Interview With Michael Sagol, Co-Founder/Executive Producer/Managing Partner, Caviar Productions

Born in Belgium, Producer Michael Sagol (The Diary of a Teenage Girl, The Rider, Sound of Metal) moved to the States as a 10-year-old and somehow found himself partnering up with a Belgian company 20 years later to create the US office of Belgian production powerhouse Caviar. Sagol’s vision came to full fruition in 2021 when the company’s indie film Sound of Metal won two Oscars. Soon wrapping the company’s first original series on a major streamer, Sagol’s success story is bound to see more exciting chapters as Caviar continues to gain momentum in the global entertainment industry. I was able to speak with Michael Sagol about the origin and vision, as well as looking to the future of Caviar Productions:

This is Kristy Strouse with Film Inquiry: Can you tell us how  you got started in your career?

Michael Sagol: I got a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theater from Emerson College in Boston and came to LA because Emerson had an internship program. At that time I made a promise to myself to keep one goal: don’t wait tables! I interned at Propaganda and was surprised that one could make a living as a PA on commercials and music videos. Very quickly thereafter my dreams of acting gave way to the realities of the world, however I started to see a path towards producing which is something I was always very intrigued by. I had a million jobs in my 20s — I tried pretty much every position on set — and by trial and error found that I fell in love with producing. The background in acting does come in handy as a producer because public speaking, which is scary for many people, is not one of my core fears at all!

How did Caviar begin and what was your part in it?

Michael Sagol: Caviar began when three production companies came together, two from Belgium (Roses are Blue and Pix in Motion) and my former company, Atomik Pictures in the US. We evolved from being a service company to being a production company and started representing Belgian directors in the states sort of overnight. After a few years of doing mostly visual storytelling commercials, we started reaching out to the film community and began working with the next wave of American comedy (Jody Hill, Jonathan Krisel, Jorma Taccone, Jason Woliner) to make commercials with them. As the Co-Founder of Caviar Los Angeles, I found myself in a world where I had to figure things out very quickly without really having a roadmap on how to do it. The only thing I knew is I wanted to tell stories, all kinds of stories, as there are so many stories to be told! And here we are: saving the world one commercial at a time as I like to say, and today can even say saving the world one story at a time.

What is your vision as a production company?

Michael Sagol: We believe in telling stories and all the work that comes with that statement. We find talent and empower them to tell their story in an impactful and resonant way. We tell six second stories and we tell stories that take 12 episodes to be experienced – we don’t really discriminate as to the length. The vision is to tell stories that move people and transcend the way they think about something. We want to leave them with a new way to look at something they thought they understood. When it comes to music videos and television and movies, we are moved most by narratives that are not the easiest to tell. Because we have a very small greenlight committee at Caviar we are always taking risks and aspire to tell stories that haven’t necessarily been told. Stories with a lasting and powerful message.

What are you looking for in a new project?

Michael Sagol: We try to focus on our strengths and not spread ourselves too thin. We want to invest our time in extremely talented people. For the next phase of Caviar, we want to really hone in on making compelling entertainment and not trying to do everything. To clarify a little, I think that because we excel at so many different ways of storytelling, spanning ads, music videos, documentaries, features and television, the challenge is going to be to keep doing all of those things but really focusing on the KINDS of stories we can tell and tell well.

What do you see in the future?

Michael Sagol: We will keep on finding our own voice. Defining ourselves through our stories has been the best thing for us. Finding really interesting material that reasserts us as storytellers, defines who we are as a company and also helps shape the company culture. We like to build from within, finding the next generation of producers – not only filmmakers – then helping people tap into the best version of themselves. I want to empower others to do this and help launch the next generation of producers and filmmakers.

Any future projects?

Michael Sagol: We have a movie that just wrapped with two Belgian directors whom we’ve worked with for eight years, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Black, 2015.) We just shot their film Rebel in Belgium and Jordan. Prior to that they directed Bad Boys Forever with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Our first US television series is in production now and will come out next year. It will be on a major streamer. The show is a remake of a Belgium show which is our IP. It’s the first time we’ve been able to do something like this, take one of our original stories and tell it in another language on such a huge scale.

That actually goes back to the beginning of the company itself. We had all these departments in Belgium – we did music videos, we did commercials and we did movies – for the Belgian market. With [Caviar CEO] Bert Hamelinck, all we ever wanted to do was to do what we did in Belgium here in the United States. When you make content in the states, it’s just bigger by virtue of the size and prestige of the industry here.

Is it a challenge to be an outsider or an advantage?

Michael Sagol: I’ve tried really hard never to compare myself to other people or companies. You can be inspired by others. Don’t compare yourself though because that will stop you from becoming who you are. Don’t look across the street and be envious, but put your f*cking head down and do the work. Don’t look up until it’s done, then share it with the world. Once you have done that, START OVER. You are always an outsider, because once you are an “insider” you lose your edge. Keep pushing yourself to think outside the box cause that’s where the magic happens.

What’s it like to have your indie film win two Oscars?

Michael Sagol: Sound of Metal – which was developed and produced by Caviar – won six nominations including Best Picture and two Oscars [Best Sound, Best Achievement in Film Editing] so we are trying to set that bar high. It was awesome to be there with our peers and it was a nice moment to take it all in. The Oscars were more intimate this year without an audience of 3,000 people so it was nice for our first time. Because we did not get physical Oscar statues, since only the nominees in each category receive those, Bert and I just looked at each other across the table at the end of the show and said, ‘Guess we’ll have to come back, then… for our Best Picture Oscar.’

We want to thank Michael Sagol for taking the time to speak with us!