This exclusive content for Guinness and Diageo was a joy to produce (if only because I grew up watching Gary Neville play for Manchester United!). As part of a ‘positive drinking’ campaign I produced for Diageo, we brought football legend Gary Neville to the table to talk about the new Premier League x Guinness partnership.
Beyond the video cuts of the Gary talk, this project involved attaching Gary to the project through his team, and developing the content and talking points to optimise Gary’s involvement - we had him reflecting on the drinking culture in football in the 1990s and the (positive!) ways that culture has evolved, on Guinness’ brand heritage and why it works well with the Premier League, how to moderate alcohol as an athlete, and even gamified the final section of the hero film with a ‘penalty shootout’ quiz on Premier League and Guinness knowledge!
Credit: Project producer, interview session director
Agency: Marmalade
In 2024 I produced both the summer and festive season ‘The Magic of Moderate Drinking’ campaigns for Diageo. These responsible drinking campaigns used film, still assets across print and digital, and Spotify audio ads, to engage with the general public in the UK, Hungary and Spain.
We developed a fun and dynamic visual creative which avoided downbeat, preachy responsible drinking messaging, to instead push various positive drinking behaviours per ad (water, trying non-alc options, eating food, using alcohol measures, etc). Campaign assets included film content for online, website skins for digital, and static print advertising for out-of-home at key locations across Europe, from London Kings Cross St Pancras station, to Sziget music festival Budapest, to Madrid and Barcelona rail stations.
I also had the pleasure to develop and produce x2 audio ads, in English and Spanish, which were used on Spotify in summer 2024! These targeted festival-goers and those out to celebrate the summer in style with a message of responsible drinking.
Credit: Producer
Agency: Marmalade
Brand film made for Oxford University Press. I wrote, directed and produced the main brand film, as well as x3 accompanying interview led films featuring real teachers and students of English.
The brand film aims to celebrate the journey of learning English, and the impact it has to transform lives and open doors.
Filmed with a crew of just three in Istanbul, Madrid, Santiago de Chile and London. Special shout out to Jim Petersen DoP and his stellar work!
Credit: Director, producer, writer
Production company: Pukka Films
The UK charity Gambling with Lives exists to support bereaved families who have lost loved ones to gambling harms - and to lobby the government to ban gambling advertising.
In 2021 I produced a series of films for a landmark educational resource, for use in UK schools, youth clubs and sports clubs. Three of the films are short animations exploring gambling products and their addictive design properties.
The main film is a 20 minute live-action drama which follows a group of friends torn apart by gambling addiction. We follow Mark as he finishes school and grows up, falling deeper into a gambling addiction that he cannot hope to control.
We also designed a series of 4 lessons around the films.
Credit: Producer
Production company: Pukka Films
Broadcast TVC for Leger Holidays. We shot for 5 days across Italy and at some truly beautiful locations - from Siena Cathedral to a villa (seen in Casino Royale and Star Wars!) in Lake Como.
Credit: Producer
Production company: Pukka Films
Over three years I’ve been lucky enough to produce over 50 short comedy training films for Video Arts. These films draw from funny British comedy and TV talent and have a very quirky, unique approach to training content. We’ve explored a plethora of workplace issues - from management and leadership, clear communication, diversity, equality and inclusion, neurodiversity, AI, hybrid and remote working - the full gamut!
Credit: Producer
Production company: Pukka Films
In 2019 I had the great opportunity to create this promotional film for The Global Health Network, an organisation which spreads research methodologies around the world, joining up the medical community internationally. We shot this in Kilifi, Kenya over 2 days - just me and DoP Oli Cohen. It was a blast!
Credit: Producer/Director; production company: Pukka Films
This was my highlight of 2016. Producing a series of five brand films for Oxford University Press at Pukka Films took me around the world to India, Pakistan, Spain, South Africa to capture the incredible sights, sounds and stories of the disparate markets OUP operates in.
Working with director Gary Birch, we threw ourselves into the challenge of repositioning OUP as a modern organisation embracing new technologies and methods of enriching the lives of readers, children and language learners across the globe.
I think I probably individually met 150 people across the 5 week filming period - when I wasn't seeing Table Mountain for the first time, eating curry for breakfast, riding in tuk-tuks to the beach and eating some of the best fish in SA. An incredible experience.
Credit: Producer
Production company: Pukka Films
Another very fun project. This was to create several social media assets for Miu Miu covering the launch of the Georgia May Jagger Selects collection. With a camera-op and sound recordist, I directed/produced the films. We had a brief window with GMJ to capture some backstory on her Selects, then after filming the event, we turned around the edit and online of 5 video cuts for delivery in the early hours the following morning.
Credit: Director/Producer; Production Company: Pukka Films
Series of ‘day in the life’ recruitment films produced for Trident, exploring a variety of offshore roles and what they entail. We shot these over three days on Trident’s rigs off Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, with a crew of five.
Credit: Producer
Production company: Pukka Films
‘See Check and Notify’ is a dramatic, impactful, and engaging counter-terrorism learning film for the NPSA. Organisations, venues and the events industry are the intended wide audience, as the film is geared towards all staff to educate around how to spot both insider and outsider threats.
We filmed at the 02 Arena, 02 Shopping Centre, at Cannon Street tube station (while operational!) and at West Ham stadium in London. Managing crowds and the public at these vast locations with a small drama crew was a challenge – but the results speak for themselves! The final film is a taut, tense exploration of hostile reconnaissance.
Credit: Producer, directed by George Milton
Production company: Pukka Films
This was a great 3 day shoot in Schiedam, Holland - one on land, and two on the Saipem 7000, the third largest crane vessel in the world - which made for some very interesting overnight crew accommodation onboard!
The film explores how Saipem is working towards sustainable practises to lessen their carbon footprint. A lovely job by director Fergus Dingle, with whom I always love to work!
Credit: Producer
Production company: Pukka Films
In 2019 I produced some films for the Environment Agency on waste crime. They needed films for the general public, as well as specialist audiences, to raise awareness around how to spot, avoid, and report, waste crime.
It was another project for which I got to work with one of my favourite directors, Dan Smith! Together we managed to shoot these 3 films in 4 days around London and Sheffield, working with a combination of actors and real EA officers.
The good news is, continuing projects like this are slowly making me look at my own behaviours, and improve the ways I can be eco in my own life!
Credit: Producer; Production Company: Pukka Films
Drama/doc training film for Hampshire Police, around the controversial issue of stop and search. Dramatised scenarios depict the challenges facing officers and members of the community in stop and search interactions, while interviews with impacted members of the public, officers and psychology experts delve deeper into unconscious bias and how it affects behaviour.
Production company: Pukka Films
Credit: Producer
Two films for the NHS to promote the Transforming Care initiative, which aims to transition those with mental health issues and disability to, when possible, living at home within the community, as opposed to living large stretches of life in hospitals.
We met two such individuals whose wellbeing and quality of life are improved now that they have been enabled to live at home.
Credit (Peter’s Story); Producer / Director, shot by Oli Cohen, Production Company: Pukka Films
Credit (Louise’s Story); Producer, directed by Euan Preston, Production Company: Pukka Films
Being involved in projects for the Shoah Foundation has been particularly special for me (not least of all because we all hope to do work which makes our grandparents proud!).
The Shoah Foundation, set up by Steven Spielberg, is dedicated to overcoming prejudice, intolerance, and hatred through the educational use of the testimonies in the Visual History Archive - which contains 54,000 visual testimonies, one of the largest video archives in the world. The vast majority of the testimonies contain a complete personal history of life before, during, and after the interviewee’s firsthand experience with genocide. http://sfi.usc.edu/
I was lucky enough to be chosen as the UK interviewer first for a series of testimonies for a project on Contemporary Antisemitism, a series exploring conditions today across Europe. I interviewed Luciana Berger MP, Dave Rich (author) and Liron Velleman (political organiser) in 2018.
The Shoah Foundation later gave me the incredible opportunity to interview two Kindertransport children, now in their mid-late 90s, about their experiences of fleeing Nazi Germany as teenagers, and the fates which befell their families.
The unusual thing about Shoah Foundation interviews is the format - this is also the challenge when it comes to running the interviews. Interviews run between 1-3 hours - with no cuts. For veracity and to preserve the truths and storytelling of the individual, interviewers take the interviewees through the longform interviews, always guiding, never pausing or stopping. Quite the experience.
I got to do most of these with Oli Cohen DoP as a team of two. I couldn’t have worked with anyone better for this. We were emotionally affected in similar ways, always empathetic and looking out for eachother, as well as our interviewees.
In 2020 I was able to work on only my second fully animated project. Working alongside animation director Ben Matthew, we created this journey through a 3d modern gallery space to celebrate the engineering design excellence of Atelier Ten, and their creed of ‘invisible architecture’.
The project was conceived at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic once live-action international filming became impossible. Quite the elegant and engaging approach switch, we think!
Atelier Ten are a world-leading environmental building and engineering design firm - it was an absolute pleasure to learn about their work and this field for the project - it turns out I am very interested in and quite moved by architecture. Would love to work on more projects in this area.
Credit: Producer/Director; production company: Pukka Films
Suite of films created for American brand Honora Pearls to increase sales across global QVC channels. Shot in New York across 2 days.
Credit: Director, producer. DoP Kyle Brown, editor Alison Bunce.
7 films for the Construction Industry Training Board, all tackling different topics in health and safety. The films deliver practical learning while encouraging behavioural and cultural change across internal and external use.
This project was a super fun one, with Dan Smith directing. Filming involved a few new things for me - pyrotechnics and some stunts I hadn’t managed before.
In 2019 the films won Gold at the Evcom Awards in the Health & Safety category.
Credit: Producer; Production Company: Pukka Films
Promo created for QVC flagship tech program. My concept was to show that everyday integration of tech products for entertainment spans across every demographic - there's a product for everyone.
Credit: Director, producer. Shot by Adrian Smith and Aimee Glass.
Series of films for social media created for Prada on their sponsorship of the America’s Cup (cue me discovering this iconic international sailing event). The world famous and celebrated designer Marc Newson created the new Prada cup for the event, as well as new logos and branding. We shot with him in his London studio and developed x10 social assets for Prada.
Credit: Director / Producer, Production Company: Pukka Films
Training film series produced for Cunard & Carnival. These longform drama films, featuring a large cast and beautiful locations, were shot in Malta. We transpose the cruise environment to a fictional island called Imperia, where our island workers overcome crises to ensure the island guests have a memorable and wonderful time. Three films produced over 3 years.
Credit: Producer. Directed by Paul Katis and shot by David Mcdowall & Chris Goodger.
Promo, brand positioning and editorial VT created for American brand Laura Geller for broadcast across QVC channels.
Credit: Co-producer / co-director
Short films made for the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office to be played out across UK schools and used in PHSE lessons. These films teach pupils between 15-18 about safe travel practises and advice they need to seek before travelling abroad.
We shot these films using GoPro 360 cameras and rigs, stitching the six cameras into a 'little planet' image which certainly captures the imagination! I also loved working with the actor Grahame Edwards who I've been watching for years in the hilarious YouTube Reconstructions series.
Credit: Producer. Director Fergus Dingle, shot by Jason Kosbab.
Production company: Pukka Films
Content created for the launch of Radley Handbags on QVC. These videos needed to position the brand for a push at a younger demographic without deviating from Radley's existing brand imagery. Shooting with paint and slow motion - endless fun!
Credit: Director, producer. Shot by Hanif Bookal, edited by Mark Carter.
I directed and produced six short films exploring different aspects of Arts Council England's scheme for English schools, Artsmark, and its promotion of exceptional arts provision within curriculums. These films are a call to action for tens of thousands of more schools to sign up to the scheme, and have been sent out to headteachers, school governors and MPs across the country.
For this project, we road-tripped around England, visiting schools in Nottingham, Sheffield, Leicester... All over three days!
Credit: Director and producer. Shot by Oli Cohen and Adam Lewis, editor Martin Macdonald.
Production company: Pukka Films
Fun project with a learning curve for me which I always appreciate. The International Centre for Advanced Materials works with BP, conducting applied research with a focus on applications for the energy industry. They invent things! We made 2 short documentary style films for ICAM, exploring their innovative chemical membranes and self-healing coatings. This involved filming at Imperial College London in the labs and a trip for me to Champaign, Illinois to film at the University of Illinois.
Credit: Producer, directed by Euan Preston, Production Company: Pukka Films
This was a really enjoyable project for me personally, because I got to explore lots of places in Scotland, having previously only spent time in Edinburgh (of course, directing plays at the fringe!).
The Scotland Office and the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy required a series of films promoting the UK government’s Industrial Strategy for Scotland and its impacts. We created a main film looking at the benefits for several industries from the IS, and several specialist films which focus on industry leader case studies. We shot these with crew of just two (myself and DoP Ryan Blackwood) in a few days. Highlights include filming and playing with robots at an Edinburgh university, and visiting Pitlochry dam hydro station.
Credit: director/producer, Production Company: Pukka Films
We created the first YouTube advert to be rolled out by QVC UK, with a focus on creating a dramatic, don't-click-away first 15 seconds to hook viewers.
Recipes, brand positioning and promo for Jason Vale's wellbeing series launch on QVC. We shot a ton of delicious creations all within one day.
Credit: Director, producer. Shot by Adrian Smith, edited by Peter O'Kane.
