的看法时，那往往是一种真诚，聪明，很有品位的观点。而且，她通常是正确的。”（《饥饿游戏》的作者苏珊·柯林斯非常信任雅各布森，他们最初的协议是在电话上口头达成的，双方当时还没有签订任何正式合同。“这本书让我产生了强烈的情绪反应，她肯定能够体会到，我是一名忠实粉丝，” 雅各布森说。）

    随着Color Force开始制作电视节目，雅各布森产生了适度扩张的打算。她准备为公司员工团队增加一到两人，每年制作两到三部电影。按照这种规模，Color Force依然能够保持足够的灵活性，雅各布森也可以继续根据她自身的兴趣，做出项目决策。

    “我们将永远是一家精品制作室，而不会成为一个工厂，但我们想成为一家稍微大一点的精品制作室，”她说。在谈到该公司实施的第一项，也是她最喜欢的特殊待遇时，雅各布森说，“当我转型为制片人时，我告诉自己，我终于可以把我的狗狗带到公司了。让狗陪伴你一起工作，是件非常重要的事情。”（财富中文网）

    译者：叶寒

    “A producer having her level of love of story is pretty rare, “says The Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence. “I think a lot of producers sit in story meetings and have ideas, but I don’t think they are quite as good as Nina’s.”

    Jacobson acts as the conduit between the storytellers and the studio, managing costs and editorial concerns and advocating on behalf of what she thinks the film needs. Her background gives her the ability to harmonize the business and the creative sides. “A lot of times people are only able to see one or the other,” says Lionsgate co-president Erik Feig, who oversees The Hunger Games for the studio. “She is one of the rare individuals who has the ability to focus on the forest and the trees.”

    Besides The Hunger Games, Color Force has acquired the rights to Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. But first up is a series for FX called “The People Vs. O.J. Simpson,” based on The Run of His Life by Jeffrey Toobin; it’s slated for 2015.

    Jacobson’s media diet is voracious and varied. She reads The New Yorker, New York, Texas Monthly and Longreads.com. She listens to “This American Life,” “Radiolab,” UnFictional.” She’s currently watching Orphan Black, Sherlock, Transparent, The Affair, The Leftovers and The Honourable Woman. Her favorite journalists are some of the best out there—Lawrence Wright, Jon Krakauer, David Kushner and Patrick Keefe, the 2014 winner of the National Magazine Award for Feature Writing.

    Jacobson’s strong understanding of what makes a compelling narrative resonates with the authors and directors she teams up with on films. “She made me feel very safe [creatively],” says Lawrence, mentioning that even Jacobson’s critiques were welcome. “When she says something about the film, it’s coming from a genuine, smart and tasteful place, and she’s usually right.” (The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins trusted Jacobson so much that their initial deal was struck verbally over the phone before any formal contracts were written up. “I had such a strong emotional reaction to the book that there was no way she could see that she didn’t have a fan,” says Jacobson.)

    As Color Force branches out into TV shows, Jacobson envisions controlled expansion. She’ll add another member or two to the company’s staff and do two to three movies a year. At this size, Color Force can remain nimble—and Jacobson can continue to make project decisions based on her own interests.

    “We will always be more of a boutique rather than a factory, but we would like to be a slightly bigger boutique,” she says. “When I became a producer, I told myself I will finally be able to bring my dog to work,” she says of implementing the company’s first (and favorite) perk. “Dogs in the office are very important.”