Emerging: How to Eventually Make it in Film & TV

I know we always say it whenever we have a guest on, but seriously, get ready for a true MASTERCLASS in today's episode from Calif Chong, a Hong Kong born writer-director who started in-house at HK's legendary TVB, before moving across the world to London (via Berlin), eventually making her first feature High Wire, which premiered at last year's BFI London Film Festival.

Calif is incredibly generous, covering the ups and downs of making indie features, balancing it with her blossoming career as an assembly editor in high-end TV, and the challenge of language barriers as she relocated multiple times to find the right creative home. There's also a bit of talk about writing labs, since Calif is on this year's Gatecrashers lab for working-class genre writers.

And as always, if you want to follow Calif's career, she's @califcnm on Instagram!

📬 Get In Touch:
Email us: [email protected]
Follow us on Instagram: @theemergingpod
Ben is @bmlrobins
Martin is @bananabreadfilm
Tray is @ByTrayepps

✨ Support the Show:
If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Being original can feel like the most important thing in the world for a writer, but look around - most things aren't anymore. And while we're not saying rip off Hacks, or resign yourself to never having a truly novel idea ever again, it's important to not let the quest for originality get in the way of actually making stuff. It's your voice and your perspective that's important. So let's talk about ideas, how they happen, how we chase them, and why sometimes we feel like they're lacking.

And while we're at it, let's talk about this podcast too, because we've definitely been running a little dry recently... Got any burning questions or ideas for topics? Drop us a line.

📬 Get In Touch:
Email us: [email protected]
Follow us on Instagram: @theemergingpod
Ben is @bmlrobins
Martin is @bananabreadfilm
Tray is @ByTrayepps

✨ Support the Show:
If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So many writers suffer from imposter syndrome, especially us Brits, it's hard to feel like you belong in an industry that doesn't feel like it's built for any of us. So we asked our resident American Mr Tray Epps to help break it down; where does he find his confidence, and how exactly does one "fake it til you make it"? Cue also a little bit of important tough love.

This episode also features the story of our surprising celebrity run-in in Soho during the TV Foundation's First Draft event, and again how Tray's ability to quiet the negative voices in his head lead to an encounter to remember.

📬 Get In Touch:
Email us: [email protected]
Follow us on Instagram: @theemergingpod
Ben is @bmlrobins
Martin is @bananabreadfilm
Tray is @ByTrayepps

✨ Support the Show:
If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes the best way to learn how to write is to read how other people have done it. And we don't just mean the pros. We spend a lot of time reading each others work, scripts from friends, and the absolute smorgasbord of unproduced screenplays floating around on the internet, on top of the regular funnel of 'For Your Consideration' writing released every awards season.

But what's the best way to approach reading a screenplay to get the most out of the experience? How long should it take? Where can I find scripts and how do I physically read them?

All this and more within! And if you're trying to find the unproduced Michael Waldron Blacklist script we talk about, it's called 'The Worst Guy Of All Time, And The Girl Who Came To Kill Him' and like most things, it's probably out there somewhere if you look hard enough.

📬 Get In Touch:
Email us: [email protected]
Follow us on Instagram: @theemergingpod
Ben is @bmlrobins
Martin is @bananabreadfilm
Tray is @ByTrayepps

✨ Support the Show:
If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spring is finally here, and it's been a very busy Q1 for a bunch of different reasons; Martin's on a new scheme, Tray's spreading his networking wings, and Ben's producing(!), we're a long way from where we were a few months ago. But what does that mean for our writing resolutions?

Staying on track with your goals can be hard - we set each other some pretty hefty resolutions back at the start of 2026, so here we are checking in. What's working, what's not, what have we written / worked on, what do we WISH we'd written / worked on, what are we missing, and most of all, are we *okay*? (the answer may surprise you)

Checking in is important, so why not give it a go yourself?

📬 Get In Touch:
Email us: [email protected]
Follow us on Instagram: @theemergingpod
Ben is @bmlrobins
Martin is @bananabreadfilm
Tray is @ByTrayepps

✨ Support the Show:
If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.