Making Docs

In the episode we speak with award winning documentary filmmaker Sophie Robinson.  Sophie had great success with her first documentary feature film 'My Beautiful Broken Brain' in 2014, which was executive produced by David Lynch, nominated for an Emmy and bought by Netflix.  We chat with Sophie about what happened after the success of her first feature film and her recent journey setting up her own production company 'So&So Pictures'. Hosted by Karoline Pelikan (@PelikanPictures) and Paul Hulligan (@paulhully). ------------------------------------ Episode guide: 00:39 - Introduction, Sophie's current projects 03:05 - Making ‘My Beautiful Broken Brain’ 06:18 - Working with Netflix 09:06 - Why she started the company and ambitions for it 13:09 - Deciding the company name 15:00 - Promoting the company and why it’s led to more work 19:34 - Some advantages and disadvantages to being a company 23:56 - Using her success and company to give back, the importance of having a mentor 25:45 - The long term vision 26:36 - Top few tips when creating your own company

In this episode we visit VICE Media in London, where we speak with their award winning lead video editor Marta Velasquez to get practical advice on editing short form documentary films. Hosted by Karoline Pelikan (@PelikanPictures) and Paul Hulligan (@paulhully). ------------------------------------ Episode guide: 00:52 - Marta's editing journey 03:04 - Opening with impact – The first shot is the most important 04:46 - The narrative structure in short docs 05:40 - The ethics of editing - taking care of your contributors 07:05 - The editing process 12:46 - Tips for the editing work 14:30 - The first rough cut screening 18:55 - Preparing the film for post production 22:00 - Top 3 Tips for editors 25:03 - Changing male structures: having diverse film teams 26:30 - How do you get a job at VICE?

In this episode we visit Spring Films who are a twice Oscar nominated London based independent production company, specialising in international co-productions and factual programming for television and cinema. We speak with their Managing Director and executive producer Richard Melman to learn about how Spring Films operate and what the opportunity is for independent filmmakers to work with them. Hosted by Karoline Pelikan (@PelikanPictures) and Paul Hulligan (@paulhully). ------------------- Episode guide: 00:57 - Introduction 02:58 - The evolution of Spring Films 08:05 - The type of films they make and films they’ve recently made 12:47 - How they operate 16:31 - How they decide a story is worth transforming into a film 19:00 - advice on getting the films commissioned 23:12 - Supporting and working with independent filmmakers 26:47 - How to approach and sell your film project to Spring Films 35:16 - Whats happens when they agree to work with you, the process 39:32 - What to prepare before approaching them 44:23 - How they try to attract independent filmmakers to approach them and more about how to approach them 45:45 - What they are looking for from an independent filmmaker 46.22 - An example of how they've worked with independent filmmakers (Cool Daddio: The Second Youth of R. Stevie Moore (2019)) 50:24 - Advice for independent filmmakers and people wanting to work in the industry