“It’s offered a mirror to check how we’re doing,” Caspian Films on Investment Readiness and giving female auteurs a voice
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Whatever your area of expertise, finding the right partner to help bring your work to life is key. For Jolly Griffin, that collaboration was forged between film producer Anna Griffin and TV producer and screenwriter Jolyon Rubinstein. Together, their work spanning both big and small screen entertainment led them to create a versatile new production company with big ambitions.
“My background is film and Jolyon’s background is TV but we came together with the passion and want to produce high-level drama predominantly for TV but also with a small film slate,” says Griffin, talking us through the process that led to the formation of Jolly Griffin. “We really want to utilise what the indie film world is so good at, which is interrogating character and script, and put that into our TV projects because if you don’t, you’ve got no chance of getting anything through the door.”
As a film producer, Griffin has steered a number of features onto screens, including the 2018 Bifa-nominated Netflix hit Calibre starring Jack Lowden and this year’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title Sister Midnight. Meanwhile, Rubinstein’s expertise is scriptwriting and crafting character voices, specialising in satirical TV shows like the BAFTA–winning The Revolution Will be Televised and the Broadcast Award–winning Don’t Hate The Players. It’s through these previous successes that the pair hope to pivot into creating meaningful dramas.
“Jolly Griffin is an independent production company creating film and TV inspired by true life stories that audiences can’t get enough of, capturing the ‘I can’t believe it’ moments, whatever the genre, that subvert expectations and blend the boundaries between comedic and drama,” says Rubinstein, commenting on the company’s slate of high-end film and TV projects. “We develop in-house but we’ve also been developing with the BBC. We’ve got projects to a level where they have really strong scripts and series outlines and we’re now looking to partner with production companies who can actualise these projects.”
The pair’s shared interests guide the company’s focus, with projects on subjects like the ongoing migrant crisis and neurodivergent coming-of-age tales populating their slate. “We share a similar ethos of the stories we want to elevate,” says Rubinstein. “We’re not making TV and films that are necessarily easy to make, we’re making stories that we really want to tell.”
Keeping flexible is also important, especially considering the unpredictable climate of the UK’s film and TV sector. “We’ve split our slate to keep us dynamic within both marketplaces,” adds Griffin, explaining why their slate is currently half TV, half film. “Content will always be needed for both platforms and needs dip and rise. We need to make sure we’re not focusing over there in film when we could be making something quicker on the other side of the market in TV.”
The team also want to stay fluid when it comes to the type of work they produce. “We’re predominately a drama company but we hope to make comedy as well,” says Rubinstein. “We’re not cutting ourselves off from that really important part of the industry. There hasn’t been much satire in the last five years or so but with my background, that’s something we’ll be looking at doing,” he adds. “We both have a lot of experience bringing ideas the whole way through production and we’re a really passionate team.”
To fast-track these goals, Griffin and Rubinstein have joined our Investment Readiness cohort to make industry connections, secure investment and create a runway towards their goals. “It’s not just the promise of finance, it’s also the level of mentor support and introductions that you get,” says Griffin on why they decided to enroll on the scheme. “All my films have been made with public funding and I knew that in order to really benefit our new company, we need to get our heads around the private world. It was about branching those networks.”
Getting advice on the best ways to expand is also something the duo are looking for. “We’re very business minded but we can’t do all jobs at once,” reasons Rubinstein. “We want to grow our team.” The scheme is still ongoing but the pair has already gained some key takeaways. “I’ve learned to not be so tunnel visioned when pitching,” reveals Griffin. “There are lots of investors from outside the film and TV industries that want to invest but you have to talk to them differently and have different asks. Creative UK is brilliant at making sure you’re expanding your investor network so you can be more dynamic.”
With help from Creative Enterprise, Jolly Griffin hopes to one day be working with the industry’s leading content providers and creating work that’s seen by audiences worldwide. “We’d like to be making shows for HBO and films in a similar vein to the sort of character-driven, independent work made by A24,” says Rubinstein of the company’s future plans. “We’re a very ambitious team and we’ve got great stories to tell. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be us telling them.”
Words and interview by Simon Bland