Stories That Matter: Patrick Baker ’85

Growing up, Patrick Baker’s house was filled with politicians, activists, and filmmakers. His mother, Boaty Boatwright, worked as a Hollywood casting director and was at the center of the feminist and civil rights movements of the 1960s. The first film she cast, To Kill a Mockingbird, is one of the great social justice stories. So, it’s not surprising that Patrick was drawn to a career as a filmmaker, amplifying meaningful stories and original voices.

At the University of Colorado Boulder, where he was an African-American Studies major, Patrick recalls becoming “intellectually obsessed” with the work of Jonathan Kozol, an award winning author and educator whose 1991 book Savage Inequalities paints a stark portrait of class and race-based educational disparities in America. Although he was still a college student with little film experience at the time, Patrick reached out to Kozol to tell him he wanted to make a documentary film based on the book. But first Patrick returned to his hometown of New York City to learn the documentary film business. His first job was working on a documentary about the New York prostitution scene for HBO and Channel 4 (UK). Next, he went to work for legendary CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, whose documentary-based program, The Cronkite Report, was airing on the Discovery Channel. Patrick worked his way up from an assistant to co-producer, and it was Cronkite who gave Patrick the final push to make a film about Kozol’s book. “When I presented the idea to the Chairman, Cronkite said that they weren’t interested but that I needed to go make that film,” he says.

Patrick approached the Corporation for Public Broadcasting about the Kozol documentary, and soon, Bill Moyers was attached. Patrick’s best friend, Chris Pilaro ’87 (pictured far left), joined him as a co-producer, and they spent a year living in Ohio making the film. Children in America’s Schools aired on PBS in 1996 and won a Daytime Emmy Award. The film also put Patrick on a path that would enable him to impact the issues highlighted in the film directly.  

Many years before, Chris and Andrew ’85’s father, Tony Pilaro, P ’85 ’87, GP ’16, and a former Fay trustee, had been the one to suggest to Patrick and his mother that they consider Fay. Patrick’s friendship with Chris and Andrew further strengthened their bond. A true philanthropist, Tony Pilaro supported many educational causes throughout his career. In 1996, he founded The Ron Brown Scholar Program (RBS) to honor the late Secretary of Commerce, who perished in a plane crash that year. The program offers a $40,000 scholarship stipend and ongoing career mentorship to twenty-five of the most intellectually gifted African-American high school seniors each year. In return, they ask scholars to pay it forward by mentoring other students in their community. 

When Chris Pilaro passed away in 2017, Patrick was asked to fill his seat on the RBS Board of Trustees. “I feel like I’m tasked with the responsibility of keeping Chris’s spirit alive on the board, and it’s one of the great joys in my life. Chris was an exceptionally loving and kind human being. His role at RBS was significant, so filling his shoes has been a great honor.” Twenty-seven years later, the program has awarded over 600 scholarships, and its alumni include Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall and U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, who President Biden nominated to represent the Southern District of New York.

In his career, Patrick has worked in almost every facet of the film industry. After the documentary, he stayed in L.A., spending ten years as a film executive working with studios like Warner Brothers, Universal, and Paramount. “It was thrilling to work with filmmakers, writers, and creatives and oversee some really big, exciting films,” says Patrick, who was the executive on The Rock’s first two feature films. Eventually, he stepped away from big-budget films to produce smaller independent films, selling them on the festival circuit throughout the U.S. In 2019, he shifted gears again, taking time off from finding and selling great stories to writing them himself. Patrick moved his family to Oxford, England, where they fell in love with the countryside and community and still reside today. He writes for 3-4 hours daily and is currently working on two scripts and a new play inspired by Chris Pilaro.

One of his greatest pleasures is sharing his film industry experience with the Ron Brown Scholars that he mentors. “At the end of the day, the best part of my current life is being involved with these young kids,” says Patrick. He helps them find internships and jobs, provides feedback on scripts, makes calls and introductions on their behalf, and offers career guidance. His best advice for the young scholars who are the next generation of storytellers? “Get really good at something, do it well.” says Patrick. “If you get really good at something and you do something really well, you’ll be successful.”