Amanda Posey - IFTA Producing Masterclass

IFTA was delighted to present a special Producing Masterclass with Amanda Posey, of Wildgaze Films, two-time Oscar nominated producer of Film and TV including Trespasses, Brooklyn, An Education, and Joy.

This masterclass was moderated by Rebecca O'Flanagan of Treasure Entertainment, award-winning producer of film and TV including Handsome Devil, Smother, Flora & Son, These Sacred Vows and Powerballad. The masterclass took place on Wednesday 03rd June at the Lighthouse Cinema Dublin.

Amanda shared herknowledge and expertise as a producer, giving insights into various stages of development; choosing the right projects; attracting talent, sourcing financing across features and TV drama; collaborating with directors and screenwriters; working internationally, co-producing and working with streaming platforms such as Netflix. Throughout the conversation, Amanda emphasised the importance of passion when selecting projects and developing material, saying:

"It all starts with feeling passionate about that, whatever it is you've fallen in love with, whether it's a book or whether it's an original screenplay, a writer's work you really like, and you really want to get them to write something for you, you know, it has to come from passion."

A snippet from our IFTA Producing Masterclass with Amanda Posey, sharing her advice for aspiring producers!💚#IFTA pic.twitter.com/bBGhsyg3Je

— Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) (@IFTA) June 29, 2026

Amanda spoke in depth about the various projects she has worked on throughout her career. Speaking about the IFTA-Winning Channel 4 drama Trespasses, adapted from Louise Kennedy's acclaimed novel, Posey reflected on finding the right actor to lead the series, saying:

"I didn't know Lola’s work, I knew that they were working on Say Nothing at that point, but we didn't know anything about how Say Nothing was going to come out. Casting Director Carla Stronge sent us Lola's read for Cushla, it was clearly a brilliant performance, but it was so hard. We said this to Carla and she said: 'That's how they are. They take roles very, very seriously, and you should see them again when they finish the shoot.’ We saw a lot of other people in between, and in fact we had a short list, but when they came back in for the second read, that was a moment. A really good casting director can make you reconsider and it was incredibly helpful for us that even though they were a new actor for a lot of people, that Say Nothing came before and introduced them."

A snippet from our IFTA Producing Masterclass with Amanda Posey, sharing insights into working on John Crowley’s ‘Brooklyn’ starring Saoirse Ronan!✨#IFTA #brooklyn #saoirseronan pic.twitter.com/ycpV0SSXhI

— Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) (@IFTA) June 9, 2026

Amanda has produced two Oscar Best Picture nominated films - John Crowley’s Brooklyn starring Saoirse Ronan, and Lone Sherfig’s An Education starring Carey Mulligan. Her most recent project was Channel 4’s IFTA-nominated drama Trespasses starring Lola Petticrew, Gillian Anderson and Tom Cullen. Wildgaze’s first foray into TV drama, this adaptation of Louise Kennedy’s novel received 4 IFTA nominations and 3 wins, including for Lola Petticrew’s acclaimed lead performance. Her credits also include Netflix’s Joy (starring Bill Nighy and James Norton), Their Finest (starring Gemma Arterton), feature documentary My Nazi Legacy, and both UK and US adaptations of Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch (starring Colin Firth, and Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore respectively).

This masterclass is supported by Screen Ireland through the Screen Stakeholders Funding Scheme.