October 6, 2017
This month, we had the pleasure of getting to know Glynis Murray, Founder of Toyboy Films and Braham & Murray, the owner of the ‘GOOD’ Food brand and the UK’s leading hemp ‘superfood’ business.
Glynis has over 30 years experience in the Creative industry and has worked on films such as Nanny McPhee, Waking Ned and Shooting Fish.
Being in film, which is fundamentally about creating things, my husband Henry and I were keen to develop a new product to take to market. We had already started to grow hemp on our farm in Devon and discovered that the seed was in fact an extremely healthy food and we decided we would create our products from there.
We originally had the hemp seed oil which we discovered, if you grew it well and harvested it well it tasted fantastic and we could sell it as a culinary oil. Once we found success from that we moved onto finding other opportunities for food from our hemp, moving onto Hemp Milk and Hemp Protein.
Initially we had a lot of problems because hemp was newly introduced into the country to grow – initially for the fibre, and for this you had to get a licence from the home office because growing hemp had been illegal (for obvious reasons!). Even though we were growing hemp for a food based product, in a field it looks like a narcotic therefore there are a lot of rules and regulations about it. We had to get a licence that had to be renewed every year, but now people are used to hemp being a food crop so the regulation has been relaxed.
In terms of consumers buying into the product, hemp has so many connotations to it which has been a challenge to start with! However, we spent much of our initial expenditure and marketing educating consumers about the health benefits of the product.
Getting an adviser on-board early was important to us. It set the scene and we made sure that everything was properly prepared before we set off ion our journey. As a first step, it is something that a business owner should look to do. Someone who is experienced, personable and able to advise on timing.
Getting the house in order from the start is key to building value. It may mean a bit more red tape, but it should pay dividends on the sale. In terms of an adviser, we were lucky to find someone experienced that could take us through preparation, fund raising and then, hopefully, a sale.
The company is growing faster and faster, from one original product, (the Hemp oil) which was only sold in Waitrose, we are now in the majority of supermarkets and have three main products; the seed, the milk and proteins. We are now looking for world domination(!) as we are looking to sell our products abroad. We have had some sales in America and some in Europe – that’s our plan to have more international sales.
I didn’t really have a big break – I was lucky to meet two young film makers who were making a small budget film which was lit by my husband Henry (Glynis’s Husband Henry Braham is a top Director of Photography in the movie industry). They were looking to make their next film but had no office to work from so I offered them use of my office. From there, they asked me to produce the movie, so I guess you could say this was my ‘big break’. From there I was proud to say that we made ‘Shooting Fish’ which starred Kate Beckinsale who had just dropped out of Oxford and decided to be an actress, so this was one of her first (and best 🙂) films.
My favourite film has to be ‘Waking Ned’. I was so deeply involved in the production of this and as it was an independent film we didn’t have a big American studio taking charge which meant we had so much flexibility making it. This meant it was so personal to me and on top of that, it was also a massive success!
My favourite actor, who sadly has died now would be Ian Bannen who played the main character in Waking Ned. My favourite actress would be Emma Thompson in Nanny McPhee who was amazing and the most inclusive person to work with, I learnt so much from her.
Nowadays making a film is very different from when I made my first film, which was around 15 years ago and the opportunities for middle-size films are not a good financial model any longer. Back when I started in the 90’s, you could make a film and it would have a certain size success in the cinema but DVD sales were the main income. Unfortunately, nowadays DVD sales don’t exist as people just download films instead.
There’s has now been a polarisation in the film industry where you either have very low budget films where you make your money back through TV sales or you get the huge films, like the Marvel Films with huge budgets. My advice for a film maker, if possible, is to write your own film because by definition then you’re the filmmaker and can take your own stance and control of the directing and budget.
It is very difficult and what’s happened is that television has gone exponentially huge as people don’t want to go to the cinema anymore, it’s a cultural thing. Nowadays, people want to see huge blockbusters at the cinema and watch smaller films on Netflix at home.
Brave, tenacious and I’m decent.
Some of the big directors who are very successful can be difficult but if they have a really strong vision then the difficulty is allowed for. As a director, sometimes you need to be this way because the reality is, you’ve got a script and that story could be told by anyone so in that sense they can be self-orientated. My view would be if you want to be a producer you’ve got to get on with people and work with them, hide your ego and elicit the best work from people.
I was very proud of Waking Ned as it was a massive financial success, it cost 2 million to make and took 100 million worldwide. The food path through Good Hemp was an unexpected success as it started off so small and has now become a household name so I’m very proud of that too.
My next project is back being a film maker but it’s actually a new, unique way of making films through virtual reality so this incredibly exciting project. We will be making Shakespearian plays and other dramas in this format.
We have already tried it out with James McAvoy playing Macbeth and It’s quite incredible that you’re in the middle of the drama in the way that you are with virtual reality games. We are incredibly excited about this project and have some big-name directors, actors and investors involved in the project with the plan to make the first production next year. Prestigious director/producer Michael Grandage, who is currently making the Musical version of Frozen in Broadway, is our creative partner in this project so it’s very exciting!
We are in the midst of a fund-raising exercise at the moment and as well as looking at simply the money men who can invest capital alone, we have had far more success from the strategic community that will hopefully provide critical infrastructure to grow the business. We have some really big names following us and showing interest so we are looking forward to a busy 6 months. To me and my fellow shareholders, this infrastructure is almost more important than the money and we will see how we get on.
There was no one in my earlier life who was a role model but I’d say that Henry is my role model as in terms of Good Hemp he was always the one with the vision and suggested we could make a product from the Hemp we were growing. From the very start he knew the potential and wanted to make it into a brand, thinking big. I think I’ve helped make that happen with my managerial/producing skills but he is my inspiration in terms of the success.
Quick fire!
Cats or dogs? – Dogs.
Favorite movie? – The Last Samurai directed by Edward Zwick.
Films or farming? – So hard!!! I want to say both but farming if I had to choose.
If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go and why? – Back to Sydney where I have been twice because Australians are the funniest people I have ever worked with.
Life motto? Be brave, be kind.