The Directors Take Podcast

This is episode 3 of the third season of The Directors Take Podcast. In this week’s special episode your hosts Marcus Anthony Thomas and Oz Arshad are joined in conversation by Director Nick Rowland, who is seen as one of the UK’s and Hollywood’s brightest young stars. He joins us to talk about his latest release She Rides Shotgun, an action thriller which stars Taron Egerton and Ana Sophia Heger, available now on Amazon Prime. Nick breaks down his journey, process and the difficulties in dealing with expectation in this revealing conversation that very much centres on craft.    This conversation covers the following: -Nick’s journey into directing from Rally driving. -How he navigated his early career/expectation. -The difficulty of imposter syndrome. -His philosophy on directing and how it relates to his sensibilities as a human. -The difficulties of making a first feature film. -His struggles and learnings around tone in film. -How Nick prepares for interviews and pitches. -A breakdown of the craft of She Rides Shotgun and his philosophy in working with actors.   NUGGET OF THE WEEK Marcus: Dancing in the Ashes (short film)  Oz: SLAP (short film) Nick: Pablo Neruda’s poetry   Credits Music by Oliver Wegmüller   Socials The Directors' Take: Twitter (X) & Instagram Marcus: Twitter (X) & Instagram Oz: Twitter (X) & Instagram Nick: Instagram & Directors Now   If you have any questions relating to the episode or have topics you would like covering in future releases, reach out to us at [email protected]

This is episode 2 of the BRAND NEW third season of The Directors Take Podcast. In this week’s special episode your hosts Marcus Anthony Thomas and Oz Arshad get honest about what they’ve been up to in the show’s close season, explaining the introspective work that they’ve completed and the journey that has taken them on. Oz has explored the origins of his own artistry which has seen him sign on to an agency, and Marcus gets candid about his own artistic journey, neurodivergence and the preparation on his latest VFX film.  This episode is formed of two separate conversations recorded several months apart from each other, beginning with one in August, before heading back in time for the other. We hope it makes you feel better about your own artistic endeavours. Enjoy!   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 [email protected]

This is episode 1 of the BRAND NEW third season of The Directors Take Podcast.   In this week’s special episode your hosts Marcus Anthony Thomas and Oz Arshad are joined in conversation by UK TV legend Angela Griffin, who discusses her transition from distinguished actor with over 500 hours of broadcast TV under her belt into the Directors chair on Season 16 of Waterloo Road.   This conversation was recorded LIVE as a part of the Series 16 Waterloo Road launch, and was chaired solo by Oz Arshad at the Lowry Hotel in Media City, Manchester.    This conversation covers the following:   -What is Directing?  -The directing pathway and how Angela herself made that transition. -What did she learn from working with so many different directors across her career so far. -What was the most surprising part about stepping into the directors chair?  -How does she create an ‘actor friendly’ environment and does she have a philosophy on blocking actors? -What is Angela’s take on tone and how to sustain it as a director? -How do you balance family life alongside being a working actor & director?   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 [email protected]

This is episode 34 and the FINAL EPISODE in our second season of The Directors Take Podcast. In this week’s episode your hosts Marcus Anthony Thomas and Oz Arshad do a round up of their 2024 highlights, lowlights and their favourite episodes from the second season of the podcast, before throwing out some optimistic feels for the year ahead.  It’s been a tough year, but we are here to bring you some positivity for 2025 with a little help from our friends and guests of past episodes.  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    Nugget of the week   Marcus: The Telepathy Tapes by Ky Dickens Oz: The Actors Guide to Success by Michaela Longden   Our Favourite Episodes of Season 2 Marcus:  Episode 1 - How I Directed Baby Reindeer with Weronika Tofilska Episode 17 - Demystifying VFX with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s Angus Bickerton   Episode 8 - Showrunning BBC’s Domino Day with Lauren Sequeira    Episode 19 - Demystifying the road to BAFTAs & Oscars with Flair PR’s Catherine Lyn Scott   Episode 31 - How we created EMILIA PÉREZ with Jacques Audiard & Thomas Bidegain   Oz: Episode 1 - How I Directed Baby Reindeer with Weronika Tofilska Episode 15 & 16 - The Journey to Directing PRESUMED INNOCENT with Greg Yaitanes Episode 9 - How I Directed HOUSE OF THE DRAGON with Clare Kilner Episode 13 & 14 - The Journey to Directing SUPACELL with Sebastian Thiel Episode 6 - Is Perfectionism Killing Your Creativity? With Dr. Thomas Curran   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 [email protected]

This is episode 33 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 Director Jim O’Hanlon, whose directorial work has been nominated for BAFTAs, Golden Globes and Emmy’s. Jim began his career working in continuing Drama on Coronation Street and has since gone on to direct Inside Number 9, 100 Streets with Idris Elba, Netflix’s The Punisher, Catastrophe with Sharon Horgan & Rob Delaney and also on Apple TV’s hit show Trying.    Jim is a fountain of knowledge and in this episode we get right down into his process of what being a working director is to him. This chat includes: -What is directing? -How did you begin your career and enter the industry?  -What is tone? -How do you pick projects?  -How does he work between mediums and genres? -What is his directing playbook after getting hired?  -What is your approach to blocking?  -How do you communicate and work with actors of varying levels of experience?    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    Nugget of the week Jim: The Holdovers Directed by Alexander Payne - Directors UK Podcast Marcus: Raging Bull Directed by Martin Scorsese Oz: Oz was inspired by a recent conversation we had with students at Oxford University.   Credits Music by Oliver Wegmüller   Socials Jim O’Hanlon: 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 [email protected]