12th November 2025
Documentary filmmaker Paul Sng returns to the member-only podcast to tackle some bonus questions...
THIS WEEK ON A SMALL VOICE PODCAST MEMBER-ONLY EPISODE...
Last week’s guest, documentary filmmaker Paul Sng returns to tackle a modified set of bonus questions. To hear the episode in full, and access other exclusive content, sign up as a member here!
Two sample questions this week from the member-only bonus questions episode:
If you could meet your 20 year-old self now, what advice would you give to that person?
“God, I mean, he wouldn’t listen. That’s the thing. I could give him all of the advice in the world and he wouldn’t have listened. I guess I would say, you know, you’re 20 years old, have some fun, for the next 10 years, but forget the music stuff. Don’t try and write a novel, start making films. But then I think my twenties were a very hedonistic time and I don’t regret that. I think I should have left hedonism behind probably in my thirties rather than taking it into my forties. So I might urge a bit of caution on that side of things, you know, to not be so wild... I gave up drinking at the end of last year and for me since giving up drinking and other things, it’s given me more of a sense of clarity and I don’t regret being a hedonist. I probably should have maybe done things more in moderation because moderation is always a good thing.
I’d probably also tell him, you know, go to therapy. There are things that I only started to realize about myself from going to therapy, which I started, you know, last year and still do it. That would have been hugely useful if I’d have known them in my 20s. Some of the things that I did not only in my 20s, but also in my 30s and my 40s. I wouldn’t have done them if I’d have been able to have had therapy back then and been able to resolve some of the issues that I have going back to childhood traumas... That’s a lot of advice for a 20 year old!”
What is the thing you like most about filmmaking or about being a filmmaker? And what is the thing you like the least?
“The thing I like the most is the collaboration and the eureka moments where, you know, you’re with your team and you’re trying to solve a problem. And sometimes it’s your idea and that’s great. That’s a buzz. And then other times it’s someone else’s idea. And I love that moment because I can see it in them. It happened earlier today when I was talking to a writer that I’m working with and I could see that in her face, she’d just come up with a great idea and her eyes lit up. And there was that little thing where I knew I was going to hear her solution to a problem that we had in this script or this step outline. So that’s the thing I love the most. The thing I dislike the most is the gatekeeping, the nepotism, and the difficulties of representation, the lack of inclusion, the fact that it is still very much elitist, you know, in terms of 7% of people went to private school, yet I think it’s something like 30% of people who work in the industry went to private school. It’s not properly representative. There are a lot of efforts going on but they’re not enough. So that part of it that I work in an industry that isn’t inclusive is depressing.”
Paul’s picks for...
Significant films(s):
The Filth and the Fury, Julian Temple
London, Patrick Keiller
Favourite documentary filmmakers(s):
Recent Discoveries:
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, Sepideh Farsi
ALSO…
As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, it’s Paris Photo this week. I’ll be there Thursday and Friday. Come say hi if you see me, mic in hand.
Will be at Paris Photo, too. Will look for you and make a hello!