Sunday, Jul 6, 2008
The weather-beaten host of "Survivor" talks about his debut indie film, "Finder's Fee," and why no one takes him seriously.
May 8, 2002 | Jeff Probst, the beefcake host of "Survivor," is more than a weather-beaten brow, a pair of neatly pressed khakis and a smugly knowing grin. He's an independent film director.
Probst's debut as a writer/director, "Finder's Fee," is currently touring the independent film festival circuit, and it's a genuinely enjoyable film. "Finder's Fee" debuted at the Seattle Film Festival last spring, where it won the top award; it played again at the Sonoma Valley Film Festival in mid-April, where Probst won another award for being a "breakthrough director."
The movie tells the story of a broke guy in his 20s who discovers a wallet containing a winning lottery ticket worth $3 million and has to decide what to do. It features name actors like James Earl Jones and Robert Forster and is deftly written for a first feature. And even though the film was written and cast before Probst began working on "Survivor," "Finder's Fee" bears a certain resemblance to the TV show: Both ponder what happens to morals and integrity when confronted with large quantities of cold, hard cash.
In person, Probst is a good-natured, down-to-earth kind of guy with a peeling nose (thanks to all those sunny days in exotic locales) and a quick smile. And while he really, really wants to be taken seriously as an artist, he also possesses a sense of humor about the strange tension between being both a campy celebrity TV host and an indie director struggling to get film distribution. Salon caught up with Probst in Sonoma, Calif., and chatted with him about film world snobbery, the value of honesty and why Rudy really should have kicked Richard Hatch's butt.
What were you doing in the days before "Survivor" and "Finders Fee"?
I basically started out in Seattle doing a local gardening show sponsored by a hardware store; really, it was a paid informercial. I sent a tape to an L.A. agent; six weeks later, I was living in New York working for FX networks, which in the beginning was a live network with a bunch of talent. I did that for a few years, and then "Access Hollywood" when that launched. Then I did "Rock 'n' Roll Jeopardy" for VH1.
After that, it was 18 months until "Survivor." I turned down nine jobs over 18 months, hoping for something better. Money was getting pretty low, I wondered whether I'd screwed up, and one day I heard Mark Burnett on the radio say, "I'm going to put 16 people on a deserted island and force them to live together." I was the first person to meet with Mark. He spent an hour and 45 minutes telling me why I didn't want this show, that I couldn't handle it, that I was a studio boy. I spent the last 15 minutes basically on my knees, ripping up my résumé and telling him not to count me out. He listened to me, said, "Thanks for being honest." And I thought, Kiss of death, I'm done.
I didn't hear anything for three months, and then I got the job.
Were you an outdoors kind of guy before "Survivor"?
No. Of course, I lied to Mark. "I grew up camping! Are you kidding? I'm from Kansas!" Then I realized that you don't camp in Kansas. But I think Burnett bought it.
I'd seen "Eco-Challenge," and I knew "Survivor" was going to look fantastic, and I was pretty sure that 16 people on an island forced to live together would be interesting. I didn't think it was going to be a hit, but from the very first hour of the show -- when Richard Hatch was sitting up in a tree in a power position looking down at everyone and saying, "We need to talk about this," and Susan Hawk walks by and says, "I don't know where you're from, but where I'm from we work while we talk" -- from that moment, I thought, Oh shit, this is really going to be interesting.
"Finder's Fee" was green-lit that first day of shooting.
So where did "Finder's Fee" fit in with all this? When did you decide you also wanted to be a director?
There's a natural assumption that because I'm now the host of a popular show that I suddenly got this movie dropped in my lap. But I'd actually been writing since 1994, going through screenplay books and trying to figure out structure. When I moved to New York with FX, I got into a writer's unit with an amazing instructor. In New York nobody talks about how much money will it make, and who will be in it: You talk about theme and character and structure.
I was working as a writer, and my goal was -- and still is -- to write first, direct my own stuff whenever possible and control my own creative destiny, ultimately.
Is your long-term goal to be more of a film director than a TV host?
Long-term, yeah. But I'm not one of these guys who says, "Now I'm on a really hot show, better quit soon before I get labeled." That's the most ridiculous notion I'd ever heard.
How has being affiliated with this enormously successful but somewhat campy television show affected your credibility as a director? Have you encountered a lot of snobbery?
When I first started trying to get funding to get "Finder's Fee" made, "Survivor" wasn't even happening yet. The film's producer said, "When I tell people who you are, I already have to tell them you're a first-time writer and director; I'm not going to tell them you're a TV host, too." It was a big thing for me to hang on to directing at all, having no experience. And then when you tag it with "he's a television host," people do think you're an idiot.
Get Salon in your mailbox!