HE KNOWS DEVELOPMENT

EVERYBODY is a producer these days. Just ask Steve Samuels, a successful real estate developer who just parachuted into the movie business as the producer of two of the fall season’s most gripping dramas, Tony Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton” and Paul Haggis’ “In the Valley of Elah.” Amazingly, “Clayton” was sitting at Warner Bros., going nowhere until Samuels agreed to help finance the picture. Samuels knows he still has a lot to learn about the film business but insists he didn’t become a producer to meet movie stars. “I’m not driven by the sex appeal of the business,” he says. “It only clouds your judgment.”

Is Hollywood a very different business or do you see a lot of similarities with real estate?

It’s very similar. In real estate, if you tie up a piece of land, it doesn’t have real value until you have a vision of what to do with it and a tenant who wants to build on it. That’s a lot like a movie project. The script doesn’t have any real value until you’ve got a director and a star. Otherwise, it’s just an empty piece of land.

But aren’t movies a riskier proposition?

Real estate is fairly predictable because you have a much better idea earlier on of the value of what you’re creating. Movies are more at the mercy of the marketplace. In film, you can do everything right and still not know how the market is going to accept it.

Like a lot of outside investors, your first shot at a movie, “Half Light,” was a disaster. What did you learn?

It’s all about the people you’re in business with. I suspended that belief going in and I regretted it. It’s all about people: Are they passionate? Are they responsible? Do they have leadership skills?

Tony Gilroy had never directed before. How did you know he had what it takes?

I loved his self-confidence. In real estate, I sit across from new people every day. I view my job as knowing how to pick the right people.

There’s been a lot of Oscar controversy over who is really a producer. Do you consider what you do producing?

I don’t sit with Tony and talk about what the cast should be or tell Paul how he should shape a scene. But we do all the deal-making and I would call that producing. Neither of these films would’ve gotten made without me. That should count for something.

It takes money to create momentum?

That’s my goal -- to make films happen that wouldn’t otherwise happen and give the filmmaker enough creative freedom to make the movie they want to make. Don’t worry. I didn’t get into the business to meet George Clooney.

Have you ever been to the Oscars?

I went about 15 years ago. All I remember is there sure was a lot of traffic.

Did Clooney give you any good advice about getting good seats this year?

Actually, it never came up. I thought talking about the Oscars was like talking about a no-hitter -- it’s an unwritten rule not to mention it. Frankly, I should be so lucky.

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Patrick Goldstein writes The Big Picture, which runs every Tuesday in Calendar.