The creative industry, especially that of film, is exceptionally diverse and fragmented – but a few large organisations seem to hold all the power in their hands. This creates significant challenges to the ‘micro’ companies with less than 10 employees (CBI, 2014), which make up 85.4% of the sector. I sometimes wonder how my PhD by practice at the London Film School/ University of Exeter can contribute anything to the sector: how can a small producer make any difference when standing up against the expertise of well-established production houses that have been in the industry since beginning of time? After all, I’m just a tiny fraction among the 85.4%…

The moment I heard about the IBC Conference in Amsterdam, I knew I had to go there. This year’s theme was ‘Transformation in the Digital Era: Leadership, Strategy and Creativity in Media and Entertainment’ which resonated well with the nature of my PhD. But to top it all off, the creative keynote was to be delivered by the multi-award winning producer Lord David Puttnam. He is the producer behind films like ‘The Mission’, ‘Chariots of Fire’ and ‘The Killing Fields’ and is regarded as a classic example of a creative producer, so naturally his speech was the highlight for me.

In his talk, Puttnam pointed out that technological advancements have enabled us to deliver images better than ever before. However, at the same time we have lost our ability as a society to make judgments. He emphasised the crucial role the media plays in this era of ‘post-truth politics’. Puttnam said, “The role of the media is absolutely fundamental to the way we see ourselves, we see our future, the way we actually regard our own histories and the way we begin to sort out our problems.” There is a constant conflict between the truthfulness, profitability and entertainment value of content – and it is the media’s responsibility to ensure messages are not distorted, and that audiences understand them.

Incontrovertibly, Puttnam sees climate change as the ultimate existential crisis of our times. After an 18-year break from the film industry, Puttnam has returned to make a film on climate change, ‘Arctic 30‘. The film is a call-to-action to tackle climate change, and suggests that today’s society is suffering from the ‘boiling frog’ syndrome, whereby people are unaware of gradual changes even though they will have significant negative consequences.

Finally, after his keynote Puttnam also pointed out that lack of good management, particularly in the creative sector, is what hinders business growth in the UK. According to Puttnam, creative management is more complex than management in any other sector and there is a need for greater understanding of the process and an increase in training.

So what does all this mean for me? Not a long ago, I came across an African saying that summarises aptly where I am now in relation to my PhD: “If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent a night with a mosquito.” Of course, the mosquito makes a difference in an annoying way but the principle is the same. Through my work at Chouette Films, a green film production company I co-founded and where I now work as a producer, I bring to light issues that would otherwise remain unheard of – and work with collaborators who would normally not be in a position to afford the cost of service of the film industry, such as academics or non-profit organisations. The entertainment value or profit we make is only secondary to our drive for social change. Speaking to potential investors, for whom the financial profit of Chouette Films is the only priority, I would occasionally wonder whether our social drive was the best way forward. But listening to Puttnam filled me with confidence in the fact that there are certain areas where we should never compromise.

It is particularly encouraging for me to see Puttnam caring so passionately about climate change. Seeing him return to his career to make a film that aims to mobilise people to take action against climate change is exceptionally powerful to me as we share the same passion. In our work at Chouette Films, we combine our creative talent with a whole range of green tech solutions and sustainable practices to minimise the carbon footprint of our film activities. Puttnam’s talk gave me hope in the fact that we can make a difference: whether we’re a micro business or a well-established industry professional with several years of experience, we’re striving towards the same goal. He quoted Gov. Jay Inslee from Washington State, who said, “We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last to actually do something about it.” And I have no doubt the film industry has an immensely important role in leading the change we all must embrace.

I am also delighted to see Puttnam’s involvement in the new Executive MBA for the Creative Industries programme at Ashridge Business School as there are many similarities with my own work: in my PhD, I focus on the role of the producer as creative force in documentary filmmaking for social change. I’m testing Peter Bloore’s idea of the creative triangle of director, writer and producer, which he developed for fiction film, to see how it could be adjusted to documentary filmmaking. The geometric shape of collaboration in documentary is certainly not a triangle. It could be a pentagon, heptagon – or perhaps there are no fixed rules? But listening to Puttnam helped me understand that I can make a difference – and no matter how small our work might seem, it will never be insignificant. In fact, I’m even excited about the challenges that we, the 85.4% of companies in the sector, are facing. After all, constraint only fuels creativity.

Watch the full creative keynote by Puttnam here

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Anna Sowa is a documentary film producer with a strong background in international affairs policy and academic research. After completing her BA in Arabic with International Relations, Anna continued her professional and academic interest in international development at SOAS, University of London where she graduated with a distinction MSc Migration, Mobility and Development. She is a PhD by practice candidate at the London Film School/ University of Exeter researching the role of the producer in documentary filmmaking. Her project is supervised by Professor Will Higbee at the University of Exeter and Jane Roscoe, Director of the London Film School. She is the co-founder of Chouette Films, a green film production company committed to using film as a tool for social change.