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).

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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 meet with BAFTA award winning editor Joby Gee, who has been editing factual film and TV for over 30 years, on a wide variety of subjects. We speak with him to learn more about the process and challenges of editing feature length documentary films.

Hosted by Karoline Pelikan (@PelikanPictures) and Paul Hulligan (@paulhully).

In this episode we continue our conversation with professional filmmaker Thomas Meadmore, discussing his experience of successfully raising £40k through popular Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to fund one of his latest feature documentary films titled The Cancer Conflict.

Hosted by Karoline Pelikan (@PelikanPictures) and Paul Hulligan (@paulhully).

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Episode guide:

01:10 - Synopsis of ‘The Cancer Conflict’ and it’s background

04:27 - Starting the project without funding (self financing)

05:52 - Deciding to crowdfund and approach

13:03 - Building your own niche audience, tactics

18:23 - Building the ‘machine’. Marketing tactics to gain followers and collect email addresses

35:26 - Launching the campaign, techniques

40:18 - Creating the Kickstarter ‘campaign page’

45:48 - Thoughts on its performance and response

49:27 - Managing ‘the dip’ (when people stop contributing)

52:28 - Reflections (was it worth it?) and top tips.

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).

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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 speak with professional filmmaker Thomas Meadmore about his experience being a character in his first feature length documentary film titled How to lose jobs and alienate girlfriends which was rated 4 out of 5 stars by Total Film. 

In this film Tom choses to follow his girlfriend and boss as they chase their dreams to become professional musicians. He finds that his own insecurities flare while struggling to find a story, and begins challenging their flaws, on camera, jeopardising the film, his relationships and career.

Hosted by Karoline Pelikan (@PelikanPictures) and Paul Hulligan (@paulhully).

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Episode guide:

00:52 - Introductions

03:00 - Synopsis of the film and process

09:29 - Where it went wrong

11:05 - Intentions for the film

12:23 - What he would do differently

16:06 - The turning point; realising he should be the central figure in the film

20:21 - The general reaction to him being the central character of his own film

22:35 - What it’s like editing yourself

29:40 - Advice for anyone who might make themselves part of the story

34:41 - How close friends, family and professional critics reacted to the film

40:43 - Doing the right thing by your contributors

In this episode we’re back at two time Oscar nominated documentary film production company Spring Films.

We meet again with their Head of Global Development Figs Jackman, this time to discuss the distribution process for documentary films.

Hosted by Karoline Pelikan (@PelikanPictures) and Paul Hulligan (@paulhully).

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Episode guide:

01:44 - The difference between commission, acquisition and distribution

06:55 - What is distribution

10:24 - How the film is sold, working with distributors

14:48 - The importance of achieving the ‘deliverables’ for distribution

19:35 - Getting a meeting with a distributor

27:22 - The dream sale

27:40 - The value of festivals

31:14 - The importance of promoting your film via social media

34:17 - The importance of production stills and creating the marketing package

36:36 - Types of distributors

37:33 - Pairing up with production company to get it distributed

40:09 - Self distribution, platforms, advice

53:49 - Why Spring Films use distributors

58:19 - How much money can be made from traditional distribution

01:02:47 - Top 3 tips for getting your film distributed

We visit two time Oscar nominated documentary film production company Spring Films.

This is the first of two conversations we have with their Head of global development Figs Jackman about commissioning documentary films.

Hosted by Karoline Pelikan (@PelikanPictures) and Paul Hulligan (@paulhully).

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Episode guide:

00:32 - Introductions

01:14 - Getting to know Fig's: backstory, advice and current role at Spring Films

08:36 - Identifying your audience and who you are going to sell it to

14:34 - What makes a good story

17:22 - Selling foreign films

19:23 - The economic realities of funding a film

21:41 - The first step, creating a teaser and package

23:46 - The importance of being flexible, having a realistic budget and an impactful teaser

26:31 - Creating a teaser before you’ve filmed anything

30:42 - What Spring Films look for when being pitched to

33:39 - More about funding your film

38:16 - Pushing the package: sales agents, pitching and getting meetings, UK and US

44:55 - The importance of compromising on your idea for the film

46:23 - Promoting your film via festivals

48:30 - The importance of self publicity / ‘social media’

50:56 - Final advice and tips for getting your film commissioned

54:49 - The best way to approach Spring Films

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).

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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

In this episode we’re back with ‘the story consultant’ Nic Guttridge to learn more about the art of storytelling - deconstructing the successful Netflix original documentary feature film Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened.

Hosted by Karoline Pelikan (@PelikanPictures) and Paul Hulligan (@paulhully).

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Episode guide:

02:50 - The story of "Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened"

05:40 - What kind of documentary is Fyre?

10:33 - Opening with impact

14:21 - The story arch: heading to disaster

22:33 - A successful film has to grab the audience 

28:14 - The hero's journey – applicable to Fyre?

35:00 - A film about Billy McFarland - without Billy McFarland?

37:29 - Core message and theme

40:16 - How important is a film's title?

44:03 - The climax

49:36 - Breaking down the long second act

54:59 - Lessons we can learn from this film

We speak with BAFTA nominated executive producer and professional story consultant Nic Guttridge about how to craft the documentary story.

Hosted by Karoline Pelikan (@PelikanPictures) and Paul Hulligan (@paulhully).

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Episode guide:

00:36 - Introduction

01:26 - What a ‘story consultant’ is, and who hires one

03:25 - Favourite story that he’s worked on

06:07 - Shaping a story that’s unfolding naturally / in real time

08:12 - The importance of following your instincts

12:45 - Mapping the story

16:45 - How does a typical ‘story arc’ work

18:05 - What if there is no arc -  adding layers to the story

22:36 - Putting yourself in the film

24:20 - The importance of bringing others into the creative process

26:05 - What is a storyline, synopsis, treatment (the pitch) - examples

31:56 - How to avoid losing site of the story

32:28 - Practical advice for planning the story

33:43 - Scripting the film

35:05 - Plotting the arc

36:11 - How do you sell a foreign story

38:19 - Nic’s top crafting the story tips

45:50 - How you can find Nic ‘the story consultant’