Meritorious mentor
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By NANCY VAN VALKENBURG
Standard-Examiner staff
Carla Woodmansee keeps busy teaching and managing Sundance Film Festival
Two weeks ago, Carla Woodmansee had some free time on her hands and was baffled about how to spend it.
"It's spring break at Weber State," said Woodmansee, who teaches college film courses in the evening, after she finishes her day job teaching high-school film classes. "I've got whole evenings off. What do I do?"
Woodmansee, a Tooele native and Ogden resident, likes to keep busy. She spends a big chunk of the winter managing the Ogden venue for the Sundance Film Festival, organizing ticket sales, directing volunteer workers and assisting with visiting filmmakers.
Her previous jobs have included casting extras for "Touched By an Angel" and for several movies that shot in Utah, including her favorite, "A Life Less Ordinary" (1997), starring Ewan McGregor, Cameron Diaz and Holly Hunter.
She also worked as Utah production coordinator for "The Last Time I Committed Suicide" (1997), with Keanu Reeves and Adrian Brody. Woodmansee was art department coordinator for "Drive Me Crazy" (1997), with Melissa Joan Hart. And she cast extras for the 2003 drama "Pool Hall Junkies," with Rick Schroder and Rod Steiger.
All this while raising two sons as a single mother.
"I like to stay busy," Woodmansee said.
Background
Her life is a story, and Woodmansee likes to keep it interesting.
"I do change careers about every 10 years," she said. "It's kind of a progression, with everything related but different. I get too bored. I'm almost due for another change."
The first film Woodmansee can remember seeing was "Babes in Toyland," at the Country Club Theater. She went with her dad. With her mom, she saw "Viva Las Vegas" and "Beach Blanket Bingo." Her first solo movie outing was "The Jungle Book," at the Egyptian Theater.
Woodmansee remembers enjoying the films, but not spotting her future line of work.
"When I was a kid, that was just kind of the thing to do," she said. "We all went to matinees."
Woodmansee studied communication and English at Weber State, never mind what year (Woodmansee prefers not to talk about age). Out of school, she landed a job making corporate videos.
"I discovered I liked writing scripts, shooting video, doing editing and putting all the pieces together," she said. "That's really when I started thinking about film."
Restlessness set in when she hit her 20s.
"I went to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and I went to school in Minneapolis," she said. "I lived in Northern California, and in Montana. I traveled and worked, and made friends in all those places."
She married before the California move. Then, family, her husband's, brought her back to Ogden.
"My ex-husband's parents lived there, and he wanted to move back to be closer to them," Woodmansee said. "We moved back, and they moved to St. George six months later."
Industry work
By now, Woodmansee had experience making videos, doing technical writing and raising children. She decided to go for a master's degree in film at the University of Utah. She made several documentaries, including one about doctors who traveled abroad to operate on children who had cleft palates.
In 1994, Woodmansee began teaching Introduction to Film classes as a WSU adjunct professor. A few years later, she started casting extras for theatrical films shot in Utah. She hired an assistant, Coti Hudgens, now 30, an Ogden native living in New York City.
"The very first job I ever had was working for Carla on an independent feature being filmed in Ogden," Hudgens said. "I was a senior in high school and completely blown away by how much was actually put into the reality of filmmaking.
"The excitement, the storytelling, the creative insight and output used to create scenes, scripts and characters. Everything about it was fascinating to me. From that point on, my world changed, Carla took me under her wing, and my career path was set in motion."
Hudgens worked for Woodmansee on several more projects.
"We did everything from casting extras on movies, to supervising productions, to hosting film festivals such as Sundance in Ogden. After realizing firsthand experience was not enough, I enrolled in Carla's film studies program at Weber State University. Not only did she teach us about the history and influence of film, she showed us examples. Who knew there were so many styles, genres and film greats?
"Every time I was with Carla, I wanted to pick her brain and learn more, experience more. Carla took my hand and slowly walked me through every aspect of the industry."
When Hudgens moved to Los Angeles to work in the film industry, Woodmansee helped her connect with people in the field. Hudgens worked as an assistant to Ryan Phillipe on "The Way of the Gun," and to Jim Carrey on "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events."
"Even though I've worked for, and alongside, some of the most notable and celebrated people in the film industry, Brian Grazer, Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman and Jim Carrey, to name a few, I will never give them the credit I owe to Carla," Hudgens said. "She has been the guiding light and force behind most of my adventures."
Fun with Sundance
In the '90s, Woodmansee was a Sundance volunteer, working for a summer filmmakers' lab and volunteering for the Park City-based film festival. She also was a member of the foundation board of directors for Peery's Egyptian Theater in Ogden, which was reopening in 1997 after extensive renovations.
"I had worked with Jill Miller (now managing director of the Sundance Institute), and I told her, 'You need to come see this theater. It would be a nice addition as a Sundance Film Festival venue.' "
Peery's opened in mid-January of 1997, and hosted its first Sundance films just a few days later. Woodmansee has managed Sundance at the Ogden venue ever since. Sarah Pearce, festival director of operations, said she can always count on Woodmansee to get the job done.
"Ogden's so far away from our headquarters in Park City, we really rely on Carla," Pearce said. "She's an amazing contributor to the festival. She's in charge of the volunteers, the venue, and everything that happens there, along with the Egyptian Theater staff. She does the job, she owns it, and I never have to worry about it."
Woodmansee still enjoys her work with Sundance: "It's very rewarding to see all these people come from the community to see the films."
Media mentor
A few years back, in another of her career progressions, Woodmansee decided to stop extras casting and spend more time teaching. She kept the Weber State job, and also accepted a position at Canyon High School. Among her duties are teaching students to make videos.
"She is a great teacher," said Ethan Swisher, 18, a senior from South Ogden. "She is just really helpful and really easygoing about it. She is always there to give a helping hand. She really inspired me, not just in making videos but in school. In my 11th-grade year, I wasn't doing too good. She was the one that pushed me to keep going to school. She called me every day to make sure I was coming to school, and she helped me get work so I could get work-study credits. Now I'm on track to graduate."
Woodmansee's film career inspired her own sons as well.
"It was fun and a good learning experience to be on film sets, like 'Con Air' and 'Touched by an Angel,'" said son Nash Johns, 18. "Back when she was a casting director, she was always busy, always on set early or all night. She taught me a good work ethic. She's a good person, and she's always been a good mom. And she's really smart about films."
Film future
With both children graduated, Woodmansee has more time on her hands. It's time for a new project. What would she like to do next?
"I want to do another documentary here pretty soon," she said. "I'm looking for an idea. I don't have an idea and I don't have money, but other than that .<2009>.<2009>.<2009>," she said, laughing.
"I'd really like to live in a small town and run a theater. I'd like to find an existing theater and run it. But I know there's no money in that. That would have to be later in my life, if it will ever happen."
Maybe it would make a good retirement project?
"Often, I think I would like toused. "But even if I did, I would have to -- well, no. I don't ever see myself retiring, really."
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