FilmFile

Which episode should someone start with?

With over 200 to pick from, it can be daunting. My advice to any new listeners is to scan through for episodes with a deep dive into an older film you love, and start then cherry pick a few other episodes at will to get a feel for the show, before jumping to recent ones. Alternately, to get a general feel, check out our YouTube channel where occasional clips of reviews from the show get edited and posted.

Which have been your favourite episodes so far?

So many to pick from, and we are really pleased with the results of the majority of them. The genuine fun comes when Lee and Andy don't necessarily agree - such as when speaking about Buckaroo Banzai - which form the foundations of occasional callbacks in latter episodes. When we spoke about Sucker Punch, a film neither of us like, that proved to be an interesting episode as Andy tried to focus on the positives (after all, he's watched it 9 times and hated it each time)

Which episode are you most proud of?

There was an episode in the early months of lockdown when we were getting used to remote recording which, on checking the recording tracks, Andy's audio was dreadful (sounded like he was sat in a huge hall speaking into a corner) and unusable. The edit resulted in him re-recording all of his side of the chat and piecing it together to feel like natural flow of conversation, including laughs, and small utterances in response. The end result was so perfect you can't tell.

What is your vision for your show?

We'd love to grow and build the show further, and would love to do the occasional live show, and even host deep dive screenings and Q&A events at cinemas. In addition, we are slowly evolving over to YouTube presence for clips from the recordings each week, and if we had the finances and time (we both work full time) this would be something we would be able to work further on. Until then, we just love sharing our geeky thoughts on the media we love.

What is your favourite other podcast that isn't yours?

Brett Goldstein's Films To Be Buried With is a fave of Andy's.

How did you come up with the name for your podcast?

Stole it from the guy whose radio show I guest hosted back around 2008, lol (it's okay, he knkws and is more than happy with me taking it, given he kind of stole it from someone else). It just worked. We love film, so are film-philes. That became FilmFile, which I secured the domain name for back in 2009, and used for my website and social media presence. Lee liked the name, so we kept it for the podcast.

Tell us a bit about yourself

Andy is an aging scouser who has lived in Sheffield for most of his life. Earliest memory is watching Star Wars on the big screen at the back end of 1977, followed by many cinema trips with his mum over his childhood. Works in cinemas as a manager. Loves his job, and rarely sleeps! Lee has directed music videos, and worked with a number of big names within the film industry, whilst also writing screenplays, teaching film studies, and doing freelance press gigs. I don't think he sleeps!