Saira Telyn
Saira Telyn | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 31 December 1970 |
| Occupation |
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| Net worth |  Ŧ40 billion (2020) |
| Spouse(s) | Anise Lyð |
Saira Telyn (born 31 December 1970) is a Gylian producer. The founder of Dreamwave Productions, she is famed as one of Gylias' most successful producers, known for her specialisation in blockbusters and media franchises. Her works are some of Gylias' most critically and commercially successful films, television series, and video games, both domestically and internationally.
Early life
Saira was born on 31 December 1970 in Eslin, a village on the banks of the Ţikona river. Her parents were farmers, and she has an older brother. She is of mixed Gylic descent, with ancestry including Aðunese, Tomesian, Tanan, and Lusitan.
She grew interested in pop culture from a young age, fascinated by the contrast between what was broadcast on GTV and GR and her rural surroundings. She joined the Revolutionary Youth Union aged 8, and remained a member until she was 15. She credits the RYU with shaping her approach to filmmaking and sensitivity to messages and subtext.
She wrote and drew from an early age, but realised in secondary school that "I was decent at writing but that's it, and I seemed to be better at helping people write than doing it all myself."
In 1988, she moved to Narsiad to attend Anca Déuréy University. While there, she worked at its student newspaper as a copy editor. She immersed herself in the city's artistic scene, attending the cinema and writers' workshops.
Although a successful student, she left university in 1991 without graduating due to an administrative error. When informed of the mistake and offered a rectification, she declined. She explained in a later interview, "I'm still technically short of graduating. I could go back and do it, but I wanted to prove a degree isn't everything. Whether I have a degree or not didn't make a difference to me following my path."
Career
After leaving university, Saira worked as a production assistant for several films and television series. She assisted the production of the Chikageki films Dressed to Kill, Tango with Trouble, and Danger Dealers, and produced the music video for Core's "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me", her first official credit. These were significant formative influences on her ethos.
She established Dreamwave Productions in 1995. After making its debut with several low-key projects, it gained its breakthrough in 1999 with the first film of the Taxi franchise. Dreamwave subsequently expanded into several media — anime, film, television, video games — and became one of Gylias' most successful production and distribution companies, particularly known for its skill in creating blockbusters and media franchises. It gained a significant audience abroad as a leading participant in the second Gylian Invasion.
Public image
Saira is one of Gylias' richest people, with an estimated net worth of Ŧ40 billion. She is a prolific participant in the Social Partnership Program.
She was described by Downtown in 2006 as a "sly fox" and "one of the most consummate smooth operators to have reached the top of Gylian entertainment". She is known for her distinctive appearance, wearing a grey Kaede Nakano suit and her hair in a long ponytail, which has made her a style icon. She was one of a number of famous businesswomen of the 1990s to popularise Kaede Nakano designs.
She has displayed a mischievous sense of humour in several of her cameo appearances and interviews, such as being photographed exposing her breasts on the cover of Surface, for a feature titled "Saira Telyn bares it all!".
Saira is considered one of the most influential persons in Gylian entertainment, and is known for her ability to both attract established names and rising stars to her projects. She humorously summarises her philosophy thus:
"I became a producer because I made a bet with myself that people would like to go to the cinema and see thrilling action, memorable characters, witty dialogue, loving romance, and intelligent content, all in the same movie, topped off with great style."
Her working practices include extensive pre-production, holding meetings to establish agreement on the tone of the work in production, and leaving special effects work and soundtrack recording until the final cut is ready. By her own admission, she focuses more on assembling production teams and casts, and serving as a "referee" between multiple ideas rather than writing much herself.
Meiko Kaji, who worked as a director on several Dreamwave releases, remarked: "Any project Saira is involved in becomes a Saira project. If you understand this, things will go well. You can contribute anything you want, and if it works, it works." Louise Bourgoin commented during the production of Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec that "Saira was great to work with — constantly asking if I was comfortable with some ideas, asking if I had any ideas to add, and keeping us all on the same page. It made working on a big film so fun it went by so quickly."
Private life
Saira is married to Anise Lyð, a screenwriter and close collaborator. Saira and Anise jointly serve as "creative editors-in-chief" for Dreamwave's productions, and have co-writing credits for all Dreamwave releases. Their close collaboration and complementary public images have earned them the reputation of a supercouple in the Gylian media. They have no children; Saira joked in an interview, "Our films are our children."
She is mainly a practitioner of Concordianism; her propensity to use monotheists as villains has drawn criticism in countries like Mansuriyyah. She identifies as a "non-inscrit leftist", mainly supporting parties like the Pirate Party, People's Party for a Flourishing Nightlife, Love, Nature, Democracy, and LSD Party.
She is notably a close friend of Ayane Hoshino, the president of Musex Records who enjoys a similar reputation and influence within Akashian pop music, as well as Kanna Miyashita, Frauke Stark, and Marie-Agnès Delaunay, with whom she's co-produced French-language series like Le recueil des faits improbables de Ryōko Yakushiji, Les Enfants Terrificques, and Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec. She is an investor in Polaris and The Pump.
She has been interviewed for Rasa Ḑeşéy's documentaries L'entrégion (2010), Our Clothes (2012), Happy Orgasms (2013), and Beloved Rascals (2017), as well as The Havomar Report.