Producing Tomorrow's Producers: Ed Rosie on Being Humble Yet Hungry
Born and bred into the ad world, Ed has spent the last 14 years working in top agencies where he’s honed his skills as a production all-rounder. Starting out a Kream & Karmarama where he cut his teeth in post-production as an Editor before later taking a leap into the world of Directing which has been the bulk of his career to date. In 2016 he co-founded and went on to creatively lead the internal production entity at Iris Worldwide. He’s worked on a raft of major clients from Adidas, Barclays, Starbucks, Air New Zealand and Samsung to name but a few. Now at Girl&Bear as an Executive Producer he focuses on bridging the gap between creative and production. Working closely with creative teams during development, fellow producers during production and editors during delivery to help create the best work possible.
LBB> What advice would you give to any aspiring producers or content creators hoping to make the jump into production?
Ed> If you’re entering the world of production via a production company or agency, it really pays to take your time and soak up everything you can from all areas of the business. Production is end of the line execution, but a great deal of hard work and thinking comes ahead of it, so bettering your knowledge of planning, strategy, creative and other disciplines will only benefit you in the long run.
If you’re looking to jump into content creation in a solo capacity, then my only advice would be to try hard to make content that really matters to you. You may never be more in control of what you create than you are right now.
Above all be humble, yet always hungry for new opportunities to learn.
LBB> What skills or emerging areas would you advise aspiring producers to learn about and educate themselves about?
Ed> Aside from getting good hands-on experience and learning the traditional ropes of production, Virtual Production is a particularly interesting new space that we are working more regularly in.
This technology has seen massive growth in the last few years, helped largely by the success of The Mandalorian and obviously the global pandemic too. It offers brand new ways of filmmaking and the ability to ideate, adapt and change the creative direction during the production process. A previously terrifying prospect for a producer.
Also, understanding the function of applications like Unreal engine and Unity and how they are going to feed into and influence production in the future makes them worth studying now. They will no doubt be much more frequently used within the advertising industry in the not too distant future.
LBB> What was the biggest lesson you learned when you were starting out in production - and why has that stayed with you?
Ed> I started life in post as an editor, but I’d always been shooting films from a young age, so naturally this led me towards Directing, which has been the bulk of my career to date. There are far too many lessons learned to detail, but a solid piece of advice that will always be true is, just ask if you don’t know the answer.
The truth is, you will probably be surrounded by people who do know the answer, and if they don’t, you can just figure it out together. This is particularly true early in your career when good habits should be formed, not asking might force you to work in a way that has a detrimental effect in the long run.
Honestly though, I feel this is a trait people should employ regardless of their position or seniority. I’m still asking questions and learning lessons all the time and I think that’s a healthy thing - well that’s what I keep telling myself anyway
LBB> When it comes to broadening access to production and improving diversity and inclusion what are your team doing to address this?
Ed> Advertising is only going to change if we give opportunities to everyone and support people on their journey into the industry – no matter what their background. Girl&Bear is proudly making steps in this area as a business and when the Global Production Studio was first launched it was absolutely critical that we supported VCCP’s commitment to challenging our industry’s approach to DE&I.
At Girl&Bear we want to live and breathe diversity through everything we do, challenging the stereotypes and legacies which exist in our industry in order to make this happen. Girl&Bear has a ‘Be Nice’ policy which is our commitment to being conscious makers, ultimately pledging to always make in a way that puts our people and our planet first. Last year we also hosted the Shiny Awards which champions underrepresented directors.
There are also fantastic initiatives in place such as the VCCP Stoke academy, which was launched late last year with the ambition to open up and attract more diverse talent from outside London. Open to people in Stoke and surrounding areas, the academy aims to tackle three major recruitment barriers faced by the industry which include a lack of awareness of the creative industry as a potential career option, a dearth of pathways into entry level jobs around the country and the extremely high cost of moving to and living in London where most entry level job opportunities are to be found. It’s a particularly forward-thinking proposition that is already in full swing.
It feels like right now we are going through positive change. I’d like to think in 5 years’ time we’ll look back and remember this as a seminal shift in the right direction.
LBB> And why is it an important issue for the production community to address?
Ed> Productions are made about all areas of life, society, class, situation and experiences. You can’t have these productions largely being created by one demographic, if you take a moment to think about that I’m confident most people will agree it doesn’t make any sense at all, hence the need for change.
LBB> There are young people getting into production who maybe don’t see the line between professional production and the creator economy, and that may well also be the shape of things to come. What are your thoughts about that? Is there a tension between more formalised production and the ‘creator economy’ or do the two feed into each other?
Ed> I think the two feed into each other. If we focus on the Gen Z community for a moment, they have such a great understanding of the creator economy, are particularly astute and aware of the value they can bring through their content and audience. I also think they understand what goes into making good content, either because they are consuming it all the time or more often creating it themselves.
What makes creators particularly unique is that they’ve been used to ideating, creating and monetising their offering largely without external help. When you introduce traditional production methods into that pre-existing framework, inevitably there is room for tension. Mostly because those creators are protective (and rightly so) of their methods, brand and what they’ve built.
Looking at it from the perspective of the advertising industry, I think it’s on us to make working together as friction free as possible. This is especially true if we are engaging creators to work alongside one of our brands or to contribute to a project.
If they are joining the production industry to start a career, it’s our responsibility to understand how they’ve worked previously, teach them how we do things and then strike a balance to get the best out of everyone involved in the production.
LBB> It seems that there’s an emphasis on speed and volume when it comes to content - but to where is the space for up and coming producers to learn about (and learn to appreciate) craft?
Ed> It feels like craft is sometimes a misused term for a measure of quality. If the content we create is able to captivate, entertain or educate, then I’d argue it's well-crafted. As filmmakers if we aim to be strong in these areas then the work we create should be effective.
It's true that the number of devices and platforms has obviously increased the volume of deliverables we create. However, with that has come broader creative problem solving. There is plenty of smart thinking about how an idea behaves or communicates with the audience depending on the platform it lives on, and I find that particularly interesting. It no longer needs to be one size fits all, campaigns can have the same message at their heart yet be executionally bespoke.
Personally, I try to separate the word craft and polish as I feel they can be different things. I’ve seen TikTok videos more skilfully crafted than average - yet polished - TV commercials. Even if they are not filmed on a cinema camera or lit beautifully, if they were well crafted and appropriate for their purpose, we tend to remember them.
I guess my overriding feeling is that craft as an aesthetic is somewhat subjective.
LBB> On the other side of the equation, what’s the key to retaining expertise and helping people who have been working in production for decades to develop new skills?
Ed> I feel the fundamentals of production will always remain largely the same, but technology will continue to offer efficiencies and more exciting new ways to deliver films.
No matter where we are in our career, we should be open to new methods and resist saying no to fresh ways of working, not without at least trying them first. Perhaps we need to ensure that as an industry we make this exciting to people who are decades in their career.
We’ve not even begun to scratch the surface of consumer AR or the Metaverse yet, it's still very much in a beta phase, but it's coming thick and fast and it’s likely to be integral to our work in the future.
LBB> Clearly there is so much change, but what are the personality traits and skills that will always be in demand from producers?
Ed> Pragmatism, rigour and honesty would be my front runners. Oh, and calmness.
You have to be solution oriented, you need to be thorough on the details and you should always be open and honest about the challenges, right when it matters. I also say being calm because production can get intense and if you can remain calm and focussed when it gets busy, you’re halfway there already.
