Heads Up Production on Pioneering Independent Production Excellence
London-based Heads Up Production (HUP) has carved a unique niche in the creative industry, blending decades of its leading team’s production expertise, with an innovative, client-first approach to deliver world-class work in all disciplines. Headed by former advertising agency heads of production Jody Allison, Tim Page and Francine Linsey, HUP offers bespoke solutions for brands and agencies seeking top-tier expertise, unshackled by traditional industry constraints.
Jody’s impressive career spans leadership roles in production at RKCR/Y&R, Talent Republic, BBH and as a producer at Godman Films which was awarded production company of the year during her tenure. Tim’s journey is equally illustrious, having been awarded a fellowship at the IPA during his long term as chair of the Commercials Production Policy Group and having held senior management roles at RKCR/Y&R for 15 years, steering the agency’s production capability through a transformative multi-discipline era, and having helmed top-tier edit and post house The Quarry. Francine was chief production officer at AMV BBDO for over 20 years managing over 170 people across TV, digital and print production and overseeing iconic work for BT, Sainsbury’s and Guinness.
Together, they have cultivated HUP as a beacon of transparency, creativity, and strategic insight in the production world.
But what are the qualities that really set HUP apart from the competition? A holistic and multi-discipline approach to production, Jody, Tim and Francine’s unique vantage point as former agency leaders and the truly collaborative approach led by them putting clients above any third party – those are just a handful of the things that make HUP shine.
Today, Jody and Tim tell LBB’s Zoe Antonov how HUP continues to lead the industry, by blending experience, innovation, and genuine passion to elevate client brands.
LBB> What motivated you to adopt a fractional production model alongside your core business? What advantages does a fractional consultancy model offer clients compared to traditional production approaches?
HUP> This is all about leveraging innovative ways to take our unique experience to the market. There is huge value we can offer clients by giving advice on production whilst not necessarily executing a full-scale production (although this remains our core offering).
With more and more clients taking their marketing in house, and moving away from the full-service agency option, there can often be a vacuum in production expertise. There might be producers in-house, but there isn’t necessarily a depth of experience or seniority in the team.
The advantages are varied – from specific advice on certain aspects of production e.g. project budgeting, creative executional advice, to more departmental issues which is where our experience of running production departments becomes very beneficial.
Some clients view the advantage in terms of risk management – getting HUP’s advice helps to de-risk production or investment in production, both for one-off jobs and across a 12-month plan.
LBB> What distinguishes Heads Up Production’s approach from competitors in terms of delivering production confidence to clients?
HUP> Our collective experience as a team is unparalleled. All of us have executed various types of production jobs in all media and categories – both pre and post the launch of Heads Up Production. Through working with agencies, production companies, post-production and editing houses, as well as talent broking, we’ve acquired specialist knowledge, making us generalist producers and specialists all at the same time.
LBB> How has your background as heads of production in top London agencies and production companies shaped the way you work with clients today?
HUP> Spending those years at some of London’s most awarded agencies has meant we’re the vanguard of making production visible to brands. At the same time, being a head of a production department is very much a client-facing role, so we’ve honed client service skills that other producers would likely not have had the opportunity to gain.
In the agency world, you’re surrounded by extremely smart people from different departments – creatives, planners, account handlers – but also by clients, whose businesses you’re completely immersed in, beyond just their production needs. Experiences like these have made us brand-centric. This has meant we care about our clients’ brands beyond just production.
It’s also taught us the benefit of talking to clients early in the process, while other production outfits are by definition ‘at the end of the line’. This has made us good listeners and has grown our interest in clients’ issues, beyond production – we come into the process earlier, and we’re able to shape the wider production strategy to deliver solutions to long-term problems.
At HUP, this has helped us join the dots between jobs with repeat clients. Which, in turn, helps us to guide the production companies we engage on their behalf, leading to better work and greater efficiency.
LBB> With long-term relationships like those with Emirates and Dyson, what qualities have been most critical to maintaining trust and relevance over the years?
HUP> First and foremost: transparency. Transparency is a HUP hallmark, primarily when it comes to budgeting, but also in other areas, like giving frank feedback on developmental creative work and on ways of working. This often extends into our clients’ internal processes and teams. Our ability to present bespoke solutions to almost any production challenge comes from our collective experience – we’ll often bounce ideas and questions between us and the wider team so clients get the benefits of a depth of knowledge and experience on any one challenge or question.
Above: Still from HUP's work with Dyson
We always have our clients’ best interests at heart over any third party – creatives, directors, production companies. Our enthusiasm and can-do attitude are cited as the reasons why clients enjoy working with us, especially in the long term.
When it comes to relevance, we know we have to stay close to the best of the industry, which includes attending key events and conferences, as well as awards schemes, at which we are often on the judging panels – for example, Jody at British Arrows ‘25, and Tim at the Shark Awards ‘25.
Above: Still from HUP's work with Dyson
LBB> What challenges do you solve when executing diverse formats such as TV, DOOH, cinema, and social media?
HUP> There’s an increasing desire for maximising ROI/for value for money, which has led to a rise of ‘super shoots’ with various different media covered in one shoot. These of course come with their own challenges – one of which being numerous stakeholders representing these different elements along with their own objectives and opinions.
A key to success here is starting production early – another HUP hallmark – which especially helps to manage any degree of complexity that can come from combining formats, and the experience of having dealt directly with clients for many years has helped us to hone client management skills.
LBB> How do your decades of experience in leading production roles influence the advice you provide through your consultancy?
HUP> We have observed the rise of in-house directors of production, and HUP operates like an outsourced director of production. Nothing is impossible with us! We bring to bear the specialist experience we’ve gained in different disciplines and in running integrated production departments; we have executed in a number of different formats and we’ve done numerous stills campaigns since launching HUP, all the while working with some of the best photographic talent at any budget level. Additionally our ‘match up’ service, where we advise on individual production talent roles, illustrates our collective network built up over decades.
LBB> What common missteps do you see in how brands approach production, and how does Heads Up approach these?
HUP> Brands often aren’t best placed to choose the right people for each job, because they don’t have the right networks in place for them. Their time and relationships are often limited, so they reach for the closest people to them, as opposed to the best people.
As a result, they often don’t get ‘fresh thinking’. At HUP, we’re constantly close to the best in the industry, starting with our ‘bench’ of trusted permalancers who are experts in stills, social content, TV and all other disciplines and who make up the wider HUP family, so we can bring the most up-to-date options to clients, now including tech like AI and virtual production.
The best work on a job-by-job basis normally comes from specialists who aren’t available to clients going through the traditional system – at HUP we’re set up to provide clients with access to them.
LBB> Can you share a specific instance where your deep industry expertise simplified a complex production?
HUP> When it comes to our work with Emirates, for their in-flight safety video shoot last year, creative was in-house with their creative director lined up to direct. The client chose a local service company and paid them directly but briefed us to manage them and that was combined with an international senior crew and cast sourced by Heads Up. This sort of job would normally be out of the comfort zone of agencies or production companies, but played into our ability to adapt using our experience and enterprise.
Another example is Coca-Cola that we worked on in 2023 – a very post-heavy job that involved building an art gallery the size of a football pitch in Tbilisi combined with complex camera and AI effects. This proved challenging due to lack of time, as artwork clearances weren’t done upfront. We deployed two partners on this job – one for client management (Francine) and one as producer (Tim) – this combined immense experience to wraparound a large-scale and very complex project, helping us to maintain client confidence through a complicated process.
