Unwritten+

Irina Ignatiew
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Unwritten+ is a podcast about building a career across cultures and borders. Hosted by Irina Ignatiew, each episode features honest, in-depth conversations with people navigating international paths in media and beyond. From creative sparks to personal turning points, Irina explores what drives her guests, what challenges them, and how they shape their own unique journeys.

  1. From a Backpack, $1,500 and the Grateful Dead — to Cannes, the Oscars and a Life Built on Bold Decisions

    04/12/2025

    From a Backpack, $1,500 and the Grateful Dead — to Cannes, the Oscars and a Life Built on Bold Decisions

    In the new episode of Unwritten+, I speak with Deborah Bayer Marlow — a producer whose entire life has been shaped by instinct, reinvention and the kind of courage you only discover when the ground under your feet disappears. Deborah’s story begins in 1988 — a year she calls “a rupture.”At 18, in the chaos of a family falling apart, she grabbed a backpack, $1,500 and followed the Grateful Dead across America. A wild, rebellious escape that — without her knowing — set her on a collision course with cinema. From landing as a green PA on Natural Born Killers, to the wild adrenaline of 90s advertising, to working with Gus Van Sant, and then uprooting her Hollywood life for Denmark after 9/11 — her journey is a masterclass in trusting timing, saying yes, and building a career across borders. We talk about: Launching Marlow Film and marrying American ambition with Danish precisionCreative trust — and holding vision when budget and reality collideThe mystical timing behind The Girl with the Needle, the film that stunned Cannes and went on to Golden Globe & Oscar nominationsWhy emotion — not algorithms — is her compassChoosing people over projects, and knowing exactly when a leap is worth it Deborah reminds us that dark stories can reveal extraordinary light — and that the real magic happens when instinct, craft and collaboration meet. This episode is full of heart, honesty and wisdom from a woman who has rebuilt her life more than once — and done it with grace, grit and a deep belief in the power of story.

    59 min
  2. From Germany to Spain, Mexico, New York, and Dubai — and the Slap That Stopped a Film Set Cold

    27/11/2025

    From Germany to Spain, Mexico, New York, and Dubai — and the Slap That Stopped a Film Set Cold

    What I love most about my conversations on UNWRITTEN+ is when they stop being about titles and job descriptions — and become about the life underneath.My new episode with Daniela Tully is exactly that. Daniela is a novelist, screenwriter, and creative producer whose journey has unfolded across five countries and three continents — and every place has reshaped the way she writes, works, and sees the world. From co-producing Hollywood films like Contagion and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in Abu Dhabi to writing her debut novel Hotel on Shadow Lake (inspired by a WWII letter her grandmother received 46 years late), her path is anything but linear. We talk about:• What “home” means when you have several• How expat life changes your sense of identity — and complicates “belonging”• Why her students in Dubai read stories without the Western lens• How Bedouin storytelling influenced her writing• And yes — the slap on a Mexican film set that echoed across a canyon It’s a layered, cross-border, deeply human and enormously fun conversation — exactly what Unwritten+ was made for.

    50 min
  3. PRODUCING AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE: The Courage of Kateryna “Katya” Vyshnevska

    21/11/2025

    PRODUCING AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE: The Courage of Kateryna “Katya” Vyshnevska

    Some stories don’t just stay with you — they change you.This conversation is one of them. Katya grew up in Mariupol, a city now synonymous with destruction and unimaginable loss.Before the war, she had already built an extraordinary producing career across CEE, the Nordics, the UK and beyond — a life that changed completely from one day to the next in February 2022. And two days before the full-scale invasion, she made a decision that still moves me deeply: She flew back home. Not because it was safe — but because that’s where her family and friends were.She had a sense of what might be coming, and she chose to be with them.That kind of clarity… that kind of heart… it stayed with me. In our conversation, she speaks with a raw honesty that humbled me: about waking up to war, the urgent effort to get her mother out of Mariupol, and the moment she realised her childhood home — and every physical memory of her life there — had been erased. And in the middle of that devastation, she created Those Who Stayed — a wartime anthology held together by heartbreak, humour and humanity.A project that exists because the Nordic public broadcasters acted fast, with a very special shoutout to YLE, national broadcaster in Finland, who picked up the phone, rallied their peers and said: “We have to do this.”And because my former colleagues at Red Arrow (now Seven.One Studios International) believed in the project early and helped make the financing possible. We talk about producing as an act of resistance. About burnout. About rebuilding her life in Brighton — behind a bar, in a yoga studio, reconnecting with life in its simplest, truest form. And we talk about co-productions — not as budget puzzles, but as people. About protecting the emotional core of a story.About her quiet strength and the wisdom she has earned the hard way. There’s also the absurd, tender, unforgettable story of the Kyiv underground station where she spent the first days of the war — a dramedy she hopes to make one day. I hope she does too. But the moment that will stay with me most came at the very end.I asked her for one word to describe the year ahead. She didn’t hesitate. “Optimistic.” Not out of naïveté. But out of strength. Out of choice.Out of the belief that light deserves space too. Please let her story be heard.Listen — and if it moves you, help it reach others. Unwritten+ has become deeply meaningful because of conversations like this.I’m grateful for every guest who trusts me with their truths, their fears, their laughter and their lives.They shape how I see the world — and I don’t take that lightly.

    53 min
  4. Courage, Exile, and Writing Light Into Darkness — Ali May

    09/10/2025

    Courage, Exile, and Writing Light Into Darkness — Ali May

    Born in Iran after the Islamic Revolution. A childhood marked by the Iran–Iraq war. Growing up in a dictatorship where silence was survival. Ali May’s journey took him from Iran to London, where he studied Creative Writing, and from there to Bloomberg, Euronews, and the BBC — before turning to stories for the screen and stage. His projects now cross borders — from France to Germany, Denmark to Finland, and beyond — but always return to the same truth: what power does to people, and how even in the darkest places, there can be cracks of light. ✨ In this episode, Ali shares:– What it meant to grow up as a child in wartime — and how stories became a way to understand the world.– How Orwell’s 1984 shaped his decision to leave Iran.– The hidden grief of exile — and the weight of not being able to return home.– Why fiction became the place where he could finally voice his opinions.– And yes, even a story about competing with his mother over who makes the best celery stew with lamb. Because in the end, it’s the small rituals of family and food that keep us connected, even across borders. This is a conversation about courage, exile — and why telling stories freely is never something to take for granted.

    58 min
  5. Sylvia Yu Friedman | A Life of Fearlessness ✨

    30/09/2025

    Sylvia Yu Friedman | A Life of Fearlessness ✨

    Sylvia Yu Friedman | A Life of Fearlessness ✨ Born in South Korea, raised in Vancouver, shaped in Beijing, and now rooted in Hong Kong — Sylvia Yu Friedman has lived many lives in one. As a journalist, documentary filmmaker, author of three powerful books (A Long Road to Justice, Silenced No More, and Fearless), and an advocate for survivors of modern slavery, she has walked into places most of us would run from. She’s faced danger, toxic workplaces, personal loss, and trauma — and still chooses joy, hope, and reconciliation. In our conversation, we talk about:🌿 Forgiveness as true freedom🔥 The courage it takes to tell the untold — from war crimes to modern slavery💔 Healing after trauma and walking through cancer with her husband🌏 Resilience learned across continents — Korea, Canada, Beijing, Hong Kong💡 Why love and hope never die, and why she believes the next generation will go further than we ever could What inspired me most: Sylvia doesn’t just survive darkness. She transforms it — into stories, into lessons, into light for others.

    1h 1m
  6. From Enugu to the Olympic Dream. Unwritten+ Live with Kaelo Iyizoba at Seriesly Berlin

    20/09/2025

    From Enugu to the Olympic Dream. Unwritten+ Live with Kaelo Iyizoba at Seriesly Berlin

    🎙️ Episode 10 of Unwritten+ — our first-ever LIVE recording in a SERIESLY BERLIN SPECIAL is now available! From Enugu to the Olympic Dream. Unwritten+ Live with Kaelo Iyizoba at Seriesly Berlin Yesterday at the beautiful Fotografiska Berlin with an amazing view over Berlin in Bar Clara, during the fantastic second edition of Seriesly Berlin, I sat down with Kaelo Iyizoba—a Nigerian American filmmaker whose journey is pure vision and courage. Born in NYC, raised in Enugu, Nigeria, Kaelo first trained as a pharmacist—then made the leap to study filmmaking at Columbia University Film School. Since then: award winning shorts like “River of Justice” and “Boy Meets Girl”, selections to the Sundance Cultural Impact Residency and TIFF Directors’ Lab, and now “Birthright,” his epic new series which he pitched at the festival’s Writers’ Vision Pitch. What stayed with me: How a boy in Enugu once wrote little novels by hand and sold them with his cousins — and how that spark still fuels his storytelling today.The bravery it takes to say, “pharmacy wasn’t my story — film is,” and to start over on an entirely new path.The loneliness of landing in New York just as Covid shut the world down — and the resilience it took to keep going, to build community anyway.The way he uses cinema to trade in something rare and necessary: empathy.The spark of Prince of Egypt — and the dream of one day directing an Olympic Opening Ceremony. Huge thank you to Seriesly Berlin, Dennis Ruh, Sabine Schmidt and Fotografiska Berlin for hosting our Unwritten+ debut in front of a live audience. What a view. What a room. What a guest. One more thing: Every follow, every like, every comment helps us grow this community so we can keep telling the human side of building a career across cultures and borders. Thank you for your support!

    31 min
  7. It’s All About the Bass: The Force of Nature That Is Marike Muselaers

    04/09/2025

    It’s All About the Bass: The Force of Nature That Is Marike Muselaers

    Fourteen books devoured on a single road trip. A teenage obsession with musicals and VHS horror films. An intern who borrowed money just to take her dream job at Fortissimo Films — and later helped steer Lumière from DVDs to Netflix deals. That same drive now powers Marike as Head of International Financing & Co-Productions at Nordisk Film — where she’s building bold partnerships across Europe while mentoring, moderating, and shaping the next generation of storytellers. In our conversation we speak about: ✨ moving countries for love ✨ why business in Belgium starts with three lunches ✨ bath- and barroom pitches that actually close co-productions ✨ taking scary but calculated risks ✨ and why connection — not algorithms — is the real through-line of her career. And we made a little pact: for my 100th episode (still far, far away — and for which I’ll need the continued support of this community), Marike will flip the mic and interview me as guest host.

    58 min
  8. Vision, Gut Instinct & the Making of a Showrunner
- Fleur Winters on Leadership, Genre, and Stories That Refuse to Compromise

    24/07/2025

    Vision, Gut Instinct & the Making of a Showrunner
- Fleur Winters on Leadership, Genre, and Stories That Refuse to Compromise

    How do you go from a cinema seat in a Dutch small town, moved to tears by a Brazilian film - to selling stories across continents, backing an €11M vampire series, and now showrunning a bold, romantic costume drama? That’s the arc of Fleur Winters—producer of Dutch Gouden Kalf WinnerThe Crash, founder of Big Blue, and the creative force behind the upcoming Grand Hotel by the Sea.A series that blends entertainment with substance—and throws a well-aimed rock into the still water of convention. In this episode of Unwritten+, Fleur joins me to talk about:🎬 What showrunning really means—and why clear leadership empowers creativity🌊 How surfing (and saying no) helps her reset🛠️ Building a slate that puts audience first—without chasing the algorithm🪨 Why she believes stories should entertain and shake something loose✨ The project she waited seven years to make This one’s a masterclass in creative stamina, smart risk-taking, and trusting the story only you can tell.

    53 min
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About

Unwritten+ is a podcast about building a career across cultures and borders. Hosted by Irina Ignatiew, each episode features honest, in-depth conversations with people navigating international paths in media and beyond. From creative sparks to personal turning points, Irina explores what drives her guests, what challenges them, and how they shape their own unique journeys.

Information

  • Creator
    Irina Ignatiew
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Irina Ignatiew
  • Show Website
    Unwritten+