Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Masseur.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am one of those few people who knew at an early age what I wanted to do. I remember telling my mother when we were watching a movie when I was maybe 12 years old – my name will be up there someday (referring to the opening credits). After graduating from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University with a major in “Producing for Television Radio and Film”, I landed at a commercial production company in NYC. When a crew strike hit NY and I was suddenly out of a job less than a year later – I wasn’t sure what I would do.
My friend Jennifer was living in Chicago at the time and she encouraged me to make the move and try to get work on one of the many features that were shooting here at the time. So – I packed up and moved and luckily got my first movie job in Chicago on the film Groundhog Day. I spent the next several years working on different films and had a two year stint on the TV show The Untouchables. I returned to commercial work here when runaway production caused most film work in Chicago to cease. Although when I moved here I always thought I’d return to NY or move on to LA, by this point, Chicago had become home and I knew I did not want to leave.
Director Bob Richter gave me a chance and hired me on as his producer. After working with Bob for a couple years, I jumped back to freelancing and had the opportunity to work with many incredible directors in Chicago over the course of many years. One of those, famed kids director, Bob Ebel, asked me to come on board at Ebel Productions as the Executive Producer. Although I hesitated at first, I soon realized that working as an EP afforded me a bit less time on the road. I could oversee projects vs. having to organize everything from beginning to end. Since my husband Mark and I wanted to have a family, this change seemed like a good one.
While working at Ebel and then following at Radar Studios and One at Optimus, I had my three kids and somehow tried to manage it all (usually not well!). As an EP, my job is to bring in new talent (directors) and to help them get work through sales, helping with job pitches, and bidding and overseeing their productions. I truly love the creative partnership I enjoy with directors and after 4 years at ONE, I began to realize that maybe now the time was right to create that perfect company I longed for where directors’ creativity could thrive not only in the Ad world – but beyond it as well. I had collaborated with another like-minded EP in Chicago Reid Brody in the past. Besides being an expert in Post Production, he has produced several feature films himself. He shared my vision and we formally started our partnership and launched Tessa Films in late fall.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I don’t think anyone who works in the Film or Ad business has had a smooth road. As a producer, each shoot you work on is unique and different. You may need to have a car blow up on one project and in another need to find a way to have the perfect cheese slice spiral through the air and land on a burger. Or, you may need to find a set of triplets who all speak Chinese.
On each production, we are tasked with finding the perfect specialists to work with our director to make that production excel. Truly the only way to learn is this business is by making mistakes. Of course, I have made many but I have learned from each and every one!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Tessa Films story. Tell us more about the business.
Our goal at Tessa Films is to create stellar work that stands out from the fray and that makes you feel something. Which in turn makes you remember it. We also aim to foster new avenues for our directors to push their creative talents. Be that through short films, branded content, commercials, features, web or TV series – you name it.
Luckily, the Ad business has changed in the past several years. We no longer just create 30 TV spots – but a variety of content from longer-form documentaries and films to 6-second stories for social. The lines are blurred between entertainment and advertising and we have created Tessa to live squarely in that space. We are a Midwest-based studio (with an LA office of course!) that creates both advertising and entertainment content. A place where creativity thrives.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I’ve had my share of projects that I say were cursed with bad luck – but I can’t say that I didn’t learn things from those projects so in the end… I don’t think they were that bad.
Otherwise, I’ve been blessed with much good luck in my career. In between my initial move from NY to Chicago, I planned to spend a couple weeks with my parents who were then living upstate in Oneonta. My mother heard about a feature that would be shooting near there at the Baseball Hall of Fame and somehow got a phone number for me to call to inquire about a position. I was immediately hired and worked on the last week of filming for “A League of Their Own”. When I got to Chicago, I sent resumes out to any film that would be shooting here.
Unbeknownst to me, a college friend (thanks, Judd!) was working on one of those features and saw my resume and put it in the “good” pile. Also unbeknownst to me, many of the same Assistant Directors who had worked on “A League of Their Own” were now working on this same film. They saw my resume and immediately called me to work on “Groundhog Day.” I learned then that this business is a small one and that you should always keep in touch with folks you work with. Which is now much easier thanks to Facebook & Linked In!
Contact Info:
- Address: 106 N Aberdeen, Ste. 100
Chicago, IL 60607 - Website: tessafilms.com
- Phone: 312.757.4389
- Email: lisa@tessafilms.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tessa.films/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TessaFilms/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tessa_films
Image Credit:
Tim Mason, Joe Otting, Sam Macon, and Duncan Wolfe
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