[EXCLUSIVE] Will Packer On Challenges of Sequels, Finding Love & His Most Slept On Film

what a producer does. So once we were successful with that film, then I branched out and did it again and again and I realized this was my entrepreneurial endeavor because I knew I wanted to be a boss, I knew I wanted to be in charge. Film is good because it helps me utilize my skill sets.

I now have a Hollywood studio that backs me in my projects, that are my partners in on my projects. So, when I come up with ideas and have movies that I want to make, I now have a studio that will finance and distribute those films and so that’s great. Part of that deal allows me to have a presence and have an office and have a staff and as a producer that’s what you want. You want to have that kind of a deal with a studio that believes in you because you can go out and create great content and I have that deal in not just film but also television. 

I hoped so. I didn’t have the sequel in mind like what we would do, but I knew we were creating characters that  we could go further with and that’s something that when your’e making a film, you definitely think about the commercial aspect of creating something that can be a franchise but also you have to make sure that you create characters that the audience is invested enough in that you have to go further.

 

You know what, because she completes me. I work really, really hard in my life, I work hard in my career , I work hard in my personal life, I spend a lot of time with my kids but until I met her…I didn’t have anybody that really kind of completed me. I do a lot of things for other people and a lot of things to accomplish things but what she does for me is she just makes it all real, she brings it home, she grounds me, she really is my center.

I didn’t realize I was missing that and that I needed it until she came into my life. So, I was so happy to be able to propose on the Essence stage last year. 

I should read them more. I try to, I read a lot of them. I don’t get to reply as much as I would like to but I do read a lot of my Instagram comments, I try to.

It’s simple. Never give up, believe in yourself, that seems easy but it’s not. You have to believe in you, no matter what. This industry will make you question yourself and doubt your skills and your talents, but you can’t doubt you…and define your own success. Don’t live for what somebody else says is successful, you define it. Set the bar high, push yourself to achieve it, achieve it and then raise the bar even higher. You control your success, you be the one that’s defining when you’ve achieved success, don’t let this industry or anybody else, no matter what their title may be, define that for you.

I have been very fortunate that all of my films have been successful so when I say slept on, it’s not that it wasn’t successful its just probably I don’t know that it was received as well as I wanted it to be received and that was ‘About Last Night‘. It was hugely successful, we opened at $20+million, I just think for me it was a different kind of film from what we had done before and it was a kind of mature film and some people got it but I think some people didn’t get it. So, If I’m being honest, I would probably look to that film but I’m really happy with the success of it.