Screen Players Club

Welcome to Screen Players Club with two of Britain’s exciting new talents - the properly brilliant writer/director Charlotte Regan (Scrapper) and rising star, the mesmerising Emma Laird (The Brutalist) who join Charlotte Bogard Macleod to discuss their eight-part BBC drama Mint. We can’t wait for you to hear this episode, as Charlotte divulges her writing secrets and shares her top tips for not getting distracted by ChatGPT and videos of dogs.  Charlotte tells us what inspired her to tell her crime series from the perspective of three extraordinary women, and why she’s a huge fan of putting grannies in leading roles.  Emma Laird shares what drew her to the part of Shannon, what made the audition process so unique and how she prepared for the role. Emma also reveals how it was to work with Benjamin Coyle-Larner, also known at Brit nominated musician Loyle Carner, in his debut role, and how she felt about the baked good he brought to set every day. This episode is as joyous as one of Charlotte Regan’s films themselves. Excited for you to listen.  Thank you for joining our club.

Welcome to Screen Players Club with BAFTA nominated artist-directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard discussing Broken English - their docu-portrait about the singer songwriter and icon Marianne Faithfull.   Don’t miss Iain and Jane divulging why and how they created a new documentary format to capture Marianne’s exuberant creative spirit. They discuss why they cast Tilda Swinton and George MacKay as fictional characters in a non-fiction film. They explain how they worked with Marianne’s collaborators Nick Cave, Beth Orton and Courtney Love to make the songs live in the present.   They share the moving moment when they filmed Marianne Faithfull’s final ever performance, and the astonishing reaction from Marianne once she’d finished recording her song. We can’t wait for you to listen. Thank you for joining our club.

Welcome to Screen Players with award winning director Joachim Trier and his co-writing partner Eskil Vogt, here to discuss the process of bringing their movie "Sentimental Value" to the big screen. Joachim and Eskil share the secrets of their writing technique, explain how they found the movie’s cinematic through-line and reveal their moving ritual that sends their film into the world.   Joachim reveals how he maintains the dynamics of chaos and control on set, which allows his actors the space to achieve such searingly honest emotional performances on screen.   Thank you for listening.

Welcome to Screen Players Film Club with Oscar and BAFTA winning screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz who is responsible for some of the most nuanced, potent and beautiful films in contemporary cinema. In this episode she joins Charlotte Bogard Macleod at Soho Square Studios for an open, vulnerable and fiercely honest conversation about the movie “She Said.” Rebecca shares insights about how she went about adapting a book into a screenplay, when the book was still being written. She opens up to why this story resonated so strongly with her, and the personal impact of this project. We can't wait for you to listen to this unfiltered chat about female friendship, artistic integrity and the importance of writing your own truth. Thank you for joining our club. TW: Please note this episode contains discussions of sexual assault which may be distressing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

Welcome to Screen Players Film Club with filmmakers Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter discussing their documentary Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other. We’re also joined by the subjects of the film - writer Maggie Barrett and her husband, the legendary photographer Joel Meyerowitz. Wow! This documentary is good. It’s better than good. It’s an intimate exploration of the marriage of two charismatic creatives. Life, death and making meaning are at the heart of this extraordinary film. It’s wide open emotionally. And mesmerising cinematically.  In this episode, listen to Jacob, Manon, Maggie and Joel discussing the making of this beautiful film - their honesty, authenticity and soulfulness will take your breath away. We can’t wait for you to listen. Thank you for joining our club.

Welcome to Screen Players Film Club with one of the greatest cinematographers of all time, Sir Roger Deakins and his creative partner James Ellis Deakins, who join Charlotte Bogard Macleod to discuss the Coen Brother’s masterpiece “The Man Who Wasn’t There.” Don’t miss hearing about the hilarious pranks the Coen Brothers played on set, and how Roger and Ethan Coen developed an almost telepathic understanding. Learn the secrets behind how Roger and James experimented to get exactly the right tones of black and white for the movie by using colour stock. We can’t wait for you to listen. Thank you for joining our club.

Welcome to Screen Players Film Club with Oscar nominated and Emmy Award winning screenwriter Hossein Amini talking to Charlotte Bogard Macleod at Soho Square Studios about the process of adapting James Sallis’ lyrical novel Drive for the big screen. Don’t miss hearing how Hossein plans his thrilling car chase sequences, and his jaw dropping confessions about his own driving skills. And find out what Hossein’s predictions for the future of screenwriting are. Can’t wait for you to listen. Thank you for joining our club.

Welcome to Screen Players Film Club with legendary documentary maker Nick Broomfield and singer-songwriter and Bastille frontman Dan Smith, who join Charlotte Bogard Macleod to discuss Nick’s film Marianne and Leonard: Words of Love. Discover how this story of the muse who inspired a songwriter came to inspire Dan’s own songwriting. Don’t miss Nick’s extraordinary revelation that Leonard Cohen’s songwriting skills were helped along by a diet of speed and sandwiches. Hear how Nick selects the best interviewees to make a compelling documentary. And listen in to Dan’s hilarious anecdotes of co-writing songs on zoom during lockdown. Can’t wait for you to listen. Thank you for joining our club.

Welcome to Screen Players Film Club with one of Britain’s best-loved and most acclaimed producers, Tessa Ross CBE, joining Charlotte Bogard Macleod at Soho Square Studios to discuss the BAFTA and Oscar winning masterpiece Conclave. Don’t miss Tessa sharing the secret of how she got her hands on early chapters of Robert Harris’s novel, and then persuaded him to let her have the rights to the book. Listen in to how she and director Edward Berger assembled an extraordinary cast. And learn about what gives Tessa her extraordinary super power to predict what audiences will want to watch, years in advance. Can’t wait for you to listen. Thank you for joining our club.

Welcome to the very first episode of Screen Players Film Club! We’re kicking off the series with award-winning artist and filmmaker Sam Taylor-Johnson, who joins Charlotte Bogard Macleod live from The Cinema in Selfridges to discuss her poignant debut feature Nowhere Boy, about the early life of John Lennon. Don’t miss Sam sharing what happened when Paul McCartney called her out of the blue with feedback, while she was shopping for cereal in Sainsbury’s. And hear Sam divulge a heart-stopping story from her childhood which explains why the script resonated so personally with her. She also recounts the nail-biting moment when Yoko Ono first watched Nowhere Boy - and Yoko’s astonishing reaction to the movie. Can’t wait for you to listen. Thank you for joining our club.

Welcome to Screen Players Film Club with Oscar winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy joining Charlotte Bogard Macleod live in The Cinema in The Arches to discuss his smash-hit Slumdog Millionaire.  Don’t miss Simon’s unique insights on how to handle a multi-strand, non-linear narrative without confusing the audience. Hear how the whole project was nearly consigned to the DVD bin, before going on to win a staggering 8 Oscars. And find out what Simon’s children really thought of the movie, when they got to watch it together at Screen Players Film Club for the very first time. Can’t wait for you to listen. Thank you for joining our club.

Welcome to Screen Players Film Club. In each episode a filmmaker, writer, producer or actor talks to host Charlotte Bogard Macleod about the creative journey behind one of their best-loved movies. We get into it all - the behind the scenes anecdotes and the never-before-told secrets - before moving onto more profound conversations about what it means to be a human navigating through life, art and love. Many of these episodes were recorded at our live Film Club events in front of an enthusiastic audience of film-lovers. Screen Players Film Club is a pure injection of cinematic joy, a celebration of movies and the boundlessness of life. Charlotte Bogard Macleod is founder of The Script Factory, an organisation which has championed great screen storytelling since 1996. She is also a screenwriter, playwright, and former BAFTA board member. Screen Players Film Club is created by The Script Factory in partnership with The Podcast Guys. www.scriptfactory.co.uk