Meet The Panellists: What Does Production Look Like in 2024 and Beyond?

• Tracey Cooper, EP at Riff Raff
• Andrew Levene, EP at Stink
• Pat Murphy, founder of MCA
• Victoria Keenan, head of production at BBH 
• Tim Page, partner / producer at Heads Up Production
• Paul Ward, president, global network & CEO, UK, Prose on Pixels

MODERATOR 

Alex Reeves, Managing Editor, EMEA, Little Black Book

Alex has been on the Little Black Book editorial team since 2017, but has been writing about advertising since 2012. Former editor of UK commercial production publication The Beak Street Bugle, what began as a career covering the craft side of the British industry broadened significantly when he joined the global platform of LBB. He’s now managing editor of the platform. 

A keen escapist, Alex tries to get as much time as he can away from screens, whether that’s tending to the veg he grows on his balcony, cooking with said vegetables, or taking long walks while listening to pulp sci-fi audiobooks.

PANELLISTS 

Tracey Cooper, Executive Producer, Riff Raff

Tracey Cooper is the executive producer behind some of the industries most celebrated work spanning commercials, short films and interactive.

After studying Film Theory at Kent University, and gaining a Masters in Film Production, Tracey chose multi-award winning Blink to begin her commercials career rising through the ranks to head of production via runner, PA and production manager, where she specialised in live action and VFX working with Directors including Dougal Wilson and Ivan Zacharias.

From Blink she moved to Stink, where she partnered with Bafta winning director Gaelle Denis on high profile work for Nike, Du Pont, and Coke.

She joined Nexus in 2010 with the opportunity to work with Oscar Nominated and Cannes Grand Prix winning directing duo, Smith and Foulkes. The three of them soon forged a strong alliance and have been responsible for some of the most talked about and awarded commercials work over the past 14 years. including a Bafta for BBC Winter Olympics. Since joining Riff Raff, one of London's most awarded and prestigious Production Companies, as EP in 2020 she has worked on commercials for Burberry, Playstation, Coca Cola, John Lewis and multiple outings with Kevin the Carrot for Aldi!

Pat Murphy, Founder & CEO, Murphy Cobb Associates

Pat started out in the business as a runner in a facility called Molinare in London in 1984. This is where he got his ground level training in production, post production, production technology and innovation such as Quantel Paintbox, and studio shoots.

He then joined the TV department at Saatchi & Saatchi London working on acclaimed ad campaigns for British Airways, Cadbury Schweppes, and Pilkington Glass. Pat then moved to JWT London as a TV producer and then JWT Paris. He then went for six years as producer at Michael Conrad and Leo Burnett in Frankfurt, Germany. He then came back to London joining BDDH as director of broadcast production helping to win many awards including Gold at the British TV Advertising Awards and Cannes for clients such as Harley Davidson and the Co-op Bank. Pat then made the leap to client side where he was responsible for Procter & Gamble’s Beauty Care Advertising Production.

He re-joined Leo Burnett in London as director of TV before leaving to help start up Adstream in Europe in 2003. In 2005 he set up his own consultancy MurphyCobb (MCA) with inaugural clients PepsiCo, Cadbury and Scottish and Newcastle, all brands of which are still with MCA today (albeit under different ownerships). MCA has continued to thrive, now supporting 100’s of brands across over 60 markets using the intelligence and innovation that sits at the heart of the business.

Pat has also been a pundit for TV and Radio stations such as LBC, BBC, Sky, and he has been asked to speak at major conferences around the world. Pat's major passion is for radio, and he has been able to continue to be a radio DJ alongside his advertising career. His current project brings both his presenting skills and passion for innovation and advertising together in his podcast – theprodcast.com

Victoria Keenan, Head of Production, BBH 

Victoria has been head of production at BBH London since 2022. She joined BBH in 2014, became a partner in 2016 and two years later was promoted to head of film production.

Since joining BBH, Victoria has produced campaigns for the likes of Audi, Baileys, St John Ambulance, Samsung, Virgin Media, Absolut, Refuge and Tesco. Her Absolut project 'Equal Love' picked up awards at the British Arrows, D&AD and Campaign Big Awards.

Prior to BBH, Victoria was an agency producer at adam&eveDDB, creating award-winning work for John Lewis, Harvey Nichols and Foster’s. Her Harvey Nichols project ‘Sorry, I Spent It on Myself’ picked up four Grand Prix at Cannes. She has also held roles at VCCP and CHI & Partners since starting her career in production in 2006 working across the film and commercial industries in the UK and New Zealand.

Tim Page, Partner and Director of Production, HeadsUp

Having initially trained as a film editor, Tim has had many years producing in advertising agencies, as well as recently being managing director of The Quarry (Editors). Tim has worked as senior producer at agencies such as Grey & BBH, as well as RKCR/Y&R where he was head of integrated production for 14 years running the AV, Imagery and Digital departments. In 2017, Tim set up HeadsUp Production with his long time colleague Jody Allison. HeadsUp is an advertising production agency working directly with Brands. The last seven years have seen them produce multi-media campaigns for Emirates, Dyson, Coca-Cola, Miller and many more global brands. One of his favourite quotes is: "Don't focus on negative things. Focus on the positive and things will flourish”.

Before joining Havas, Paul spent much of his career at Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) in London, where he worked in production and later in operations as part of their global senior leadership team.

As a global board member and shareholder, Paul also held key roles abroad, including leadership positions in Singapore and Mumbai. Notably, he served as Managing Director of the successful BBH Mumbai start-up.

After 17 years with BBH, Paul left in 2012 to pursue a new COO role with Host, an advertising hot shop in Australia. However, the opportunity to return to London and join the Havas Group was irresistible, and he traded the beach for the city.

In 2023, Paul became Global President and CEO, UK of the Prose on Pixels global content at scale network, thus marking the consolidation of all production capabilities across Havas’ global business. Prose on Pixels continues its evolution toward becoming a borderless and integrated global production agency and being central to Havas' Converged strategy.