Lord David Puttnam, a famous British film producer, spoke at Sunderland University. Some of his notable films include Bugsy Malone, Chariots of Fire, and Midnight Express. He discussed his career progression from working for Goodtimes Enterprises in the 1960s and 1970s, to founding his own company Enigma Films and producing successful films there. Puttnam also served briefly as the chairman of Columbia Pictures in the 1980s. In his talk, he shared his perspectives on the history and future of the film industry, including the rise of streaming services and the potential of technologies like virtual reality glasses.

1. Networking Experience (complete one for each event and upload to your blog in the suitable post)
Title: May The Force Be With You
Date: 10/10/22
Venue: Sunderland University, The Murray Library
The person who the event featured was Lord David Puttnam. Puttnam is a film producer who was
born in London, England. As well as being a producer, Puttnam is also a former member of the
House of Lords where he sat on the side of Labour. His notable works would be Bugsy Malone,
Chariots of Fire, The Mission, Memphis Belle and Midnight Express. He has also received an
Academy Award as well as a BAFTA.
Puttnam’s career in the film industry begun in the late 1960’s when he began working with Sanford
Lieberson’s production company (‘Goodtimes Enterprises.) which is where he produced his first
feature ‘Melody’ in 1971. When working alongside Lieberson he also produced many
documentaries (‘Peacemaking 1919’ in 1971, ‘Glastonbury Fayre’ in 1972, ‘Bringing it all back home
in 1972,) It was with the company that he also worked with Lieberson to produce his second and
third film however their second film ‘The Pied Piper’ which they made in 1972 ended up not being a
success however their third ‘That’ll be the day’ made in 1973 was a hit unlike the previous movie.
During his years working with Goodtimes Enterprises Puttnam was part of many different movies
such as the sequel that was made for ‘That’ll be the day’ which was called ‘Stardust’ and this ended
up being one of his better-known movies. He worked on many different genres of film all the way
from science fiction (‘The Final Programme’, made in 1972) all the way to historical documentaries
which seemed to be focused on the Nazi’s rise to power. (He made ‘Double Headed Eagle: Hitler’s
rise to power 1918-1933' in 1973 and ‘Swastika’ in 1974.)
He went on to create various movies under this company however his most notable movie made
under this company would have to be the box office success ‘Bugsy Malone’ which he made in 1976
before he ultimately left the company and made his own company ‘Enigma Films’ in 1976 after the
success of Bugsy Malone.
Whilst he was working under Enigma Films, he made many movies such as ‘The Duellists’ and
‘Foxes’ however the movies that were notable from when he worked here would have to be the
box office success ‘Midnight Express’ as well as ‘Chariots of Fire’ which is Puttnam’s most successful
film to date and it was what won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
From June 1986 until September 1987 Puttnam was chairman and CEO of Columbia pictures and
whilst working there he oversaw the making of many different movies such as ‘This Big Easy’ by
Kings Road Productions, ‘School Daze’ by Spike lee however he made the choice that the company
would drop big budget films instead of favouring the smaller feature movies. This however did not
sit well with Hollywood and big brands such as Coca-Cola.

2. What did you learn?
I would say that from the talk I learned more about the history of the industry as well as what
Puttnam thinks is going to be the future of the industry. He spoke about the history of Netflix as
well as comparing the company to blockbuster when it had started out. I also learned about parts
of the industry that he thinks is booming in a way and that is dubbing which is where people do
voiceovers in many languages over shows such as Stranger Things and Squid Game. We also
learned about the origin of streaming services, and which are the biggest companies at the time
such as Apple, Amazon and Netflix. (As well as the biggest industries at the time which is streaming
and gaming) Puttnam also spoke about what he feels is to come in the industry such as apple
glasses, he is persuaded they will be introduced soon.
I wouldn’t say that the talk helped me think about specific career paths that could be good for me
as I could never see myself going into dubbing. Puttnam also discusses jobs available in pre-
production, streaming as well as jobs available in production itself. He showed us a diagram of
different jobs that were available in different industries however he focused specifically on which
ones a producer can do. Although I was not interested in the career path that Puttnam was
educating us on, the talk itself was still interesting as it showed me that I have various different
options for if I change my mind on what I would like to do in the future.
Unfortunately, I did not get a change to network on this trip however I did receive a leaflet from
Northeast Stage with information about other talks they will be holding as well as contact
information so if I want more information or want to attend another talk in the future, I now have
that opportunity open to me.