The final ever episode! This week, my first ever guest, Georgia Goggin is back! As a producer, Georgia has been collaborating with writer/director Dionne Edwards for over a decade under their banner Teng Teng Films. Georgia was nominated for the Breakthrough Producer BIFA for her work on their critically acclaimed debut PRETTY RED DRESS. Their prev…

This is week my guest is Desiree Akhavan! Desiree’s first feature film was 2014’s APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR, in which she also starred. It came off the back of a web series she made in 2010 called The Slope, with fellow NYU postgrad film student Ingrid Jungermann. After Appropriate Behaviour, Desiree had a guest spot on the TV show Girls, and also bega…

This week’s guest is Moss Barclay, an Executive Producer for TV at See-Saw Films, whose shows include SLOW HORSES and THE ESSEX SERPENT on Apple TV+, HEARTSTOPPER on Netflix and THE NORTH WATER on BBC iPlayer. Moss started her career working for filmmaker Paul Greengrass before co-founding new-writing theatre festival, HighTide. She was also an int…

This week’s guest is Leo Anna Thomas, (they/them) who has twenty years’ experience in the Art Department and six as Standby Art Director on projects such as SMALL AXE, TRIGONOMETRY, HIS DARK MATERIALS and BLACK MIRROR. They are also the first wellbeing facilitator for the Film and TV industry. Having experienced bullying firsthand they stepped away…

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 202…

This week’s guest is Vicki Brown, the Senior Executive of Sales & Distribution at the BFI. Before the BFI she was at Together Films where she was Head of Acquisitions, Sales and Distribution, a company that is one of the leaders in social impact entertainment. She was responsible for setting up the international sales department and oversaw the acq…

This week’s guest is Tricia Tuttle, the Head of Directing Fiction at NFTS and former Director of BFI Festivals, where she led on both LFF and Flare. She announced her departure from the role in October 2022, after 10 years at the BFI as Festivals Director and Deputy Head of Festivals. Prior to that, she held the post of film and skills programme ma…

This week’s guest is Uzma Hasan, a producer known for bringing subversive stories to global audiences. Her first feature as producer was THE INFIDEL, starring Omid Djalili, David Baddiel and Archie Panjabi. Her latest feature film CREATURE - directed by Academy-Award winner Asif Kapadia - is a ground-breaking, genre-busting collaboration with Lawre…

This week’s guest is Laura Zempel, an award-winning editor for film & TV based in Los Angeles. I invited to Laura to the podcast after binge-watching the series Beef on Netflix earlier this year and being really impressed with everything about that show, but particularly the editing and how it balances the modulating tone and storylines so deftly. …

This week’s guest is Clare Baines, the BFI’s first Disability Equality Lead. Clare is a blind creative. Unable to recognise her own experience reflected in culture, she uses storytelling to create community and belonging for disabled people. Through comedy and joy, she challenges society's perception of disability, queerness, and all the joyful int…

This week my guest is Cassandra Johnson-Bekoe, a woman who wears many hats - among which are writer, producer, script editor and the current Head of Scripted Development at DARE Pictures. After working as a bouncer to fund her Screenwriting certificate from the Met Film School, Cassandra's way into the industry was through the Mama Youth Project in…

This week I'm pleased to welcome to Best Girl Grip talent agent Emma Obank. Emma joined Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, an industry-leading literary agency representing many of the world’s best-known creatives, in 2014 as an Agent’s Assistant. At the age of 26, Emma started building her own list of screenwriters, directors and literary properties; t…

This week my guest is award-winning, freelance foley editor and mixer Sophia Hardman. Sophia studied Sound Technology at The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts and started out her career at Twickenham Studios as an intern 9 years ago. Since then Sophia has worked on a wide range of projects, from high-end TV dramas to Oscar-nominated feature f…

This week's guest is producer Helen Gladders. I became aware of Helen’s work through the 2016 short film RHONNA & DONNA, directed by Daina O. Pusic, and then I kept seeing her name popping up everywhere and knew she was a producer to watch. More things you might want to know about Helen: She is a graduate of the National Film and Television School …

This week my guest is the wonderful Eve Gabereau. Eve is someone whose work and ingenuity I became aware of quite early on in my own career and she is someone I have wanted on the podcast for a good while. Eve is the Founder and Managing Director of Modern Films, a London-based, female-led, social issues-driven production, distribution and event ci…

This week my guest is producer Jeanie Igoe. Jeanie’s big break came when she landed a role at A24, where her credits as a production executive include Barry Jenkins’ MOONLIGHT, Trey Edwards Shults’, IT COMES AT NIGHT, Bo Burnham’s EIGHTH GRADE and Robert Eggers’ THE LIGHTHOUSE. She also served as a producer on their TV series RAMY, and a co-produce…

This week I’m thrilled to be chatting with film critic, broadcaster, podcaster and now author Hanna Flint, about her path into the film and media industry, as well as how her new book STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER was born. Having started out in various journalism and media roles for the likes of MailOnline, Metro and OK! Magazine, Hanna has since become…

My guest this week is the incredibly talented and prolific sound designer and mixer Ines Adriana. Ines studied for an MA in sound design at NFTS and has been credited on over 40 projects since 2020, including some incredible short films like Ruth Greenberg’s RUN, Molly Manning Walker’s, GOOD THANKS, YOU?, Theo James Krekis’ PRAM SNATCHER, Nia Child…

This week, my guest is music supervisor Lucy Bright. Lucy started out at Mute Records working with artists such as Nick Cave and Depeche Mode, before moving to Warner Classics for six years and then leaving to manage composer Michael Nyman. She joined the film and TV department of publisher Music Sales (now Wise Music) in 2008 and worked there for …

Olive Nwosu is a Nigerian filmmaker, a BAFTA Pigott 2020 Scholar, an Alex Sichel Fellow at Columbia University School of the Arts, and one of four ‘African Promises’ directors selected by the Institut Français. She has directed two award-winning short films: TROUBLEMAKER and EGÚNGÚN (MASQUERADE), both set in Nigeria and which have screened in numer…

My guest this week is Carmen Thompson a film programmer, curator and creative producer based in Scotland, who predominantly works with Black film and cinema from the African continent and the diaspora, especially at their intersections with non-fiction storytelling. She currently works as cultural curator and programmer for award-winning exhibitors…

I spoke to Adelaide Waldrop a certified Intimacy Director with Intimacy for Stage and Screen (ISS), where she trained with Lizzy Talbot and Yarit Dor (she began training in this work in 2017 with various practitioners in the UK and US). She also serves as the Secretary of the Intimacy Coordinators’s Branch of BECTU and teaches Intimacy for Performa…

My guest this week is Reetu Kabra, a London-based publicist with over 15 years’ experience working in house for renowned media and entertainment companies including the BBC and BBC Studios, UKTV, Discovery Networks and Penguin Random House. During her time at BBC Worldwide she handled global publicity for the internationally acclaimed Doctor Who an…

My guest this week is Aoife McArdle, a filmmaker from Northern Ireland who you may know from her recent stint as a co-director and producer on Apple TV's Emmy-nominated series Severance. Severance depicts a world in which people can choose to surgically divide their work and personal lives, so neither selves have any idea who they are outside of th…

I’ve got a Friday treat for you in the form of this bonus minisode with documentary filmmaker and producer Sara Dosa, whose latest project FIRE OF LOVE is in UK cinemas today. Find showtimes near you! This explosive and intimate and eccentric documentary tells the story of Katia and Maurice Krafft, French volcanologists who were also a married coup…

My guest this week is Make-up and Hair Designer Claire Anne Williams. Claire left a career as a legal secretary to train at the Delamar Academy before being accepted onto a ScreenSkills traineeship where she worked on big-budget productions such as Solo: A Star Wars Story and Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil. After working on shorts, commercials and mu…

I am thrilled to say that my guest this week is Jessica Kiang. Jessica is an International Critic for Variety, covering all the major European and Asian festivals. She also writes for Sight & Sound, BBC Culture, The New York Times and The Playlist, where she also spent five years as Features Editor. She also regularly features on the Film Comment p…

This week my guest is Sheena Patel, an assistant director for Film and TV. Her credits as a 1st AD include Casualty and Dominic Savage’s upcoming series I Am Ruth. She has also 3rd Assistant Directed on feature films such as Boxing Day and Pirates, as well as series like I Hate Suzie and Apple Tree House, and she is represented by Sara Putt Associa…

To kick off season six, I’m sharing a live edition that I recorded recently at Sundance London - an offshoot of the Sundance Film Festival that takes place every January in Utah - with the legend that is Tabitha Jackson, the outgoing Director of the Sundance Film Festival. Tabitha was announced as the new Festival Director in January 2020, meaning …

I lied and said that last week was the last episode for a while and then I got a very exciting email about interviewing this week’s guest and here we are. That is guest is New York based cinematographer Ashley Connor, someone whose work I have been a big fan of for quite some time. She has lensed some of my favourite independent films, including Tr…

I am very excited to introduce this week’s guest, as she is both a friend of the podcast and a someone I consider to be a friend full stop. And that person is Katie Sinclair. Katie is an independent producer and development executive, currently working at Blueprint Pictures, whose credits include Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, In Bruges,…

My guest this week is Renee Zhan, a Chinese-American director and animator from Houston, Texas now based in London. She graduated from Harvard University in 2016 with a BA in visual and environmental studies and the National Film and Television School in 2020 with a degree in Directing Animation. Her short films, which include 2016’s Hold Me (Ca Ca…

This week my guest is Chi Thai, an independent filmmaker & producer who works across features, documentary, animation & immersive. She has produced over 13 short films, been a Cannes Lion finalist three times, had her work screened at BAFTA & Academy accredited festivals, and exec produced the documentary short Little Miss Sumo, written & directed …

This week’s interview is with Lizzie Gillet, the Director of the Feature Documentary Department at Passion Pictures, whose credits include the Oscar-winning SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN, Bart Layton’s THE IMPOSTER, James Marsh’ PROJECT NIM and more recently THE RESCUE. Lizzie recently produced THE TERRITORY, a feature documentary co-produced with an Ind…

My guest is Aisha Bywaters, a BIFA-nominated casting director whose credits include independent films such as Body of Water, County Lines, The Last Tree, Dirty God and Mari, as well as the TV series Enterprice and We Are Lady Parts. Most recently, Aisha cast the upcoming TV series adaptation of Dolly Alderton’s memoir Everything I Know About Love, …

My guest this week is Ruth Greenberg, an award-winning screenwriter and director whose directorial debut RUN, a short film starring Niamh Algar from CENSOR, is currently showing on Short of the Week. The film was backed by Film4 and BFI NETWORK and was long listed for a BIFA in 2021. As a screenwriter, Ruth’s prehistoric horror, THE ORIGIN, is in p…

My guest this week is Elhum Shakerifar, a BAFTA nominated producer and winner of the 2017 Women in Film & TV's BBC Factual Award and one of Screen International’s 2018 #Brit50 Producers on the Rise. Elhum’s multi-award-winning credits include The Reluctant Revolutionary (Sean McAllister, 2012), The Runner (Saeed Farouky, 2013), multi-award-winning …

This week's guests are Henrietta and Jessica Ashworth! Hen and Jess are screenwriters, directors and twin sisters. Having penned their first script at 15, they went onto write OLIVIA AND JIM which came third on the Brit List in 2011. In 2012, at the age of 24 they were featured on ScreenDaily’s prestigious Stars of Tomorrow list and began writing o…

My guest this week is Sandra Hebron, the Head of Screen Arts at the National Film and Television School where she leads the course for the MA in Film Studies, Programming and Curation. Previously Sandra was Head of Festivals and the Artistic Director of the BFI London Film Festival and Director of Cinemas at Manchester’s Cornerhouse. She is also a …

My guest this week is Rose Garnett, the Director of BBC Film. Since joining the BBC in 2017, Rose has commissioned and Executive Produced a wide range of titles including… Joanna Hogg’s THE SOUVENIR and THE SOUVENIR: PART II Eliza Hittman’s NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS Sean Durkin’s THE NEST Steve McQueen’s SMALL AXE Jane Campion’s THE POWER OF TH…

It’s been a weird week, with Omicron taking hold and trying to feel festive but also feeling quite apprehensive. So I hope you’re surviving, which has definitely been the overarching theme for 2021. And as always I hope this podcast brings a little bit of light into your week. It’s an appropriate segue to introduce my guest - filmmaker Sophie Littm…

My guest this week is Akua Gyamfi who has over 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry, with a career spanning fashion, film, television, theatre, print and online media. Starting out behind the scenes, Akua carved out a reputable career as a hair stylist on London’s Portobello Road. Her hairdressing reputation lead to her first foray …

My guest this week is a wonderful woman and friend: Nia Childs. Nia is a freelance creative producer and curator working in both the fiction and documentary space. She’s produced, curated and programmed projects for Doc Society, BAFTA, Sheffield Doc/Fest, the London Short Film Festival and The Roundhouse. More recently, she has begun to write and d…

Siobhán Harper-Ryan is a Hair & Make-Up Designer who started out as an apprentice in fashion design & millinery in London’s Camden Lock, before exploring the world of theatre in the 90s where she found a place within London’s Off West-End and the Fringe. In 1999 Siobhán changed course and trained in make-up artistry and has since enjoyed a varied &…

This week’s interview was a real treat to record. Sam Joly, my guest, radiates joy and positivity, but what I got from this chat is the sense that that’s a choice and one that sometimes takes work and so I hope you come away from it with a smile, but also a sense of how you can celebrate your personal achievements and maybe make that choice too. Sa…

I’m here today with a bonus minisode with two-time Academy-Award nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus to celebrate the release of her latest documentary Becoming Cousteau. If you listened to last Tuesday’s interview with Anna Godas, CEO of Dogwoof, you’ll have heard me mention the film. Well it’s out in UK cinemas today and all puns intended, I think you…

My guest this week is Anna Godas, the CEO of documentary distribution company Dogwoof, who have released films such as The Alpinist, The Act of Killing, Blackfish, Cameraperson, Citizenfour, Free Solo, Honeyland, Minding the Gap, OJ:Made in America, RBG and many many more. Quite simply, if Dogwoof are putting a doc into cinemas, you’re probably in …

Hello! Welcome to Season Five of Best Girl Grip. This week my guest is Jemma Desai. I first encountered Jemma at an event hosted by The Quarter Club, which was co-founded by former podcast guest Jo Duncombe, where Jemma was reading a letter she had written to her daughter Leena which evolved into a TinyLetter for a while. And then I kept encounteri…

This week I am back with the third instalment of my bonus trilogy and my guest is the incredibly talented, incredibly charming Cathy Brady! Cathy is a two-time IFTA-winning director, having won Best Short in 2011 for her first film Small Change and again in 2013 for Morning. In 2011, Cathy directed the BIFA nominated short Rough Skin, starring Vick…

Today I’m sharing another in-between season bonus episode that I recorded live as part of the BFI’s Woman With a Movie Camera Summit in July. My guest was Molly Manning Walker, a cinematographer, writer and director. Molly trained as a cinematographer and graduated from NFTS in 2019, after which her graduation film November 1st was long-listed for …