The Directors’ Take Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

This is episode 21 in our second season of The Directors Take Podcast.

In this week’s episode your hosts Marcus Anthony Thomas and Oz Arshad are joined by Paul Davies, the legendary Sound Designer who is best known for being one of Director Lynne Ramsay’s closest collaborators, with their relationship spanning all the way back to her first feature film, Ratcatcher. He is exceptional in his own right however and his unique style has landed him work with directors such as Stephen Frears, Yann Demange, Rose Glass, Steve McQueen and Guillermo Del Toro amongst countless others. 

Sound is as important if not more so than the image itself, so we are super excited to bring you a conversation with one of the absolute best in the business. This conversation covers:

-What is Sound Design?

-What was his journey into the industry like? 

-The importance of mentors? 

-How did he come to meet Lynne Ramsay and build that relationship? 

-Why do people keep coming back to him? 

-How to sync up the process between sound and the edit? 

-How does he approach character and perspective with sound? 

-What are the mistakes that directors make when working with sound designers? 

Our wonderful sponsor for this episode is THE NATIONAL FILM and TELEVISION SCHOOL.

We’ve also partnered with SCRIPTATION to offer our listeners an EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNT on their software, which you can find on the link below… 

http://scriptation.com/thedirectorstake 

Paul’s Bio

With a background in music recording and composition, Paul Davies graduated from the sound department at the National Film and Television School (UK) in 1993. After graduation Paul worked as a freelance sound record recordist, sound editor and re-recording mixer on a variety of feature, broadcast, and corporate projects. In 1995 Paul joined the sound post production company VideoSonics as a sound editor, rising to become head of the sound editorial department. Whilst with VideoSonics Paul continued to hone his craft on a large range of feature film and television dramas. In 2000 Paul left VideoSonics to become a freelance supervising sound editor and Sound Designer and continues to work in these roles to this day. Notable directors he has with with include Stephen Frears, John Hillcoat, Lynne Ramsay, Guillermo Del Toro, Steve McQueen, Hideo Nakata, Rose Glass, Bart Layton, Anton Corijn, Saul Dibb, Julian Jarrold, Nick Broomfield and Julien Temple amongst many others, on films such as The Queen, Kinky Boots, You Were Never Really HEre, American Animals, Hunger, Mrs HEnderson Presents, The American, The Proposition, We need to Talk about Kevin, Saint Maud and Mogul Mowgli. 

In addition to his work in sound production, Paul is a regular visiting tutor at the National Film and Television School in the UK The Baltic Film School in Estonia and the IFS in Cologne. Paul has also held Sound Design workshops at the School of sound, BAFTA, CPH Dox Festival-Denmark and The Sound of Story in Brighton UK. Paul is a voting member of BAFTA and AMPAS and a past chair of AMPS the UK’s film and television sound craft guild. Paul has received nominations from BAFTA and The Royal Television Society for his sound design work in 2018, and won a BIFA for his Sound Design in You Were Never Really Here. 

Nugget of the week

Paul: Beth Gibbons - Portishead lead singer & the strength of performance.

Oz: Godzilla Minus One

Marcus: How Liquid Death’s Founder Started a $700million Water Brand | Found Effect

Credits

Music by Oliver Wegmüller

Socials

Paul Davies: Twitter (X) & Instagram

The Directors' Take: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Marcus: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Oz: Twitter (X) & Instagram

If you have any questions relating to the episode or have topics you would like covering in future releases, reach out to us at TheDirectorsTake@Outlook.com

This is episode 20 in our second season of The Directors Take Podcast.

In this week’s episode your hosts Marcus Anthony Thomas and Oz Arshad are joined by Nichola Wong, a Writer and Director who has successfully navigated her way from making short films to directing over 20 episodes of the continuing drama Hollyoaks. 

The transition from shorts to TV is one of the most challenging leaps to make as a filmmaker and continuing drama’s often come with a very systemic approach to delivering a constant stream of episodes for their audiences, so we brought on Nichola to break that process down for you all. 

This chat covers: 

-What is directing?

-How and why did she want to be a filmmaker?

-How did she break into the industry? 

-Gaining and losing an agent.

-How did she get her first break in TV? 

-What were the challenges she came up against in directing continuing drama? 

-How have mentors helped her career so far? 

-How has that helped her career going forward?

Our wonderful sponsor for this episode is THE NATIONAL FILM and TELEVISION SCHOOL.

We’ve also partnered with SCRIPTATION to offer our listeners an EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNT on their software, which you can find on the link below… 

http://scriptation.com/thedirectorstake 

Nichola’s Bio

Nichola is an award-winning Writer-Director, Sundance Fellow, BFI NETWORK x BAFTA Crew listed Director, and a graduate of the prestigious NFTS Directors Workshop, supported by Walt Disney. Her 1st TV pilot won All3 Media’s New Drama Script award at Edinburgh TV Festival and was one of eight out of 3000+ projects to be selected for the Sundance Episodic Lab.

Her short films have screened at film festivals all around the world, as well as on Hulu, US broadcast TV (FX, Freeform) and Film 4/All4.  She is currently developing various TV ideas and her 1st feature film with Ardimages. She has been mentored by Hong Khaou, Nick Rowland, Claire Tailyour and Tessa Hoffe.  

She also directs the 2nd unit on high-end TV shows, as well as directing over 20+ episodes of the continuing drama Hollyoaks.

Nugget of the week

Nichola: Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Hague

Oz: Song Exploder

Marcus: 6 days to air: The Making of South Park

Nichola’s Films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssb7wRrdMOc

Credits

Music by Oliver Wegmüller

Socials

Nichola Wong: Twitter (X) & Website

The Directors' Take: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Marcus: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Oz: Twitter (X) & Instagram

If you have any questions relating to the episode or have topics you would like covering in future releases, reach out to us at TheDirectorsTake@Outlook.com

This is Episode 11 in the second season of The Directors Take Podcast.

In this week’s episode your hosts Marcus Anthony Thomas and Oz Arshad are joined by Brian Gilbert, a BAFTA and Oscar Nominated Director and one of the lead tutors at the National Film and Television School, who specialises in the art of performance and working with actors. 

Your ability to draw performances from actors is at the heart of the directors’ job, so we brought on an absolute expert in Brian Gilbert to break that all down for you all. 

PART 1 covers…

-How did he get into filmmaking as a practice?

-How did he get his first break as a working director? 

-How does he work with high profile actors?

-How should you communicate with actors?

-How can you change the energy of a performance?

Our wonderful sponsor for this episode is The National Film and Television School.

Biography

Brian Gilbert started out his career as a child actor, appearing several times on Australian television before earning a scholarship to read English Literature at Oxford University, where he began directing plays. After this he travelled for a while as an actor, before being accepted into the National Film and Television School where his graduation film, THE DEVOTEE won several awards and got him industry attention. From here he went on to make several feature films such as Sharma and Beyond, The Frog Prince, Vice Versa, Not without my Daughter, Tom and Viv which starred Willem Dafoe and Miranda Richardson and picked up two Oscar and two BAFTA nominations before making WILDE. A Biopic on Oscar Wilde starring Stephen Fry and Jude Law amongst others.

In 2004 he began working at the National Film and Television School and became a key figure there as it went on to establish itself as one of the top 15 film schools in the world as said by The Hollywood Reporter. As a lead tutor he has overseen the development of some of the UKs most exciting filmmaking talent such as Nick Rowland, Mahalia Belo and Rose Glass, and he specialises in the art of performance on screen.

Credits

Music by Oliver Wegmüller

Socials

The Directors' Take: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Marcus: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Oz: Twitter (X) & Instagram

If you have any questions relating to the episode or have topics you would like covering in future releases, reach out to us at TheDirectorsTake@Outlook.com

Episode 10 of The Directors Take Podcast is AVAILABLE NOW on all major platforms.

In this week’s episode your hosts Oz Arshad and Marcus Anthony Thomas are joined by absolutely no-one, as they break down how they became Writer/Directors… With a special emphasis on the writer part. Writing is one of the first skills we learn as humans and writing stories is a craft that can be learnt just like any other… So we will tell you how we did it.

This chat covers:

-How did we both start writing? 

-How do you select which ideas to pursue? 

-How do you get through a first draft? 

-What are the rules you try to stick to whilst writing, if at all?

Our wonderful sponsor for this episode is The National Film and Television School.

Nuggets of the week

Pandemonium, Inc. (Website/Resource)

Scriptnotes (Podcast)

The Screenwriting Life (Podcast)

The Annual Blacklist (Script Archive)

The Annual Oscar Nominee Scripts (Script Archive)

BBC Writers Script Library (Script Archive)

Lessons from the screenplay (YouTube Channel)

Teach yourself screenwriting by Ray Frensham (Book)

Into the Woods by John Yorke (Book)

Credits

Music by Oliver Wegmüller

Socials

The Directors' Take: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Marcus: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Oz: Twitter (X) & Instagram

If you have any questions relating to the episode or have topics you would like covering in future releases, reach out to us at TheDirectorsTake@Outlook.com.

This is Episode 9 in the second season of The Directors Take Podcast… and we’ve hit a very special milestone as this is our 50th Episode overall!

To mark this special occasion your hosts Oz Arshad and Marcus Anthony Thomas are joined by one of the directors of HBO’s HOUSE OF THE DRAGON and our mentor Clare Kilner. She is an exceptional filmmaker whose craft has allowed her to direct shows such as Pennyworth, The Alienist, Snowpiercer, Gen V and the other recent smash hit show, FALLOUT. 

Clare is working at the absolute pinnacle of the High-End TV game right now and as ever we break down her journey and process for you all to enjoy. This chat covers…

-What is directing?

-What made her want to become a storyteller?

-How did she learn to work with actors? 

-How does she break down a script?

-How do you enter a show with such a distinct world? 

-How she plans her shots and blocking from within locations.

-Her process in working out blocking with the actors.

-What ideas she brings to the table in order to elevate it from the script.

-Her approach to creating a coherent visual language. 

-How she works with writers and execs on set. 

-Her approach to the editing process. 

Our wonderful sponsor for this episode is The National Film and Television School.

Nuggets of the week

Clare: Marina Abramovic - 420 seconds of silence at Glastonbury

Oz: Eye Candy - Visual Language library

Marcus: The House that Dragons Built - Crafting a Royal Funeral - S2, Ep2

Credits

Music by Oliver Wegmüller

Socials

Clare Kilner: Instagram

The Directors' Take: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Marcus: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Oz: Twitter (X) & Instagram

If you have any questions relating to the episode or have topics you would like covering in future releases, reach out to us at TheDirectorsTake@Outlook.com.

This is Episode 8 in the second season of The Directors Take Podcast.

In this week’s episode your hosts Oz Arshad and Marcus Anthony Thomas are joined by Writer & Showrunner Lauren Sequeira. A BAFTA nominated writer and a member of the BBC’s Hotlist, they wrote on Kiss Me First and seasons 1 & 2 of Gangs of London before Showrunning their very own show, BBC3’s original series Domino Day.

As ever we break down Lauren’s journey and craft to uncover those delicious nuggets of information. This chat covers…

-How Marcus and Lauren met… (lol)

-Lauren’s journey toward becoming a writer

-How she got her agent and how they helped shape their career.

-What did her first paid writing jobs look like? 

-Writing on Gangs of London.

-How she got her very own show commissioned.

-Setting up a series, interviewing directors and building those relationships.

-What is her writing process?

Our wonderful sponsor for this episode is The National Film and Television School.

Bio

Lauren Sequeira is a writer hailing from South London, earning her first TV Credit on Kiss Me First, which was a show plucked from the mind of Bryan Elsey, the creator of Skins. From here Lauren created the digital Spin-Off series to BBC’s The Dumping Ground, called Sasha’s Contact Meeting, which earned her a BAFTA nomination and she was named on the BBC’s hotlist for emerging talents tipped as future stars. 

She also went on to write for Gangs of London, on both Season 1 and 2, before getting her very own show commissioned, the Original Series Domino Day which aired on BBC3 in February of 2024. Domino Day is a show which follows Domino, a powerful young witch who is haunted by her need to feed on the energy of others… And she uses Dating apps to find her new prey.

Nuggets of the week

Lauren:  The sun (not the newspaper). Being outside and enjoying the sun.

Oz: The rap beef between Kendrick, Drake and J. Cole.

Marcus: Thelma & Louise - Screenplay

Credits

Music by Oliver Wegmüller

Socials

Lauren Sequeira: Twitter (X) & Instagram

The Directors' Take: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Marcus: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Oz: Twitter (X) & Instagram

If you have any questions relating to the episode or have topics you would like covering in future releases, reach out to us at TheDirectorsTake@Outlook.com.

This is Episode 7 of our brand new season of The Directors Take Podcast.

This week's episode is a conversation with Producer Oliver Kassman from Escape Plan, who have made waves in the genre space in creating films such as SAINT MAUD, OUT OF DARKNESS and the recent feature LOVE LIES BLEEDING starring Kristen Stewart, Katy O’Brian & Ed Harris. 

Oliver is a champion for first time filmmakers having made the above work with Rose Glass and Andrew Cummings, and there are absolutely many more on the way. In this chat we cover…

-What is producing?

-His journey into the industry.

-The importance of mentors early on in your career. 

-What does development look like? 

-How does he choose the filmmakers and ideas to pursue? 

-How important is it to attach cast to a project? 

-How do you navigate creative vision through sales and distribution?

-What does the Producer/Director relationship look like?

-How does he see the future of film?

Our wonderful sponsor for this episode is The National Film and Television School.

Nuggets of the week

Oliver Kassman: Work: What Just Happened? Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line by Art Linson

Creative: Orville Peck - Pony (Vinyl)

Oz: Anker Powerbank

Marcus: Music for K (Polish Jazz Vol. 22) by Tomasz Stanko Quintet

Credits

Music by Oliver Wegmüller

Socials

Oliver Kassman: Twitter (X) & Instagram

The Directors' Take: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Marcus: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Oz: Twitter (X) & Instagram

If you have any questions relating to the episode or have topics you would like covering in future releases, reach out to us at TheDirectorsTake@Outlook.com.

This is Episode 6 of our brand new season of The Directors Take Podcast.

This week's episode is a conversation with Dr. Thomas Curran, a renowned Psychologist and Associate Professor in the esteemed Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Author of ‘one of Bloomberg’s best books of 2023’, The Perfection Trap. 

In this chat we cover…

-What is perfectionism?

-Where does perfectionism come from?

-How is perfectionism linked to mental health? 

-How is perfectionism linked to ‘deficit thinking’ or ‘imposter syndrome’.

-Is procrastination linked to perfectionism?

-How do social environments breed perfectionist traits?

-How do factors such as race, gender and class play into this?

-How can we combat perfectionism?

Our wonderful sponsor for this episode is The National Film and Television School.

Nuggets of the week

Dr. Thomas Curran: Dr. Gabor Maté on Alienation - YouTube Video

Oz: Rate my takeaway - YouTube Channel

Marcus: Shadow of the Colossus - Playstation Game

Credits

Music by Oliver Wegmüller

Socials

Dr. Thomas Curran: Website & Twitter (X)

The Directors' Take: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Marcus: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Oz: Twitter (X) & Instagram

If you have any questions relating to the episode or have topics you would like covering in future releases, reach out to us at TheDirectorsTake@Outlook.com.

This is Episode 5 of our brand new season of The Directors Take Podcast.

This weeks episode is a chat between Marcus and Oz, where they talk about their experience as Director Shadows/Mentees on House of the Dragon for the very first time.

-What was the scheme and selection process?

-Our first few weeks on the production.

-Reading the scripts.

-Creating our workflow.

-How we helped the production.

-How we constructed our learning.

Our wonderful sponsor for this episode is The National Film and Television School.

About us

Marcus and Oz are both described as ‘rising stars’ in the film industry and both met whilst shadowing the directors and showrunners on Season 1 of HBO’s House of the Dragon for 16 months. Having both seen up close exactly what is required of a director when working at the highest level and understanding the gap between what is taught about filmmaking up to that stage… They created The Directors’ Take Podcast to help fill in the gap, so that early-career directors right through to mid-level career professionals can get the most out of themselves and their collaborators.

Nuggets of the week

Oz: Louaista - YouTube Channel

Marcus: Blood, sweat & chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road

Credits

Music by Oliver Wegmüller

Socials

The Directors' Take: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Marcus: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Oz: Twitter (X) & Instagram

If you have any questions relating to the episode or have topics you would like covering in future releases, reach out to us at TheDirectorsTake@Outlook.com.

This is Episode 4 of our brand new season of The Directors Take Podcast.

This weeks episode is with the exceptional Costume Designer, Cynthia Lawrence-John. She has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world such as Adidas, Samsung, Amex and with a slew of directors such as Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim), Kibwe Tavares (The Kitchen) and Nicholas Winding Refn (Drive). She also recently earned herself a BIFA nomination for her work on the beautiful RomCom RYE LANE and helped to elevate the film’s colourful aesthetic. In our chat we cover:

-What is Costume Design?

-Her journey into the film industry. 

-What is it about her work that keeps bringing people to her door?

-Transitioning from commercials into film. 

-Storytelling through costume. 

-What do her conversations with directors look like? 

-How do you work with other Heads of department to create a unified aesthetic?

Our wonderful sponsor for this episode is The National Film and Television School.

Nuggets of the week

Cynthia: Tony Allen: An Autobiography of the Master Drummer of Afrobeat.

Oz: BaByliss Pro Cordless Super Motor Skeleton Trimmer

Marcus: The Cinema Cartography - YouTube Channel

Credits

Music by Oliver Wegmüller

Socials

Cynthia: Instagram

The Directors' Take: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Marcus: Twitter (X) & Instagram

Oz: Twitter (X) & Instagram

If you have any questions relating to the episode or have topics you would like covering in future releases, reach out to us at TheDirectorsTake@Outlook.com.