Bossing It: Staying True to Yourself with Michael Nouri
Michael Nouri is EP and Founder at Nouri Films. After finishing his social services, he was working as a bike messenger which brought him one day to a shoot on stage, so he got the opportunity to volunteer and started in 1990 as runner in a production company and then joined 1992 Radical Images in Cologne, Germany as PA. Between 1992 - 1996 he had a scholarship to study “Creative Producer” at Filmakademie Baden-Würrtemberg, while studying he worked as clapper loader, runner, location manager, 1st AD and spark on commercials and features.
In 1996 he returned to Radical Images, that time one of 10 leading commercial production companies in Germany and between 1997 – 2001 was Managing Director before becoming a freelance producer for several production companies in Germany and building up production services in Chile between 2002 - 2005. He then became EP at Stillking Films until 2013 when he joined Palma Pictures. This then lead to him launching Nouri Films in 2018.
LBB> What was your first experience of leadership?
Michael> My grandfather when he took me skiing as a child and I followed his line.
LBB> How did you figure out what kind of leader you wanted to be – or what kind of leader you didn’t want to be?
Michael> Growing up as a teenager in the eighties in boarding schools and following subcultures as I got my difficulties with authorities, I figured out quite fast that I have to go my own way. Not knowing at that time what was the “right” way, probably my stubbornness helped me to get what I was looking for. Reflection on my environment, teachers, or leaders and self – reflection over my reaction and behaviours helped me over years to define what kind of person I wanted to be. My intention has always been to be true to myself.
Based on my ethical values, my emotional competence was raised. I believe it's important to stay humble while being focused on your aim.
LBB> What experience or moment gave you your biggest lesson in leadership?
Michael> When I was shooting 20 years ago for a German car brand for the US market and the day before the shoot, while the agency was flying from NYC, only to come for the main aerial shot over a frozen lake, the location permit was withdrawn at the last moment. That experience taught me to take responsibility for the entire project, crew and anyone who believed in us, so I went by myself to authorities to find a diplomatic compromise which let us do our aerial shot. Everything went as planned and we delivered, but being a leader means to me to stand at the frontline if necessary.
LBB> Did you know you always wanted to take on a leadership role? If so how did you work towards it and if not, when did you start realising that you had it in you?
Michael> Probably it was written in my “life agenda” as I always knew that I wanted to solve creative and logistic challenges in a short period with a crew of professionals. By time and with more experience in life and our industry, I realised that people, crews, and clients were believing and following me.
LBB> When it comes to leadership as a skill, how much do you think is a natural part of personality, how much can be taught and learned?
Michael> As “leadership” is the ability to inspire, influence, and guide others towards a common goal or vision, I believe it’s a natural part of your personality. Confidence and competence come by time, but not everyone has skills to motivate and inspire others through their actions, words, and commitment to the shared goals of the organisation or community.
LBB> What are the aspects of leadership that you find most personally challenging? And how do you work through them?
Michael> Failure and losing is part of life and businesses. It’s the main challenge to keep your fire burning even if you lose from time to time, stand up and keep believing in yourself to achieve your goal. Not only for yourself, but also for others who have followed you so far. For me, it works best to get physical distraction, go for three – four hours on my bike and reset.
LBB> Have you ever felt like you've failed whilst in charge? How did you address the issue and what did you learn from it?
Michael> Sure, it happens. I’ve not a problem admitting and being transparent to others who need to know. Taking care of business means to me taking responsibilities and solving problems. I’m very grateful to work with such great crews and very professional producers who are standing next to me. And they know; I’d never let them be alone on our productions and always back up if necessary.
LBB> In terms of leadership and openness, what’s your approach there? Do you think it’s important to be as transparent as possible in the service of being authentic? Or is there a value in being careful and considered?
Michael> As mentioned above, I’d be transparent to the ones who need to be involved, but it is important to act thoughtfully. Time is a factor which helps, as sometimes “problems” which appear so big on the first view, disappear quite often by itself.
LBB> As you developed your leadership skills did you have a mentor, if so who were/are they and what have you learned? And on the flip side, do you mentor any aspiring leaders and how do you approach that relationship?
Michael> I’m in the lucky position as a producer, to work with directors who are “leaders” to run a shoot. Some of them are really good and some OK or not so good. But working with Wim Wenders on two projects impressed me a lot how respectful he’s treating everyone in his crew. It was a real pleasure working with Wim, he’s such a gentleman with lots of humour and a true legend. I really hope his film “Perfect Days” will get the Oscar for best international film this year.
At our company we’re giving opportunities to people who want to join the industry and come from other backgrounds. It’s a pleasure to see nourishing talent and how people grow into new responsibilities.
LBB> In continually changing market circumstances, how do you cope with the responsibility of leading a team through difficult waters?
Michael> I’m used to it, our industry has never been easy, it’s so unpredictable and always challenging. I’ve been through the .com crisis in 2000, 9/11 and financial crisis in 2008 … a pandemic in 2020 … and we’re were thinking our industry will stop when it changed from filmstock to digital … but we’re still here and producing top notch commercials.
Looking back where we are coming from gives me enough confidence together with my partner Antonella Perillo to guide our team in any future.
LBB> As a leader, what are some of the ways in which you’ve prioritised diversity and inclusion within your workforce?
Michael> Our company's ethos is pretty simple, we don’t differ between gender, sexual orientation or race. I like to see more women in technical positions, we’re already working with women in the camera department and female sparks, but I hope there’ll be more in future.
LBB> How important is your company culture to the success of your business? And how have you managed to keep it alive with increases in remote and hybrid working patterns?
Michael> It’s important to stay true and as it’s a people business, we like to listen and take care of our staff, freelancers and crews and clients. Working remotely and doing zooms or video calls is standard nowadays. As a service production company we are so used to work with clients very closely over distance, that’s already in our NDA.
LBB> What are the most useful resources you’ve found to help you along your leadership journey?
Michael> My partner Antonella who never gives up, she’s the toughest woman I know and I’m glad to have her on my side as we always reflect and discuss how we want to live and run our company.
