The executive director of Screen Scotland Isabel Davis uses select industry friends for film and TV recommendations, and eschews social media for real-life conversation.
I rely heavily on my industry friends for recommendations — producers, acquisitions folk and festival programmers. I love Paul Ridd’s taste. Under his guidance as director, Edinburgh International Film Festival is as embracing of genre as it is uncategorisable new voices.
That said, there’s nothing like seeing a film early. Some of my most memorable viewings have been like this — Oldboy, Blue Is The Warmest Colour… And on the flip side, it took me an age to see The Substance because I’d heard such a lot of noise about it when it premiered in Cannes. Now I’m one of its biggest fans.
I love going to my local multiplex, the Vue in central Edinburgh. I adore picking up snippets of other people’s conversations and hearing how films are hitting outside of the business.
In truth, it’s my partner and his two grown-up kids who are the most constant sounding board, especially for a ruthless creative response. No plot hole, dodgy dialogue or hokey performance will escape their derision.
We have a WhatsApp group that functions as a second screen, and for ruthless takedowns and emotionally charged feedback when we fall in love with something. We recently inhaled The White Lotus and The Studio.
Katie Ellen, production exec at HanWay, told me about The Morning Show years ago apparently, but I’ve only just started watching it. It’s extraordinarily multi-faceted, and both prescient and reflective about office and gender politics.
For theatre recommendations, [Premier PR exec] Jonathan Rutter is astonishingly across things and has great taste.
I’m a congenital Guardian reader. Lucy Mangan on TV is a treat. I have to say, though, it’s startling how often film critic Peter Bradshaw disagrees with me. Meanwhile, I try to get out of my comfort zone on media as often as possible. It’s never felt more important to hear opinions from the other side of the debate.
I am compulsively following North American media. My favourite read right now is The Atlantic. Their scoop on the Signal breach was eye-popping, and their piece on Rupert Murdoch was superb. I love the big ideas they explore, in all areas of life, but they go deep on media analysis and stories.
I worship Katty Kay and Anthony Scaramucci on The Rest Is Politics US podcast. Holyrood Sources is great for Scottish politics.
I don’t engage with social media. I have a limited attention span and very limited appetite for broadcasting my opinions or battling strangers online. IRL, one-to-one conversations are my happy place.
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