Few jobs demand more skilled straddling of the line between the creative and business sides of an industry than film producer. And there’s perhaps no one better suited (“born to” is not a stretch) for that unique role than independent producer and independent thinker Chris Moore. After three years as a very successful agent, his creative side no longer allowed him to sell scripts he loved, never to see them again until they emerged on screen as almost unrecognizable versions of their former selves. Hooray for Hollywood.

He didn’t do badly out of the gate as a producer, betting bigger than any studio likely would’ve on two unknown screenwriters who insisted on starring in their own movie, then going on to produce films like Adjustment Bureau and Promised Land, and TV shows like Project Greenlight with said unknown writers. Relentlessly curious and original, he’s made somewhat of a career of on-air experiments, and taken some heat for them, too. The Chair, his latest on-air “what if?”, is a fascinating look at what happens to the same story in the hands of two different directors.

These are interesting times in filmed entertainment, and Moore has seen a sea change in the making, funding and promoting of it over his career. The embarrassment of riches occasioned by the explosion of film, video and TV choices and the ways we watch them has scattered audiences to the point where return on investment is almost impossible, and risk taking at a minimum. Moore might lament the fickle economics of choice if he wasn’t too busy working on how to reinvent and adapt to them. For starters, he thinks filmmakers need to open up their process, focus less on marketing their products and more on marketing themselves. Well, interesting times call for interesting minds. Call him opinionated, self-promoting or a control freak, and also call him if you’ve got a good story, because if you do, he’s a guy you want in your corner. He says he got into the business to help tell stories about people he’d want to hang out with. We loved hanging out with Chris Moore.