As the producer of such films as Election, Cold Mountain, and Little Miss Sunshine, Albert Berger has achieved a remarkable batting average, one that speaks to both his taste in material and his talent for forging exceptional creative partnerships. As a mentor, Berger's time may be limited but his experience, expertise, and resources are invaluable. His upcoming projects include Alexander Payne's Nebraska; a Levon Helm documentary; The Abstinence Teacher based on the novel by Tom Perrotta (author of Election and Little Children) and directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris; and The Baster starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman. Here, Berger talks about the importance of connecting with material and something his Dad once said about a fish.

EP: Did you have a mentor?

AB: I once worked for a guy named Marvin Worth who was a very colorful character, a very interesting producer, and you know, I think he was a guy who by the time I was working for him was a little tired of mentoring people but I certainly got a lot out of the relationship. But I have done a lot of it myself. I do it at the [Peter] Stark program and we have a lot of interns at our company and now with Film Independent, which is a sort of more specific thing, and maybe a more valuable thing since the people they put you together with are people who haven't been afforded the same opportunities by virtue of the fact that they're from underrepresented minorities in the film business. So I think it's a very valuable thing as a way to try and shepherd new voices into the flow.

EP: What advice do you find yourself repeating to young filmmakers?

AB: Well, it's primarily to pursue projects that you feel some kind of deep connection with. And you know it's a very strong belief of mine that there are much easier ways to make money than being in the film business, and that to view it simply as commerce is ultimately sort of failing the occupation on some level. And it's complicated because at this moment in time, it's getting more and more difficult to make movies and those smaller, more unusual voices, it's going to be harder for them to find their way through the system. But at the same time it makes it all the more important that everybody band together and still try and figure out a way to make movies that both connect with an audience and also represent voices that need to be heard.

EP: A lot of people have one, maybe two films during their career that are a huge success and they continue to work off the back of that. But you've found those successes again and again. How have you been so consistent?

AB: It all comes down to my partner Ron Yerxa and I getting involved with projects that have ideas in them that we care about and aligning ourselves with filmmakers that have something to say and that have an ability to say it in a fresh way, and that's been the sort of starting point of most things that we've gotten involved with. So at the end of the day whether they succeed in the box office or not, the more important criteria to us is that they work as films... and they connect with an audience then that's the ultimate goal but it starts from a place of wanting to say something and wanting to say it with like-minded people.

EP: What's the best piece of advice you were ever given?

AB: Well, I'm completely contradicting it by being on the phone with you; my father always says "You never see a fish on the wall with its mouth shut." It's a good expression: every time you open your mouth you can get in trouble. I'm sort of half-kidding here, there's probably better advice more appropriate for the film business but that was the first thing that popped into my mind... .for me the thing that I keep coming back to as far as the work we do is the importance of connecting to the material and not worrying so much about whether there's going to be an audience or it's going to be a commercial success or whatever. I mean it's just fundamentally trying to follow an interest in something and hoping that other people will come along for the ride. I can't say that anybody exactly said that to me. I mean there's people whose careers I really admire. Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella were two really excellent producers and directors who I think set a great example for the rest of us as far as getting involved with films for the right reasons and approaching it in the right way.

EP: What are some of the defining qualities of successful people in the industry?

AB: Well, I think it's a combination of a lot of things. I think it's a determination to say something that is deeply felt and there is certainly luck involved and single-mindedness and tenaciousness... I think producers are more adept at sort of building a consensus and somehow managing or steering the collaborative process where as directors have a sort of singular vision, or the ones that I admire the most, they have a combination of that as well as an ability recognize how it works with film and how there are many people involved. It's not a singular voice art form like painting or poetry or writing, and so it takes almost a bifurcated kind of skill... what it really boils down to is an ability to both try and say something and to say it in collaboration with other people.

--Emily Poenisch