‘Hollywood Trailblazer: The Debra Hill Story’ Documentary Announced

Officially announced today, November 10, on what would have been her 73rd birthday, a brand new feature-length documentary, Hollywood Trailblazer: The Debra Hill Story has moved into production with Causeway Pictures, celebrating the late producer and co-writer of classic movies including Halloween (1978) and The Fog (1980).

Hollywood Trailblazer: The Debra Hill Story will be directed by Irish filmmakers Jim McMorrow and Margaret McGoldrick, with producers Margaret McGoldrick and Chris Patterson of Causeway Pictures, and Jamie Lee Curtis is among the executive producers, as reported today by Deadline.

Debra Hill (pictured above on the set of 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch), who died in 2005, is best known for her collaborations with John Carpenter on titles like Halloween (1978) and The Fog (1980), both of which she co-wrote with Carpenter, but she was a prolific producer behind many more films, including Clue, Adventures In Babysitting, The Dead Zone, The Fisher King, and World Trade Centre. 

Hill was recently honored by the Producers Guild of America with the presentation of the 2023 Debra Hill Fellowship Award. The award was established in 2005 to honor her legacy and has since provided an annual grant award to a graduating producer of that year.

Hollywood Trailblazer filmmakers say the documentary will shine a light on Hill as “the godmother of indie filmmaking,” who was responsible for giving many in Hollywood today their first break.

Featured interviews in the documentary will include Jamie Lee Curtis, John Carpenter, Stacey Sher, David Gordon Green, Terry Gilliam, Lynda Obst, Kim Gottlieb-Walker, Andrea Berloff, Alan Jones, Kim Newman, and more, with the team also working with Debra’s brother, Bob Hill.

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