What makes a good story? Ask Academy award-winning producer Emile Sherman

Emile Sherman is a natural storyteller. Zooming in from his chic home in Sydney, the Jewish-Australian producer is warm and laidback, as he speaks candidly about his contributions to international cinema.

His approachability, characteristic of many Aussies working in Hollywood, is refreshing considering Sherman is responsible for some of the biggest blockbusters of our time, both on the silver screen – The King’s Speech (2010), Lion (2016), One Life (2023) – and the small screen – Top of the Lake (2013), Slow Horses (2022).

It's impressive given Sherman had “no idea” what he would do after he graduated from the University of New South Wales with an arts/law degree and masters in English literature. He was introduced to film over two decades ago when a group of mates made Uncle Chatzkel – a documentary about Sherman’s great, great uncle who survived two world wars, lived through the Russian revolution and became a famous lexicographer.

“I sort of fell into film. I hadn’t studied producing at all, but found it made a lot of sense to me as I got into it. It combined a lot of elements I enjoyed doing,” Sherman told The Jewish Independent.

Those ‘elements’ are threefold: creative – understanding what makes a good narrative and how to best support storytellers; financial – managing a budget and accounts; and strategic – knowing how to push a project forward from development and funding through to production, editing and marketing.

“My background was the least strong in the physical production side, so I’ve had to learn about that. With my father being in funds management, I grew up talking about finance and found a love for it, which helped.”

In 2008 Sherman's output intensified and his name was put on the map when he partnered with English producer Iain Canning. Together they founded See-Saw Films, an innovative production house based in London and Sydney that is responsible for their box office success.

A raft of prestigious local and international awards have since followed, including five Academy Awards, 12 BAFTAs, 12 Emmys and 27 AACTAs, as well as the opportunity to work with A-Listers such as Anthony Hopkins, Jane Campion, Elisabeth Moss, Gary Oldman and Benedict Cumberbatch.

“It's very much grown as a company, but at its core, it’s still about finding great stories, supporting great writers and directors to tell those stories, and putting them together in the right way to make them resonate with audiences,” Sherman continued.

It’s not all roses though. Film has had a “bumpy ride” lately, with COVID leaving “a big mark on cinema audiences”. The repercussions are particularly difficult for review-driven theatrical movies (compared to remakes or franchise films), which Sherman mostly produces, as it's become harder to crack into the American market, release titles and finance new ones.

As for the local scene, increased competition and a smaller resource pool means making a good production in the first place is difficult. But Sherman says Australian audiences are keen for Australian stories, and argues that success requires a simple mindset shift.

“Noticeably Australian characters and worlds are, of course, very important, because we need to see our lives reflected back to us. But the way I tend to see it is about how we support Australian storytelling, rather than Australian films. To do well as an industry, we need to create an ecosystem where Australian storytellers and their voice are supported.”

Sherman says it’s not enough to simply relay a narrative anymore – the production must go deeper to find relevance for today’s audience.

“You’re only as good as your next project, so it’s a really difficult business to be in," he explained.

“Generally, what we’ve done is not be happy just to tell a good story, we ask ourselves, how do we see the story resonating for audiences? What question is it asking? What issue is it exploring? What emotional resonance are we hoping to tap into? So even if it might be set deeply in the past, like The King's Speech or The Power of the Dog, we know that at its core, what it's exploring is of relevance today.”

A good story isn’t only set in the film and television landscape for Sherman – it extends to the podcasting world too. Three years ago, he formed another successful partnership, this time with his cousin Lloyd Vogelman, to create Principle of Charity.

It’s a podcast with a simple premise – two expert guests who are rooted in a hot button social issue argue their side – but it comes with a twist: at some point in the show, each guest must present the strongest version of the other’s viewpoint.

Sherman says the podcast is a commentary on the polarisation of our current society, our unwillingness to truly understand an opinion or view that differs from our own. It’s a particularly resonant concept for the Jewish community right now, especially those within the left who have felt abandoned by their political peers amid the ongoing war in Gaza – a group Sherman counts himself part of.

“The aim is not to change people’s minds necessarily – although that may happen – it’s to model generous, curious conversations.

“It's so easy to fall prey to own biases. Social media algorithms and other forces keep people in a sort of epistemic bubble, where we only see information fed back to us that we already believe.

“We can't hold our society together unless we at least understand and have respect for other viewpoints, even if we really don't agree with them – which is okay – what’s not okay is to dismiss ideas before you really understand them.”

Now nearing 60 episodes, the podcast has debated a range of topics from cultural appropriation, fat shaming and trigger warnings, to alternative medicine, Voluntary Assisted Dying and whether all Jews are white.

The podcast's next venture is a special live recording at the 2024 Sydney Writers' Festival, which begins today, pitting Boomers against Gen Z to discuss whether books are still relevant in our modern society.

The idea came from observing the habits of Sherman’s teenage boys, who consume information almost exclusively from videos, a stark contrast to his own bookish tendencies.

“Are books just a relatively recent technology that allowed information to be disseminated because we didn't yet have ability to disseminate videos? And now that we do, is it that helpful to be able to sit and wade our way through lots of words, when arguably, the more natural way to take in information is through an oral tradition? On the other hand, the depth and focus of reading, and the way it wires our brain for language is incredibly powerful and beneficial," Sherman concluded.

“All these conversations start with me and Lloyd genuinely not knowing the answer.

"I've learned an enormous amount doing the podcast and realised more and more strongly that the power of the endeavor is not in getting to a particular truth, but to understanding in a sense that truth is built up.

"It is built up of understanding, of different viewpoints and experiences – akin to different facets of a diamond."

Do We Need Books? will be held on Friday 24 May from 7.30pm at Carriageworks as part of the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.