Heckler Balances Innovation and Craft To Lead AUNZ Region

Heckler has been named the number one post-production company in AUNZ in 2024, according to Little Black Book’s League Table of Creativity rankings.

The League Table of Creativity is powered by The Immortal Awards, with every single entry into the competition scoring points. Points are attributed to all entrant companies and any credited companies which are members of LBB.

Heckler, based in Sydney, Australia, took the top spot among post-production companies across Australia and New Zealand combined, with a 2024 portfolio including work for Qantas, McDonalds, and Nissan.

In the wider region, Heckler Singapore also topped the rankings in APAC.​

Heckler executive producer Amy Jarman said the outcome is a recognition of the passion and energy the Heckler team brings to every project.

“For us, it’s not just a title -- it’s a reflection of how much our producers, artists, and creatives care about the craft and the relationships we’ve built with our clients and partners,” she told LBB.

“We have always wanted to be brave and to do inspiring work. [This result] reminds us to keep leaning into what makes Heckler unique: work that’s creatively ambitious, emotionally resonant, and unapologetically original. It’s easy to play it safe in this climate. But the wins tell us to stay brave, to back the mad ideas, and to keep producing great work.”

Heckler also had a strong showing at the AWARD Awards with wins for its Super Rugby Pacific and Movember campaigns. Lead editor Andrew Holmes also won Shots’ Editor of The Year.

“It comes down to our people,” Amy said. “We’ve built a culture where collaboration and curiosity thrive. We back our talent, take creative risks, and genuinely enjoy what we do, which translates to the work.

“Staying nimble, embracing new tech, and client relationships have played a big role.”

In 2024, the studio worked on over 100 jobs of varying size.

“[For Dairy Farmers,] we brought Daisy the cow to life in all her glorious, udder-powered charm to give mornings across Australia a little more ‘oomph’,” Amy said.

Heckler also handled post for ‘Qantas in the Sky’ and McDonald’s high-profile ‘Squid Games’ collaboration with Netflix.

“Our VFX team didn’t crack under the pressure of bringing Squid Games to Macca’s in a launch that dared fans to play,” Amy said.

The company led VFX on Nissan’s e-POWER campaign, bringing Fred-E the flying droid to life and transforming environments from city streets to the outback.

Significant advances in post-production technology are increasingly reflected in client expectations and other new challenges.

“In 2023 we delivered thefirst fully AI TVC to market for Hyundai -- and since then there has been a growing curiosity around AI,” Amy said. “Everyone wants things faster, but without compromising on quality. We’ve seen a real push toward agile workflows, tighter turnarounds, and content that works across a tonne of formats.

“VFX by its nature is a technology business, and over the last 15 years, Heckler have continuously adopted and mastered tech development.

“We believe to produce the highest level of work for the biggest brands in the market, it will always require trusted partners and the collaboration of talented artists to creatively direct or prompt into existence engaging content -- whatever the technology may be.

“We are in the stages of training and coding our own models which is an exciting new challenge. We do find generative AI is great for concept work and quick reference creation, and for shot production, AI has been helpful in generating an alternative to stock footage purchasing by generating background footage.

“We use AI where it makes sense in a hybrid model -- to speed up the repetitive work -- so our artists can focus on what they do best: the ideas, the storytelling, the craft. The tech is a tool, not the hero.”

One such tool Heckler has pivoted to in recent years is Unreal Engine, a powerful, real-time 3D creation software.

“Unreal has been a game changer, but it’s also meant a steep learning curve,” Amy said.

“We have been using Unreal Engine for quite some time now, but continue to learn new techniques like with any software.

“Artists have had to adjust their thinking -- from traditional linear workflows to something far more interactive and fluid.”