Amy Hobby: from Rice to Oscar nominee

By Steven Burgess     12/3/24 11:40pm

Before its permanent closure in 2021, the Rice Media Center was home to film students at Rice. One particular alumna, Academy Award-nominated producer Amy Hobby ’87, has been one of the most notable people to come out of Rice’s film department, having worked alongside Tim Burton, David Lynch and Steven Soderbergh throughout her three-decade career.

During her time at Rice, the Media Center hosted film screenings and talks from directors such as Richard Lester, Bruce Bailey and Stan Brakhage. Hobby said her time in the Media Center was full of freedom due to the film program’s intimacy.

“[There were] so few students, so I could be in the projection booth and there was informality about it that made it feel like you were in this club,” Hobby said in an interview with the Thresher. “I just looked around and saw stuff in the world and went out and filmed stuff.”

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At Rice, Hobby started to make films of her own, creating documentary and experimental films with topics ranging from alligator hunting to primal scream therapy centers. Hobby cited Rice’s associate professor of film Brian Huberman as a major part of her experience, and said that her learning experiences with Huberman were responsible for her love of documentary and experimental film.

“He was shooting a film about the Alamo,” Hobby said. “I was pretty good at shooting as a pretty good camera person, so I got to go with him one time and shoot for him … I loved it in every way.”

Since her time at Rice, Hobby has produced critically acclaimed films like “Secretary,” “Hamlet” and “What Happened, Miss Simone?” for which she was nominated for an Academy Award.

Hobby recently came to Houston for the Houston Cinema Arts Festival to screen her recently produced film, “Dory Previn: On My Way to Where,” featured in this year’s SXSW Film Festival lineup. “Dory Previn: On My Way to Where” follows songwriter Dory Previn and her career writing songs for Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland while dealing with mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia. Since its release, it has been praised for its insight into the musical mind of Previn during her career through archival footage. Hobby said that the process of making the film was complex, but ultimately fulfilling.

“I knew it was going to be super, super hard to get the money and make the film because it’s not well known,” Hobby said. “We didn’t quite know how much archival there was, but [the directors] had shown me some of the footage … and it was amazing, amazing archival footage.”

In addition to her more technical work, Hobby also co-founded Distribution Advocates with Karen Chien in late 2019, an organization promoting independent filmmakers from underrepresented backgrounds. She described their mission as similar to being “a medical advocate in a hospital system.”

“If someone’s sick in a complicated way, they assign you this advocate that helps you navigate doctors and nurses and systems and funding and all of that,” Hobby said. “The system was all so problematic, that the information, in a way, wasn’t sinking in … people just didn’t even know what to do with the information.”

Since the creation of Distribution Advocates, Hobby and Chan have created a podcast, “Distribution Advocates Presents,” that breaks down the truth behind many elements of the film industry from film festivals to distribution. 

Even though she says that life as a filmmaker without major studio backing is difficult, Hobby remains optimistic about the state of independent film.

“I’m an eternal sort of cautiously optimistic person,” Hobby said. “There’s also a lot of new platforms coming up that will be good tools for finding audiences and reaching audiences.”

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