With an eclectic slate that includes critically-acclaimed hits The Cry, Mayflies – and most recently, The Tattooist of Auschwitz – award-winning producer Claire Mundell is amplifying Scottish talent and making some of the country’s most affecting drama

Interview: Cheryl Caira. Lead image: BBC series Mayflies

It’s been an epic storytelling year for film and TV producer, Claire Mundell. The founder of Glasgow-based Synchronicity Films, she’s seen the Sky miniseries she poured six years of her life into – the haunting and powerful adaptation, The Tattooist of Auschwitz – finally arrive on screens. It’s been one of the producer’s greatest creative journeys, culminating in an 80-day shoot in Slovakia with over 5,000 actors. “It was sort of terrifying at times, but hugely rewarding,” says Mundell. “I really wish there was a BAFTA for just getting a show made, because every time it happens it feels like a miracle.”

Now good friends with The Tattooist of Auschwitz author Heather Morris, the international bestseller and its adaptation were on the discussion table at a recent Glasgow Bookface ‘Sip & Swap’ event, which sold out in just 20 minutes. “When you’re a producer, you’re just so focused on moving forward and getting things done, there aren’t many moments to reflect. It’s really nice to stand back and look at a piece of work and hear insights from the audience that you haven’t even considered.

Harvey Keitel as Lale Sokolov & Melanie Lynskey playing Heather Morris in The Tattooist of Auschwitz

“We work on a lot of original pieces at Synchronicity, but we do love finding brilliant books – often topical and sometimes based on a real story – then finding a way to turn that into great drama. Making TV and film can be painful, stressful and frustrating, but it’s also an absolute joy, and there’s something really magical about bringing highly skilled people together and conducting that huge orchestra.”

You’re no stranger to adaptations, but how did you approach developing a book as beloved as The Tattooist of Auschwitz?

The challenge with a book that is so well known is finding a take that brings in a wider viewership, but doesn’t alienate the original readership. In the case of The Tattooist, you’ve got this incredibly powerful story at the heart of it – based on two real people – who have survived the most notorious concentration camp of all and managed to find each other and fall in love.

Focusing on the real-life story of Tattooist author, Heather Morris and Lale Sokolov [the novel’s central character] and using that dual timeline narrative we could cut between really enabled us to adapt the book in a unique way for a contemporary audience, and show that there are no happy endings. Holocaust trauma didn’t end when the camps were liberated: it was very much a terrible shadow that followed Lale Sokolov around all of his life. 

Founder of Synchronicity Films, Claire Mundell

How much of a pinch-me-moment was it getting Barbra Streisand to record a song (‘Love Will Survive’) for the series?

I still can’t believe it, to be honest. The music on the show is extraordinary [co-scored by Hans Zimmer and Kara Talve], so we felt like we had to knock it out of the park when it came to the end credits. We had originally dismissed the idea of a song because we were worried about getting the tone right, given it’s a series based on a Holocaust survivor’s experience. So we decided the only way we could do it is if we got the best female vocalist on the planet. 

We made the call, and Barbra’s manager loved the idea. Over the course of four days we ended up with a demo of the song, then Barbra recorded it with backing from the London Symphony Orchestra. She sent me a signed letter, which is now on my office wall. Obviously we’re going to put a photograph of her above it and make a wee shrine of some sort.

What was your mission when you founded Synchronicity Films?

Throughout my career I felt it was a bit of a misnomer to think that that talent only gravitated towards London, because there was so much talent in the nations and regions, and I felt you could make great work wherever you were. I wanted to start a drama production company based in Scotland that had global reach, but also passionately – but not exclusively – cared about Scottish content.

We’re purpose-driven in the sense that a lot of the material we’re drawn to is centred around a subject matter that feels important or needs examining. With The Cry, based on Helen Fitzgerald’s novel about a woman in the grip of a controlling relationship, we made a four-part series at a time when people weren’t really talking about coercive control. Then with Mayflies, Andrew O’Hagan’s amazing book, it was an opportunity to tell a story with real emotional gravitas that had something to say about the nature of assisted suicide, and whether it should be legalised or not.

Glasgow-based drama, The Cry

You’ve spoken about the need for Scottish culture to be better represented on screen. How far do you think we’ve come with that?

I’ve been obsessed with this for a long time. In mainstream media, Scotland seems to have two permitted versions: Outlander hills, castles and kilts or the junkies and deprivation end of the scale. It’s still difficult to get a variety of Scottish content made because there are these ingrained stereotypes, but I enjoy challenging that because there are so many different facets to Scottish culture that we want to represent. When we made The Cry for example, one of the greatest compliments we got was one of the financiers saying: ‘That doesn’t look like a Scottish drama. It looks like Copenhagen.’ And I said; ‘Well, yeah, parts of Glasgow are pretty cosmopolitan.’ It’s funny how pervasive these impressions of our culture still are.

What qualities do you need as a producer?

Tenacity. You need the mindset of a long-distance runner. You have to have a really honest conversation with yourself about how much you believe in a project, because it will be with you for years. You need to be pragmatic and prepared to pivot, but also have a degree of delusion. It’s the definition of Zen non-attachment – you’ve got to want the project to happen, but be detached enough to make decisions that make it feasible. 

To use the old Scottish expression, you also need a good brass neck. If I have a project I really believe in and that I feel in my gut I’ll get made, it makes you fearless. You also have to be able to rub along with a huge range of people, so a healthy sense of humour helps.

What Synchronicity projects are currently in the pipeline?

We’re close to production with a few: we’re adapting Graeme Armstrong’s cult classic The Young Team, and also a Gothic thriller set in Applecross called His Bloody Project, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. We also have a big project that we’re financing, based on a Hanif Kureishi novella called The Body, which Paul McGuigan is attached to direct.

One of the best things about being an independent producer is that possibility of waking up in the morning, hearing something on the radio or reading something in the newspaper, and then having the freedom to go and try to make that happen. With every project we make, the goal gets bigger. After making The Tattooist, I’m almost daring myself to take a risk and thinking: ‘What’s next?’