Meet Lee Stobby | Wizard, Literary Manager, Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lee Stobby and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lee, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?

I was 15 years old, a gay boy living at the edge of the universe—Midland, Michigan, while watching THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, when I knew film is what I wanted to devote my entire life to pursuing.

This sent me down a rabbit hole to watch every film I could, including every best picture winner, all of IMDb’s 250, AFI’s top 100, and every film I could get my hands on. I lived and breathed film, not knowing what job I wanted in Hollywood, except that I wanted to get paid to watch films and be Paul Thomas Anderson or be the Coen Bros’ “dude” — to be involved in and around every aspect of the making of incredible films. Little did I know at the time that that would be my ultimate job, as a literary manager and producer, guiding and propelling writers’ and directors’ careers and film and tv projects into creation. I’m so blessed.

I came to Hollywood in 2009, 3 days after graduating from the University of Michigan, with two internships but no friends in LA, having never been to LA before and not even a place to live. I stayed in a hostel in Santa Monica for the first two weeks.

I finally got my first assistant job, and then my second one, but then quickly realized this is not a town where success is given; it has to be claimed. Only after threatening to leave my jobs, and making myself indispensable, I got promoted and then used all my knowledge and tenacious hunger to make it in Hollywood and begin growing my client base, a lot of my most successful clients I signed within that first year or two of being a manager. 

This is how I knew that I had to jump in the deep end and not rely on anyone else, or more importantly, be giving up my commission and earnings to “bosses” who had nothing to do with earning it. After less than 2 years of being a manager, I decided I needed to start my own thing.

No one was going to help me more than myself. This was 10 years ago, and it was the best decision I ever made.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

There is art and creativity in everything I do. It’s one thing to find a brilliant writer or screenplay, and it’s pure alchemy to turn it into momentum and excitement and into a film or tv series not only selling but actually getting made. I am relentless with my development and passion for the projects I believe in. My biggest gift, I believe, is taste. I live and breathe film. I watch at least 2 films every day, no matter what. Those mostly consist of MOULIN ROUGE!, THE LITTLE MERMAID, and 2001: A SPACE ODDESY, as those films are all you ever need to watch if you want to know everything about how to build and create a perfect cinematic experience.

I am always shocked at the lack of passion for film amongst those who work in Hollywood. This is not just a job for me. Film is my life. I go to every film festival I can, not just to party or to take meetings, but to watch as many films as I possibly can, which is the most important thing I think anyone can do to become successful in this work. I am not just a film expert; I am a guru. There are very, very few people in my peer group who I have encountered who can dive deeper into film history, film story, structure or how to build a compelling narrative than me, and my success and pedigree in Hollywood exemplifies this. Film runs through my veins.

Watching the world premiere of an incredible film at the Lumiere theatre at Cannes is the most exhilarating experience I have ever had. Holding onto this profound love of cinema and the highest quality film is my superpower, because I know when I find an incredible screenplay or turn a very good one into something incredible by using my vast knowledge, then I am able to become a superhero for my clients and projects. 

I remember when Isaac Adamson, who is most famous for writing the #1 Black List script BUBBLES about Michael Jackson’s chimpanzee, first gave me the script and then I was faced with what to do next. I knew everyone was going to freak out; it was the most incredible script I had ever had the pleasure of having from its very inception.

I decided upon chaos, to light Hollywood ablaze.

I made over 300 submissions of the script in 3 days, to anyone I had ever sent a script, anyone any of my former bosses had made submissions, and within a week every agency wanted to sign the writer and we had A+ level directors begging to do the script. This resulted in a lot of angry phone calls from people who were upset they could not control the process, but my instinct was correct and lead to the writer being instantly on everyone’s radar and to many, many, many more opportunities beyond just that one script.

On the flip side, one of my favorite things about film and screenplays is developing and creating something that I know others will love. It is so rewarding after doing dozens of drafts of a script, coming up with the writer not just structure, emotional core, character arcs, but also exact scenes and even the title, all with the idea of creating an undeniable product. This is what I am bringing as I am starting to write and work on my own screenplays… I am excited for the world to see what I have cooking. 

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love karaoke, so The Oaks Tavern and The Good Nite in The Valley are frequent haunts for me. Karaoke bars are full of such awesome weirdos you will find.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to dedicate this to my mom and dad. Them having the courage and foresight to homeschool me my whole life, so that I could have the freedom to just watch films all day and devote all my time to this dream and never censoring or making me think I could not achieve anything I set my mind to is why I am here now.

Love you, Mom & Dad.

Website: www.leestobby.com

Instagram: @leestobby

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leestobby

Twitter: @leestobby

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lstobby

Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@LeeStobby

Other: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm3915682/ https://letterboxd.com/leestobby/