#134: Farhana Bhula, Head of Creative at Film4

Best Girl Grip

This week’s guest is Farhana Bhula, the Head of Creative at Film4, where she has overseen production on a mix of projects from debut to established filmmakers.

Those projects include How to Have Sex by Molly Manning Walker, Layla by Amrou Al-Kadhi and All Of Us Strangers by Andrew Haigh starring Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott.

She joined Film4 in 2022 from the BFI where she was a Senior Development and Production Executive and worked on Scrapper by Charlotte Regan, Pretty Red Dress by Dionne Edwards, Reggie Yates’ Pirates, Aml Ameen’s Boxing Day, debbie tucker green’s ear for eye, Ben Sharrock’s Limbo and Aleem Khan’s After Love.

Prior to the BFI, she was head of development at Wildgaze Films (Brooklyn, An Education) and a development executive at Endor Productions. She has also produced shorts and a micro-budget feature.

We talk about how she discovered development was a thing and why she felt suited to it, her roles at Wildgaze Films and the BFI Film Fund, the differences between working for a public funding body and a public service broadcaster, what she thinks makes a good debut feature and how she creates a good working relationship with filmmakers, the impetus behind the recent Future Takes scheme and the book she thinks is a must-read if you work in development…

SHOW NOTES

• Buy Farhana’s book recommendation ‘A Swim in a Pond in the Rain’
• Watch the trailer for ‘How To Have Sex’
• Discover the nine projects Film4 and BFI are funding through the Future Takes programme
• Read an interview with Farhana and the development team at Film4
• Find out where to watch Scrapper
• Find out where to watch Pretty Red Dress