This week’s guest is Farhana Bhula, the Head of Creative at Film4, where she has overseen production on a mix of projects from debut to established filmmakers.
Those projects include How to Have Sex by Molly Manning Walker, Layla by Amrou Al-Kadhi and All Of Us Strangers by Andrew Haigh starring Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott.
She joined Film4 in 2022 from the BFI where she was a Senior Development and Production Executive and worked on Scrapper by Charlotte Regan, Pretty Red Dress by Dionne Edwards, Reggie Yates’ Pirates, Aml Ameen’s Boxing Day, debbie tucker green’s ear for eye, Ben Sharrock’s Limbo and Aleem Khan’s After Love.
Prior to the BFI, she was head of development at Wildgaze Films (Brooklyn, An Education) and a development executive at Endor Productions. She has also produced shorts and a micro-budget feature.
We talk about how she discovered development was a thing and why she felt suited to it, her roles at Wildgaze Films and the BFI Film Fund, the differences between working for a public funding body and a public service broadcaster, what she thinks makes a good debut feature and how she creates a good working relationship with filmmakers, the impetus behind the recent Future Takes scheme and the book she thinks is a must-read if you work in development…
SHOW NOTES
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#79: Parisa Taghizadeh, Stills Photographer
#78: Lauren McCallum, Head of European Production at Scanline VFX
#77: Grace Bridger & Runyararo Mapfumo, Producer & Writer/Director
#76: Eva Riley, Filmmaker
Episode 75: Emily Morgan, Producer
Episode 74: Louisa Maycock, Founder & CEO of Girls on Tops
Episode 73: Anna Bogutskaya, Programmer, Broadcaster, Writer & Creative Producer
Episode 72: Gemma Cole, Agency Director & Artist
Episode 71: Georgina Higgins, Script Supervisor
Episode 70: Joanne Michael, Director of Marketing at Cornerstone
Episode 69: Jayisha Patel, VR Filmmaker
Episode 68: Gabrielle Stewart, Managing Director of HanWay Films
Episode 67: Malinda Kaur, 2nd Assistant Director
Episode 66: Dionne Farrell, Development Executive
Episode 65: Sophie O'Neill, Costume Designer
Episode 64: Anu Henriques, Associate Director of Rocks and Founder of Skin Deep
Episode 063: Brett Story, Non-Fiction Filmmaker
Episode 062: Georgia Oakley, Filmmaker (Live at Watersprite Film Festival)
Episode 061: Louise Ford, Editor
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