INTO THE LEAD: COME INTO THE FOLD

Continuing our series spotlighting participants of Into The Lead, Screen Alliance North’s leadership programme for independent production companies across the North of England, we hear from Michelle Stein, co-founder of North West-based production company The Fold.

Michelle launched The Fold with partner Jennifer Monks just over two years ago, bringing together their respective development slates to build a company focused on feature films with theatrical release potential through co-productions and originating their own work. While both share producing responsibilities, their roles shift depending on the stage of production. Michelle’s focus often sits on long-term strategy. “I have an interest in the strategy of the company,” she says. “If Jen is leading a production, I go back to, ‘what do we want to be making?’ How do we firm up the pipeline so we’re producing projects from our own slate as well as co-productions?” Collaboration remains important, but developing and delivering their own projects is central to the company’s ambition.

Michelle’s route into the industry began more than two decades ago. Originally from Yorkshire, she returned after university with an English degree and started as a runner through Screen Yorkshire. “I just started running – making tea, doing whatever needed doing,” she says. A mentor introduced her to creative producing, which led her to the National Film and Television School, where she completed an MA in Producing. After graduating, she made a micro-budget feature and launched her own company, Escape Films, before later merging slates with Jen to form The Fold.

Despite being relatively young, The Fold has quickly built momentum. Its first major feature Retreat, premiered at TIFF last year. The thriller, which is written and directed by a deaf filmmaker with an entirely deaf cast performing in BSL, is set to be released this year. The company has also produced the BBC Three short Jealous People Are Ugly People, recently released on iPlayer and heading to South by Southwest, and co-produced The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford, which premiered in Rotterdam.

The Fold has just wrapped the production of LCR Production Funded A Town in Nova Scotia in Liverpool City Region. For Michelle, the project felt like a natural fit. The director envisioned it as “a love letter to Liverpool,” drawing on years of visiting the city. “He didn’t just want to shoot there,” she explains. “He wanted it to be about the city and its inclusive culture.” Michelle is keen to champion positive regional storytelling with this production and beyond, noting that Liverpool has often been portrayed negatively on screen. “We want to make work that’s regional but also positive and aspirational that leans into the ambitions of people in the North West.”

For Michelle, joining Into The Lead offered a chance to pause. “We’ve made a lot in a very short space of time,” she says. “It felt like an opportunity to step back and look at what we’re doing more critically.” A key motivation was future-proofing the company in an industry shaped by rapid technological change. While The Fold’s output remains rooted in traditional cinema, she recognises the need to engage with emerging tools. “There’s so much talk about new technology,” she says. “It felt like a way to start engaging with it and thinking about how it might support what we do, without replacing anyone’s jobs.” For her, the programme provides space to think strategically about where The Fold is heading next.