Each episode, hosts Sara McFarlane and Charlotte Howley are joined by guests who are established film professionals – producers, business executives, lawyers and creatives – who speak to their experiences in the business. From first features to first look deals, Sara and Charlotte probe their guests on anything and everything business related. The conversation covers the guests’ journey in the industry so far, what they have learned along the way, and offers unmatched insights into the constantly evolving entertainment business landscape.
Guests in the first series include:
Monica Zanetti, Writer/Director (Ellie & Abbie and Abbie’s Dead Aunt, Skin Deep)
Alexis Galfas, Head of Tracking, Cinetic Media (Summer of Soul, Amy, Time, Collective)
Virginia Whitwell and Nick Batzias, Partners at Good Thing Productions (Nitram)
Andrew Mackie, Managing Partner of Transmission Films (EP and distributor of films including Lion, The Kings Speech, Power of the Dog, The Report, Six Minutes to Midnight, Operation Mincemeat)
Emile Sherman, Managing Partner of See-Saw Films (Lion, The Kings Speech, Ammonite, Power of the Dog)
Sharon Menzies, Managing Director of Fulcrum Media Finance
Matt Vitins, COO of Matchbox Pictures (Clickbait, Glitch, La Brea)
Stephen Fitzgibbon Film and High-End Commercials Producer (Say No To Racism campaign directed by and starring Taika Waititi, Warm Blood, Heart and Bones)
Polly Staniford and Angie Fielder, Managing Producers of Aquarius Films (Berlin Syndrome, Lion, The Other Guy, The Unusual Suspects)
Marcie Cleary and Sasha Levites, Partners at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein and Klutz – high profile attorneys representing high profile talent and deals out of New York.
Producer and Co-host Sara McFarlane is founder of E/S Collab, a boutique executive producing and business affairs company based in New York, that works across film, television, podcast, new media productions and more, handling all the business elements of the creative process, and bridging the gap between creative and legal. Sara started her career at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and See-Saw Films before moving to Fulcrum Media Finance where she worked on high-level financing transactions for film and television productions, including Academy Award nominated, Lion. After moving to New York in 2018, Sara worked with CinePointe Advisors, representing producers on more than fifteen independent films, including, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, The Half of It, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, On The Rocks, and Palmer, among others. Since founding E/S Collab, Sara’s credits include Peter Hedges’ The Same Storm, Justin Geldzahler’s debut feature film, Glue Trap, Florian Zeller’s The Son, along with several other films currently in development.
Producer and Co-host Charlotte Howley is a film and theatre producer with experience across major film, high-end television, touring theatre, and large-scale event productions. Charlotte is currently based in London as an Associate Producer for GWB Entertainment developing and delivering a slate of original theatre productions. Previously, Charlotte served as Production Executive at See-Saw Films, working across the BAFTA Winning and 6-time Academy Award nominated film Lion starring Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman, Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake: China Girl for AMC/BBC2, and the Netflix/ABC commissioned The New Legends of Monkey. In 2019, Charlotte produced Ben Allen’s short film The Foreigner, which premiered at BFI Flare and won the Grand Jury Prize at LA’s Dances With Films. Her second short film Kitchen Tales written by acclaimed playwright Anupama Chandrasekhar and directed by Jane Moriarty, starring Nikesh Patel and Sheena Bhattessa and with music by Academy Award winner Stephen Warbeck, premiered at Newport Beach Film Festival in 2021.
Charlotte Howley: “Sara and I are fascinated by the people we work and interact with behind the scenes of the film business and their unique perspectives on how the film industry actually works. So what better way to use our pandemic downtime than jump on Zoom with these illustrious professionals and ask about their journey in the industry, what they wish they’d known going in, and what the future holds.”
Sara McFarlane: “Information about the business of filmmaking – underlying rights deals, insurances, marketing and financing strategies – is harder to come by than information about the creative process, but it’s just as important and just as interesting. Charlotte and I love film, and we’re constantly talking to each other about what’s going on in the industry so we decided to invite our friends and colleagues for an open conversation about those aspects of the business that are, more often than not, kept behind closed doors. Our hope is that anyone navigating the labyrinth of this industry might find it useful.”
Movies Inc: The Business of Film is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, AmazonMusic, GooglePodcasts and Pocket Cast
