Emerging: How to Eventually Make it in Film & TV

The second part of our long, wisdom-filled chat with filmmaker Yuan Hu leaves Spike Lee behind in favour of going deep into the development process. After nailing his first short and scoring an agent, Yuan soon found himself developing a feature film with Film4, so here he is explaining how it works. From that first meeting with the Film4 execs, to how long it took to build out the film's treatment, attaching a production company, and how it feels receiving round after round of notes.

As always with Yuan, this is a super fascinating and to the point chat that covers a lot of ground - if you've ever been interested in the UK film development process, this is the episode for you. And do not miss Part 1 of this chat, which has some frankly ludicrous showbiz experiences.

You can find Yuan on Instagram as @yuanwho, and watch his incredible work on his website yuan-hu[dot]com. Look out for the rest of our chat next week!

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

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If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).
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I know we always say it, but this week you really are in for a treat - celebrated director and reluctant writer Yuan Hu joins us for a fun deep dive into what's quickly become a very exciting career for him. First making commercial films for huge fashion brands and musicians like Little Simz, before a swift handbrake turn into narrative with short Sticks of Fury, which was immediately swiped up by BFI's London Film Festival, nabbing Yuan an agent in the process.

But it all started when he took a chance on a trip to New York, and what soon became a blossoming mentorship from the legendary Spike Lee.

As you'll soon find, this is only Part 1 of our chat with Yuan - there was so much good stuff, cutting it back felt mad! But in this chunk we're talking more specifically about mentors and early opportunities, and how Yuan certainly made the most out of working for big names like Spike Lee and Rankin.

You can find Yuan on Instagram as @yuanwho, and watch his incredible work on his website yuan-hu[dot]com. Look out for the rest of our chat next week!

📬 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.

We've talked about industry jobs in the past, but never on this level - despite being our youngest guest ever, Michelle Githua might also be one of our most decorated, with countless schemes, industry jobs and a writers room under her belt already (at the ripe old age of 23!).

Kicking off her career at 18 on a TV entry scheme, Michelle had an incredible run of work in the offices of Shiny Button, Hat Trick and Firebird before heading straight into the writers room on 50 Cent's new boxing drama Fightland for STARZ. Yes we're all jealous, but there's a lot to learn here, as Michelle takes us into the weeds of how working in TV not only helped her jump straight to success, but helped her understand herself and her voice as a writer too.

So get ready for a deep dive into the industry and a true masterclass in how to speedrun a career in UK TV!

📬 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).
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In maybe our most meta episode to date, this week we start procrastinating while talking about every writer's worst enemy - procrastination. It happens to us all, and sometimes it is unavoidable. So let's talk ways to not only understand why it's happening, but how to embrace procrastination too. Distractions are everywhere, and controversially, sometimes you need them (except when a deadline is literally staring you in the face obvs.)

And ultimately remember that often procrastination is a sign of something bigger - a really big project that you care a lot about, or the exact inverse, a sign that what you're writing isn't really where your heart is.

All of this and more in a shorter, messier, equally as fun little episode!

And as always, if you have any insight, any questions, or just want to yell at us and tell us we're wrong, get in touch!

📬 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.

There are so many screenwriting and industry terms, sometimes it feels like people are just messing with us. But why does a one pager need to be one page? And where does an outline become a treatment? And when does THAT become a bible? And does any of it really matter?

Ultimately, not really. But it's important to know what someone's asking for, and the right way to communicate. Especially if it turns out a producer might be asking you for a very very long document, without offering to pay you first. So get clued up as best you can, and never be afraid to ask about exactly what you're expected to deliver!

BBC's scriptwriting glossary is a very useful resource (though as we mention, not entirely fool-proof): https://www.bbc.co.uk/writers/resources/scriptwriting-glossary/

And as always, if you have any insight, any questions, or just want to yell at us and tell us we're wrong, get in touch!

📬 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.