Testimonials

Miryam is good with words. She helped me compress an avalanche of words into a perfect snowball. Round. Clear. Precise. But she also taught me to throw that snowball – hard and without regret – when form became more important than content. To throw it and see which flakes stuck to which ideas, and why. I cherish our walks in northern France.
The endless fields where our senses settled on a branch or a forgotten stone. But also the artwork at the bottom of the stairs where I got lost time and again. The sea of perfectly organised lying around art books and sketches that whispered: Look here, if you can’t remember anything. The smell of coffee, always served in a different cup, as if doubt could also exist in porcelain. Our conversations, balancing between age-old ideas and brand-new doubts. And the storm, which belonged to it – as storms belong to old castles.
What do you leave out? What do you keep? What grows when you let go?That became our biggest exercise. The core of the creative documentary Better than Gold. And the core of our writing process. She helped me find the words for the story that already existed inside me – without ever imposing anything. Her magic is that she makes you believe they were your own words all along. But anyone who ever spent time with her with their script, like me, knows better.

 

– Leen Michiels, writer & director ‘Better than Gold’ (in production)

When writing a script, there are moments of joy and moments of despair. It as much researching your subject as it is a journey inwards. Both have their own set of obstacles, and while balancing between them, with the passionate guidance of Miryam you are in the hands of someone that will always trigger the right questions within you, celebrate the joyful and bounce back from the despair. Through her work, you’ll find a new appreciation for the ideas, and will discover a deeper meaning behind them as well as a deeper understanding of the characters you shape. And besides that also understand the dialogue you are having with yourself, in which you can get easily lost. If you are ready to really understand your film, and are ready to answer the real questions, you are at the right address with Miryam.

– Rumi Kaul, director ‘Kooi’ and ‘Klas’ (Shorts competition Netherlands Film Festival)

Developing a script can breed uncertainty. It entails digging deep, encountering failures, and starting afresh. Miryam understands this process like no other. What I admire most about her is her rejection of the usual certainty that most cinema professionals adhere to. She embraces paradoxes, implicit narratives, and everything that defines our humanity.

– Benny Vandendriessche, screenwriter of ‘Beats of Love’ (in production)
It is not often that an encounter impacts the way you will work in the future. Miryam reshapes, inspires and enriches the way you think. She applies a ton of her own experience, and combines it with broad and deep knowledge of art and literature, and applies all of that in a very practical way to get you to better analyse and develop your own material. You will be challenged, destabilised, recompassed and then come out more steadfast, determined and more precise than ever before.
– Gilles de Schryver, producer and actor at De Wereldvrede, screenwriter ‘Beats of Love’ (in production)

There is something very unique about Miryam. As a coach she dares to rely more on intuition and life experience than on method. She teaches you how to use the power of speech to influence reality and guides you to the core of your story in an almost magical way. As a good listener, she delves into the depths of your own soul, beyond your deepest fears. By constructively questioning every word you’ve written, she helps you gain a better understanding of what you may not fully comprehend yourself yet. After letting Miryam in, you can no longer hide as a writer or filmmaker; in return you are offered a special place and the warmth and security to explore and expand your story. The wide fairytale landscapes of Hardoncelle provide you with the space and time needed to find the right words and language.

– Sun Mee Cattrysse and Hyun Lories, writers & director of ‘Eomma’

Miryam helped me discover what it is I want to interrogate with my film and how to use all the story elements to formulate this thematic question in the sharpest possible way. With an almost surgical precision, Miryam always discovers the flaws in my writing. Fortunately in the same effort, she will always uncover some signposts that help me find my way again.

– Harm Dens, writer&director of ‘Solipsis’ (in production)

Miryam combines a sharp and analytic mind with a big, warm heart. Building on a rich fundament of life and work experiences, she inspires and stimulates writers to deeply question, rethink and optimize the core of what they want to tell. She encourages and helps them to develop real, multi-layered characters with intertwined relationships and captivating storylines. Should you be lucky enough to work in her residence at her home in France, you’ll find a piece of paradise and a lady of the house you won’t easily forget.

– Siebe Dumon, Head of Talent Development VAF

Miryam is smart, sharp and a joy to work with. She flawlessly knows how to lead you to the essence of your story and make it truly meaningful. I love her.

 

 

 

 

 

– Patrice Toye, writer&director, coach Script Atelier
I’ve felt more like a participant than a co-mentor whilst working alongside Miryam at the Concept Atelier for television series at the Flemish Film Fund in Brussels for the past four years. Her mentoring skills are phenomenal. I marvel at her competence, knowledge and abilities to grab both texts and writers by the heels and draw them back to the source of their work. She prevents us all from resting our feet on the floor as tropes, metaphors and cliches are rooted out like invasive species. If you’re lucky enough to get time with Miryam, then get a good night’s sleep the night before. 

–  Paul Tyler, Handling Ideas
Whether it’s an hour or a five day stay, every session with Miryam is a treat for your project. With her critical, but mostly curious and sensitive perspective, she will offer new ways of comprehending your work, its inner structures and themes, its relation to the audience and therefore the world in general. Miryam’s questions and suggestions are like shots of oxygen to your work in progress, and in case you choose to stay with her in France: so are her beautiful garden and the peaceful walks around the hills and woods. In short: working with Miryam is like cardio, but for the brain. You’ll be so happy you did it. 
– Kato De Boeck & Flo van Deuren, writers and directors of ‘Roomies’ (season 1, 5 Ensors); season 2: in production)

Miryam made me delve to the core of my intentions for this film, and helped me stay connected to it when I felt lost.The clarity and profundity with which she questions each behavior of the characters, made me embrace the complexity of their own psychology. 

– Meltse van Coillie, writer and director of ‘Zonder Meer’ (Nominee Golden Bear shorts, Berlinale), ‘Nocturnus’ (Film Fest Gent) and ‘Torpor’ (in production)

Because my screenplay is layered, philosophical and poetic, and it is more about atmosphere and feeling than plot, I was initially a bit apprehensive of a script coach who would come up with standard solutions and where I would have to defend my individuality.
During the working sessions of two or three days each time, we made giant leaps in development. Miryam proved capable of mercilessly pointing out weaknesses, inconsistencies and ambiguities, forcing me to become sharper and clearer, without  the fragile artistic edifice I wanted to build carefully and precisely, collapsing. This sharpness and an almost cool, critical matter-of-factness in analysis Miryam coupled with a personal and warm approach: her heartfelt interest in what I had to say gave me confidence and security in this fragile process. It made the screenplay more accessible, solid and rich, but also created more room for the depth I was looking for.