Creatives Grab Coffee - Crafting Stories in Iceland (ft. Republik) #90

Episode Date: March 31, 2025

In this episode of Creatives Grab Coffee, Arni Thor Jonsson from Republik (Iceland) dives into the intricacies of video production, documentary filmmaking, and running a creative business in Iceland. Arni shares his unique journey from growing up immersed in his father’s pioneering production company to founding Republik with his brother, highlighting the lessons learned from working with international crews and navigating unpredictable conditions. Discover valuable insights on balancing commercial work with long-format documentaries, managing creative partnerships, and overcoming production challenges like unpredictable weather and tight budgets. This conversation is packed with practical advice and inspiration for marketers and filmmakers aiming to thrive in competitive, specialized markets.TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Episode Introduction and Guest Welcome02:19 - Guest Bio: Arni Thor Jonsson from Republik04:26 - Growing up in a family-run production business08:09 - Starting Republik and transitioning to independent projects10:07 - Navigating from commercials to documentaries and long-format content12:11 - Insights from buying out a business partner16:01 - Understanding the video production scene in Iceland19:37 - Standing out creatively in a competitive market22:23 - Navigating challenges of filming in unpredictable weather conditions27:13 - Overview of Iceland’s corporate video industry31:09 - How freelance filmmakers are shaping Iceland’s video market34:16 - Experience working with Kanye West on a music video shoot36:46 - Republik’s future ambitions in long-format filmmaking38:41 - Returning to school to enhance documentary filmmaking skills43:58 - The importance of impartial storytelling in documentaries47:15 - Creating and selling original TV series to networks49:01 - Managing and collaborating with Republik’s roster of directors57:46 - Origin of the name “Republik”59:00 - Closing Remarks and Final ThoughtsSPONSORS:Canada Film Equipment: www.CanadaFilmEquipment.comAudio Process: www.Audioprocess.ca🎵 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2vHd8BdbkMQITFZmDJ0bo9🍏 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/creatives-grab-coffee/id1530864140 🎞️Produced by LAPSE PRODUCTIONS – https://www.lapseproductions.comTo learn more about the show, visit: https://www.creativesgrabcoffee.com/

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And now, let's begin the show. Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Creatives Grab Coffee. Today we got Arnie Johnson from Republic, based out of Iceland. Arnie, welcome to another episode of Creators Grab Coffee. Today we got Arne Johnson from Republic based out of Iceland. Arne, welcome to the show. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. So let's start with a little bit of a background on you and your company. Right.

Yeah. So I am a kind of a son of a producer. So I kind of got into this through family in a sense so so he ran a company my dad ran a company in Iceland one of the first kind of privately owned film companies that kind of also introduced production services to Iceland and I grew up like on the floor there and learned you know everything from being an assistant cameraman to lighting guy to building sets and started working there in the summers when I was about 17 and started working as

a full-time kind of a filmmaker I guess when I was around 20, 21. And shortly after that, I mean, not shortly, it's like 10 years after that, then my dad decided to kind of sell the company, which was kind of good for him, you know, it's good. But I didn't really, me and my brother were both working for him and we didn't really want to be with a company where our dad was not the boss. Talk about nepotism. But the but it was still like, you know, something that we didn't want to do. And so we opened Republic together. So it's it's been operating for about

almost 20 years. It's unbelievable. 20 years. Imagine that. And yeah, opened up in 2005 with a very small unit. And that's kind of my background. But it was, it was, I mean, I learned all my kind of basics, like under the tutelage of my father, really, you know. Lately I've been thinking about if we like in the future when I have kids and everything like integrating them into the business and then eventually just letting them run it. So it's cool that you kind of got to experience that in a way, right? Yeah, I mean, I obviously I have, you know, massive gratitude as well. I've got plenty of chances.

But I also believe in, like, you know, if you are, if you kind of, you know, if you talk about nepotism, then like, you know, you're also under almost more pressure, you know, to kind of deliver, especially when you have, like, have like a prominent figure as my dad was. And so, yeah, I mean, I think I delivered, I hope so. But like, I think it's also nice that me and my brother are running a company, a small company, but still quite active, let's say,

and it's been going pretty well. So, yeah. Did you kind of naturally find your own passion for filmmaking and producing, you know, like obviously like when you grew up in this environment where you were constantly exposed to it. And I've heard of situations where a lot of people who work for their parents, you know, they just see it as like, oh, it's just dad's company, you know, I'm working with them and, you know, they just see it as like, oh, it's just dad's company, you know, I'm working with them and, you know, just to kind of like get some money and like,

or like gain some experience. But like for you, it's such a unique opportunity. Did you find that your dad inspired you a little bit more or did you kind of inspire yourself like through some of the work that you did? Like, what was that like? Well, that's a really good kind of question in a sense, because I think in the beginning, basically when I was starting, I wasn't going to go into this. I wanted to do something completely different than my father was doing. And I actually went to college, but I kind of dropped out really early. And I want always to do history. you know, I wanted to be a historian but shortly and very quickly I really began to like what I was doing, like the people that I was

working with, you know, everything about it, I thought it was quite an interesting profession and probably like you said I kind of learned to gain the passion. Yeah, like kind of the passion kind of, you know, grew in me, let's say. And, and more and more, I was really exposed to a lot of commercials though. I did a lot of commercials, you know, working on commercials as well as started directing commercials very young, locally in Iceland, very small market but still quite demanding market and so you know I really learned kind of a lot of things in the advertising business and I thought that was really an interesting moment

especially at that time which is this is like almost 30 years ago, you know, that's when commercials were, you know, it was big business and not as kind of, what is it, not as, I mean, not as cash strapped as today. Lean. Yeah, lean. Yeah. I mean, it depends on what you're doing, but still it was, it was, you know, stuff was going on in commercials you you were seeing every week, like something really interesting, you know, whether it was done in UK or America or whatnot. You know, so that was huge inspiration for everything that I'm doing now. But then later on, I learned like different things as well.

So. So you guys started the company and what was that process like going from, you know, working under your dad to then starting what you're starting over again with your brother? Well, it was easy to be honest. I mean, easy and not easy. It's like we had a good reputation, both of us, like as directors and producers. And it was a foreign commercial that was the first job and literally was just done in my kitchen and in my office at home to begin with so pulled it off really well, made some cash on it

and then we opened up a proper office with a partner and off we went really. It was a bit like off we went really. It was a bit like a kind of a interesting time because at that time I was directing more than producing. So the partner that we had like to begin with he kind of just ran the company while we were kind of doing our own things you know around the world or in Iceland and stuff and then like it kind of grew more and got quite a good recognition both abroad as well as in Iceland. And in the last 10 years we've been going much more into long format and documentaries and etc. So to begin with we were focusing on commercials and servicing, service foreigners that came to Iceland to do stuff. But later now we wanted to make our own stuff, like not be dependent on servicing just people. So you guys had three partners after those, you, your brother and the third guy?

Yeah, the third guy, he came basically with us, yeah, sorry, forgot to mention this. We were three to start with, and we bought him out about, I think, 10 years ago. Oh, okay. So, what did you, how did it go kind of like the progression of the business, like working with mostly commercial-based content and then slowly moving into like longer form projects?

Because it's not as easy, you know, with the longer turnaround times, you know, in terms of of like also earning money selling the content and things like that. Like how did you make that transition over time? Well, I think it's not easy to do that transition really quickly, you know, and I that's why I say ten years ago and now Basically in the last five years, we've been really busy in that field. So it took a while for us to kind of work our way into being a force to be reckoned with in that genre or that format. But the first step was literally just kind of hiring a dedicated person, like, and we took a chance and that person like kind of, I think we made about three documentaries or three series that year. But, you know, even though it was not like maybe the perfect match, I mean,

he's a great guy then and all that, but like it kind of didn't work. But it started the process and we learned a lot on those first three projects. And then, you know, we kind of stepped into doing a lot more. It's a slow process because you have commercials versus long format is absolutely different. And in terms of cash flow, we used what we earned from commercials and service work to kind of invest in the long format department. You mentioned you hired someone to kind of help you with it. Like what was his or her role in helping you move forward?

He was more familiar with that, those kind of projects. He also had like a really good connection to the national TV, which is kind of the main, buyer of especially documentaries. And so he helped us like kind of pave the way for more access to TV stations and et cetera.

So that was the reason. Okay. I want to go back a little bit to the third partner you had and the buyout you did. I'm just curious, what was that like? Because like, like, this was the buyout, like, how did you guys determine the amount and whatnot? Yeah, that is, you know, that I don't really go into details on that.

It went, you know, everybody were happy with what we, you know, at the end of the, you know, the buyout and everything and it was applicable. Well, amicable, what do you say? Amicable. Yeah. Kind of. It was good. Yeah, it was good. you say? Amicable. Yeah. Kind of. It was good.

Yeah, it was good. Everyone was happy. Yeah. But we did have to kind of fork out something because we had a certain turnover and we had prospects and all that good stuff. But it was a big change. And funnily enough, it was really interesting that same year we got the most busy ever. So after the buyout or? Yeah, after the buyout. After the buyout. Oh, good time. Yeah, otherwise it would cost more.

Yeah, exactly. So it was quite interesting. But yeah. Yeah, I find those interesting because like we're in a business where you can't really determine what your income is going to be in a year, alone month to month so to then put a monetary value on it yeah it's just it's speculation and it's all about the people i think like i think it's a lot about persons and people you know i don't it's very hard to put like a price tag on a production company i think that's super hard because you know the value is in the people you think that's super hard because the value is in the people. That's where the value is. I mean, you have just certain reputation,

but you don't have, you could have the same name, but you have different people than like, what is that? And if one of the partners is leaving, when that partner was one of the key factors to make that business run or like a big part of it, like say if it was the creative director that was the guiding force for, or like for all the creative, or if it was the lead producer who was basically drumming up all the business for the company, if that person is the one that's leaving, what does that mean then for the future in terms of

income and cashflow? And it completely disrupts the business, right? It did. But we had, me and my brother, we had a quite a bit of pull because we had directing careers behind us. So we had like a little bit of a pull in terms of, especially commercials in locally and abroad. And, and people were interested in what we were doing.

And at that point when we bought the partner out, me and my brother just stepped in. And especially my brother, he took over for a while there and was kind of the main lead. And that turned out well. And we also gave more power to the staff that we have. We don't have much staff and we're only like a five-person company, really. So also gave more power to the stuff that we have. We don't have much stuff and we're only like a five person company really. So we gave more power to those people and going pretty well. So yeah. Did you guys have like a partnership agreement in place? Yeah, yeah. There was a partnership. He was a co-owner. So there was a partnership agreement for sure. Yeah.

Okay. So that was easy to kind of just maneuver and change. So that made the whole process pretty easy and straightforward then, right? It did. Yeah. He's still a good friend. He wanted to get out of the business and just kind of take over another business off his father. But that was just his kind of agenda.

And we just bought him out. It's the only thing to do, really. Let's explore the Iceland market a little bit, because for me, when I was looking for companies over there, I was actually surprised how many of you guys that were operating there. So let's talk a little bit about the scene. Well, it's certainly a interesting market. I think like you can divide it basically into, you know, there's two aspects.

That's like foreigners coming into Iceland to shoot, like movies, anything, you know, commercials with branded content, you know, commercials, branded content, you know, whatnot, everything, music videos. And then you have just the local industry that's working on, you know, long format docu series, whatever TV series even, and local commercial as well, which is although not a huge market. Um, and so you have those two. And I think the service industry, for instance,

that has taught us a lot. That has taught the whole community quite a bit. I mean, my father brought in the broccoli family to make a James Bond movie in 1982. And that was kind of the start of the service industry, really. I mean, there was no infrastructure at that time. He just had to wing it, really.

But, you know, that kind of gradually grew. And in the late 80s and the 90s, there was a lot of, you know, commercials were beginning to come in, shoot stuff and then more and more movies, you know, later on. And in the local stuff, we are doing our own stuff, doing our own movies. I think we have an Icelandic film center which grants funds to projects. There's maybe two or three or even four or five, probably five movies made a year, local Icelandic movies. And then you have TV series for the TV stations. We have like

three TV stations, which is quite a lot for a small country or small population. But they are producing stuff and they're producing all kinds of material. And I think also, yeah, to finish off with the service, how that has taught us, I mean, that's where I kind of learned the most when I was working on those service projects when I was really young. You know, there was big directors coming, there was the shooting on three cameras, and we had all kinds of stuff being flown in. And then we kind of, you know, Iceland began to have more and more of equipment. I mean, nowadays you have everything in Iceland, so it's easy to come there to shoot.

So I think service taught us a lot. And today, the scene today is quite interesting. Iceland just shot True Detective. True Detective season 4 or something were shot in Iceland and that was a massive lift. Star Wars has been shot, you know, I mean it's a lot, a lot going on. And there's also like a tax rebate or incentive that helps a lot, you know, just like many countries have, many states in US also have, is if you shoot in Iceland and go over a certain budget,

you get 35% back. But if you can't reach that number, which I can't remember what it is, it always confuses me, you have 25% back. So that's a massive, that's a good pool. It pulls in a lot of big projects. So the other thing I wanted to talk about too is again, small plays, lots of competition, how do you kind of navigate that type of environment? Well I think it's all about creative ideas really, I mean that's bottom line. If it's a good story or if it's a good idea you can

you know get a lot. We've learned a lot to kind of do a lot of work within very limited budgets. I mean I don't think I think the average kind of budget for a let's say just like a 60 minute documentary or 45 minute documentary is super tiny it's a I don't know 50 to 100,000 K maximum maximum hundred thousand you know and so you have to we have to work within a lot of restrictions and we managed to do that and there's you know there's a lot of project that we only have about five in the crew. That's something like that. And also we own our own cameras and we own our own drone. We sometimes edit ourselves.

So we try to keep it compact. But we also look for a know-how and talent in something else as well. So that's one thing, you know, but in yeah, I think it's, I think like Iceland and Scandinavia overall is like, does think like that they just, they're, they don't need a lot. They don't have to stay in the biggest hotels. So you know what I mean? Like they don't have to drive the best car on a shoot or some stuff They just would rather put as much money into the project rather than something else. So So I think I think that's kind of mentality. I mean it can't be quite tiring because you do what you do multiple You know, you're doing multiple

jobs at the same time But it's also kind of rewarding to be honest, it's because that's like, at the end of the day, it's gonna be your baby, you know, that's what you did. Yeah, and I mean, it seems like there's the same trend of like, you know, you have to be very nimble and flexible with your budgets, no matter what kind of projects you're working on.

And even in the most unique places in the world, you know, people are still trying to figure out no matter what kind of projects you're working on. And even in the most unique places in the world, people are still trying to figure out how to make their budget go further than where it already is. And I guess the one big experience also for all of you in that market there is that you know the location so well that when other international companies are coming in,

you can let them know what budgets are needed to get certain results that they're looking for. So, do you find that there's more of a trust in you from foreign producers and production companies or studios in terms of like, how much investment should be made versus like say, working in like a city? Yeah, for sure.

I mean, you're right. We kind of know, we've been to all the locations more or less and we've shot all over the country. We know the access, we know what's not possible and we know the crucial thing is the weather. That's like what we know really well. And that because Iceland is really North up there in the Atlantic.

And you know, weather can change in the Atlantic and you know, weather can change in a minute and it's, it can be quite crazy. You know, you can have snow one day and then like 15 degrees Celsius the day after. So that's, that's something that we always warn everybody because, you know, a lot of people who want to come to Iceland, they're like, Oh, we need snow. Let's go to Iceland. You know, okay. But you know, there is not snow in Iceland all the time, all the time. So, so we have to kind of warn them and we can't guarantee snow at this time and blah, blah, blah. And so, yeah, that's, that's, that's what they look for. I mean, understandably, you know, I think every, every service company that is servicing somebody who's coming into a new country or something,

they kind of require the service company and the people on the ground to kind of know what's going on in the country. So yeah, I mean, that's the key thing. What do you do with weather related? I mean, like when there's a possibility of having like snow one day or rain in the same day Like how do you kind of navigate that situation? Do you have like contingency days? Yeah? contingency budgets Consistency budget weather days and stuff like that for sure I thought the I mean I remember like

Literally the first job that we did at Republic like that service job that we did and we were scouting and it was all snow perfect, you know, we were going to shoot here. And then we, we went back two days later, it was all gone. So we had to import snow. We had to import like fake snow, you know, which was kind of, you know, it was costly, but like we managed, you know, so you have to have those just B plan, you know, more than not B plan, you have to have those just be plan, you know, more than not be plan You have to have a plan C as well So importing snow is easy

But what if you're banking on a green landscape then all of a sudden it's just snow everywhere then what? You have the other all the way around that that's you bring a lot of Hairdryers and just melt everything. Yeah, I mean Luckily, I don't think it've been into that situation to be honest, but I think some people in Iceland have for sure. But yeah, well, I think it's basically everywhere. I mean, you can't really depend on the weather. You have to have plants all the time. Yeah. And I think whoever's going there already is prepared in a way for a lot of different factors and changes.

Like the kind of projects that are going to be going to Iceland are some with not only like a slightly more sizable budget than most, but with a very specific vision or idea in mind that incorporates those very unique landscapes and weather conditions and things like that that make the projects what they are. So I guess that's why as you mentioned like you haven't had too many situations where you've had to work on contingency but like it does happen a little. It happens quite a bit to be honest to be fair. Oh yeah? Yeah yeah yeah I mean I think it was about this about last year we did a job for B&W and, you know, the, we knew that there was a weather front coming in. So we had to really change everything,

turn around the days, pull all the crew, go earlier, like four hours away from the city. And we had to kind of completely change the schedule, which was really, really tough. And it was all a night shoot and and and then like we had One day that was just we we couldn't shoot like one night Well because we had traveled between locations like it was like two hours between locations on one location great weather Right really good then we drove for for a for an hour and a half to another location Absolutely just a storm hour and a half to another location, absolutely just a storm.

So, and we were going to shoot drone and cars and stuff. And it was just, no, no, we just sat in the cars and waited the weather and called it a wrap. I've noticed that with some islands, sometimes no matter where you are, what the weather is, if you drive like 45 minutes to an hour in a different direction, like the weather can completely change on you. Like I noticed that when I went and visited Hawaii many years back where it was very sunny in one spot that I was and I drove maybe 30 minutes

and then just that little patch area there was just like thunderstorm. It just didn't make sense. So it's something you definitely have to prepare for when you go to these more remote locations. Yeah. Yeah, Iceland is kind of divided in four parts in a sense, and they have all different kind of weathers at the same time.

How's the corporate video market over there? To be fair, we haven't done that much, but we you know we occasionally get like you know companies asking us for an offer let's say or like a pitch you know or a bit and you know actually we are doing one exactly right now and it's the market is there because there are actually quite progressive companies and and international companies In Iceland and I've worked on you know quite a few but we haven't done that much And you know normally they are I Wouldn't say they're very high-budget mostly except you were lucky with like some really big company or or something but

But you know they can't be They are around let's say but I to be fair. I don't think Republic hasn't been exposed to it too much Although it happens and we've done like couple of them or maybe three over the last ten years, so You think it might be because like again, it's a smaller market and yes, there's probably like maybe two or three companies that are taking a good chunk of the projects. Probably. Yeah. I mean, there's also like kind of because of, you know, you can't you wouldn't believe

like how many inquires we have from abroad that, you know, they ask for so much and they have no money, you know, you wouldn't believe like how many inquires we have from abroad that, you know, they ask for so much and they have no money, you know. So we just like, I mean, we're not going to spend time on this because I think it's just, you know, talk to this fixer and there's plenty of like these lone wolves, like the fixers, you know, they, which can do quite a bit these days. And that's a changing kind of market. I think what we need to maintain is that it is the stories, the ideas and sure execution is super important but I think it's the general idea is always key and king. But like that's why maybe to a point like I think those fixers and those loaners they might be doing most of the bulk of that

Corporate videos, you know because they can they own their own camera there Maybe two or three and they just do it and really nimble and small With I'm guessing it's also for the Sarah. I just wanted to end up on that point. I guess Because again What all these bigger companies I I was wondering about the potential barriers to entry. So I'm guessing those fixers are kind of taking up that spot there where maybe they can't open up a bigger company because there's just too many big fish in a small pond.

So that's like the only type of work they can kind of manage to get, right? Is that the situation? Yeah, maybe. But I mean, I don't think it's a massive problem. It's just maybe whether they want to open up a company because that's like, you know, that's a whole other, there's a different thing. But I feel like there's a plenty of freelancers and also even just small, tiny production houses that, you know, kind of focus on that kind of format, the corporate videos and et cetera.

So, so yeah. But that's actually what I was going to ask about was like, how have you seen like there been being an increase in a lot of those more independent freelancers or small size production companies like flocking to Iceland or popping up? Because I know over the last like 10 years has been a lot of content shot in Iceland, you know, with like different like YouTube influencers,

like teaching other filmmakers about filmmaking. So like the backdrop has been Iceland and a lot of the content I've seen over the years. So have you seen that kind of like demand and like in people going to just kind of flood the market or? Yeah, I guess so. I don't know. I think it's also just like people,

if you wanna shoot in Iceland something really simple, the gear, the equipment today is small, you can travel anywhere with it and high quality stuff as well. So, so if you're doing that kind of stuff or touristic stuff or influencing stuff, you just go ahead and buy a flight ticket and take your camera back with you and shoot stuff. And, and I mean, that's, that's a positive thing for sure.

Because, because, you know, we, we tend to just kind of focus on, like I said, maybe just slightly higher end than that, even though we've certainly assisted with stuff. But when we do have some ridiculous amount of money, little money, for too much work. We tend to just try to focus on what we're doing, building up the next project that we want to do and stuff like that. But we do really enjoy service. I really enjoy doing service.

I think it's a massive and fun opportunity to get to know new filmmakers or filmmakers that you haven't been able to see before from all kinds of nations. And you are almost, but sometimes you're almost like a tourist guide. You kind of are just showing off your country, you know? But yeah, it's fun. Working with people from different countries, what are some of the different traits that you've noticed? Well, I was talking to a person the other day, we were talking about how different countries

look at productions. Like I said earlier, Scandinavia is more nimble and small. They just want to do the job and with no kind of flair. Or let's say, not flair. I mean, obviously they wanted to have flair, but not like with all the stuff around. The Germans are super nice to work with. I think when everything goes really well, they're brilliant. They're so nice to work with. They're on it and they organize. However, sometimes if things go wrong with Germans, they can get a little bit more stressful,

but usually that's fine. Americans are super grateful always, and I think that's quite a nice trait. And there's a heck of a lot of paperwork with Americans, but that's fine. So I mean, there's different like, different like kind of aspects to stuff. But, you know, generally, you know, since I've been working in this business for almost 30 years, I've worked with all kinds of people in many countries as well. I kind of know a lot about the business. But for me, it's always important that you just put your full effort into making the best film you can, no matter what. And help others to do that too. So I

think that's just kind of the way to go. Of course you have strange characters here and there, but whatever. Well, one thing is also we serviced Kanye West once when he came to Iceland to do a music video. And the director was Hype Williams. And it was quite an interesting project, I have to say. I don't think the video ever made it on air. It was very ambitious. And they actually wanted to travel Kenya West to the top of a mountain and shoot some helicopter shots.

But not really I didn't I couldn't understand why they didn't uh why they didn't you know why they didn't know that Kanye West doesn't really like helicopters and so how was he gonna get up to the mountain? You're gonna teleport him there? That's a producing error right there it's like, don't you know the main talent doesn't like helicopters? And then another funny story about that, they canceled the shoot like twice or like with very short notice. And the second time, it was quite funny. The second time they cancelled it because Kaniay was still in LA and he didn't want to miss the last game of Kobe Bryant. Yeah, because they're good friends.

Yeah, so he had to be at the game. We were just waiting and, you know, where's Kaniay? And no, we had to cancel that shoot because of that game. Couldn't do any pickup shots, you know, some doubles or like behind the head shots you could have done. I mean, I think we did, I think we did something, but like it was just, it was a funny project. And then obviously, you know, his former wife Kim Kardashian and all that entourage came as well and made a segment in, in the Kardashian show in Iceland. Do you have a camera on that? So you were on the show? Yeah.

No, no, I was not there. It was funny. Funny. You know, we, we did the Kanye West part, but somebody else did the, the Kardashians. Yeah. The competitor. Damn. Yeah. No, always, always. So now that you've been like, you've seen it all, like you've seen quite a bit

and you now have a very good idea of like some of the projects you wanna start working on and wanna focus on, what is kind of like on the horizon for you and your business as a whole, like in terms of like you want to do in the next few years? That would be more long-format work.

That would be definitely even a movie, a feature film that we make ourselves. There's more fiction, whether it's TV series or mini series or what not, or even comedy series. We've done quite a bit of comedy series. We've got directors that are really good with that, and we want to maintain that run. But yes, we want to do like very ambitious long format stuff, like feature films or mini series or TV series. That's like our ultimate goal within the next five years at least. So but at the moment, what's coming up right now is there's two teenage series that we really want to pursue and make

based on book and one is actually an original screenplay. And then we're also doing a heck of a lot of documentaries and docu-series, which we really relish to do. I mean, they're tight on budgets, but they're really rewarding. And I, like I told you maybe earlier, I went to school, like back to school, basically,

about two or three years ago. And I thought that was a really nice little time. I went to, finally went to history. And so I have a massive kind of interest in history and all that comes close to that. So that's why I actually enjoy doing documentaries at the moment. I was gonna ask you why you went back to,

why you decided to go back to school. Was there like a specific kind of, I mean, you just mentioned you were studying a bit of history. Was it to kind of help you in research for documentaries? Was that the purpose? Oh, okay. For sure.

I mean, well, the main reason was COVID. And COVID happened and you know, there was nothing to do there for a while. So I was just like, hey, let's, I'm gonna apply. And I went to Oxford actually, and was there for two years. And there I learned really, I think it's super important for filmmakers

and producers as well. And especially like when you're doing research for documentaries, it's learn a little bit about like what you do, learn a little bit about the academic process of history, of studying history. I mean, that's, you know, that's was really a nice kind of, yeah, learning period for me. I think I would recommend it for any filmmaker. How did it help you? Like you said, it helped, but like, what was it? Well, it helps to look at both sides and all sides really. And then you have

to then like the, you know, what I learned the most was the research and you find some piece and then you kind of, because every piece is based on some other research. So you find the other research and then you just, you go into a, you know. Rabbit hole. Deep dive.

Yeah, deep dive and you see all. So, and I thought that would, and also organize that and actually just like also to to to question it, to to to be a skeptic, really, to question everything that has been written before, you know, because that's, you know, things are not like as black and white as people think, you know. So so I think that helped a lot and and organize that as well. Like, you know, OK, what am I trying to answer?

What am I trying to say? What's the story here? It kind of translates into filmmaking really, really easily, you know, and really, really apparently, you know, so I think that helps a lot. That's an important skill to invest in for yourself as a filmmaker. And it's one thing that many of us don't think about doing is going back to school to pick up new skills, depending on what kind of content we want to do. Because doing documentaries, you want to be as impartial as possible when you're like in terms of like the point of view. Obviously, it depends on the kind of documentary you're also shooting. But I've noticed a lot of the mistakes that some mistakes that a lot of documentaries make these days is they they're very one sided, you know? And then like those ones are not always the most enjoyable

to watch because it's like, it's trying to convince you of one side and it doesn't really touch upon the other side. And that's, those aren't as fun to do because then it's like you've already in the beginning, you've determined like what the opinion is and what the argument is, you know? It's like the documentaries that basically tell you could it be this, could it be this? Let's figure it out together the argument is, you know, it's like the documentaries that basically tell you Could it be this could it be this let's figure it out together kind of thing, you know that that makes it more interesting

So there's there's something to be there's something to be said about going back and studying or just picking up new skills Doesn't have to be necessarily going to school but doing something to kind of further your your knowledge base, right? necessarily going to school, but doing something to kind of further your knowledge base, right? I agree. And I think it also helped you with discipline, like in work ethics as well. And that's in terms of time crunch and everything connected to that. So that did help me a lot. And I highly recommend it. I agree.

And what you're saying is 100 percent true. There's so many documentaries that are just so one sided that, you know, they have an agenda, you know, they have like a... They want that answer to be the conclusion of that documentary. But I wanted to look at like, what's the question and then answer it. It doesn't matter where you go. You have to actually have a good argument both ways, you know,

and then come to some sort of conclusion. Because document is also like you. That's the hard part, I think, for documentaries, like especially when you are asking for grants and funding and that kind of stuff, that they always need to see the screenplay or screenwriters, you know, they need to see a script. No documentary ends up how you started it with, you know, it always is a process and you end up with a heck of a lot of new things, you know.

And, but as long as you have like that key question, you know, what are you trying to say with that film? I think that's important, you know. That's interesting because like I haven't watched too many documentaries but I imagine that it's very hard to be impartial because at the end of the day you're using images, sound, and information to kind of manipulate the viewer into a certain point of view, right? So to keep it impartial, it becomes tricky, I guess, because like, if you wanna just feed the facts and everything, then it just becomes like a dry lecture, right? No?

True. It depends on the content, and it depends on what type of documentary, because like, not all documentaries are the same. Some are obviously like bio, bio docs. Some are basically ones that are retellings of certain events, there are other ones that are exploring like Verite style, like going with certain subjects and letting them, letting their journeys kind of unfold. There's so

many different ways you can go about it. But yeah, like I've always thought, like been curious about, cause we haven't had the chance to do this before, is like pitch for documentaries and see what that whole process is like in terms of trying to sell it or, you know, gain funding and grants and things like that. And I think having a good track record of, you know, producing good stuff that isn't biased, you know, can also go a long way, right? Yeah, I think it does. I think, you know, for sure it depends on what kind of documentary or what you're doing. If you're doing about a serial killer, it's

gonna be pretty much one way. It's pretty black and white. But if you're doing like what we did last year, we did a series about, which not many people know about, is basically during the Second World War, the British came to Iceland and occupied it. They didn't colonize it, they just occupied it because it was a key strategic island in the Second World War. And that created a lot of problems locally, you know, community was swamped with young men and, you know, there were there was there was

Nazi sympathizers in Iceland, so they were arresting and but some of them were innocent. And so nobody really knew about I mean, people knew about a little bit, but like we went really, you know, took a deep dive into that and, you know, kind of shed the light a little bit about like, you know, there was, it was a war going on and I have to give the British, you know, kudos and all that, but they still, it was still war and they made a heck of a lot of mistakes. They put a lot of people in jail, which were totally innocent. So, so we kind of just, you know, told that story,

you know, as truthfully as we could. And I remember during the process, because I didn't want this to be very partial. It needed to be just, we tell it as it is as much as we can and et cetera. And I was always kind of on the fence with the script writer, because he really wanted to make the British look really bad. scriptwriter because he really wanted to make the British look really bad. But that was a good fight and that's just healthy, really. That's just going to be making the film better in the end to have that kind of a

debate during the preparation and scriptwriting and everything. Yeah, otherwise it would have been one sided either way. Your side. So you gotta. Yeah. Yeah, filmmaking is a collaborative process and sometimes you need to hear like some people's one sided opinion on something so that you can see what they're arguing for, then you can see from someone else.

I mean, that's also what you do with a lot of the subjects. Right? You interview some people that are for one side, maybe on what the topic is then you interview other people for the other side and then you let the viewers just come to their own conclusion. That's essentially it. You're just you're showing people right? Yeah that's true yeah exactly. Two sides. You mentioned in our oh sorry go ahead. No no no fine all good I was going to bring up how during our pre-interview you were talking about how you created your own series that you then sold off to a network. And I just wanted you to talk a little bit about that. Yes, we did. Like lately we did a really kind of left field of beats, but still very funny comedy series.

That was one of the directors that we have on our roster that was kind of his baby so he took about I think it took probably two years to write that sketch show with two actors with two really kind of well-known comedy actors and they were writing for at least two years, I think. And then they sold it to a TV station for, you know, whatever it did cost, literally. And that was literally just the process. I mean, you had to have good actors. I think that you had to have somebody attached to it, which, you know, TV stations like. And I think that was the have somebody attached to it, which TV stations like, and I think

that was the case in this one. And then you have to have a director that kind of visualizes correctly, and I think he did a really good job on that. And great scripts. And comedy series are tricky. That's tough to write. Comedy is subjective, you know, not everybody is. So they had to find the fine line, you know. But it turned out well. So the process was long, but we

believed in this series from the get-go and supported the director with whatever he needed basically for it. It was not a massive budget, but it was good enough to make a pretty good six episode series. And with value in it, it did feel like it did cost more. I think that's also what we're kind of proud of actually on that series. Nice. You also keep mentioning your roster of directors. I'm just curious about how that works exactly, because again, you have your production company, you have these roster of directors. Are they like exclusive to you?

Yeah, well, they should be. Got to keep tabs on them. Yeah, but I mean, we have a roster of, I don't know, it's about six, seven directors, and but they're not exclusive really. I mean, they obviously, I mean, what the director did those years, he's actually doing another series with a totally different company,

and that's the totally different, you know, totally different project. He was attached to it very early on and stuff, and suddenly it happened. Yeah, fine, it's fine. We support the directors with anything that they do. But it's no exclusive. I know in America you have to have exclusive.

Everything is contracted. You're stuck there for two years or whatnot. But I think in Iceland, if they're happy, we're happy and that's fine. If they're unhappy, they just tell us and then we move on or we work it out. But those directors are kind of, you know, they have multiple hats, let's say. They can do a lot. They can do, you know, movies to be honest and one of them has done two or three. And then they can do commercials, they can do corporate video, they can do documentaries if they like to. And one of them was just a documentary about death, you know, it's a very interesting subject.

We're just talking about death in a second series actually, we did two. And that's a topic that was very sensitive for sure. And we were talking about people losing a lot one and dealing with death and, but so it was quite, you know, we won a award for it. So, you know, it must, must have been some, something that we did right, you know. So it's basically like you're, like even though they're not exclusive, what you're kind of putting front and center to the people that you're pitching to is this is our, these are the kind of putting front and center to the people that you're pitching to is

this is our, these are the people that we trust and you know, in a way you almost can even say like, hey, you should book us and book them now because they could get busy on other shoots, right? Almost in a way. Is it kind of like that dynamic where it's like this is our talent pool that we pull from? Yeah, that's, Yeah, rarely that kind of happens. We have a time conflict, but it does. I mean, for instance, what I just told you earlier about the director who's doing another project with somebody else. I mean, he's going to be taking off the market for us

for like seven months or something, six months. So it's a bit of a loss, but we do have, you know, others to work with as well. And also we have, you know, good friends like that, that are, you know, not on our roaster per se, but like, for instance, we're doing a documentary about the Highlands in Iceland, about what was done there back in the day and stuff. And, you know, he's just freelance, you know, but a good buddy of, and actually worked with us back in the day. So yeah, we're open to working with anybody, really. And we don't look at our directors being exclusive, although we kind of maintain, if we maintain them happy and we're providing them work, and they provide us also work,

then it's a good mix. Yeah. Let's start to close off the conversation. Let's talk about reflection. So if you were to go back in time to when you first started, is there anything you would tell yourself? Well, it's going to like I told you probably when we had like a pre-call, let's say, and

I focused a lot on my directing career to begin with. I started directing music videos and commercials in Iceland and I worked abroad a lot. Just anywhere in the world. Name it. I've shot there's you know from Asia to South America, America and whatnot. And I was doing commercials and I know you know pretty successful and all that good stuff and I'm still doing that to be honest. I still really enjoy making commercials when I get a chance and I really you know enjoy the collaboration with people. It's always compromised. Commercials are a lot of compromises. You have a filmmaker, then you have a client and that's like

somewhere you have to kind of meet in the middle somewhere. But it's a fun kind of compromise workflow. So it's got to be tainted with that career. Now I'm still doing commercials, but I'm also doing documentaries and I'm producing as well. I'm actually helping out foreigners, I'm doing service work, I'm doing multiple hats. And I think that's also kind of reflects like the work ethic of Iceland, you know, you can't just be in one role. You kind of have to have know-how in many roles. And so looking back, I would loved, I did one short film when I was younger and I was never happy about it. I thought it was absolute crap. And I, well, either I wanted to go back and make that better

or make another short film that was, because I think short films are, I mean, I recommend any director that wants to do, whether he wants to do long form or long format films, he needs to have a short film under his belt, his or hers belt. I think that's just really important for anyone. That's that shows Especially if you write it yourself and you may interact it and you did it. That's that's the key thing to kind of get into long format and Stuff so that's probably my biggest regret not having made made a short film when I was a little younger

I think it's a bit too late now for some reason. I'm getting too old but But still you know, maybe in the future. I don't know but hey you went back to school. It's never too late It's never too late for a short film. Hey, so I don't know. I don't I think you still got time. Don't worry Maybe yeah, maybe. But I do think that, yeah, even if I did one, let's say, we still had a problem to get into that genre or that kind of field. It's a different market for sure. And with all its own separate challenges. like you've worked mostly in the commercial

and the documentary space, which is completely different demands and skill sets versus long form narrative, especially when there's what 12 to 16 hour days on multiple days constantly. I like originally Dario and I used to, when we first started, we wanted to go into that direction. And since then we're kind of like, I don't know if we

want to do 16 hour days, 10 days in a row constantly. Right. But you know, things change over time. Right. Yeah. I think, well, it would be really tiring if you have 16 hour days for like 20 days or something. That would be exhausting. Reflecting back, I think that's kind of maybe the only... I mean, nothing is perfect. Of course, you would do a lot of different things, but I think that's kind of the biggest one. I think that's the one that I really would have liked to do when I was younger and probably would have taken me on a different path. But it's not to say that I'm like unhappy with what I've done and where I am right now.

I think it's, you know, and I mentioned earlier like, okay, I've seen it all, but I haven't really seen it all. There's always something new. And that's the fun part about this business, I think. So just to kind of like summarize that a little bit, it's one thing you would recommend is for people to make more time to do creative projects and personal projects that they're passionate about so that they can use that to help leverage things in their

career in the future. When they're young, that's the caveat. Well, yeah. You don't have to be young. It's easier when you're younger, that's for sure, because you have more energy too. That's why. Probably. But there is ageism in this business as well. Yeah, that's a whole other podcast episode

we can touch upon. But before we sign off as well, how did you come up with the name for Republic for the business? Well, oh Jesus, I can't remember. But I think it was just, we wanted like, yeah, okay, yeah, my brother, well it was influenced by me and my brother.

We were doing a heck of a lot of work in Czech Republic and they use a lot of K's instead of C's in Czech language. And they had like all kinds of names and like some cool names of bars and pups or whatnot. And I was influenced by that. But we also just wanted, we were thinking about something in terms of democracy or something like kind of big topic, kind of big word. But Republic kind of came shortly after that, I think. Yeah. But, and we liked it with a K slightly different but yeah yeah makes sense that the history guy also comes up with a name like that yeah

a lot of meaning a lot of background yeah but but it wasn't that much background behind it to be honest I think that's a good point to end it off. So, guys, if you want to find Arnie, go to Republic.is. And he's in Iceland. So if you have any big time commercials or movies, he's the go to guy for that. Or anything really. It doesn't have to be big. I mean, we do all projects, but as long as they just make sense. Yeah, that's the key thing.

Makes sense. Yeah, that's the that's the key thing Do you guys have social media I'm trying to find it on your website Yeah, yeah, we have Instagram kind of account going on. What's the what's the handle? Republic films kind of account going on. What's the handle? Republic Films. Republic Films. And it's Republic with a K. I forgot to mention this. So the website is Republic. K. Ending with a K. Dot I S. And I'm guessing social media, same thing. Yeah, same. Yeah. But films on Instagram. And you can find us on Facebook as well, but we're quite active on Instagram. So Yeah, okay. Well Arnie. Thank you so much for coming on the show Really appreciate it pleasure. I hope I made any sense

You shared a lot of good stuff and and definitely a completely different perspective for a lot of the people who listen to the show So thank you so much. No problem, man. All good. Take care guys and good luck. Please make sure to follow and engage with us on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, and your favorite podcast app. Creatives Grab Coffee is created by Laps Productions, a video production company based in Toronto, Canada. Creatives Grab Coffee is also sponsored by... My name is Mehran.

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