Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage — Writers/Directors of THEM THAT FOLLOW starring Walton Goggins and Olivia Colman

The Script Lab Podcast

About: Set deep in the wilds of Appalachia, where believers handle death-dealing snakes to prove themselves before God, THEM THAT FOLLOW tells the story of a pastor (Walton Goggins) who digs deeper into his faith when he discovers his teenage daughter Mara (Alice Englert) holds a secret that threatens to tear their fragile community apart.

Written and directed by first-timers Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage, this film is a modern-day telling of Adam and Eve, with all the temptation and snakes of the archetypal story. Olivia Colman (THE FAVOURITE) plays Hope and packs an emotional punch that makes it one of the best performances of the year.

In the podcast, Poulton and Savage talk about the challenges of getting the film made and why writers really don’t need to go to film school.

Guests: Britt Poulton is a writer and director. After studying International Relations at UC Berkeley, she left politics to pursue film and completed her MFA at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. She wrote PROFILE, a female-driven political thriller that played at both Berlinale and SXSW in 2018. THEM THAT FOLLOW is her first feature-length screenplay and marks her directorial debut.

Dan Madison Savage is a writer and director. He was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and studied film history at Vassar College. After graduating, he moved to Los Angeles to complete an MFA at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. THEM THAT FOLLOW is his first screenplay and his directorial debut.

Host: Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting and is currently the film critic for SheKnows.com. She recently won the Next MacGyver television writing competition to create a TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and the Machine, is currently in development with America Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards

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