Just as directors and actors approach their craft differently (typically depending on how they were trained or, in some cases, learned their discipline on the fly), producers have varying philosophies regarding how best to ensure their director feels supported in realizing their vision while making sure the production stays focused and, most importantly, on schedule. Because when a production falls behind schedule, that means days are added to the shoot. And never has the axiom “time is money” been more applicable.

For Keith Calder, the co-founder of Snoot Entertainment with his wife and producing partner Jess Wu Calder who’s produced films as diverse as “You’re Next,” “Blindspotting,” and Regina King’s “One Night in Miami,” an ideal shoot is the boots-on-the-ground payoff for having been onboard from the inception of project. He cites the filming of director Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett’s 2014 sci-fi/horror/action gumbo “The Guest,” the team’s follow-up to the sleeper slasher success of “You’re Next,” as a particularly rewarding experience in this vein.

As Keith recalls, “Simon had this old script sort of sitting around that tied into an idea that Adam wanted to explore, which was this sort of ‘Terminator’ type aesthetic.” After expanding on this concept with Wingard, Keith, and Jess, Barrett wrote the screenplay that allowed this “core group” of four to set up shop in New Mexico, where they shot a lean and very mean genre flick.

“It’s one where our involvement really was essentially from concept through delivery through release. It was really just overseeing the whole thing, putting together the financing, selling it, and all the business side of it. But also, creatively, there every single day at the monitor, working with Adam and Simon and the actors. And […] breaking out and helping each other.”

“It’s problem solving and thinking outside the box,” says Jess, which can be especially precarious when working on a production with a smaller budget (as they often do). But these challenges are what makes the job worthwhile for her. “I think it’s so amazing when, amidst all of this, I get a chance to just focus on this tiny screen on the monitor, and then you see everyone’s hardworking vision just all come together in this kind of beautiful way. And so, on the screen, everything is beautiful and effortless. All around, I also get to see everyone pulling it all together, and I think that’s really special.”