Melanie Bridge and Sharlene George from Founders to Co-CEOs
Melanie Bridge and Sharlene George, co-founders of the global production company The Sweetshop have opted for new positions on the team. This producer and director duo have worked together for over two decades producing work for clients such as Macpac, Singapore Airlines, the Red Cross, and KFC to name a few.
Constantly expanding their reach, this NZ-grown company has offices in LA, London, Bangkok, Shanghai, and Australia. Most recently unveiling their newest branch, Sweetshop & Green is a production company focused on producing local film and TV projects for global audiences in Australia and New Zealand. It’s also the result of a partnership with Israel’s leading independent production company, Green Productions.
With Melanie and Sharlene taking positions as co-CEOs, they spoke to LBB’s Casey Martin on what the future holds for The Sweetshop and their journey to where they are today.
LBB> The Sweetshop has long been a global powerhouse in the production community, having founded the business and ‘led from inside’ how would you distil the secret of your success?
Melanie> One thing is that we are honestly like one big global family, we all look after and help each other. We have a saying from our homeland in NZ ‘He waka eke noa’, which means ‘We’re all in this together’
Sharlene> Working with a brilliant team of people who all share the same principles and values. Following on from Melanie’s comment, together we are strong.
LBB> To some it might be a strange transition from founder and leaders to CEO positions, what changes for you on a day-to-day basis?
Melanie> This change in role means I need to step aside from my role as a TVC director, and instead put all my energy into helping the careers of our rostered directors flourish. I’m not sure that there are any other production companies that have a CEO that is a director, and I think it’s an incredible asset, as every decision I make is with the director’s point of view in mind.
Over the years I’ve had so many ideas on how I would like to grow the company with that director focus in mind, as Sharlene and I have such similar ambitions and values which now makes implementing these ideas much easier. It really is an amazing time for our company with so much positive change happening.
Sharlene> For me this is returning to what my role was together with Paul Prince right from the beginning of The Sweetshop - before I transitioned into the long form space 4 years ago. This feels like a natural return to my core production skill set which I feel perfectly compliments Melanie’s creative skill set. My focus lies in production solutions on a global scale for The Sweetshop as well as growing our film and television capability for The Sweetshop’s directors.
LBB> You have worked as a very successful partnership for over two decades, and are now splitting the top job. How are you going to manage dividing the role, are there particular strengths from both sides you will play to?
Melanie> Being CEO of any company is a hefty task - especially when the company is a global one with a roster of 35 directors. Luckily for us, we have complementary skill sets that makes sharing the job the perfect solution, playing to each of our individual strengths. Sharlene’s skills lie in the production and long-form area, while mine focus on directors, brand strategy, and marketing.
Co-CEOs are more common in companies that have multiple divisions or business units similar to The Sweetshop, as it means that each CEO can focus on specific areas of the business. I think Sharlene and I are the perfect mix to fill the role in a way that is best for the company.
Sharlene> Between the two of us, there can be more perspectives and ideas brought to the table, leading to better and more balanced decision making overall. I will continue to manage anincredibly diverse slate of film and television projects from Sweetshop & Green New Zealand, and with the help of Gal Greenspan we will support our own roster of directors with their long form aspirations.
Of course we still have our third founding partner, Paul Prince, still available as chief advisor to us both whenever we need an extra pair of ears, a brainstorming session, or advice.
LBB> How do you think the strong female influence in The Sweetshop has contributed to your continued success?
Melanie> There are a lot of benefits to being women in leadership. Scientifically speaking, feminine people generally have softer forms of communication and show more compassion, if anything this makes us more understanding of the cultural health of the company. Looking at how Sharlene and I have worked together, we always built each other up and had each other's backs. Maybe from the beginning everyone could see how determined we were and no-one ever dared to tell us we couldn’t do anything - I think they knew that we were always going to work hard to get where we wanted regardless of what other people thought.
Overall, being a female in the advertising industry can offer unique advantages, such as strong collaboration skills, empathy and emotional intelligence, and resilience and perseverance. By leveraging these strengths, we believe we can make a significant positive impact both for our directors and for the industry at large.
Sharlene> I am one of four sisters and one brother in my family. A strong female influence has been intrinsic from the very beginning of The Sweetshop and something that I feel has naturally influenced how our company has maintained its success.
There certainly are more challenges than just being a woman. Being a Pacific islander has not been an easy journey throughout a long period of time in a predominantly white male advertising industry.
There is still work to be done to achieve gender and diversity equality in the advertising and film industries, but there are also many organisations and initiatives that are working to address these issues and promote greater representation and diversity. As a company we will actively be involved in instigating change.
LBB> What’s next for The Sweetshop under the new structure, where do we go from here?
Melanie> There is a lot in the pipeline. Our Entertainment division is now coming in house with a full team to service both our directors long form ambitions as well as a big push into Branded Entertainment. We already have around 30 projects from Documentaries, TV series and Features in development across New Zealand and Australia.
Our journey to full global B-Corp certification is over the halfway mark. That’s a big one - you can’t fake B-Corp, it changes everything about your company across every single touchpoint, and changes everything in such a positive way for both the people that work within the company, as well as the environment.
We are also about to release a new website and all new branding and merchandise. We are extremely excited about this, as our website will actually give agencies and clients the ability to create their own show reels directly from our site.
