Film Disruptors Podcast

In this episode we are joined by the acclaimed visual artist and costume designer, Ane Crabtree. Ane’s substantial body of work includes her iconic, unmistakable designs for THE HANDMAID'S TALE (seasons one and two) as well as WESTWORLD (season one), and Apple TV’s THE CHANGELING. As such, Ane has built a formidable reputation as a designer of the future and was described as one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2018, deemed so "for designing the apocalypse". Ane is a long standing collaborator with (previous guest of this show) Liam Young, including their most recent project PLANETARY REDESIGN which premiered at Venice Biennale in 2023. Ane also recently collaborated with Darren Aronofsky for POSTCARDS FROM EARTH which was made for The Sphere in Las Vegas. Her work reflects the rural roots of Kentucky and the rich influence of her Okinawan heritage as the backbone of her visual storytelling. In this inspiring and wide-ranging conversation, we discuss the theme of worldbuilding

This special episode features a conversation with three leaders in this space exploring the future of the greenlight process in film: Anjali Midha is the Former Head of Entertainment at Twitter and the Founder and CEO of the entertainment analytics platform Diesel Labs. Irina Albita, co-founder and co-CEO of FilmChain, the blockchain based platform revolutionising the collection of revenues in film and TV. Ted Hope is the producer of over 70 feature films, the former Head of Production at Amazon Studios and author of the book Hope for Film and blog of the same name. In an increasingly competitive and congested distribution marketplace, better and more informed decision making upstream is increasingly essential. Is there a better way? How can we support intuitive creativity with robust data analytics, audience insights and distribution intelligence? What are the tools, resources and information that can underpin more effective commissioning or investment decisions? Where are the information blindspots a

Mark Forstater and Nathan Neuman are co-Founders of Dreambird the new Web3 powered filmmaking and streaming platform. In this episode, they discuss the pitfalls and structural problems associated with the current film financing model and outline their vision for Dreambird as a marketplace designed to foster creators' collaboration, decision-making, and project participation. In a wide ranging conversation - that draws on Mark's rich experience as a producer (including Monty Python and the Holy Grail no less!) - we also explore generative AI, NFTs, interactive storytelling and the history - and future - of the industry. About Mark Forstater Mark Forstater is a highly experienced producer with over 40 years in the film and television industry and a pioneer of independent British films. He has extensive credits including cult classics like "Monty Python & The Holy Grail" and "XTRO,". His recent films, "Swipe Fever" and "The Lullaby Killer," highlight his continued commitment to pushing boundaries and film p

In this episode we are delighted to welcome back to the podcast, the Super Story Architect himself, Houston Howard!. An expert in franchise development and transmedia incubation, Houston demystifies the practice of world building with his customary passion and pragmatism. In this conversation, recorded as part of Future of Film incubator 2023, we explore the key elements of creating expansive narrative universes, providing practical advice, checklists, and relatable examples for all genres. Houston shares the wisdom of literary legends like Tolkien, Lewis, Lucas, and Rowling, and explains why focusing solely on a single character or story could be limiting your creative potential. He also also shares the 'five Ps' of world building: premise, place, people, practices, and past, discussing how these elements can help bring your vision to life. The discussion extends to the business aspect of world building, examining how to present creative ideas and their revenue potential. Houston sheds light on how AI to

Emma Needell is a filmmaker and worldbuilder who champions original storytelling. Her script THE WATER MAN, directed by David Oyelowo and produced by Oprah Winfrey, premiered at TIFF and is now on Netflix. In 2021, she won an Epic Megagrant to use Unreal Engine on a short film that explores the power of technology to bring people together. The film premiered at Tribeca and is now on the festival circuit. She is also the worldbuilder and Head of Story for the web3 content company Tally Labs. Emma joined Future of Film Incubator 2023 to share insights from her journey as a storyteller, her creative process and how she incorporates technology into her practice. Highlights include: - The story behind Emma's first script being made with David Oyelowo and Oprah Winfrey - Emma's adoption of Unreal Engine in her creative process - Emma's use of AI and her position on its adoption in filmmaking - How Emma is leaning into the Web3 world with the worldbuilding of the Azurbala project "I ended up using Unreal Engine

In this episode, we welcome back to Future of Film storytelling pioneer, Hasraf 'HaZ' Dulull. During the episode, HaZ provides an exclusive inside look into the innovative processes behind his groundbreaking projects like RIFT and MOONTOPIA, which utilise Unreal Engine to redefine game design and monetisation. The discussion explores game development optimization, private testing, and intellectual property ownership within the context of Unreal Engine for Fortnite. HaZ also shares fascinating insights into the potential impact of AI on the gaming industry, offering a glimpse into the future possibilities for creators. Operating at the intersection of film and gaming with a remarkable career spanning from Visual Effects to directing and producing, HaZ has gained recognition for his breakout feature film, THE BEYOND, and his second hit, 2036 Origin Unknown. Currently working on the groundbreaking sci-fi action anime, RIFT, HaZ leverages virtual production and realtime CGI, rendering the entire film in Unreal

Joanna Popper is the Chief Metaverse Officer at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Based in Los Angeles, where she leads metaverse initiatives for the agency and its clients. In this special episode of the podcast, Joanna speaks with award-winning television presenter, Elle Osili-Wood about what the metaverse means for creators and the entertainment business. About Joanna Poppper Joanna Popper is the Chief Metaverse Officer at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Based in Los Angeles, Popper leads metaverse initiatives for the agency and its clients. Popper joined CAA in 2022 from HP, where she led its XR initiatives for Go-To-Market, overseeing the launch of award-winning technology, such as the HP Reverb G2 VR headset (winner of Red Dot Design Award, CES Innovation Award, IF Design Award) and HP Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition (winner of VR Hardware of the Year, Entertainment Technology Lumiere Award, Red Dot Best of the Best, CES

Dan Erickson is the creator and showrunner of Apple TV's Emmy© Award-winning series, SEVERANCE. After attending NYU's Tisch School, where he received a Masters in Dramatic Writing. Upon moving to Los Angeles, he delivered food and worked in a string of office jobs, all while conceiving and writing the original pilot for Severance. The script became the first TV pilot ever selected for the annual Bloodlist, which ultimately led to a creative partnership with Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Productions, Endeavor Content, and Apple. Atypically, this also led to Dan becoming Showrunner, retaining huge levels of creative control and driving the production - and the show became an instant cult and critical hit largely due to its powerful and original storyworld. In this episode, Dan talks to fellow storyteller and CEO and co-founder of Kinetic Energy Entertainment, Diana Williams about his career and building the show's mind-bending world. Dan and Diana discuss the intricate process of story world design, exploring how

"You're only as good as the creative you surround yourself with." Niels Juul Niels Juul is a producer with expertise in financing and packaging major features, with a track record of working with top directors including Martin Scorsese and Michael Mann. More recently, Niels has become a strong advocate of Web3 and NFTs in the film space, founding NFT Studios as a way to stimulate more original, audience-focused storytelling In this episode, Niels shares how he broke into the industry from fashion and the life changing moment he dropped everything to fly across the country to meet with Martin Scorsese. He also discusses the 'tyranny of the algorithm' and why originality is essential to the future of screen content. And we deep dive into Web3, DAOs and NFTS, as Niels reveals why realising his vision of a decentralised Hollywood has been harder than imagined. Some of the topics covered include: - Niall's career journey and insights from working with Scorsese - The process of bringing Martin Scorsese's f

In this episode we welcome Steve Silver to the podcast to discuss the now and future of the metaverse - in particular how creators can approach this space. From Tesla's complete virtual rendering of San Francisco and Apple's upcoming VR headset to the latest in Web3, Steve takes us on a ride to the nexus of technological innovation and entertainment - eloquently explaining how these innovations can benefit storytelling and creators. Steve is the Games Industry Strategy Manager for Autodesk, makers of best-in-class design and make tools like Maya and 3ds Max. His role involves thought leadership and guidance on industry trends and strategy for the Gaming Industry as well as the Metaverse. Prior to Autodesk, Steve’s experience in the Gaming Industry included roles in companies like Electronic Arts, Kixeye, and Zynga. His professional expertise has focused on Experience Design, Live Operations, and Content Production which has put him in a strong position to understand the process complexities unique to game d

Brian Newman is Founder of Sub-Genre and one of the world’s leading experts on brand-funded films. He consults on content strategy, distribution and marketing for some of the top brands in the world. Current and former clients include: The Climate Pledge (Amazon), GoDaddy, Oatly, Patagonia, REI, Stripe, Sundance, Tazo, and Yeti Coolers. As well as being film's leading 'brand whisperer', Brian is a bonafide feature film producer in his own right and has an impressive film track record across festivals and production - including as CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute. His free weekly newsletter on the industry is simply essential reading and is available at www.sub-genre.com. In this conversation Brian outlines the opportunities for filmmakers to tap into brand money, sharing the latest case studies and strategies for success in this still emerging area.

"We talk about going Direct to Community" Diana Williams Diana Williams is the CEO & Co-founder of Kinetic Energy Entertainment, a multi-disciplinary company that partners with creators at the intersection of story and technology to develop and produce story-based IP. In this podcast, we discuss Kinetic Energy Entertainment's strategy, projects and the opportunity Diana is addressing in the marketplace. We also dive into the story IP creating process - why it is vital in today's market and the techniques Diana uses for this. From the MCU to Exploding Kittens, Diana also shares numerous examples of projects that have successfully developed franchises and reveals some of the steps they took to achieve this. About Diana Williams Diana Williams is the CEO & Co-founder of Kinetic Energy Entertainment. She has a wide range of experience in the entertainment industry, developing IP and producing creative content for distribution across storytelling media. Throughout her career she has been at the forefront of w

This episode explores the evolution in interactive filmmaking with filmmaker Paul Raschid and Ru Howe, the Founder of Stornaway.io the development tool for interactive video. Paul is the director of a number of branching narrative feature film/FMV games including 2022's THE GALLERY - comprising of over four and a half hours of video content. In this conversation, Paul and Ru share insights of how they took a 450 scene 'FMV Game' script into the finished feature film utilising Stornaway’s bespoke platform. We also talk distribution and audiences and how releasing the film on gaming platforms has provided Paul with greater control over the releasing of his storytelling. About Paul Rashid Prior to his work in the interactive format, Paul's second feature as a writer-director was 'White Chamber', which was shot in 12.5 days. In 2018, the sci-fi thriller/horror/drama played 10 film festivals around the world including Edinburgh, Sitges, Frightfest, Mumbai, BIFAN and Brussels. Lead actress Shauna Macdonald re

"Big vision and small execution. That's the sweet spot to attack the market" Houston Howard How can creators stand out in today's ocean of content? Super Story Architect, Houston Howard has answers… Houston Howard is the Chief Storyteller at One 3 Creative, a transmedia design firm, and a co-founder of Fulcrum Worldbuilders, an organisation that designs large-scale storyworlds that are meant to shift culture and catalyze large-scale social impact. He has written three books about transmedia design including the brilliant, You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Story, a title on the Future of Film Incubator 2022 Reading List. He is a professor of Transmedia Storytelling and Worldbuilding at the Arts Center College of Design and the host of the Super Story Podcast. In this conversation we discuss how creators can, in Houston’s words, attack the market in 2022. What is the significance of this market becoming commoditised - and what are the specific creative and commercial strategies that storytellers can adopt to na

This episode is about involving the audience in the creative process and how a Danish startup is realising this using a unique combination of AI and anthropology. Niels Alberg is CEO and co-founder of PUBLIKUM.io (the Danish word that translates literally as Audience). For the past 20 years, Niels has worked in applied research, strategy and creative business development. Niels, who holds a Master's Degree in Sociology from the University of Copenhagen, specializes in designing innovative research methods for a large number of clients in projects that combine human insight and business strategy with the goal of developing new, creative connections between companies, organisations and people. Now, Publikum.io have taken this innovative process into filmmaking to develop a new method designed to empower the creative team. In this conversation he discusses how this works and is being adopted by filmmakers and funders across Europe. This episode was recorded as part of Future of Film Incubator 2022.

Nguyen-Anh Nguyen is a filmmaker based out of Montreal Having began his career as a dentist, he then focused on filmmaking, specifically science fiction, with the viral hit THE AKIRA PROJECT (2014) followed by acclaimed short films TEMPLE (2016) & HYPERLIGHT (2018), all of which garnered over 12M views online and received widespread international acclaim. Anh has now applying his craft in the realm of real time animation, to realise his expansive filmmaking ambitions with the cyberpunk animated series, BABIRU, with writer Philip Gelatt (EUROPA REPORT, LOVE, DEATH & ROBOTS), for which Epic Games financed the pilot episode. in Anh’s words he is a “filmmaker bringing what I can from the real world to the Unreal world“ and this episode is full of insights into this process as Anh explains how and why he is making this transition and the opportunities - and challenges - realtime filmmaking presents. This episode is presented in partnership with Epic Games and Unreal Engine. For more information visit www.fu

This episode is a deep-dive into the pivotal role of audience research in film with Kevin Goetz. Nicknamed “the doctor of audience-ology,” Kevin has been at the centre of what Hollywood calls the movie research industry for more than thirty years. His firm, Screen Engine/ASI, conducts research for a majority of all movies that are widely released in America and around the world. With decades of experience, Goetz has worked alongside all of the major film studio chiefs, network and streaming platform executives, and production company decision-makers. The Los Angeles Times Magazine counted him as one of the 100 most powerful and influential people in Southern California. As well as sharing fascinating insights into the testing process, Kevin makes the compelling case that every movie should be profitable if researched and budgeted correctly! His new book, 'Audience-ology: How Moviegoers Shape the Films We Love' is available now. This episode is in partnership with the Movie Marketing and Distribution Podcast

Kevin Baillie's career at the forefront of visual effects and screen storytelling began in 1999 and is now part of industry folklore. As an 18-year old high school senior, he and his friend created a short film involving a futuristic speeder race through his school, primarily to attract the attention of Star Wars producer Rick McCallum. The short was hugely successful and the tactic worked with Kevin soon finding himself working alongside George Lucas in the visualisation department on STAR WARS: Episode One. Since then, Kevin has continued to blaze a trail in innovating the storytelling process. He formed a long-term creative collaboration with Robert Zemeckis, supervising the visual effects on films such as FLIGHT, THE WALK and THE WITCHES. Recently, this has started to incorporate increasing amounts of real-time and virtual production techniques into the workflows of his projects. In this episode Kevin reflects on the evolution of these creative tools, the benefits they offer to the storytelling proces

This episode is a deep dive into the revolutionary world of NFTs, Web 3 and the blockchain, with new media and technology entertainment industry executive, Rouslan Ovtcharoff. As the former head of marketing at Millennium Media (famous for blockbusters like The Expendables and Olympus Has Fallen), Rouslan is highly experienced in film and traditional media. More recently, however, he has dived deeply into the world of NFTs and the blockchain, founding Blockchain Global Entertainment Alliance and Groovesetter, a peer-to-peer platform for real-time online music collaboration. In this conversation, Rouslan shares his knowledge and passion for the subject including: What is an NFT ? How can we buy one - and make one? What is Web 3? Why are NFTs and Web 3 so important to the metaverse? What are some of the ways NFTs can be used in film? Why does every filmmaker and media company now needs to have an NFT strategy in 2022?

Kaya Jabar is a multidisciplinary visualisation supervisor with unique experience leading previs, postvis, techvis and virtual production for tentpole film and TV projects including Game of Thrones, Star Wars the Rise of Skywalker and Dumbo. Kaya is on a mission to develop real-time adoption and virtual production workflows with the aim of making visualisation more efficient and interactive. In other words she as at the forefront of the virtual production revolution and in this discussion we explore how realtime engines are transforming the filmmaking process, the role and potential of visualisation in achieving 'creative consensus' and why Kaya believes we are just at the start of a newly democratised future of film.