'Loitering with Intent' producer Keith Kjarval talks about his Unifed Pictures slate

Keith Kjarval on Loitering with Intent, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 18.

Sam Rockwell and Marisa Tomei in Loitering with Intent.

A Tribeca Film Festival veteran, producer Keith Kjarval brought the premiere of the comedy/drama Loitering with Intent to this year's event. Directed by Adam Rapp, it stars screenwriters Michael Godere and Ivan Martin as writers who are trying to complete a script despite romantic (and other) distractions swirling around them.

A founder of Unified Pictures, Kjarval is in the enviable position of promoting two other features as well. Rudderless, actor William H. Macy's feature directing debut, is a musical drama that closed this year's Sundance Film Festival. It will be released in theaters by Samuel Goldwyn and on VOD by Paramount. And Kjarval is also a producer on Trust Me, a Starz Digital Media release that was written and directed by actor Clark Gregg. It opens on June 6 in theaters and on May 6 on VOD.

In between screenings, Kjarval met in a Tribeca hotel to talk about his career. Burly and ruddy, he is a forceful, gregarious presence, outgoing, affable, and willing to dive into any topic.

Born and raised in Chicago, Kjarval traces his interest in movies to a screening he saw as a child of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It was introduced by Michael Douglas, who spoke about the process of adapting a novel to film. Kjarval told his mother then and there that he wanted to become a producer. Entering college on a baseball scholarship, he studied theater and business, both of which would apply to his later work.

 

A short stint with Second City convinced Kjarval that he didn't have the passion for acting. What did drive him was the desire to find movie material and assemble creative packages around them. Choosing that material can be a drawn-out process.

"I'm very rarely pitched projects in the typical way, from agents, for example," Kjarval explains. "I read a lot, usually from trusted sources. I know writers, I know directors, I know actors, and I want to know what they are looking at. Almost every one of my films I've found that way."

Writer Matthew Jones sent Kjarval A Single Shot, a film that the producer then built "from the ground up." For Loitering with Intent, actor Sam Rockwell—who starred in A Single Shot—brought Kjarval the script. In the case of Trust Me, Kjarval was trying to find a way to work with Gregg Clark.
 

Over the years Kjarval has built up relationships with actors like Rockwell, who appears in both Loitering with Intent and Trust Me. "He sent me something that we're going to be working on with David Gordon Green," Kjarval says. "Sam's one of those people who make you raise your game. He has such an incredible work ethic, you find yourself working that much harder. He forces you to be prepared."

Kjarval has worked with veteran directors like David Lynch as well as first-timers like Macy. In both extremes he sees his role "first and foremost" as an extension of the director's vision. But Kjarval also says he is a "hands on" producer, someone who has to put together a business plan for each project.

"A producer has to take the film from A to Z creatively," he reasons. "Apart from the director, he's the person who knows the material best. He has to defend it, oftentimes more than the director does."

Kjarval's typical budgets range from three to eight million. Through product placement, bartering, and other arrangements, he can often make a small budget seem larger—"punch it out of my weight class, so to speak."

So with Loitering with Intent, Kjarval's goal was not just to get the film finished, but do it in a reasonable and fiscally responsible way. "Just like for Trust Me, we knew that there was just one particular price point that made sense for that film. My job there was to get Clark to agree with me."

Kjarval admits that his goals are sometimes at odds with what a director wants. "It's like a marriage, you have conversations, you explain why you feel what you do, you present different viewpoints. Logical people will come to the conclusion that one way or the other is right."



Billy Crudup (center) in Rudderless.

For Rudderless, Kjarval found himself advising Macy on how to choose an editor. "Bill is a great director, I actually think he will be a better director than actor, if you can imagine. But he had not been through that process of hiring an editor. Me, that's how I cut my teeth—finding DP's, designers, editors. So we had very in-depth talks and watched reels together and agreed on John Axelrad, who had cut James Gray's films. John understands the kind of non-'ha ha' comedy that was perfect for Rudderless."
 

Kjarval mentions Audiert and Terrence Malick as directors he would like to work with. If pressed, he will admit that he'd love to make a big-budget epic with someone like David Lynch.

Is there a common theme to his movies?

"I'm looking for characters who are put into moral positions, positions that make me question what I would do," he answers. "I see myself as a 'good' guy, I think we all think of ourselves as good, but through another pair of eyes we might seem completely different. I love feeling conflicted about Sam Rockwell's character in A Single Shot, whether or not I would behave the same way given that situation."

Kjarval admits that his films appeal to a certain audience, but is unwilling to pinpoint that demographic. "I guess you could say they're for people who want something different than Transformers or Avengers—not that there is anything wrong with those movies."

He also agrees that streaming movies has become a way of life, and a vital source of income for his projects. "You can't control what happens after you've been inspired to do what you do," he argues. "But I don't believe that the theatrical experience is dead. There are people like me who still go to a movie theater three or more times a week. In fact, there aren't enough great films for me to consume every year."

Kjarval sighs about the drawbacks to his job. "There are times when I have to say, 'Guys, we are not going to have enough time to get through this, we're going to have to color it in post.'

"But we all want to tell the right stories," he adds. "You know, I can get to anyone and I can get anyone to work for a price if the script is good enough."