Value+ in women-led businesses

At 3 Peepul Productions, we are a women-led company, with 3 women at the helm. We bring to the table over 30 years of experience each – a mind boggling total of 90 years in varied fields. We believe in collaborating with talented people, who have a passion for storytelling and have the heart to back their stories. Our doors are open for collaborating with experienced film makers as well as newcomers, of all genders. As women entrepreneurs and film producers, we’re aware that even in 2023 we are a minority, a rarity in the films production world. When a film maker looks for a production house, s/he/they have many options.

So why collaborate with us? Here’s some research on the value add in collaborating with a women-led business.

In 2007, McKinsey & Company, the well-known international management consulting firm, published a study called “Women Matter” in partnership with the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society. This study found that women apply five commonly cited leadership behaviours more often than men do, namely- society and people development, expectation and rewards, role models, inspiration and participative decision making. While this may sound complex or obtuse, the underlying message is that generally women tend to look at the problem at hand, arriving at the solution/s by considering questions like – “How do we help each other to get the best result?” or “How can we find common ground to create a win—win solution?”. More often than not, women’s thought process does not revolve around “I, me, and myself” during decision making.

While many other studies have been conducted over the years since on women in management, the results have remained more or less the same.

A research team led by Birton Cowden (Michael J. Coles College of Business and Kennesaw State’s Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship and Innovation Centre) surveyed 990 entrepreneurs in 3 countries on how they make business decisions. The researchers found that women in the survey were more flexible and resourceful in their decision making, leading to more success. Cowden said “We found women more often use effectual logic, which is taking resources you have and using them creatively to achieve success. That’s different and more flexible than casual logic, where you start with a goal and then create a plan to achieve it.” The findings are included in the paper, “Are female entrepreneurs more effective in applying effectual logics?” published in the Journal of Business Research, and won the Best Empirical Paper award from US Association of Small Business.

There’s plethora of research that states women tend to be natural multi-taskers due to the amount of work that needs to get done around them – managing the house, the workplace and often times with rearing children. This makes women skilled at planning, executing and time management, along with problem solving, crisis resolution and people management. Women tend to take uncertainty and anxiety in their stride, converting it into actionable steps, taking charge of what they can control or manage. They also tend to tackle each day with a list of actions and follow routines to the best of their capabilities. They show ability to handle unexpected changes and situations out of their control with resourcefulness, presence of mind and ability to handle stress and pressure. Coupled with an innate sense to foster relationships, support and connect with people, these skills are a huge advantage at the workplace, in management and leadership roles, apart from within the family and community.

What do we 3 women founders bring to the table at 3 Peepul? Along with our varied work experience, we bring our innate sense of story telling and sense of connectedness to our work. At 3 Peepul, we believe in inclusivity and creativity. Willing to engage and explore all forms of story telling, we believe in championing the story itself, and offer a supportive, conducive environment for the film maker to make the film s/he/they envision. We are extremely fortunate to collaborate with incredible people who share their expertise with us, as we go forward on our journey of discovering new talent and meaningful stories to bring on screen. We feel honoured to be associated with established artists and storytellers.

As the saying goes, “The proof of the pudding lies in its taste”. So we’d like to share some behind-the scenes snippets of the journey of our collaborations.

Our first short film “Vishwamitri Villas” is the result of an exciting collaboration with well-known UK based director, Kristine Landon-Smith, whose vision of an improvised film on Zoom resulted in this special 40-minute experimental film. Our shared vision has been to create an inclusive space for deaf people and normalize sign language. This led to casting 4 deaf and 12 hearing teenagers as the 16 young actors. Our film has 4 languages- Hindi, Gujarati, Indian Sign Language and English, with subtitles in English and Hindi, reflecting the multi-linguistic nature of society in India. Language is never a barrier to communication and understanding. Even though our Director spoke only English, she had some understanding of Hindi, and was ably supported by the Assistant Directors and a team of interpreters and sign language translators. Making this film during the pandemic lockdown took the spirit of collaboration to new heights, using Zoom. Spread over 2 continents, our Director and an AD were in London, the actors, interpreters and translators were in Vadodara, and the other AD was in New Delhi. Post production was also done on Zoom, with the director and music composer in London and the editor in Vadodara. The team never met, not even once, during the making of our film. With our collaborators’ involvement, we hope to shine a light on the need to include deaf people in mainstream cinema, especially in India. We’re proud to share that “Vishwamitri Villas” was selected and nominated in a number of film festivals in US, UK and UAE, and won “Best Ensemble” award for short films in the Monkey Bread Tree Film Festival. Our film is now ready for distribution; and partial proceeds will support educational initiatives of our collaborator – Akshar Trust (Centre for Children with deafness), whose students are part of the film.

Our first feature film “Kundaalu” is the reason we became producers in the first place- our origin story. The writer-director Rohit Prajapati was looking for a producer and discussed the story with us, as we’ve been working together for many years. When we heard the concept – just 4 lines of the story, we intuitively knew that we must back his vision, and we were extremely confident that the film would be excellent. That’s how and why we became producers overnight. The film had many challenges as it was filmed during end 2020 and early 2021 in the pandemic, with post production taking nearly 2 years, and our film is now ready for distribution in early 2023. Shot on location in a village during the pandemic, this film has seen collaboration at many different levels – from established actors and technical experts coming together with newcomers – because they all believe in the film. It has become “our film” for everyone involved. Our film is now ready for distribution, to reach the audience.

Since inception, in the past 2 years, we’ve also produced 7 ad films for a mobile health app platform, and now we’re in the midst of producing short films for a NGO on gender violence and sexual abuse.

All our films are a result of our friendships developed over many years, where trust and respect are at the core of each relationship. Collaboration becomes genuine, sustained and long-lasting when all members equally value relationships, building trust and integrity in the projects and with each other, while sharing a common vision. This is at the core of our way of life and work at 3 Peepul.

Filmmaking and films production is a truly collaborative process. As women founders, we enjoy the process of working in teams to create multi-dimensional stories that build on individual creativity and expertise; where the sum is far greater than the individual parts. At 3 Peepul, we are empowered because of our ability to take people along on this journey of storytelling. Ultimately organisational development and performance relies on the complementary as well as diverse qualities of a team. At 3 Peepul, we believe in creating a cohesive team, professionals with diverse talents, expertise and backgrounds, who come together to tell stories rooted in the Indian ethos, filled with imagination and emotion.

Connect and collaborate with us at 3 Peepul. Together we can add value, enriching our stories on and off the screen.