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As part of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, the IndieWire Future of Filmmaking team presents “Behind Their Lens,” a series of panel discussions with some of the most exciting filmmakers, directors and producers of 2026.
On the panel of producers, “Tangles” producer Lauren Miller Rogen, “Ghosts” and “Harlots” producer Alison Owen, and “Devil Wears Prada” producer Carla Hacken spoke to students and guests about everything from how they provide good, productive notes on a story to how they view the current rapidly consolidating media landscape to advance projects.
But what unites all their work, across all stages of production, is to continue to overcome whatever obstacles and challenges are on the way. And that is something that has been true for them since they entered the real work of the production industry. Owen talked about how her “degree” in production is something she earned with a bunch of university students, but not by attending university. It started with a conversation with someone who was attending the UK National Film School at the time.
“This was in the early 80s, when things were much easier, but they said, ‘There are no agents. But if you want to learn about acting, 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 graduation films would want someone to come out and produce for them. And they didn’t care that you hadn’t done anything. I didn’t know what a call sheet was or what a PA was or anything. But they were happy to have a pair of hands.”
Being a willing pair of hands, Owen took Owen to a small town in mid-Wales, working on a senior graduation project, and that work on the ground, right on site has been a great place ever since. “You’re not only learning stuff, but you’re meeting your peers. So they were all people who ended up directing major studio films, editors, cinematographers, people I’m working with now, like John Mathieson, who – you know, we all slept on a mattress above a pub, and he’s now lighting for Joe Wright,” Owen said. I always say to students, ‘Network with your peers. They’re the people in the future you’re going to want to hire or hire.”
Tuning into what your peers are doing can show you what’s possible. Miller Rogen had written the script for her first feature, “For A Good Time, Call…” years earlier, but it was seeing Lena Dunham’s work in “Tiny Furniture” that made her realize it was something she could do herself.
“I saw ‘Tiny Furniture,’ and I thought, ‘Well, I could 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’re going to do this on our own, and I’m going to star in it.’ And they were like, ‘Whoa.’ And I was like, ‘No, that’s what we’re doing,’” said Miller Rogen.
As a result of that conviction – and the main links to some independent sponsors under the care of Miller’s brother Rogen who worked in finance – the film’s budget was increased by $750,000. “We shot in 16 days. And then we went to Sundance, which is, of course, lucky to get in. But we got into Sundance and Focus Features bought it and released it, and it was in movie theaters, which would not happen now. “But it was incredible, and I think these days, there are so many ways to see your project.
“I think you just said that the most important thing for all of them is that there are so many ways for you to get your work out there right now,” Hacken said. “The success of ‘Backrooms’ and all those YouTube horror shows should give you hope that, you know, you can write something good, you can produce something good, you can find a good story, and that there are other ways to do it than there used to be.”
