GET TO KNOW SUPERCLUSTER: Conversation with Márcia Meireles, Co-Founder & EP of More Maria

With their proactive approach, keen eye for new talent and a deeply rooted commitment to equality, More Maria are paving ways and setting new paradigms - not just for women filmmakers but for the Portuguese production industry as a whole.

Co-founder & EP Márcia Meireles tells us about the unique story of More Maria in the new edition of our Get To Know series.

First, let’s discuss the name More Maria. Neither you nor your co-founder Xana Dias are called Maria. What is the story there?

Starting our own company was a dream that we had a few years ago. Our first big challenge was the name. From the beginning we had very specific goals:

First, bringing more women on board - especially directors and photographers - and giving them a chance to work on projects which they usually don’t get a chance to work on. A name that signifies more women, more creativity. We wanted a name that really defined us.

Second, as founders of the company - two women - we wanted to imprint our identity as producers in our brand, being completely involved in the full process and at every stage. We truly love what we do, and we have a creative and critical view of the work we want to develop, hence why “more” was such an important word.?

“Feminine without fear” is a great message, especially since the production industry is still very male dominated. Do you ever find it challenging to get that message across?

It is funny because - even though we now have all these women-led movements fighting for equal paychecks, equal opportunities, women in power - there were a lot of people, both men and women, who said: “do you really want to have a feminine name? Maybe it will be risky.” And that was exactly why we chose it.?

The More Maria message strives for equality and this is perfectly illustrated by your roster which consists equally of both genders…

We always wanted to do this as a meritocracy. We are a production company based on talent which also focuses on bringing chances to women to do big projects. The women we have on our roster are there not only because they are women, but because we truly believe in their talent, and we want to give them more space in this field. It’s amazing to see what happens when you give them a chance. This is something very rare - in Portugal we don’t have a lot of female directors - maybe only 5% of the market, even less.?

Why is that so? The talent surely is there. Is it just not being recognized at all?

Women directors, photographers, cinematographers, etc. were never really supported as they should have been. For a long time, production companies representing talent didn’t realize that having a woman in a director’s role, pitching in on projects, requires another kind of endurance, specially due to the fact that we are a Latin country. The advertising market was totally different. We didn’t have a lot of creative people on the agency side who were women, which we now have. We didn’t have women CEOs in marketing departments, and now we do. We now have more women that want to be directors and more production companies who want to bring them on board, but it’s still not enough.

What is your process for finding new directors?

We have different strategies to search for new directors.?First, we look at new talent such as young directors who already developed interesting work while on their academic path or young people doing short films or music videos in which you can see their latent talent.

The other would be to understand the gaps in the market and where it is that we don’t have the reach yet. Since the beginning, we wanted to bet on new talent. This is the?reason why we have a rising section on our roster which consists of young directors transitioning from videographers, or young directors transitioning to a more commercial approach. Working with new talent is more demanding for us as producers but it’s very rewarding to see unique creative approaches being born. It’s a different mindset, another way to see the world.

There is a true variety in the projects you are involved in - commercials, music videos, short films. Do you have a preference with the type of projects you are leaning towards? What does the selection process look like?

We produce a wide range of work. Of course, our main business is advertising and - as we always say - we really like what we do. We truly appreciate the advertising process, it’s demanding, fun but also a privilege: We’ve been lucky enough to do really cool projects with great agencies and super smart clients. But one of the main reasons why we opened our production company was because we want to go the extra mile - music videos, short films, content, photo exhibitions.?

Although we are a young production company, we already produced a couple of music videos, there’s a short film in pre-production from one of our rising directors, and we also do some special projects which we really like - a combination between technology, events, and video. Those kinds of projects are usually a great challenge as they take us out of our comfort zone.

There seems to be a common drive amongst the SUPERCLUSTER partners in this case. Although you are all film production companies at the core, you are involved in so many different creative media - exhibitions, 3D billboards, music, immersive art… Artistically, there are really no limitations within the collective. Is this one of the aspects that drew you into the project?

For sure, SUPERCLUSTER is such a brilliant idea on so many levels. The fact that we have so many production companies and directors from around the world, with different backgrounds, different cultures and experience means that the final product will always be rich. One of our collective’s most amazing elements is the will to produce different artistic formats in a unique way.?

In 2022 - our launch year - the future of this unique collective was shaped. Where do you see it going in the next couple of years?

There are so many ideas on the table and, with this mix, the possibilities are countless. Samsonite was a great kickoff and the best way to showcase what we can do as a collective. Cheers to Peter (Grasse) and Connor (Gilhooly), the main producer and director of the project, because it was a challenge and they mastered it. Along with a couple of our partners, we were able to get a beautiful piece, shot around the world without one single flight.?

For the near future, I have to say that I′m really excited to see the result of our creative competition (can’t say a lot about this). It will be beautiful to see how we can work creatively on content that was produced and directed by different people.?

For the next years, I imagine so many different things that we could do together - feature films, global campaigns, photo exhibitions, conferences. There are so many things we want to do, so many ideas on the table. Can’t wait for 2023!

Discover our global collective below and stay tuned for more insightful stories at the heart of SUPERCLUSTER.

Asymetric,?AVION FILMS Athens,?Be Sweet Films,?Carbon Films,?COURAGE, Glitch Paris,?Landvogel (EN),?Mamá Húngara,?More Maria, Mother Media,?Mr.Frank,?Mr+Positive Tokyo,?O2 Filmes,?Reel Factory,?Saltwater Films,?Warsaw Production Team