As part of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, IndieWire’s Future of Filmmaking team presents “Behind Their Lenses,” a series of panel discussions with some of the most exciting filmmakers, directors, and producers of 2026.
At the producers’ panel, “Tangles” creator Lauren Miller Rogen, “Ghosts” and “Harlots” creator Alison Owen, and “The Devil Wears Prada” creator Carla Hacken talked to students and guests about everything from how to give good, productive notes on a story to how they are navigating the current, increasingly consolidated media landscape to actually get projects off the ground.
But what unites all his works at all stages of production is his perseverance to overcome all the obstacles and challenges that come in his way. And this is something that has been true for them ever since they got into the actual work of the production business. Owen explains how he earned his “degree” in construction with A group of university students, but not actually attending the university. It started with a conversation with someone who was studying at the National Film School in the UK at the time.
“This was the early ’80s, when things were very loose, but they said, ‘There’s no producers there. But if you want to learn about production, go to Notting Hill, where the bus stops outside the Coronet in the morning and just stand there and get on the bus,’ Owen said. “You’d go out to film school, and the students who were making their graduate films would want someone to come out and produce for them. And they didn’t care that you didn’t do anything. I didn’t know what a call sheet was or what PAs were or anything. But they were happy to have a pair of hands.”
Having a willing pair inspired Owen to work on a senior graduate project in a small village in the middle of Wales, and that ground-breaking, on-site work has stood him in good stead ever since. “Not only are you learning things, but you’re also meeting your peers. So there were all these people who ended up directing major studio movies, editors, cinematographers, people I work with now, like John Mathieson, who – you know, we all slept on a mattress above a pub, and he now lights for Joe Wright,” Owen said. I always tell students, ‘Network with your peers. “They’re the future people you’ll want to work with or hire.”
Paying attention to what your peers are doing can also give you an idea of what’s possible. Miller Rogen had written the script for her first feature, “For a Good Time, Call…”, years earlier, but after seeing Lena Dunham’s work in “Tiny Furniture” she realized it was something she could do herself.
“I saw ‘Tiny Furniture,’ and I thought, ‘Okay, I can do that.’ And so I took the movie from the big producer, and I emailed my team and my writing partner, and I said, ‘We’ll make it on our own, and I’ll star in it.’ And they were like, ‘Wow.’ And I said, ‘No, that’s what we’re doing,'” Miller Rosen said.
That conviction – and the key connections of some independent backers, including the care of Miller Rogen’s brother, who worked in finance – led to an increase in the film’s budget to $750,000. “We shot in 16 days. And then we went to Sundance, which of course I’m lucky to be involved in. But we went to Sundance and Focus Features bought it and released it, and it was in movie theaters, which will never happen now. But it was extraordinary, and I felt shocked and proud and scared because it was going to be big and out there,” said Rogen Miller. “But it was incredible, and I think these days, there are so many ways to showcase your project.”
“I think the most important thing you just said to all of them is that there are now so many ways for you guys to get your work out there,” Hacken said. “The success of ‘Backroom’ and all these YouTube horror shows should give you hope that, you know, write something good, make something good, find a great story, and there are other ways to make it than there were before.”