Meet Martine Melloul | Independant Producer

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

Hi Martine, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I think I have taken risks all my life. I am French originally and I was born and raised in Paris, France. I moved to NY when I was 18 to study in an American University then I moved to Israel when I was 20 thinking I was going to do my MBA in Jerusalem. When I arrived the MBA was in Hebrew which I did not speak and I entered instead a language program and found a job in a restaurant. Life in Israel was not for me so I moved back to France a year later and started working in the fashion industry. The biggest risk I took was moving at age 30 from Paris to Los Angeles on a promise of an interview for a job in 3 days! With a 5y old kid! That was very scary. I was leaving everything I knew and started a new life in America. It turned out to be my American Dream working for an amazing Fashion House for 17 years and becoming the Executive Vice President of the company. Then in 2016 the company was sold and I took an even bigger risk; creating my own production company and starting over in a completely new business. This was even scarier than my previous move.I had everything: an amazing career, friends, a great income and all of a sudden I had nothing. I needed to rebuild myself from the ground up. Start over. Huge crazy risk!! But I wanted more in life. I wanted to be passionate about what I was doing. I also wanted to be free and not work for someone else. But freedom has a price. A big price!! Anyway here I am now. Almost 8y later. I am a Producer Guild of America member and I produce films and documentaries. This is my new American Dream and nothing would have happened if I had not taken some risks.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I think what I am most proud of is having been able to reinvent myself from a Fashion Executive to an Independent Producer. Changing career is not easy. Especially when you are at the top and you need to start over from zero. You need resilience. It is not easy everyday. One of the big challenges was coming from a company with over 1500 employees and teams to manage to a desk at home by myself trying to figure out how to break into Hollywood. I think one of my strength is networking so I networked a lot. Met tons of people and found my way. I think one of the lessons I learned from my both my careers is to always be good to people. You can be one day at the top and the next at the bottom. You need to get up and fight. Everyday. And people help if you have been good to them.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend was to come visit I would take her to the Hollywood sign, to the beach, have dinner in one of the nice restaurant on 3rd street and also I would take her downtown where we would first have lunch at Maccheroni Republic, best pasta in LA, then desert at the Grand Central Market, then go to Angel’s Flight and the Broad Museum. I love this small tour…

Next I would take her to Palm Springs, which is my happy place.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to dedicate this story to Max Azria, owner of BCBG MAX AZRIA who gave me a chance in 1999 which allowed me to move to Los Angeles and have my American Dream. he passed away in 2019. I miss him greatly.

Website: https://kalipictures.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martine-melloul-9b5b5987/