Shamim Sarif and I talk about her career directing films and writing novels, the differences and similarities between the two, and her approach to both. We also discuss her new young adult action novel, THE ATHENA PROTOCOL, and its emphasis on strong female characters. She gives some absolutely amazing advice about public speaking, having presented multiple Ted Talks. All this and a whole lot more in another incredible episode that’s not to be missed.
Born in the UK, Shamim is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and director.
Her newest book, The Athena Protocol, is an all-female contemporary action thriller.
Her debut novel, The World Unseen was inspired by her family’s South African Indian heritage. The book won a Betty Trask award and the Pendleton May First Novel award.
Shamim has adapted and directed the films of all three of her novels including, most recently, Despite the Falling Snow. The book was published by Headline in the UK and St Martin’s Press in the US. The movie stars Rebecca Ferguson and Charles Dance in a story of love and betrayal in cold war Russia. Her films have won 47 awards internationally.
An accomplished speaker, Shamim has spoken at TED events worldwide, at the INK Conference in India and DLD in Munich. Corporate speaking events have included Deloitte, Goldman Sachs, Citibank and Disney.
Shamim lives in London with her wife, Hanan, and their two sons.
Jessie is a young, ambitious and hot-headed agent at Athena – a top secret, socially conscious, all-female organization that recruits brilliant young women and trains them in skills from coding to weaponry to combat injustices against women and children around the world. Athena’s leaders, one of whom is Jessie’s mother, have a strict policy that their agents never kill, so when Jessie loses control on a job and compromises the secrecy of the agency, she’s kicked off the team, with her own mother dismissing her without a second glance. But Jessie’s work for Athena and its mission is her identity, and she’s not going to stand by as her former colleagues set off to take down a human trafficking kingpin in Belgrade.
Desperate to prove herself, Jessie launches her own investigation—but going rogue means there’s no one there to watch her back as she gets closer to the horrifying truth behind the Belgrade operation. And in spite of herself, she’s falling for a woman who is likely behind the very evil she’s striving to take down.
Tom Whitus has been a film director since 1997, when he made the short film Parts in
New York City. The film was picked up for worldwide distribution by
NYC-based distributor The Cinema Guild. Since then, Tom has directed the
feature films More Than Puppy Love (2000), Threat of Exposure (2002), The Only Witness (2003, showed on Lifetime Network in 2004),Matchmaker Mary (2008), Jr. Detective Agency (2010, showed on Showtime, 2011-12); Sam Steele and the Crystal Chalice(2012) and An Old Man’s Gold (2013). The last two features are in worldwide distribution this year. Also, in 2006, Tom directed Give & Take, an award winning short film.
Tom's next project is the film adaptation of former Book of the Week Greenhorn by Anna Olswanger, which is what most of our interview focused on. And now Tom Whitus faces the 7 Questions:
Question Seven: What are your three favorite movies and television programs?
My
favorite movies are Sullivan’s Travels, The Best Years of Our Lives and
– a guilty pleasure – Animal House. My favorite TV shows are Law &
Order, Entourage and Seinfeld.
Question Six: What’s your favorite thing about being a film director? What’s your least favorite thing?
What
I love about directing is taking the written word and making it a
visual experience. I love shot composition and working with the cast and
crew to make little bits of magic at 24 frames per second. My least
favorite thing is telling an actor they don’t have the part. I hate
that.
Question Five: What attracted you to adapt Greenhorn to a film?
The
screenwriter, Ree Howell, introduced me to Anna and asked if I would be
interested in directing a short film based on the book. While I rarely
direct films I did not write, and I’ve been mainly focused on feature
films in the past five years – the concept intrigued me. When I read the
book and knew Ree was writing the screenplay, I was sold.
Question Four: How does tackling a story about something as serious as the holocaust impact your approach?
You
have to approach the subject matter with respect, but realize that
these are kids. They want to laugh, they want to have fun – and they
want to live their lives. Ultimately, the story is about remembering
what happened and having the strength to live above it.
Question Three: When auditioning child actors, what qualities convince you in your casting decisions?
This
is best answered with a story. I remember meeting a young woman named
Katherine McNamara, a 12-year-old girl, when looking for the lead in a
film I made about five years ago. She was an unknown in Kansas City, but
I knew she was right for the role. I didn’t even audition her, I knew
by the way she spoke to me and how she carried herself. She’s gone on to
do a Broadway musical and star as Becky Thatcher in the latest Tom
Sawyer film, so my instincts were right.
Question Two: How
faithful will you be able to be to the book in your adaptation? As
you’re translating the story to a different medium, what departures do
you foresee being necessary?
Well,
the first step is Ree doing her job in writing the screenplay, then
it’s my job to make sure the visual impact matches the story that Anna
has created and Ree has adapted. The drama is there, it will be my
responsibility to make sure it gets on the screen. I’m quite sure you
will see many story elements in the book translated to the film.
Question One: If you could have lunch with any filmmaker, living or dead, who would it be and why?
Preston
Sturges. Like me, he was a writer as well as a director. Many of his
films have a light-hearted sensibility and he was loyal to the actors he
worked with.
Director Tom Whitus (right) on the set with actor William Devane
