Catching up with Abi Atkinson-Caruana in Her New Role as Head of Production at LS

Abi, who has been as senior producer at LS for seven years was promoted whilst on maternity leave earlier this year and will head up the companies award winning production team, as LS continue to expand their global production offering.

Speaking about her promotion, LS managing director, Sarah Drummond said; "Abi was the obvious choice for the role, she is a brilliant ambassador for LS, an exceptionally talented Producer and a catalyst behind the expansion of our commercials production in the North West and beyond."

Abi, who is based from LS’s Manchester office, has been instrumental in the growth of LS’s production services outside of Scotland and into North West England. Servicing shoots all over the UK, Abi has also capitalised on the North West’s reputation for sporting excellence, with shoots for Wieden + Kennedy and Nike featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Prime Video x Pogba for Sid Lee and EA Sports - FIFA 2022 for Electronic Arts. Alongside this she has also brought A List Hollywood names to the UK, including director Steven Soderbergh, on Netflix’s The Laundromat and also Meryl Streep for Let Them All Talk for HBO Max. 

Abi, who is a passionate advocate for the North West’s growing reputation as a creative hub (now the second largest in Europe) is very much focussed on looking at ways to optimise that ‘magic’ LS production formula and driving forward to the company's international pedigree.

Talking about what excites her most about the role she said, "I’m really looking forward to leading LS’s incredible production team and working closely with our executive team to expand our production offering across the UK and globally - working with our existing clients and developing new relationships with brands, clients and production companies both at home and internationally."

LS Productions are also known within the industry for their commitment to creating a fairer, more sustainable, diverse production industry. The business recently gained the ESGmark accreditation and is also a long time supporter and sponsor of the Shiny Awards, who focus on getting new and diverse directors into advertising. Abi plans to make this a key focus of her role and an area where she will be seeking to drive further improvement.

"A key aim for me will be looking to work with top class directors and production companies making exciting work. Alongside this we will be identifying opportunities to work with underrepresented groups in society, be that through training or work placement opportunities whilst reviewing our sustainability efforts on productions to see where we can improve and help make positive changes across production and the industry as a whole."

She is also looking forward to getting stuck into the cross-genre nature of the content LS specialises in, ranging from commercials, fashion, music videos, sports content and TV and Film productions. Most notably LS have very recently completed full local service production for 21 stills and motion shoots for the DIOR Cruise Collection which arrived in Scotland last week. Abi is keen to point out the brilliant efforts of the LS fashion and locations team to deliver this incredibly complex piece of work across multiple sites over a period of several days. 

However, that is not to say the road ahead is not without challenges for LS, something which Abi is keenly aware of both in terms of the difficulties that face the industry as a whole and more specifically the production service sector, which has been buffeted by multiple challenges in the past few years, from covid, the Hollywood writers strike, a changing industry landscape and multiple global economic and political challenges.

Speaking on this subject Abi, said, "With client, agency and production budgets being squeezed across the board - the biggest question for LS right now is how can we continue to deliver amazing content whilst working within tight budget parameters. We know we have the expertise and knowledge in our team to help, but we need to ensure that we have the right relationships to have transparent and honest communication with our clients that the value of this is recognised and standards aren’t compromised."

She also notes other challenges such as the rise of AI, which is dominating much of the conversation right now, particularly for a service provider like LS in terms of how the business can both embrace it as part of the internal and external offering alongside the threats it faces to the type of work LS delivers. However, whilst Abi will be focused on the expansion of the company's production services and the challenges ahead, she remains committed to the North West and growing the region's profile internationally. 

"What I’m really keen to bring is a sense of community in and around Manchester in the creative industries - bringing together professionals in both advertising and film and TV and increased production networks in the regions. On top of this I want to encourage European and American production companies to Manchester - showcase opportunities, talent and locations in the regions and out of London."