Legendary Hollywood producer behind "The Princess Diaries" almost quit the business 10 years ago

Debra Martin Chase brought us girlhood cult classics like "The Princess Diaries" and "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."

Transcript

00:00It was just a time in the business where nobody was interested in making TV or movies about women,

00:06about women of color, about people of color. It just was not happening.

00:11I would go in the pitch stuff, people's eyes would glaze over.

00:14And honestly, I do believe part of my success is that I have been on a mission.

00:19You know, like I said, I wanted to have an impact on culture and imagery.

00:24And so then all of a sudden I found myself just throwing stuff up against the wall.

00:28Like, oh, this is a story about a dude. It just didn't, you know, it didn't have meaning for me.

00:35And if it doesn't have meaning for me, I can't sell it. I can't shape it.

00:39And so I took a year, you know, I'm still working, but to explore other options.

00:43Should I practice law, film finance, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever.

00:47And when I finally decided that, no, this is, well, actually Vernon Jordan was the one who,

00:54who's a longtime friend. I've known him since I was 18 years old.

00:58And I went in and I told him this whole story.

01:00Who was a known expert in the entertainment industry.

01:04Expert in life.

01:05In life, in life.

01:06In life, okay.

01:07And knew me well. And he sat there and he listened to me and poured my heart out.

01:12And he looked at me and he said, you are too old to do anything else.

01:20What a warm hug.

01:22He said, you, you have a great reputation.

01:25You have great relationships. You have great experience.

01:27You need to figure out how to make it work.

01:30And it was that kind of boom, boom, you know, that I was like, yes, you're right.