June 4, 2025 • 21 mins
In this episode, we sit down with acclaimed film critic Anna Smith as she shares her path into journalism and film criticism. From Minx to Cannes, Anna tells us about navigating a male-dominated industry, gives us a glimpse into her day-to-day activities and explains how her acclaimed podcast Girls on Film came to be.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:12):
I'm Anna Smith,
I'm a film critic and broadcaster,and I host a podcast called Girls on Film.
Amazing.So let's go right back to the beginning.
What does your educational journeylook like?
Well, I was always a big fan of languagesand English language in school,
so I ended up going to Leeds Universitystudying English literature language,
which I loved.
(00:33):
After that,I decided to train to become a journalist.
So I went to CardiffJournalism School post-graduate course
and that took me to London.
Perfect. So
you're a film critic,how did you become a film critic?
So once I came to London, I fell intovarious different journalism jobs.
(00:53):
I think Cardiff was a really goodgrounding in journalism.
It meant you could fall into anything,any kind of genre.
And I actually started off in navigationmagazines, which is not my area at all.
I have no sense of direction.
But, you know, when you’re a trained journalist, you can edit any magazine,
so they say.
And I did, Ithen fell into dance music magazines.
Because it was the 90s.
(01:14):
I was very into rave culture.
That was fun, but very chaotic,
quite stressful, very understaffed.
I edited a couple of magazines there.Then I went into women's magazines.
That was kind of where I wanted to be.
There was a magazine called Minx againin the late 90s, which was,
There was a magazine called Minx againin the late 90s, which was,
There was a magazine called Minx againin the late 90s, which was,
I think feisty is an overused words,but back then that's kind of what it was.
(01:35):
It wasn't, you know, it wasn't a Cosmo.
It was a bit more edgy, a bit less girly,you might say.
And it has a very thoughtprovoking pieces.
So Minx was great.
I was assistant editor there, and one daysomeone said, oh, there's a film.
Do you want to review it?
Because no one else can go.
Do you want tickets to the screening?
(01:55):
I went along and I just fell in lovewith it, and I thought sitting there
watching a movie, getting paid for youropinion about this movie, what a dream.
And I realized that I loved writing aboutthat more than I loved
writing about music,more than I loved writing about
even lifestyle and travel, whichI still enjoy, you know, up to a point.
But writing about film, which takes you toso many different places, I love.
(02:19):
Yeah, wonderful.
So that's fascinatingthat you weren't sort of.
Were you a big film fan growing up?
Interestingly, Iwas slightly deprived of film growing up,
and I have actually found thisto be the case
with quite a lot of peoplethat work in the film industry.
Not everyone, but I was once had a quitea swishy dinner and funnily enough, we all
and all my parents wouldn'tlet me watch TV.
(02:40):
You know, they were very strictabout me going to the cinema.
And you know, I did love going to the cinemaon the rare occasions I got to go.
But as a child it would be quite rare.
And certainly as a teenagernot as frequently as
some other people, I think at universityI sort of sat around and watched
horror movies with,you know, friends as everyone kind of did.
But I was never like a movie buff.
(03:01):
I think it probably started,the germ of it started
when I studied genderand popular culture at university.
It was one of the strands that you coulddo as part of your English course.
And this was meeting rinks for mebecause you got to examine
gender and popular cultureand to look at advertisements,
to look at TV shows, and to look at filmfrom a feminist perspective.
(03:21):
And then you can see some of the threadsof that later my career.
So I think the thing is,I, you know, I was a film fan,
but I wasn't as literate or as trainedas I would have liked.
So I when I decided to go freelance tobecome a film critic, I played catch up.
Yeah. So tell me about that journey.
How did you become a freelancer?
So Minx eventually folded.
(03:42):
By that time, I'd built upquite a good body of reviews and cuts,
and, I had good contacts in the industry.
I knew how to go to the screeningsI knew a lot of the PR’s
I knew how it all worked, really.
So that was really helpful.
And then I started to do some workfor Empire magazine,
which is obviously fantastic filmmagazine and, get to know people there.
(04:03):
I eventually started writing for themand then started spreading the word.
It was a very, very slow process,especially as a woman in those days
in the early 2000s trying to geta reputation, trying to persuade people
to take you seriously as a film criticwhen it's very much a man's world.
Was a bit of a challenge.
But through persistence and hopefully
(04:24):
really good writing,I'm sure it is that actually, yeah, I got there.
I remember at Time Out I was workingin the TV section for quite a long time,
which was is a very similar skill,of course, you know,
writing about television,
but for some reason there's there's maybeslightly different attitudes towards it.
Or there were then and the TV, the,the film editor said to me, okay, finally
(04:45):
I've been, I've been asking thempersistently, can I write a film review?
And he said, okay,I'll give you Stuart Little 2.
This is after like six months.
But I just made sure that was the bestfilm review that I could possibly deliver
at that point.You know, I worked so hard on that.
And he was surprisedand he kept giving me work
and then Sight and Sound went, oh,okay, we've seen her work in Time Out,
(05:05):
she's good. Now we will answer her emails.
And there was a lot of unansweredemails at first.
And then you get on their radarand then they think, okay, she's serious.
Yeah, yeah. Incredible.
So what does a typical workingday look like for you?
Not really.
Such a thing is
typical is very varied, which is I lovebecause I really enjoy being freelance.
I really love working from home.
(05:25):
I haven't worked in an officefor a very long time.
I might have a daytime screening,for example.
So I would go into Soho,where they’re usually held,
and go to a screening roomwith a bunch of other journalists.
Sometimes two,sometimes 200 depends on the movie
or how early it is,sometimes they're quite
secret advance screenings.
(05:45):
So I'd sit there, watch the movie,
and then I might give feedbackabout that film to the publicist.
I would then goto one of my several editors
who I file for regularly and say,I think this might be a fit for us.
Let's bear in mind for that issue.
And I'd also have considered thatfor Girls on Film, my podcast.
So any screening I go to, I'm thinkingabout it from lots of different levels,
(06:06):
and I'm also thinking about itin terms of awards consideration.
You know, might this be something I'd be talkingabout on TV when it comes to the Oscars?
That kind of thing.
So that would be part of my day.
Another part would be having meetingswith the Girls on Film team.
There's three of us at the momentor working part time, but very hard.
And we have a lot of freelancers as well.
On the audio side.
So we again, would be meeting talkingabout what events you've got coming
(06:29):
up, trying to get sponsorship.That's a really big one.
You know, having meetingswith people about sponsorship,
planning future episodes,that kind of thing.
And another big part of my dayis being responsive to breaking film news.
So, you know, for example, recently,you know,
there was a news storyabout James Bond, about Amazon.
And, suddenly my phone's ringing off the hook.
And, suddenly my phone's ringing off the hook.
Because I'm on the rolodexas we used to call it for all these different
(06:51):
radio stations and TV channels.
And, you know, sometimes you're busy.You can't oblige.
But when you can, it'sgreat to jump in there.
You don't get paid much,but it all adds up.
And it's also good for the profile.Absolutely.
Tell me more about Girls on Film.
How did that come to fruition?
So I thought of the name in the year 2000that it was going to be a TV
(07:12):
show that I did with my friend,and it was just one of those ideas
we had, two women talking about film,
wouldn't that be great?
And it just was a germ of an idea.
And then in 2016/2017, my agent,
Hedda Archbold and I, started pitching itseriously as a TV show.
My friend had since moved onto other things and given it her blessing.
(07:33):
So, you know,she said, let's do this together.
Let's pitch it.
No one was interested as a TV show.
Then we thought, let's do a podcast.
Because people were approaching meabout podcasts.
Hedda thought it would be a great ideato try it as a podcast.
So that's what we did.And that was in 2017.
And really, it's it's evolved from there.
And really, it's it's evolved from there.
The original idea was partly to showthat women talking to other women
(07:55):
about film isn't a niche activity.
I was being asked to go on TV alongsidemen, but very, very rarely alongside
women.
And of course, you see two mentalking about films together all the time.
There was some kind of assumptionthat, oh, must be a girls show.
Now, we do have a lot of malelisteners and Girls on Film.
It covers all sorts of topics.
But it isit does focus on gender representation,
(08:17):
because these are the kind of discussionsthat a lot of women
and those of us discussingit are really interested in.
So we wanted to tackle filmsfrom a different perspective,
whether they are mainstream,you know, blockbuster hits,
lovely little documentariesthat no one else has heard about,
some indie filmwe want to champion, you name it.
And what we found is that it's evolvedfrom being film critics
(08:37):
chatting to each othervery quickly into getting,
you know, reallybig name, actors and directors on there.
I think we've had 15 Oscar winners on now.
By episode three, Carey Mulliganand Andrea Riseborough were coming on.
It was justit was very surprising and exciting to us.
The level of industry and interestthat we had from women in the industry.
(08:57):
So what we decided to do was to open it
out and have more practitioners,more filmmakers on the podcast.
Well, having film criticson when we can as well.
Yeah. Fantastic.
I mean, you've essentially provided a
a space, haven't you,where everyone can talk about things
that they're, they usually don'tget the opportunity to do. Exactly.
We do find that a lot of womencome on, they say,
oh gosh, nohas asked me that question before.
I've been doing that.
(09:18):
What we call the junket
trail, you know, going to loadsand loads of interviews with journalists
and no one has asked me that.And that's brilliant.
If they then feel that,
that freedom to talk about itfrom a slightly different perspective.
Absolutely.
So anyone looking to enter
into this world, what skill setswould you say that they should possess?
I think mine is a very specific world because,
(09:38):
some film critics just write.
Whereas I do broadcast, and I do podcasting,
So I suppose it depends,I might break those down a little bit
because some people mightjust want to focus on the one.
I would say, if you've got the skill setto do all three
great, and the rest I also hostQ&A’s on stage.
great, and the rest I also hostQ&A’s on stage,
there's another one can get to that moreif you want.
But yeah, to be good at allthose things is,
(10:00):
I would say, almost one of the only waysto make a living as a film critic now.
Unfortunately, being really honestwith you, it is not a pretty picture
Unfortunately, being really honestwith you, it is not a pretty picture
in terms of earninga living being a film critic these days.
So the more strings to your bowthat you can have, the better.
So number one, be a journalist.
You don't have to be trained journalist,but I think you have to have the skills
(10:20):
of journalism, and you have to havethe discipline of journalism.
It's not necessarily to mejust about kind of, you know, saying
what you think about a film.
You obviously have to think
very carefully about how you structurea review, how you reach your audience.
You have to be very good at writing,obviously.
And,and I think to hone your opinion over
many years is a really valuable thingbecause you might start out,
(10:41):
I look at some of my early reviews
and I sort of wince, you know,the more I watched, the more I saw,
the more kind of knowledgeI amassed, more comparison points.
I had, you know, with you,if you're saying this is
if people go and say,this is the best romcom ever,
I was like, well, how many rom comshave you seen? You know, you got it.
You got to be careful of the sweepingstatements.
So, yeah, great writing.
(11:02):
In terms of the skillsfor broadcasting and podcasting,
a lot of that is practice and confidence,which can be learned.
And I think listening to,the people that you love
And I think listening to,the people that you love
listening to and watching them,
but also a really important thingis remembering to be yourself.
I think,
like many people, when I started out,I was too self-conscious trying to think,
(11:23):
oh, who's a really successful broadcaster?
And should I sound like them?
Should I be like them?
Well,you don't want to be doing an imitation.
You have to be you.
Especially if you're a film critic,because it's about your opinion.
And I think there was certainlya weight on me early on, again,
to sort of follow in the footsteps of,
of, of very serious malefilm critic broadcasters.
(11:45):
And my style tends to be a bit lighterand maybe a bit humorous,
and it's not always necessaryto kind of try to be someone else.
I don't think that's a very good skill.
So, in terms of podcasting,in terms of the broadcasting
Absolutely.
I'm so glad you said that.
There's nothing more frustratingthan reading a review where you’re like,
have you considered
that Bridget Jones 4, is not for you?And therefore you don't like it?
(12:05):
And that's okay. But other people might.
Very good example, that one.
I got quite crosswith a couple of those reviews,
probably the one you’re talking about,albeit dear friends of mine,
I just think, why didn't you give this,
well, either give the review to someonethat, you know, is in the target market,
which is what we’re fighting foron Girls on Film in many ways, and especially
in terms of diversityon screen and diversity in film criticism.
(12:27):
But also, you know, yeah,if you are that critic
that has to write it, please be generousabout the people that are actually going to love it.
Yeah, 100%.
So are you able to talk a bit more of youmentioned Q&A hosting.
Can you talk a bit more about that?
something I've loved doing, which wasn'tnecessarily on my agenda to start with,
(12:48):
because I think increasinglyin the last decade or so,
journalists have been asked, filmjournalists have been asked to host Q&A
after screenings,whether it be a public screening.
So you buy a ticket to a movie,and then the star comes on afterwards
and you spend 20 minuteslistening to them talk about the film.
Maybe there's some questionsfrom the audience
or it's the private screeningsfor BAFTA members,
(13:10):
for example, or for Oscar voters.
So to give people a good ideaabout film, give them some context,
and to have an expert journalistmoderating
those who'sseen the film, maybe several times.
who’s written about the film,
who has a very strong presence on stageand can also moderate,
sometimes a tricky crowd, it can be, you know,if you've got a very famous person
(13:34):
on stage with you,you get a lot of very desperate hands
on, you know, and people trying to askquestions off topic sometimes
personal questions, that kind of thing.
So it's important that you've gota strong hand moderating that.
But I think, what I really enjoyis just taking the hoping
to kind of take the conversationin an organic direction
like, you don'tnecessarily know where it's going to go.
(13:55):
And I loveif you've got a set of questions,
but they come up with somethingreally interesting
and you just follow that threadand the audience learns something new.
100 % I love that.
How do you find do you get starstruck?
I don't anymore, you know, I wastrying to think who, if anyone.
I don't think so.
I mean, I think when it'sa really big gig, like hosting Kate Winslet
on stage at the BFI, you know, Southbank.
(14:18):
It was her first big one.
I wasn't starstruck at all.
I've met her several times.
She's lovely. Nothing to worry about.
But I guess there's just a senseof it's important that this goes well.
Yeah. It'snot. It's not like nerves or starstruck.
It's just.
Okay, I need to make sureeverything is prepared.
So it's just about reallypreparing everything from from your,
(14:40):
you know, questions in your researchactually, to just to your wardrobe.
Make sure there's nothingthat's going to distract you
or the audience or anything,you know, while you're on stage
so that you and the person you're talkingto, other people, you're talking to
are super relaxed.
Amazing.
Are there any
myths about being a film criticthat you would like to debunk?
I think some people in the industry,and I can understand why
(15:01):
they think that. By the word criticand by some reviews they might think
that we're out to get them, thatwe deliberately like being negative.
Now, I can't speak for all film critics.
I used to be president of the CriticsCircle,
and I still couldn't
speak for film critics in that regardbecause we are, by nature,
are all very different.We all have different opinions.
But for me, I think, I'm
(15:22):
in this because I love filmand I always say that,
you know, if if actors go, oh god,you know, a critic?
And I say, you know,I don't dig the knife in deliberately.
I try to be fair.
I try to be balanced.
And I would sayI've become increasingly moreso.
Again,I look back at some of my earlier reviews
and I think if I was the actor readingthat, I might find that a bit hurtful.
I try not to do anything like that now.
(15:43):
I think there are ways of writing itthat can be funny
and true without really hurting someone.
So, I know a lot of people don't readthe reviews anyway, but if they did, yeah.
So, I know a lot of people don't readthe reviews anyway, but if they did, yeah.
So yeah, I think it's about loving filmand what I'm happy about now.
Really.
Is even though occasionally I getthe opportunity to do negative review,
most places I write for, which are likeSaga, Waitrose Weekend, Time Out,
(16:07):
I'm only really asked to do thingsthat I'd recommend.
So and Girls on Film the same.
So I'm generally praising thingsand analysing them
and analysing their appealrather than trashing them, which unfortunately
was what I was doing a lot early inmy career, because I was asked to review
a lot of the teeny tiny, low budget filmsthat unfortunately weren't very good.
No, that make sense.
(16:28):
And any advice that you havefor people entering into this world?
I think knock on asmany doors is possible.
Don't badger people, but don't be afraid
to ask or chase people up because they'reeveryone's really, really busy.
Make friends.
You know, you could say network,but it's not necessarily a cynical thing.
It's about connectingwith as many people as possible.
Stay passionate about what you do.
(16:50):
Remember how privileged you areif you get to do anything.
And after certain appointments, you'vemade your name doing a few free things.
If you have to always ask for pay,because this is a big problem
in our industrythat a lot of film critics,
and other criticsand journalists are being asked to appear
on TV and radioor write for online without being paid.
And that's not on.
(17:10):
Out of interest,
have you seen a shift over the years
that you've been working, from the early 2000sto here in 2025 of, as you say, it's
been harder to become an official filmcritic as a full time gig.
And have you noticed thatwith the birth of the internet
and everybody has a letterbox,everybody has a Rotten Tomatoes account,
is that what we're fighting against?
A lot of time.
(17:30):
I think there are a number of issues.Yeah.
Some of it's the declining paginationin newspapers,
Some of it's the declining paginationin newspapers,
and advertising as a resultof the rise of the internet, of course.
And the, the lack of sort
of full time rolesfor critics in papers and magazines.
But yeah, I mean, there is that kind ofeveryone's a critic thing, and I,
I actually love looking at letterboxdI think it's great.
And, you know, why not?
Why should we be the only oneswith opinions that that's, you know,
(17:53):
that makes perfect sense,that it's lovely for everyone to share.
But at the same time,I think it's great to have people
with that wealth of knowledgeand experience who are paid to do it.
And if that's another important thing,is that you know, that we are balanced,
you know, and that we're not beingpaid to be nice about it.
So I think, I think a lot has changed.
I think I'd say watch this spacewith Girls on Film because we've got some,
(18:14):
issueswe're going to be talking about quite soon
that relate to that question,that I cannot reveal yet,
but in terms of how things have changedfor criticism, where we are at the moment
in terms of the all important diversity,and I think,
I hope that's one thing that has changed,even though there may not be
as many opportunitiesis that people are
hopefully more awarethat we need a variety of voices
(18:37):
because everyone watches filmsif we want to see and and,
you know, encouragethese films to be made,
we need the right people reviewing themas you were leading to earlier.
So we need a whole lot of peoplewith different life experiences reviewing films.
Wonderful and just to close, I'mgoing to letterboxd to you, if that's okay.
What are your top four?
Oh, I haven't actually prepareda top four
(18:59):
Well, it's the top four right now.
I’ll give it a whirl.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire,Céline Sciamma.
I was at the premiere in Cannes for that,and I just get goosebumps
just thinking about that,because what a beautiful film.
Listeners, if you not seenPortrait of a Lady on Fire
Check it out. It’s swoony romanticand it's a wonderful female led film.
The film that turned meonto film when I was a kid.
(19:21):
Back to the Future.
Just absolutely wonderful film.
I was lucky enough to introduce,the Imax screening
of the trilogy of that recently,and I just was pinching myself again
you know, what a way to come from havingwatched it at home on Christmas Day
on a little telly.
I love Mike Leigh's films.
So I think I'd pick out Secrets & Liesfor Mike Leigh’s film.
(19:44):
Yeah, because that is onethat had a profound effect to me in terms
of, its portrait of British cultureand also the strength
of the female characters.
We have Girls on Film awards,
and we recently awards Mike Leigh our ally award,
which is men make great films about women
because that's just so important,isn't it?
You know, it's and I'm not saying only oneperson could tell one person's story.
(20:08):
I'm now tryingto think of another good one.
I wonder if I can come with up a, yeahhere’s a rather different one,
The Last Seduction
This is one, it’s quite obscure,but Linda Fiorentino starred in it in the 1990’s.
It’s a brilliant, again, female led film noirsort of femme fatale film
definitely check that one outif you’re old enough.
Amazing, well thank you so much for your time today.
(20:30):
It’s been an absolute pleasure talking to you, thank you.
I'm Anna Smith,
I'm a film critic and broadcaster,and I host a podcast called Girls on Film.
Amazing.So let's go right back to the beginning.
What does your educational journeylook like?
Well, I was always a big fan of languagesand English language in school,
so I ended up going to Leeds Universitystudying English literature language,
which I loved.
(00:33):
After that,I decided to train to become a journalist.
So I went to CardiffJournalism School post-graduate course
and that took me to London.
Perfect. So
you're a film critic,how did you become a film critic?
So once I came to London, I fell intovarious different journalism jobs.
(00:53):
I think Cardiff was a really goodgrounding in journalism.
It meant you could fall into anything,any kind of genre.
And I actually started off in navigationmagazines, which is not my area at all.
I have no sense of direction.
But, you know, when you’re a trained journalist, you can edit any magazine,
so they say.
And I did, Ithen fell into dance music magazines.
Because it was the 90s.
(01:14):
I was very into rave culture.
That was fun, but very chaotic,
quite stressful, very understaffed.
I edited a couple of magazines there.Then I went into women's magazines.
That was kind of where I wanted to be.
There was a magazine called Minx againin the late 90s, which was,
There was a magazine called Minx againin the late 90s, which was,
There was a magazine called Minx againin the late 90s, which was,
I think feisty is an overused words,but back then that's kind of what it was.
(01:35):
It wasn't, you know, it wasn't a Cosmo.
It was a bit more edgy, a bit less girly,you might say.
And it has a very thoughtprovoking pieces.
So Minx was great.
I was assistant editor there, and one daysomeone said, oh, there's a film.
Do you want to review it?
Because no one else can go.
Do you want tickets to the screening?
(01:55):
I went along and I just fell in lovewith it, and I thought sitting there
watching a movie, getting paid for youropinion about this movie, what a dream.
And I realized that I loved writing aboutthat more than I loved
writing about music,more than I loved writing about
even lifestyle and travel, whichI still enjoy, you know, up to a point.
But writing about film, which takes you toso many different places, I love.
(02:19):
Yeah, wonderful.
So that's fascinatingthat you weren't sort of.
Were you a big film fan growing up?
Interestingly, Iwas slightly deprived of film growing up,
and I have actually found thisto be the case
with quite a lot of peoplethat work in the film industry.
Not everyone, but I was once had a quitea swishy dinner and funnily enough, we all
and all my parents wouldn'tlet me watch TV.
(02:40):
You know, they were very strictabout me going to the cinema.
And you know, I did love going to the cinemaon the rare occasions I got to go.
But as a child it would be quite rare.
And certainly as a teenagernot as frequently as
some other people, I think at universityI sort of sat around and watched
horror movies with,you know, friends as everyone kind of did.
But I was never like a movie buff.
(03:01):
I think it probably started,the germ of it started
when I studied genderand popular culture at university.
It was one of the strands that you coulddo as part of your English course.
And this was meeting rinks for mebecause you got to examine
gender and popular cultureand to look at advertisements,
to look at TV shows, and to look at filmfrom a feminist perspective.
(03:21):
And then you can see some of the threadsof that later my career.
So I think the thing is,I, you know, I was a film fan,
but I wasn't as literate or as trainedas I would have liked.
So I when I decided to go freelance tobecome a film critic, I played catch up.
Yeah. So tell me about that journey.
How did you become a freelancer?
So Minx eventually folded.
(03:42):
By that time, I'd built upquite a good body of reviews and cuts,
and, I had good contacts in the industry.
I knew how to go to the screeningsI knew a lot of the PR’s
I knew how it all worked, really.
So that was really helpful.
And then I started to do some workfor Empire magazine,
which is obviously fantastic filmmagazine and, get to know people there.
(04:03):
I eventually started writing for themand then started spreading the word.
It was a very, very slow process,especially as a woman in those days
in the early 2000s trying to geta reputation, trying to persuade people
to take you seriously as a film criticwhen it's very much a man's world.
Was a bit of a challenge.
But through persistence and hopefully
(04:24):
really good writing,I'm sure it is that actually, yeah, I got there.
I remember at Time Out I was workingin the TV section for quite a long time,
which was is a very similar skill,of course, you know,
writing about television,
but for some reason there's there's maybeslightly different attitudes towards it.
Or there were then and the TV, the,the film editor said to me, okay, finally
(04:45):
I've been, I've been asking thempersistently, can I write a film review?
And he said, okay,I'll give you Stuart Little 2.
This is after like six months.
But I just made sure that was the bestfilm review that I could possibly deliver
at that point.You know, I worked so hard on that.
And he was surprisedand he kept giving me work
and then Sight and Sound went, oh,okay, we've seen her work in Time Out,
(05:05):
she's good. Now we will answer her emails.
And there was a lot of unansweredemails at first.
And then you get on their radarand then they think, okay, she's serious.
Yeah, yeah. Incredible.
So what does a typical workingday look like for you?
Not really.
Such a thing is
typical is very varied, which is I lovebecause I really enjoy being freelance.
I really love working from home.
(05:25):
I haven't worked in an officefor a very long time.
I might have a daytime screening,for example.
So I would go into Soho,where they’re usually held,
and go to a screening roomwith a bunch of other journalists.
Sometimes two,sometimes 200 depends on the movie
or how early it is,sometimes they're quite
secret advance screenings.
(05:45):
So I'd sit there, watch the movie,
and then I might give feedbackabout that film to the publicist.
I would then goto one of my several editors
who I file for regularly and say,I think this might be a fit for us.
Let's bear in mind for that issue.
And I'd also have considered thatfor Girls on Film, my podcast.
So any screening I go to, I'm thinkingabout it from lots of different levels,
(06:06):
and I'm also thinking about itin terms of awards consideration.
You know, might this be something I'd be talkingabout on TV when it comes to the Oscars?
That kind of thing.
So that would be part of my day.
Another part would be having meetingswith the Girls on Film team.
There's three of us at the momentor working part time, but very hard.
And we have a lot of freelancers as well.
On the audio side.
So we again, would be meeting talkingabout what events you've got coming
(06:29):
up, trying to get sponsorship.That's a really big one.
You know, having meetingswith people about sponsorship,
planning future episodes,that kind of thing.
And another big part of my dayis being responsive to breaking film news.
So, you know, for example, recently,you know,
there was a news storyabout James Bond, about Amazon.
And, suddenly my phone's ringing off the hook.
And, suddenly my phone's ringing off the hook.
Because I'm on the rolodexas we used to call it for all these different
(06:51):
radio stations and TV channels.
And, you know, sometimes you're busy.You can't oblige.
But when you can, it'sgreat to jump in there.
You don't get paid much,but it all adds up.
And it's also good for the profile.Absolutely.
Tell me more about Girls on Film.
How did that come to fruition?
So I thought of the name in the year 2000that it was going to be a TV
(07:12):
show that I did with my friend,and it was just one of those ideas
we had, two women talking about film,
wouldn't that be great?
And it just was a germ of an idea.
And then in 2016/2017, my agent,
Hedda Archbold and I, started pitching itseriously as a TV show.
My friend had since moved onto other things and given it her blessing.
(07:33):
So, you know,she said, let's do this together.
Let's pitch it.
No one was interested as a TV show.
Then we thought, let's do a podcast.
Because people were approaching meabout podcasts.
Hedda thought it would be a great ideato try it as a podcast.
So that's what we did.And that was in 2017.
And really, it's it's evolved from there.
And really, it's it's evolved from there.
The original idea was partly to showthat women talking to other women
(07:55):
about film isn't a niche activity.
I was being asked to go on TV alongsidemen, but very, very rarely alongside
women.
And of course, you see two mentalking about films together all the time.
There was some kind of assumptionthat, oh, must be a girls show.
Now, we do have a lot of malelisteners and Girls on Film.
It covers all sorts of topics.
But it isit does focus on gender representation,
(08:17):
because these are the kind of discussionsthat a lot of women
and those of us discussingit are really interested in.
So we wanted to tackle filmsfrom a different perspective,
whether they are mainstream,you know, blockbuster hits,
lovely little documentariesthat no one else has heard about,
some indie filmwe want to champion, you name it.
And what we found is that it's evolvedfrom being film critics
(08:37):
chatting to each othervery quickly into getting,
you know, reallybig name, actors and directors on there.
I think we've had 15 Oscar winners on now.
By episode three, Carey Mulliganand Andrea Riseborough were coming on.
It was justit was very surprising and exciting to us.
The level of industry and interestthat we had from women in the industry.
(08:57):
So what we decided to do was to open it
out and have more practitioners,more filmmakers on the podcast.
Well, having film criticson when we can as well.
Yeah. Fantastic.
I mean, you've essentially provided a
a space, haven't you,where everyone can talk about things
that they're, they usually don'tget the opportunity to do. Exactly.
We do find that a lot of womencome on, they say,
oh gosh, nohas asked me that question before.
I've been doing that.
(09:18):
What we call the junket
trail, you know, going to loadsand loads of interviews with journalists
and no one has asked me that.And that's brilliant.
If they then feel that,
that freedom to talk about itfrom a slightly different perspective.
Absolutely.
So anyone looking to enter
into this world, what skill setswould you say that they should possess?
I think mine is a very specific world because,
(09:38):
some film critics just write.
Whereas I do broadcast, and I do podcasting,
So I suppose it depends,I might break those down a little bit
because some people mightjust want to focus on the one.
I would say, if you've got the skill setto do all three
great, and the rest I also hostQ&A’s on stage.
great, and the rest I also hostQ&A’s on stage,
there's another one can get to that moreif you want.
But yeah, to be good at allthose things is,
(10:00):
I would say, almost one of the only waysto make a living as a film critic now.
Unfortunately, being really honestwith you, it is not a pretty picture
Unfortunately, being really honestwith you, it is not a pretty picture
in terms of earninga living being a film critic these days.
So the more strings to your bowthat you can have, the better.
So number one, be a journalist.
You don't have to be trained journalist,but I think you have to have the skills
(10:20):
of journalism, and you have to havethe discipline of journalism.
It's not necessarily to mejust about kind of, you know, saying
what you think about a film.
You obviously have to think
very carefully about how you structurea review, how you reach your audience.
You have to be very good at writing,obviously.
And,and I think to hone your opinion over
many years is a really valuable thingbecause you might start out,
(10:41):
I look at some of my early reviews
and I sort of wince, you know,the more I watched, the more I saw,
the more kind of knowledgeI amassed, more comparison points.
I had, you know, with you,if you're saying this is
if people go and say,this is the best romcom ever,
I was like, well, how many rom comshave you seen? You know, you got it.
You got to be careful of the sweepingstatements.
So, yeah, great writing.
(11:02):
In terms of the skillsfor broadcasting and podcasting,
a lot of that is practice and confidence,which can be learned.
And I think listening to,the people that you love
And I think listening to,the people that you love
listening to and watching them,
but also a really important thingis remembering to be yourself.
I think,
like many people, when I started out,I was too self-conscious trying to think,
(11:23):
oh, who's a really successful broadcaster?
And should I sound like them?
Should I be like them?
Well,you don't want to be doing an imitation.
You have to be you.
Especially if you're a film critic,because it's about your opinion.
And I think there was certainlya weight on me early on, again,
to sort of follow in the footsteps of,
of, of very serious malefilm critic broadcasters.
(11:45):
And my style tends to be a bit lighterand maybe a bit humorous,
and it's not always necessaryto kind of try to be someone else.
I don't think that's a very good skill.
So, in terms of podcasting,in terms of the broadcasting
Absolutely.
I'm so glad you said that.
There's nothing more frustratingthan reading a review where you’re like,
have you considered
that Bridget Jones 4, is not for you?And therefore you don't like it?
(12:05):
And that's okay. But other people might.
Very good example, that one.
I got quite crosswith a couple of those reviews,
probably the one you’re talking about,albeit dear friends of mine,
I just think, why didn't you give this,
well, either give the review to someonethat, you know, is in the target market,
which is what we’re fighting foron Girls on Film in many ways, and especially
in terms of diversityon screen and diversity in film criticism.
(12:27):
But also, you know, yeah,if you are that critic
that has to write it, please be generousabout the people that are actually going to love it.
Yeah, 100%.
So are you able to talk a bit more of youmentioned Q&A hosting.
Can you talk a bit more about that?
something I've loved doing, which wasn'tnecessarily on my agenda to start with,
(12:48):
because I think increasinglyin the last decade or so,
journalists have been asked, filmjournalists have been asked to host Q&A
after screenings,whether it be a public screening.
So you buy a ticket to a movie,and then the star comes on afterwards
and you spend 20 minuteslistening to them talk about the film.
Maybe there's some questionsfrom the audience
or it's the private screeningsfor BAFTA members,
(13:10):
for example, or for Oscar voters.
So to give people a good ideaabout film, give them some context,
and to have an expert journalistmoderating
those who'sseen the film, maybe several times.
who’s written about the film,
who has a very strong presence on stageand can also moderate,
sometimes a tricky crowd, it can be, you know,if you've got a very famous person
(13:34):
on stage with you,you get a lot of very desperate hands
on, you know, and people trying to askquestions off topic sometimes
personal questions, that kind of thing.
So it's important that you've gota strong hand moderating that.
But I think, what I really enjoyis just taking the hoping
to kind of take the conversationin an organic direction
like, you don'tnecessarily know where it's going to go.
(13:55):
And I loveif you've got a set of questions,
but they come up with somethingreally interesting
and you just follow that threadand the audience learns something new.
100 % I love that.
How do you find do you get starstruck?
I don't anymore, you know, I wastrying to think who, if anyone.
I don't think so.
I mean, I think when it'sa really big gig, like hosting Kate Winslet
on stage at the BFI, you know, Southbank.
(14:18):
It was her first big one.
I wasn't starstruck at all.
I've met her several times.
She's lovely. Nothing to worry about.
But I guess there's just a senseof it's important that this goes well.
Yeah. It'snot. It's not like nerves or starstruck.
It's just.
Okay, I need to make sureeverything is prepared.
So it's just about reallypreparing everything from from your,
(14:40):
you know, questions in your researchactually, to just to your wardrobe.
Make sure there's nothingthat's going to distract you
or the audience or anything,you know, while you're on stage
so that you and the person you're talkingto, other people, you're talking to
are super relaxed.
Amazing.
Are there any
myths about being a film criticthat you would like to debunk?
I think some people in the industry,and I can understand why
(15:01):
they think that. By the word criticand by some reviews they might think
that we're out to get them, thatwe deliberately like being negative.
Now, I can't speak for all film critics.
I used to be president of the CriticsCircle,
and I still couldn't
speak for film critics in that regardbecause we are, by nature,
are all very different.We all have different opinions.
But for me, I think, I'm
(15:22):
in this because I love filmand I always say that,
you know, if if actors go, oh god,you know, a critic?
And I say, you know,I don't dig the knife in deliberately.
I try to be fair.
I try to be balanced.
And I would sayI've become increasingly moreso.
Again,I look back at some of my earlier reviews
and I think if I was the actor readingthat, I might find that a bit hurtful.
I try not to do anything like that now.
(15:43):
I think there are ways of writing itthat can be funny
and true without really hurting someone.
So, I know a lot of people don't readthe reviews anyway, but if they did, yeah.
So, I know a lot of people don't readthe reviews anyway, but if they did, yeah.
So yeah, I think it's about loving filmand what I'm happy about now.
Really.
Is even though occasionally I getthe opportunity to do negative review,
most places I write for, which are likeSaga, Waitrose Weekend, Time Out,
(16:07):
I'm only really asked to do thingsthat I'd recommend.
So and Girls on Film the same.
So I'm generally praising thingsand analysing them
and analysing their appealrather than trashing them, which unfortunately
was what I was doing a lot early inmy career, because I was asked to review
a lot of the teeny tiny, low budget filmsthat unfortunately weren't very good.
No, that make sense.
(16:28):
And any advice that you havefor people entering into this world?
I think knock on asmany doors is possible.
Don't badger people, but don't be afraid
to ask or chase people up because they'reeveryone's really, really busy.
Make friends.
You know, you could say network,but it's not necessarily a cynical thing.
It's about connectingwith as many people as possible.
Stay passionate about what you do.
(16:50):
Remember how privileged you areif you get to do anything.
And after certain appointments, you'vemade your name doing a few free things.
If you have to always ask for pay,because this is a big problem
in our industrythat a lot of film critics,
and other criticsand journalists are being asked to appear
on TV and radioor write for online without being paid.
And that's not on.
(17:10):
Out of interest,
have you seen a shift over the years
that you've been working, from the early 2000sto here in 2025 of, as you say, it's
been harder to become an official filmcritic as a full time gig.
And have you noticed thatwith the birth of the internet
and everybody has a letterbox,everybody has a Rotten Tomatoes account,
is that what we're fighting against?
A lot of time.
(17:30):
I think there are a number of issues.Yeah.
Some of it's the declining paginationin newspapers,
Some of it's the declining paginationin newspapers,
and advertising as a resultof the rise of the internet, of course.
And the, the lack of sort
of full time rolesfor critics in papers and magazines.
But yeah, I mean, there is that kind ofeveryone's a critic thing, and I,
I actually love looking at letterboxdI think it's great.
And, you know, why not?
Why should we be the only oneswith opinions that that's, you know,
(17:53):
that makes perfect sense,that it's lovely for everyone to share.
But at the same time,I think it's great to have people
with that wealth of knowledgeand experience who are paid to do it.
And if that's another important thing,is that you know, that we are balanced,
you know, and that we're not beingpaid to be nice about it.
So I think, I think a lot has changed.
I think I'd say watch this spacewith Girls on Film because we've got some,
(18:14):
issueswe're going to be talking about quite soon
that relate to that question,that I cannot reveal yet,
but in terms of how things have changedfor criticism, where we are at the moment
in terms of the all important diversity,and I think,
I hope that's one thing that has changed,even though there may not be
as many opportunitiesis that people are
hopefully more awarethat we need a variety of voices
(18:37):
because everyone watches filmsif we want to see and and,
you know, encouragethese films to be made,
we need the right people reviewing themas you were leading to earlier.
So we need a whole lot of peoplewith different life experiences reviewing films.
Wonderful and just to close, I'mgoing to letterboxd to you, if that's okay.
What are your top four?
Oh, I haven't actually prepareda top four
(18:59):
Well, it's the top four right now.
I’ll give it a whirl.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire,Céline Sciamma.
I was at the premiere in Cannes for that,and I just get goosebumps
just thinking about that,because what a beautiful film.
Listeners, if you not seenPortrait of a Lady on Fire
Check it out. It’s swoony romanticand it's a wonderful female led film.
The film that turned meonto film when I was a kid.
(19:21):
Back to the Future.
Just absolutely wonderful film.
I was lucky enough to introduce,the Imax screening
of the trilogy of that recently,and I just was pinching myself again
you know, what a way to come from havingwatched it at home on Christmas Day
on a little telly.
I love Mike Leigh's films.
So I think I'd pick out Secrets & Liesfor Mike Leigh’s film.
(19:44):
Yeah, because that is onethat had a profound effect to me in terms
of, its portrait of British cultureand also the strength
of the female characters.
We have Girls on Film awards,
and we recently awards Mike Leigh our ally award,
which is men make great films about women
because that's just so important,isn't it?
You know, it's and I'm not saying only oneperson could tell one person's story.
(20:08):
I'm now tryingto think of another good one.
I wonder if I can come with up a, yeahhere’s a rather different one,
The Last Seduction
This is one, it’s quite obscure,but Linda Fiorentino starred in it in the 1990’s.
It’s a brilliant, again, female led film noirsort of femme fatale film
definitely check that one outif you’re old enough.
Amazing, well thank you so much for your time today.
(20:30):
It’s been an absolute pleasure talking to you, thank you.
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