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Producing Tomorrow’s Producers: Fran Elliott on Understanding the ‘Why’ as Well as the ‘What’

09/01/2023
Experiential Marketing
London, UK
320
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Momentum Worldwide’s UK executive director for brand experiences, Fran Elliott, on diversity, supporting underrepresented communities and being curious

Ranked in the Top 10 UK Event Professionals, Fran has led breakthrough work for clients such as the BBC, Coca-Cola and Microsoft. After five years working in senior leadership roles both agency and venue-side, whilst establishing her personal development coaching practice, Fran Elliott returned to Momentum UK in 2022 to build, grow and lead the Brand Experience division. Working as part of the UK leadership team, Fran is responsible for bringing to life our creative vision and diversifying the Brand Experience output to ensure the agency continues to front-run audience trends, and client needs, in this ever-changing, post-COVID industry landscape.



LBB> What advice would you give to any aspiring producers or content creators hoping to make the jump into production?

Fran> Be curious and make it your business to understand how our piece of the puzzle fits into the bigger picture. Understanding the ‘why’ as well as the ‘what’ takes a producer from good to great.

 

LBB> What skills or emerging areas would you advise aspiring producers to learn about and educate themselves about?

Fran> Understanding the principles of successful marketing gives us an added dimension and allows us to talk with our clients about the purpose of the work we’re doing, rather than the production elements only. And clients love it when we’re aligned with them on the purpose of the project.

 

LBB> What was the biggest lesson you learned when you were starting out in production - and why has that stayed with you?

Fran> That these are hands not wands! We can’t perform miracles, and we do ourselves and our clients a dis-service by trying to pretend we can. Instead, take the client with you throughout the process, so if miracles can’t be performed, they’re clear on why not, and aware of what the alternatives are. No nasty surprises or coverups!

 

LBB> When it comes to broadening access to production and improving diversity and inclusion what are your team doing to address this?

Fran> We’re shifting our focus away from the more traditional routes to industry such as universities and instead are fostering partnerships with more progressive alternatives such as Brixton Finishing School, T-Level Colleges and tailored apprenticeship schemes, to ensure we are supporting underrepresented communities entering the industry.


LBB> And why is it an important issue for the production community to address?

Fran> Quite simply, diverse teams produce diverse thinking, diverse perspectives and fresh ways to tackle problems, all of which give us the competitive edge.

 

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?

Fran> It's less of a ‘tension’ and more of a Venn – there is a huge overlap between the two, and this is the bit where Momentum’s Experience Department sits. I don’t see us as producers. Instead, we are a team of experience makers; multifaceted Swiss Army Knives who’re both able – and encouraged to – think and behave like independent creators, whilst observing the framework of formalised production best practice.

 

LBB> If you compare your role to the role of the heads of TV/heads of production/exec producers when you first joined the industry, what do you think are the most striking or interesting changes (and what surprising things have stayed the same?)

Fran> There are a few interesting changes, such as a sure and steady increase in credence given to us. We’re now firmly at the top table alongside Business Leadership, ECD’s etc., and our counsel is more greatly sought after and respected than it perhaps used to be. But there’s a lot of consistency in the role too, such as the need to build out strong supplier relationships, which underpin any successful production. 


LBB> When it comes to educating producers how does your agency like to approach this? (I know we’re always hearing about how much easier it is to educate or train oneself on tech etc, but what areas do you think producers can benefit from more directed or structured training?)

Fran> We are practitioners not theorists, so we encourage our producers to spend as much time on the pitch actually playing the game as possible. Be it job shadowing on a large-scale delivery, running their own events with guidance and counsel waiting closely in the wings, or spending time with suppliers and vendors in their studios and workshops to help shape (and learn from) their sustainability practices, there is no better way to learn than to do.


LBB> It seems that there’s an emphasis on speed and volume when it comes to content - but where is the space for up and coming producers to learn about (and learn to appreciate) craft?

Fran> Just look at Tik-Tok for inspiration, and other channels too like Instagram. And join social groups on LinkedIn where you can meet other producers and find out about interesting events that you can attend and learn from. And follow those that inspire you! Reach out, you never know there could be a job opportunity waiting just for you.


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?

Fran> Offer new challenges in other facets of production (broadcast, live) so their breadth of expertise is increased, and increase exposure to other parts of the business so they’re clear on how and where the work they’re delivering fits into the bigger picture.  Having context and understanding the broader purpose of the work subtly, positively, changes the conventional production paradigm.

 

LBB> Clearly there is so much change, but what are the personality traits and skills that will always be in demand from producers?

Fran> A highly sought after combination of integrity, grit, ability to work with ambiguity, and huge amounts of likeability – when you’re on site at 3am with no power and a missing artic truck of kit, it helps to like the team you’re in the trenches with!

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Work from Momentum Worldwide, UK
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