How ‘Prime Minister’ Landed with Madison Wells
Founder Gigi Pritzker and film and TV head Rachel Shane recall wooing former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and taking the film to Sundance: "There were people coming up to us afterward crying."
Jacinda Ardern appears in 'Prime Minister.' Radio New Zealand/Courtesy of Sundance Institute
When word got out that Jacinda Ardern would be sitting for a documentary about her time as the world’s youngest female leader, Madison Wells founder Gigi Pritzker and film and TV head Rachel Shane knew they had to get involved. After all, the company’s goal is to showcase stories by and about “badass women,” and Ardern’s tenure as the prime minister of New Zealand made her an international symbol for what women could do. She earned praise for her response to the coronavirus pandemic and for balancing her office while becoming a new mother.
Pritzker and Shane made their case to Ardern directly during a series of detailed conversations in Los Angeles, and ultimately won the right to produce the movie during a heated back-off that also included winning over Ardern’s now-husband, Clarke Gayford.
“She and Clarke both were very thoughtful and deliberate about who they wanted to be partners with,” says Pritzker. “Part of the bake off process was them getting to know who their partners would be. Part of it is, ‘How’s it going to get financed?’ But a lot of it is, ‘Who do we feel comfortable giving our story to and collaborating with?”
Adds Shane: “I think what helped seal the deal was that we were a team of women who really prioritized making this a female-led project.”
The film, directed by Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz, arrived at Sundance in January, where it won the audience award for documentary. As the review from The Hollywood Reporter noted: “The word kindness comes up over and over in Prime Minister as the key to Jacinda Ardern‘s political philosophy. That sounds gooey and naive, but this disarming and intimate documentary about her six years as New Zealand’s head of government shows it to be the effective basis for a career that made her a global political star.”
