Future of Film Podcast

Kiri Hart is an executive, writer and producer with nearly 3 decades experience in film and television. She is probably best known for her role as Senior Vice President of Development at Lucasfilm between 2012 and 2018. Here she formed the now legendary Lucasfilm Story Group and oversaw the creative development of all Star Wars content across film, animated television, publishing, gaming, immersive media, and theme parks. While at Lucasfilm, Kiri also co-produced the films THE LAST JEDI and ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY and produced all four seasons of the award-winning animated television series Star Wars Rebels. Kiri has more recently formed a producing partnership with Stephen Feder at T-Street, the independent media studio started by filmmaker Rian Johnson. Kiri is currently producing filmmaker Gareth Edwards’ upcoming untitled original film for New Regency and also serves as a Creative Consultant at Pixar Animation Studios and is an Executive Producer on Pixar’s next film SOUL. This episode is fundamentally about the practice of storytelling and Kiri reveals the collaborative process she has developed across her extensive career working with artists and filmmakers like Gareth Edwards. Kiri also shares what she believes are the qualities of a successful storyteller as well as her advice for new creators coming through. We also discuss diversity in film, how this is changing and, in particular, how we can do more to accelerate storytelling diversity further. In one of the most inspiring conversations I've had on this show, we also talk storytelling in the context of theme park attractions, the benefits of virtual production to the process and learn why Kiri is so optimistic about the future of film. More About Kiri Hart Kiri Hart has worked in film and television for 28 years as a story analyst, film executive, writer and producer. After starting her career in 1992 as an assistant in CAA’s Literary Department and later at the Ladd Company, she moved to HBO Films as a creative executive, developing a slate of original movies. She then spent ten years as a screenwriter and television staff writer, writing projects for Universal, HBO, Showtime, and NBC. After working as a development executive at the Kennedy/Marshall Company, Kiri became Senior Vice President of Development at Lucasfilm in 2012. She formed the Lucasfilm Story Group, and oversaw the creative development of all Star Wars content across film, animated television, publishing, gaming, immersive media, and theme parks. While at Lucasfilm, Kiri co-produced the films THE LAST JEDI and ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, and produced all four seasons of the award-winning animated television series Star Wars Rebels. Kiri departed her Lucasfilm post at the end of 2018, and formed a producing partnership with Stephen Feder, who worked with her at Lucasfilm. Kiri and Stephen are now producers for T-Street, an independent media studio started by filmmaker Rian Johnson (LOOPER, STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, KNIVES OUT) and his producer Ram Bergman. Kiri is currently producing filmmaker Gareth Edwards’ upcoming untitled original film for New Regency. She also serves as a Creative Consultant at Pixar Animation Studios, and is an Executive Producer on Pixar’s next film SOUL, directed by Pete Docter. Kiri is a member of AMPAS and the WGA. She is a California native, and a graduate of Stanford University.

Jess Engel is an award-winning, multidisciplinary producer focused on blending storytelling with art and technology. As founder at Crimes of Curiosity, her recent mixed-reality projects include BREATHE, PERSUASION MACHINES and the groundbreaking SPHERES (2018). Produced by Darren Aronofsky, SPHERES not only won the Gran Prix in VR at the Venice Film Festival in 2018 but also achieved the then highest sale price for a VR project to date, at its Sundance premiere. In this episode, I talk with Jess about the VR space (including how this is being impacted by Covid) and explore her strategies as a storyteller which include brand funded work, documentaries, interactive projects and feature films. This episode is going to be particularly relevant if you are a creator, producer or filmmaker as Jess shares so much valuable insight into how to structure your business in the new media landscape. Jess reveals the different approaches and models that are proving effective, as well as her advice for storytellers and thoughts on the future of film. More about Jess Engel Jess is an award-winning, multidisciplinary producer focused on blending storytelling with art and technology. As founder at Crimes of Curiosity, her recent mixed-reality projects include BREATHE (Sundance 2020), PERSUASION MACHINES (Sundance 2020), and the groundbreaking SPHERES (2018), which won the Gran Prix in VR at the Venice Film Festival in 2018. Her work has been shown around the world at major festivals and institutions, including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Cannes, Venice, Telluride, NYFF, MIT, and Art Basel. Jess is a 2018 Emmy Awards Finalist. She is a participating producer of the Sundance Institute's inaugural "Future of Culture" Initiative and is a member of the Guild of Future Architects. She has been a Sundance New Frontier fellow and advisor.

Shabnam Mogharabi (@shabster on Twitter) is a former award-winning journalist who co-founded SoulPancake in 2008 with the actor Rainn Wilson. SoulPancake is a digital entertainment company with the vision to “make stuff that matters” creating uplifting and socially impactful videos on a daily basis. With this singular and different approach to online entertainment, the company has amassed over 10m fans online and nearly 1B video views. Under Shabnam’s tenure, SoulPancake was also acquired by leading impact film organisation, Participant Media and worked across their releases such as ROMA and DARK WATER, to reach new audiences and create and measure their social impact. Shabnam is an incredibly articulate and engaging speaker and we cover a lot of really valuable material in this conversation Including: - strategies to create impact through filmmaking, - ways to reach new audiences - how brands and filmmakers are working together as well as and how to approach brands if you are a filmmaker - How to strategise your career as a storyteller More About Shabnam Mogharabi Shabnam Mogharabi has more than 15 years of experience in media and entertainment building startups and organizations with an emphasis on digital content, social platforms, production, and news media. She most recently served as CEO of SoulPancake, an inspiring entertainment company she co-founded with actor Rainn Wilson that creates daily positive, socially conscious videos about human connection. As CEO, she was responsible for steering the company’s vision, safeguarding its mission, and supercharging its growth past its current community of 10M fans online and nearly 1B video views. She also advised SoulPancake’s parent company, Participant Media, and its board on strategic issues, acquisition opportunities, and the company’s social impact goals. Prior to SoulPancake, Shabnam was an award-winning journalist and editor, having served as the youngest Editor-in-Chief at Hanley Wood Business Media, where she oversaw a group of 4 print publications, 8 websites and e-newsletters, and 3 annual live events in the real estate space. Under her leadership, the group weathered downsizing and consolidation during the financial and housing crisis of 2008, yet surpassed annual revenue growth and profitability targets by 20%. One of the youngest winners of the Jesse H. Neal Award (the Pulitzer Prize of B2B journalism), Shabnam has worked as a contributing writer, editor, and stringer for a number of publications, including People, Pool & Spa News, Sunset, and HuffPost. She is a New York Times bestselling author with SoulPancake: Chew on Life’s Big Questions. Shabnam is honored to be a member of the 2016 class of Henry Crown Fellows and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She is a frequent speaker on the importance of joy, how to connect with Millennials, and meaningful online engagement. She resides in Los Angeles, where she is active with a number of interfaith organizations and volunteers with the Crisis Text Line. Shabnam received her B.A. in journalism and business administration from the University of Southern California and her Master’s in media management from Northwestern University. You can find her on Twitter at @shabster. More info at www.futureoffilm.live

A relentless innovator in film, John Gaeta is best known for his defining work on The Matrix trilogy, including the invention of bullet time, for which he won the Academy Award for Visual Effects. More recently, John co-founded Industrial Light and Magic’s Virtual Reality division ILMX lab and has held the role of SVP Creative Strategy at Magic Leap. Drawing on all of his deep knowledge and understanding about new storytelling technologies, this conversation takes us from the Matrix to the future of filmmaking via XR and Artificial Intelligence. In what is one of the most fascinating conversations I’ve had on the show, John explains his vision for where media is heading, why he believes that there will also be a space for linear storytelling (or 'sculptural form' as John calls it) in this world and why the future of our civilisation rests on a knife edge between creativity and control. See more at www.futureoffilm.live

Visionary storyteller Sam Barlow's work blends traditional filmmaking techniques with gaming mechanics to create new forms of interactive films. He is known largely for the pioneering works HER STORY and more recently the Annapurna-produced TELLING LIES which is a hugely ambitious interactive thriller told from multiple points of view. In this conversation we explore Sam’s creative process and his vision for the future of interactive filmmaking. In particular, how his work differs from the "Choose your Own Adventure" style adopted by Black Mirror's Bandersnatch . We also touch on Sam’s career and get into the business model and distribution strategy for this kind of work - which although it looks like films has a very different release and revenue cycle. Although we talk primarily about interactive filmmaking, Sam is first and foremost a storyteller and we cover a lot of the fundamentals of this. He is also a a deep thinker about his craft and the episode is densely packed with ideas, concepts and strategies for creators. We will be focusing further on interactive filmmaking at this year's Future of Film Summit: www.futureoffilm.live

Matt Workman is at the forefront of the realtime filmmaking revolution - pioneering the uptake of the technology for independent filmmakers. Following a successful career as a DP of high profile music promos and commercials, Matt developed the hugely successful Cine Tracer app/game, built for filmmakers to learn, experiment and design in realtime. Now, Matt is driving forward virtual production, combining traditional cinematography techniques with realtime graphics using Unreal Engine - and in the process making these tools and workflows accessible to directors and cinematographers worldwide. In this interview Matt takes us through his creative journey to this nexus of technology and cinematographer and why he is so passionate about democratising virtual production technology. Matt is recognised as a leader in the virtual production community, including by Epic Games CTO Kim Libreri who recently said on this show “Matt Workman is incredible”. To find out more about Matt and his prolific and inspirational output follow him on Twitter @cinedatabase. More at www.futureoffilm.live

In this episode we get the inside track on the creative and technological revolution that is Virtual Production, with the CTO of Epic Games, Kim Libreri. Kim has a long and auspicious career in the film industry, digital technology and visual effects that spans over 20 years. He has credits on more than 25 films including ‘The Matrix' trilogy and is a two-time Academy Award winner to boot! Prior to joining Epic, Kim headed up Lucasfilm’s strategy where he was responsible for the company’s Star Wars technology. Now he is driving the adoption of Unreal Engine across the Entertainment industry with the techniques and systems known as Virtual Production and in-camera visual effects - showcased so brilliantly in Disney and Lucasfilm’s 'The Mandalorian'. Kim shares his thoughts on how virtual production and Unreal Engine will redefine the creative process and how the tools can be used for projects across a wide range of budget levels. More at www.futureoffilm.live

"Franchises are a way for the creator and creative to have long term sustainability in a crowded marketplace" Diana Williams In this episode we are delighted to welcome storyteller extraordinaire Diana Williams to the show. Diana is Executive Vice President of Creative at Maddison Wells Media's 'Universe' division. Twice named on Fast Company's Top Ten Most Innovative Companies list, MWM have built their reputation in working across multiple formats including interactive, live events, television and, yes, even film! MWM Universe is devoted to developing IP and in her role, Diana is responsible for building creative content strategy, world-building, content production, and data analytics across multiple formats. In this episode we learn about Diana’s unique approach to storytelling, creative collaboration and developing IP with the potential to work on different platforms. This leads us to what Diana refers to as the ‘F word’ - franchises and she explains how this way of thinking can unlock new opportunities for independent storytellers in an increasingly competitive market. This episode was recorded as part of the free video series, Rebels of Storytelling (available at www.futureoffilm.live) and would not have been possible without the incredible support of Epic Games and Unreal Engine who are pioneering the transformation of storytelling on screen. We are also proud to partner with Creative England’s outstanding Creative Enterprise Programme. You can find out more about the Creative Enterprise Programme and the two new grant funds they have available for screen-based creative businesses at www.creativeengland.co.uk

What is the future of film marketing? This episode provides answers with an expert panel of guest speakers from film, tech and entertainment. Some of the topics we cover in the conversation include: - digital marketing strategies - developing a direct to consumer strategy - how to test your digital marketing's effectiveness and measure attribution - what we film learn from other industries such as games and retail - launching film as a digital product - the impact of Covid on film marketing This episode originates from the usheru Future of Film Marketing Series and includes the following speakers: Catherine Downes: CMO and COO of usheru Ciaran O'Herlihy, a Digital Strategist and Google Product Partnerships manager Wendy Bernfeld, Founder and Managing Director RIghts Stuff Lucy Johnston, Founder of Bread and Butter Marketing Derren Sequeira, Client Partner Entertainment Facebook Ben Johnson: Founder and CEO of Gruvi See www.futureoffilm.live for more information.

Naysun Alae-Carew is Founder and Managing Director of Blazing Griffin, the pioneering Glasgow-based entertainment company which uses a format-agnostic approach to tell stories across film, games and TV. Speaking at the 2020 Glasgow Film Festival (just before the whole world changed), Naysun shares his insights on telling stories as both films and games - and the commercial and creative process that Blazing Griffin use to do this. He also shares the powerful personal story behind the making of the zombie-musical-comedy, Anna and the Apocalypse and provides unique insight on building an entertainment company ground up for today’s multi-platform digital age. With many thanks to Glasgow Film Festival for making this episode possible. Discover more about this and other podcasts at www.futureoffilm.live