5 Minutes with…Joce Capper MD of Rushes Postproduction Ltd

5 Minutes with… Joce Capper of MD Rushes Postproduction Ltd
Interviewed by LBB editor, Gabrielle Lott 

 

JC > For me, its size has always been one of its greatest charms. We are a full time staff of 100 people. Technology has changed, size of productions has changed, the size of the Rushes buildings in Soho hasn’t. That gives us the ability to know everyone; you know their families and that’s because we are a family here. A dysfunctional family sometimes but we all live and breathe the job together. We live life together. 

 

JC > Scale is obviously important when you are working on VFX projects and we can grow and scale to a larger size as needed. We are fortunate enough to be part of a larger creative group, so we tap into our sister companies in the UK and USA when needed (CO 3, Method, Beast & Deluxe 142). The best thing is, if we don’t need to do that, our size means we can still offer a personal, crafted, experienced service. No job to big or too small. We can do both.   

 

JC > One of the elements that I love so much about the industry is that we all network. I love meeting people and coming up with ideas to find ways to network intelligently, meet people and learn from each other. The very best projects are usually a collaboration of different creative teams of people. 

 

JC > I was training to be an accountant. I actually started at BP Oil. Understanding numbers has stood me in good stead. An odd concept, especially as it took me three attempts to get my maths O Level! I had no idea about the creative industries. I was born and raised in Kent; a pretty, quiet area of the UK in the southeast. Just the idea of something like this industry and working within it was a million miles away. I had a friend who worked at Saatchi’s and I met her for drinks on Charlotte Street and discovered the industry. I applied for a role in the accounts department at Molinare, which is where I started.  As soon as I began, I realised I was never going to be a 9-5er and I really enjoyed the hard work, the long hours and the mad, mad, crazy busy-ness of it all. As I’m a socialiser and love to talk and learn, I fell madly in love immediately with the people, with the area, with the job and the work… and here I am 20 years later. Still learning and still in love. A few marital tiffs along the way...but mostly very thankful at how lucky I’ve been. 

 

JC > Supporting talent is at the very heart of the Rushes psyche. One of the most fantastic aspects of my job, and that I have always enjoyed, is watching people learn and grow and, if they need to, moving on to achieve great success. We work in an industry that can provide opportunities for many and I am passionate about supporting initiatives for young people and those already employed who may need constant training in an ever evolving industry. Rushes supports our clients who are growing talent, be it promoting new directors or helping to train new producers. We can do that in several ways, through a variety of different means. Often it is working on actual projects. Also, we run an internship here and we usually have two to three people on work experience within Rushes each week. 

 

JC > Awards are a lovely thing to have and I would love to have more. I am incredibly proud of the ones that we do have but I place more emphasis on clients returning to us and their clients being happy with the work and the effectiveness of the campaign. We have incredibly loyal clients here, who have worked with us over a period of years; our retention of staff is high. So, actually, I think I personally put more emphasis on happy clients and providing a working atmosphere where a motivated creative team want to work.   

 

JC > I’m not allowed to talk about it as we are under NDA! At Rushes, in regards to our work, whilst 85% of it is commercials, we also do broadcast and motion graphics work. The client base here is diverse and you can walk into a room and there can be eight different jobs happening in that one space. We’ve just completed a grade on a snowboarder covered in LED lights, skiing off-piste. ‘LED Surfer’ is an amazing piece of work by fashion photographer Jacob Sutton. The diversity of our work is what’s really great. We do  a large amount of beauty work and that’s always a pleasure  to watch and then we get to create more ‘manly’ pursuits for example our CGI & MGFX Studio recently completed Hyundai’s new ‘Veloster’ from the concept through to final commercial.

 

JC > Rushes Soho Shorts is now in its 14th year- into our terrible teenage years. I am so proud of how Soho Shorts has grown to become an established champion of film making. Last year we had 1400 entries, across 8 categories, from 53 countries - WOW! The majority of entries come from the UK, the US and Australia but also further afield. My favourite category now is documentaries. I feel that they live and breathe with you and that real life is often stranger than fiction. We started that category because we were receiving more and more factual films and from as far afield as Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa… Real stories that needed to be shown. The Documentary category has now grown and we receive the most amazing stories and films.  

 

JC > London is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The London skyline makes my heart pound with pride. London is eclectic and hugely diverse… you only have to sit on a bus or a tube to experience that. Anyone that knows me probably thinks that I’m bonkers and a huge interest for me, personally, is history. So the fact that on my journey to work from Victoria I can experience royalty, political debate, amazing historical buildings, art galleries, interesting graffiti, beautiful parks, unique sculpture and...I can’t help it I just love London. It is one of the reasons why I’m still at Rushes. I have always thought I am so lucky to work in this city, especially Soho. Every day when I walk down Old Compton Street I think how fortunate I am to be here. Samuel Johnson said “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." That goes for the Girls as well Samuel...

 

JC > We will continue to help our clients to produce great pictures and VFX work, for a variety of screens; TV, cinema, mobiles, PCs, laptops, outdoor signage, etc. For me, it’s making sure we have the right skills and craft to be able to do that. I’m looking forward to this year’s Soho Shorts. It’s going to be an amazing year with lots of unique events like the launch of the London Olympics. We are jointly sponsoring Little Black Book, so on the immediate horizon the relaunch of the LBB site. It’s busy. Working in post means the wheel never stops turning! As productions and events occur, you’re straight onto organising the next.  

 

JC > Yes, I love it and the industry. Most of the time. I’d like to see some better ads being made and clients being braver and buying into bigger ideas. I believe in the power of advertising and great messaging. I don’t enjoy bad advertising and bombardment of crap messaging. That irritates me. Talent not being used is such a waste and missed opportunities are frustrating. I want clients to know their money has been well spent and we are an industry of trusted professionals.

 

JC > Both are much needed industry bodies. I have been lucky enough to serve on the boards of the APA and UK Screen. Both bodies allow companies in different sectors of the industry to come together to discuss and work out solutions on issues that we all share and to lobby for support. Strength in numbers and providing facts as a united industry is essential - especially if you are speaking to Government. UK Screen is currently working on a broadcast document to provide information to lobby for a Television Production tax incentive, to get assistance in the same way that the film industry is supported. I feel passionate about training of staff and the industry has grown hugely in certain sectors and London VFX in the last ten years has expanded vastly. We must remain competitive with the rest of the world and to do this UK Screen worked with the Skillset, a body which supports skills and training for people and businesses to launch The Core Skills of VFX, agreed modules for best practice in VFX. It was inspiring to see companies coming together to support this initiative. Hopefully, over the next few years, more kids will come out of education with the right qualifications, be able to get jobs and be utilised by the industry and we will help break the back of industry shouldering the huge and costly burden of training staff. 

 

JC > We have high youth unemployment in the UK so any schemes that provide opportunity for young people to be in employment and to learn much needed work skills should be explored. Back to Work is a voluntary scheme - I’m not sure it should be! The UK visual effects industry has generated hundreds of jobs and thousands could be created in the next few years but kids aren’t coming out of school with basic knowledge of maths, English, physics, art, etc. So, we and they have to start somewhere, getting kids into a real workplace, with real opportunities even if they are on work experience for a few weeks and not being paid. I believe this scheme, in the long term, would be more beneficial for young people than leaving universities with a dodgy media degree and huge debts. 

 

JC > I’m a bell ringer. I ring at the weekend. I love the sound; a calling to all. It’s the only time in my week where I don’t sit at a screen, or talk, or email. I enjoy ringing. It’s synchronisation, following patterns, producing melody; it’s about control, remaining calm, being part of a team and listening. It’s calming and, oddly, though we are making a lot of sound, it’s peaceful. One is aware it could all go dangerously out of control at any moment. A bit like working in post…