Whitney Sudler-Smith | Zurich Summit 2025 - video Dailymotion

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00:00Could you ever have predicted, even after wrapping the first season and the second season of that new, like getting sort of early feedback, could you have ever predicted the kind of behemoth that's sort of become?

00:09No, not a million years. We thought just like, you know, it was just kind of like this smart-ass theater of the absurd.

00:16When it started off, none of us could have ever imagined it was, you know, got that large.

00:21I don't know how many countries it's in and, you know, and this and that, and it's inspired a lot of other shows, which I won't mention.

00:26And, yeah, I mean, we're all very proud of it, very happy, and very thrilled with its success.

00:45Hello, welcome. We are in Deadline Zurich Summit Studio.

00:50I'm delighted for our first guest to be Whitney Sudler-Smith, filmmaker, auteur.

00:58Yes, exactly.

00:59Creator of Southern Charm, founder of Vainglorious Productions.

01:03Thanks for being with us here today, Whitney.

01:04Thank you so much. It's a great honor to be here with you at Zurich and Deadline Studios.

01:09We love having you here.

01:11I know.

01:11So you have quite a few things that you're up to at the moment, some new projects that I know you wanted to tell us about.

01:16What's so funny you should ask? Directing and writing this film. It's going to be amazing. It's called New Rose.

01:25I guess you could say it's American Psycho meets Love Island.

01:31Ooh.

01:31Yeah. And being produced by Nick Schumacher, enormous content, Lars Silvest of Thank You Studios, who did Ferrari and The Gentleman and so forth.

01:43And we hope to start Principal Photography in the spring. But it is a crazy movie.

01:50Did you write it?

01:51I did.

01:52And can you tell us a little bit more, like beyond, you know you've given us a little snippet, but what are we...

01:56I mean, just elevator pitch, I guess. This character gets humiliated on national TV in some kind of like rose ceremony or fire pit.

02:06And he goes and joins the Ukrainian army, where he becomes a drone operator and kills like 300 Russians.

02:16And then he's repatriated back into society. He has a thirst for killing.

02:22And anyway, some reality producers come calling and want him to come back on like an all-stars reunion show in this remote island.

02:31You can kind of assume what happens after that.

02:35It sounds incredible. It sounds really, really cool.

02:37Thank you. It's going to be epic.

02:38And you're looking to shoot that early next year.

02:40Yeah.

02:41Great.

02:41Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kind of an homage to one of my favorite films, Man Bites Dog.

02:45Yes.

02:46Yeah.

02:46Anyway, so that's fun. And working on that. And then, yeah.

02:51You have another project as well that you mentioned to me called Family Office.

02:57Yes.

02:57What's that one about? And when can we expect to see wheels moving on that?

03:01That's right. And we're shooting the pilot sooner than later.

03:04And the story is basically it takes the piss out of young London high society. It's scripted.

03:09And I guess I think the pitch is it's Gossip Girl and Ketamine.

03:14But these Russian oligarchs take over this kind of august family office to launder money.

03:20And all kinds of shenanigans happen.

03:23But it's a comedy.

03:25Yeah.

03:26And it's a lot of fun shooting in London.

03:29Fantastic.

03:29Yeah, excited about that.

03:30And when will that, when do you think that's likely to go?

03:33We're hoping next month, but you just never know.

03:36Great, great.

03:36Anyway, it's all, talks for, you know.

03:39In a row for that.

03:40In a row for that.

03:41Great.

03:41So, which is cool.

03:43Well, I want to ask you, you know, you've obviously, you've gone off and done things on your own and you're a writer and a creator and you've, this, you have a long history of it.

03:52And, and, and the things that, you know, in recent, well, in the last decade, you are also known for being the creator of a little show called Southern Charm, which you feature on at the beginning.

04:03And then now you kind of dip in and out, but I know you're, you are the creator behind that.

04:07And that show has gone, what is it, 11 seasons now?

04:0911 seasons.

04:10How, that's unbelievable.

04:11Could you ever have imagined?

04:13No.

04:14I wasn't supposed to be on it either.

04:16Were you not?

04:17No.

04:17And they were like, we want you and your mom.

04:19Mom was like, in order to be the star of this thing.

04:23I don't know why they want it.

04:24They want us on.

04:24And I was like, yeah, yeah, sure.

04:25It sounds good.

04:26I, you know, I never watched Bravo or anything.

04:28And it's like, how bad could it be?

04:31But no, it's been good.

04:32It's 11 seasons.

04:34And to the testament of Bravo and Haymaker, who, you know, produces it, it's, you know, longevity for, especially for any show.

04:42I mean, we're up there with, like, Gunsmoke and other things.

04:47I mean, 11 seasons is long done and spawned all these spinoffs and more that are coming.

04:53Well, it's definitely, people know it for sure in the UK, which is where I'm based.

04:57And I'm not sure.

04:57It's amazing.

04:58Yeah, I get recognized somewhat infrequently.

05:02I'm wondering if you're allowed to tell us a little bit about this project that you're also working on with someone from that show.

05:09Because a friend of mine a few months ago said they'd seen you and this particular character from Southern Charm on the streets of London.

05:18And I know you're up to something, but too early to mention this?

05:22Or can you?

05:22A little too early.

05:23Okay.

05:24He is a marquee talent of.

05:26I would say so.

05:27And it's kind of an adventure show.

05:31Yep.

05:31In the vein of kind of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations mixed in with, in the movie The Trip, Steve Coogan, like that.

05:40Throw in a little of the with Nail and Die.

05:42Not seeing this movie, watch it.

05:44It's not going to be one of the greatest movies of all time.

05:46Yes.

05:47But, yeah, it's a lot of fun.

05:49It's digital.

05:50Okay.

05:50And it's kind of a series.

05:52And we're really excited about it.

05:53And we think now it's kind of, Don, you know, I saw your panel earlier where, you know, kind of it's this new age now where, you know, direct democracy.

06:05Yeah.

06:05You start them at the studios and everything else and go, do your own thing without any intervention.

06:10With YouTube, you're means to see.

06:12Is that what you're talking about?

06:12Yeah.

06:13Yeah.

06:13Exactly.

06:13Yeah.

06:14It's a series and it's a lot of fun.

06:16That's great.

06:17We shot a lot.

06:17We're still shooting and it'll be announced soon, sooner than later, but that will be epic as well.

06:23So, you know, there's some funny stuff.

06:26What do you think for you, you know, as an indie kind of filmmaker and creator, I mean, you've been here at the summit today and we've done a whole bunch of panels so far.

06:37We're about halfway through the day down there.

06:40You've been amazing.

06:41Oh, thanks.

06:42You're really good up there.

06:44You're very kind.

06:44But it's, you know, we're talking about new subjects like YouTube and AI and not new subjects, but relatively new considering the kind of length of the age of the film industry.

06:55I'm curious, you know, it's very challenged.

06:58There's a lot of people downstairs talking about the challenges in the business post-COVID, post-strikes.

07:04Right.

07:04For you, what's directly, like, impacted you in terms of being a creator?

07:08Like, what have been the biggest challenges for you and how have you kind of had to pivot accordingly to kind of, you know, creating material?

07:18I mean, I've been in this business a long time.

07:20I started off screenwriting and I was rewriting action scripts for a producer, this and that.

07:27And there was a writer's strike in 1998 where basically I've been doing fairly well and just floor just dropped, right?

07:34And then it took years to recover, kind of clawed my way back in the middle.

07:39And you just use these kind of, like, rises and falls and you just kind of roll with it, kind of find your niche.

07:48You know, for a while, like, fairly successful selling kind of unscripted shows, then that kind of floor dropped out of that.

07:57You know, I don't know.

07:58It's, you just kind of have to roll with it.

08:01That's a good motto, Whitney.

08:02I think we all need to live by that.

08:04Really?

08:04Yeah, I don't know.

08:05But, yeah, no, it's a tough time.

08:08But I think it's coming back.

08:10I think more people are buying more shows.

08:12But conversely, people are taking a lot less risk.

08:16Yes.

08:17The unscripted but also scripted and everything else, it's very risk adverse.

08:23You kind of have to deliver everything on a platter with a kind of hopefully, you know, we'll have a high success rate.

08:31I mean, you can't really anticipate these things, but it is a difficult time for sure.

08:36I'll say risk adverse is probably the operative phrase.

08:40Yeah, yeah, yeah.

08:40Would you agree?

08:41I completely agree.

08:42Yeah.

08:42I think that's a big problem at the moment.

08:44That sucks.

08:45Anyway.

08:47Well.

08:47You know, like, my show Family Office was difficult.

08:49It's gone through.

08:50They come to incarnations.

08:52And it's fairly risque, the show.

08:55It's very dark humor.

08:56It's very kind of outrageous and offensive in some ways, which I am.

09:03But, you know, people get it.

09:04They get it.

09:04And it's like, wow, this is fucking funny.

09:06Why is this not out there?

09:07Well, people might get offended.

09:08But, you know, big fucking deal.

09:10But you just – you do it.

09:11And, you know, I believe in it.

09:13And I think it's going to – you know, it is happening.

09:15So it's just perseverance.

09:18That's one thing.

09:18I've been working this century a long time in various kind of incarnations.

09:22And it's just this one thing I've noticed working in film, scripted, unscripted, whatever.

09:28TV, you just got to stick it out, you know, at some point.

09:33You hope the cream floats amongst other things.

09:37But, yeah, but the cream always floats at the top.

09:41Yeah.

09:41Well, can't wait to see all the new show, the new series.

09:45Lots of new movie.

09:46Lots to look forward to.

09:48Thanks for stopping by our studio.

09:49Lots of exciting stuff.

09:50Thank you very much.

09:51And I want to thank you, Deadline, and Zurich, and the Summit, and everything.

09:55This is exciting times.

09:58Thanks, Whitney.

09:58Yeah, thank you.

09:59Good to see you.

Whitney Sudler-Smith | Zurich Summit 2025

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