Early Life and Career Beginnings 

Molly Conners’ path to producing films began long before she ever stepped onto a set. Raised  in Boca Raton, Florida, she started producing political commercials including one for her father’s  campaign. She caught a bug for producing. A friend encouraged her to try short films, and one  project quickly led to another. Before long, Conners found herself drawn into the intricate,  high‑stakes world of feature filmmaking, captivated by the alchemy of turning ideas into  cinematic reality. 

Some of Molly’s notable movie credits are BIRDMAN and FROZEN RIVER.  She is the CEO of Phiphen, an independent Film, Television, and Digital Media company. Here are three producing stories she shared.  

The Freezer 

That early drive and her willingness to embrace the unconventional would become a hallmark of  her producing career. It was on full display during the making of Centigrade, a survival thriller  shot in one of New York City’s best‑known ice cream facilities. It was August, the kind of heat  that makes the sidewalks shimmer, yet Conners was cold. Blissfully cold. Eight and a half  months pregnant, she stood inside a commercial freezer overseeing a production that had  chosen authenticity over convenience. 

The concept was bold: film the entire movie inside a freezer, using a Land Rover deconstructed  and rebuilt piece by piece to create real arctic conditions rather than relying on visual effects. 

Conners and her team persuaded the facility’s owner to relocate a quarter‑million dollars’ worth  of product and rent them the freezer as a set. 

For twenty‑four days, the crew worked in chronological order, bundled in parkas. The actors’  bodies changed visibly between shooting weeks. And Conners, deep into her third trimester,  was thriving. 

“Everyone else was freezing,” she says. “I was loving every minute.” 

The Producer Behind the Extremes 

The freezer anecdote is more than a quirky production story; it’s emblematic of a producer  whose career has been defined by extremes. Conners’ films have earned four Academy Awards  and eleven Oscar nominations, and her collaborators include Michael Keaton, Nicolas Cage,  Matthew McConaughey, Kristen Bell, Kate Winslet, and Joaquin Phoenix. 

Before any of that, she was building political coalitions in the New York State Legislature. She  transitioned into features in 2007, and by 2015 had founded Phiphen, an independent media  company now spanning four divisions: film and television production, video game publishing,  social media marketing, and investment. She also serves as Chair of the Maine Film  Commission. 

With Phiphen entering a new phase of growth, Conners is, for the first time, sharing the stories  behind the productions that shaped the company. 

The Hurricane 

One of those stories unfolded in September 2017, when Conners was in Miami producing Like  Father with Kristen Bell, Kelsey Grammer, and Seth Rogen. As Hurricane Irma barreled toward  Florida, the production was forced to relocate to Orlando. The cast and crew sheltered at Walt  

Disney World. Bell made international headlines singing Frozen songs to evacuees at a nearby  school. Conners coordinated with Netflix’s global threat division and security team to keep the  production safe. 

The film went on to become one of Netflix’s most‑watched comedies of the year. 

The Balloon 

Another story begins far more quietly. While producing the high‑altitude thriller Turbulence with  director Claudio Fäh, Conners and Fäh decided they needed firsthand experience in a hot‑air  balloon to understand the world of the film. They lifted off outside London, recording sound and  absorbing the silence and scale until the landing reminded them this wasn’t a sightseeing  excursion. 

The descent turned violent. The balloon dragged through bushes and trees, branches snapping  against the basket before finally grinding to a stop. By any measure, it was a rough landing. 

The Thread Through It All 

The freezer. The hurricane. The balloon. Each production presented its own set of challenges,  risks, and unexpected turns. And through all of them, Molly Conners was there, steady,  unflinching, and propelled by the same force that carried her from a Capitol Hill internship to the  center of some of Hollywood’s most demanding sets. 

Every set has a story. Conners just happens to be in all of them.

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