Spotlight: Emerald Fennell on SALTBURN
About this Spotlight
Spotlight Events feature conversations with high-profile film and television industry professionals who share helpful advice and insights on their career experiences and creative processes. Check out some of our inspiring chats with Patty Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Brit Marling, Jason Blum and more.
Writer, director and producer Emerald Fennell’s highly anticipated comedy-drama thriller, Saltburn, premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival. The film follows student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), struggling to find his place at Oxford University, and finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.
Fennell’s feature directorial and screenplay debut, Promising Young Woman, which she also produced, was a breakout success out of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. She was later nominated for three Academy Awards®, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won for Best Original Screenplay.
Her debut short, Careful How You Go, which she wrote and directed, also premiered at Sundance in 2019.
For this Spotlight Event, Emerald will discuss her creative process in making Saltburn and her success in sustaining a career as a prolific multi-hyphenate in film, television and theatre.
SpotlightTeam
Emerald Fennell
Panelist
Emerald Fennell is an Academy Award®, Golden Globe®, Emmy®, DGA, PGA and WGA nominated writer, director, actress and author who has established herself as a prolific multihyphenate in film, television and theatre.
She is gearing up for the release of her highly anticipated comedy-drama thriller, SALTBURN, which she wrote, directed and produced with LuckyChap Entertainment and MRC and stars Rosamund Pike, Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan. The film follows student Oliver Quick (Keoghan), struggling to find his place at Oxford University, as finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten. SALTBURN will release in theaters on November 17.
Fennell’s feature directorial and screenplay debut, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, which she also produced, was released in theaters December 25, 2020 from Focus Features. The film stars Carey Mulligan, who received a Best Actress Academy Award® nomination for her role, and was a breakout success out of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Fennell’s feminist, timely take on the revenge genre was recognized as one of the top scripts of the 2018 Blacklist. She was later nominated for three Academy Awards®, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won for Best Original Screenplay, received two Golden Globe® nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Director, six BAFTA nominations including Best Film, Outstanding British Film and Original Screenplay, as well as DGA, PGA and WGA nominations and won two Film Independent Spirit Awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay.
Most recently, Fennell wrote the contemporary musical stage version of CINDERELLA alongside Andrew Lloyd Webber, which debuted in 2021 at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London’s West End. The show continued its run on Broadway in March of 2023 under the name BAD CINDERELLA at the Imperial Theatre in New York.
Her debut short, CAREFUL HOW YOU GO, which she wrote and directed, premiered at Sundance in 2019. She also served as the showrunner on Season 2 of KILLING EVE, for which she was nominated for two Emmys® and the show was nominated for a Golden Globe®.
In front of the camera, she can be seen alongside Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in Greta Gerwig’s BARBIE releasing on July 21, 2023 from Warner Bros. Fennell starred in Seasons 3 and 4 of Netflix’s award-winning drama series, THE CROWN, playing Camilla Parker Bowles, for which she has received rave reviews, an Emmy® nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, and the series won the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Other recent on-camera film credits include THE DANISH GIRL, PAN and ANNA KARENINA.
Off screen, Fennell has published three novels: SHIVERTON HALL along with the sequel, THE CREEPER and MONSTERS (2017 Carnegie Medal nominee), all of which were incredibly well-received and drew comparisons ranging from Roald Dahl to Bret Easton Ellis.
Katherine Street
Moderator | Digital Course & Event Producer
Katherine "Kat" Street is an LA-based award-winning filmmaker and Philadelphia native. A cinephile at heart, she writes female-driven stories with complex (oftentimes damaged) main characters, centered around self-discovery, self-love, and belonging.
She has written numerous short-form projects, including original shorts, pilots, and features. She wrote and directed the dramatic short film “Cycles,” which received festival recognition in both acting and best romantic short. She also created her award-winning flagship web series "The New Adult,” which is currently streaming on Kweli TV.
Kat is a Stowe Story Lab SAGIndie Fellow and a participant in the BlackMagic Collective Emerging Filmmakers Initiative. In 2021, she founded the Black Film Challenge, a project that showcases filmmakers of African descent and the movies they create.
She earned her BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a concentration in Cinematography and has literary representation with Yak Yak Mgmt.