Garrison”™s Evelyn Watters could be known as Queen of the Trailer, but that”™s not trailer as in trailer park or tractor trailer. Known professionally as Evelyn Brady-Watters, she worked with her sister, Monica Brady, to found the Golden Trailer Awards to recognize best movie trailer creators.
“The term trailer is misleading,” Watters said, adding trailers previewing films originally appeared in 1913 at the conclusion of the films in theaters, when audiences were inattentive.
The sisters”™ relationship with film trailer began on the inside.
Aspiring filmmakers in 1999, the Bradys shopped for someone to make a promotional trailer for them. In the process, Evelyn fell in love with the brief heralds of coming attractions.
“Trailers are enjoyable short bursts of entertainment helping determine how we choose to spend our leisure time,” she said.
- Evelyn Watters of Garrison on a runway near Telluride, Colo., during a film shoot.
The sisters concluded the creators of these abbreviated films deserved recognition and formed their own version of the Academy Awards called The Golden Trailer Awards. This past May, the awards drew 1,377 worldwide entries in 77 categories to the Beverly Hills ceremony, including drama, suspense, humor and even the Golden Fleece Award for the best trailer for the worst movie.
Watters serves as executive director.
Watters divides her professional life between the trailer awards and overseeing production of broadcast commercials for such national products as MasterCard. She scouts locations and hires casts, directors and photographers.
“For a Mountain Dew advertisement directed toward a young audience, we shot an upside down skateboarder,” she said.
As with the movies previewed in the trailers she loves, things don”™t always go well for Watters”™s commercial shoots.
She recalled scouting Europe for a soccer field where a game would be in progress. She reserved the best seat for shooting the film, involving a paid cast of 200, only to find the seat occupied on the critical day. The stadium manager insisted the fan not be disturbed. Reflecting on rescheduling cost, Watters said, “I paid the fan a good sum to take another seat.”
Another tense exchange took place with a shoot in Death Valley. The crew arrived to find the location flooded. Again surveying costs of delay, Watters negotiated with a reluctant park ranger for a change to a nearby location the same day.
Welcoming smoother sailing, Watters said she finds Florida and New York City film-friendly.
Watters and her husband, Craig Watters, a professional photographer, live in the neighborhood that warmly welcomed Gene Kelly, director, and Barbara Streisand, leading actress, for the filming of a large segment of “Hello, Dolly.” Ironically, this summer Watters, stood up in a Philipstown Town Council hearing to oppose proposed legislation to extract a fee not only for gatherings and filming on public property, but on private residences.
Garrison is a hamlet in Philipstown.
With her father an engineer on major projects, Watters spent her youth in six states. Her homes included Virginia and Tennessee, accounting for her slight southern drawl; Massachusetts, where she acquired the northern New England pronunciation of “out” and “about;” New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Watters has strong Garrison ties. Her mother, Margaret Byrnes, was one of 11 children of Evelyn and John Byrnes, who owned the Garrison Post Office property. Graduated from Pope John XXIII High School in Sparta, New Jersey, she holds a Bachelor”™s degree from Hillsdale College in Michigan. She took courses in film at New York University”™s Tisch School of the Arts. She and her husband, currently a candidate for Philipstown Town Council, enjoy hiking Breakneck Ridge and other locations throughout Putnam County.
Challenging Careers focuses on the exciting and unusual business lives of Hudson Valley residents. Comments or suggestions may be emailed to Catherine Portman-Laux at cplaux@optonline.net.
