Lowkey Films Is Now Proudly a B Corp
Jamie Gamache and Connor O’Hara learnt how to run a company during the years they played in a band. Of course, the then-teenagers didn’t know that rock’n’roll aspirations were preparing them for the world of filmmaking, but the skills gained booking shows and selling merch proved to be transferable when they started Lowkey Films at just 18.
Since then, the company has experienced growth and expansion into key services, including creative ideation and development, full-scale and pop-up video production, photography, creative direction, social content creation, and post-production working across narrative film, documentaries, branded content, commercial campaigns, and music videos. Jamie and Connor note that “the company couldn’t exist without ‘Kindling', Lowkey’s first feature film, directed by Connor. The seven-year process of getting it financed and made was a turning point, a realisation that “we wanted to be working, creating things the right way, and that we could do this across shorter-form content and work with directors, brands and artists that we love,” they explain.
Connor and Jamie’s values – centred on diversity, the environment, and acting with the best intentions – form the foundation of Lowkey. A mentality of “fun, fair, creative, equal, kind,” in their own words. Yet they wanted to take it a step further and make some of the commitments official, like taking the steps to become a B Corp. For Lowkey, it’s a statement of intent and value – the company is “creative, conscious, and accountable.”
Today, Jamie and Connor speak to LBB’s Zhenya Tsenzharyk about the company’s evolution, standout projects, and the process of formally committing to their core values.
LBB> Let’s start at the beginning – from teenage bandmates, to production company founders, how did those early experiences shape the values and vision behind Lowkey
Jamie & Connor> It’s been a 16-year journey from being 15 and 16 in a band together to now running Lowkey. Honestly, it’s quite amazing to reflect upon what’s led us to this point.
When we look back at the band days, it’s funny how we were almost learning how to run a company back then. From booking shows and selling merch, to using the money we earned to pay for recordings, it was almost a ‘how to run a company’ 101 in our teens. We’re both people people. Empathetic, laughable, we love to chat – and in that, we love being surrounded by different people with different stories. When we first started Lowkey as 18-year-olds making short films in our hometown, it was done with this mentality – fun, fair, creative, equal, and kind. What happened when we entered ‘real’ jobs on major film sets was that it felt like these values had been forgotten. They were sets that neither represented our ethics and values, nor reflected the world around us.
By our mid-twenties, it was a choice of either leaving the industry due to this or remembering that, as 18-year-olds, maybe we had some things right. Before we had a business plan, we wrote down a code of unwavering values that were important to us, and on the basis of that, Lowkey was officially formed. We’re so proud of the work that we’ve created, but more than that, we’re proud of the way in which we create it, and it stems from our experiences leading to this point.
LBB> You’ve spoken about wanting to “do things differently” from the start. What were some of the toxic industry norms you experienced early on that Lowkey was consciously built to reject?
Jamie & Connor> Without naming names, we could probably talk for hours about the things we witnessed that people around us were saying was ‘normal’ behaviour, and we didn’t want that kind of ‘normal’ in our lives. Lack of representation, bullying culture, normalised overworking, events connected to the Harvey Weinstein scandal, environmental damage; it wasn’t a world that we wanted to be a part of. We wanted to do it differently. We’re in a world now where so many production companies can (and are) creating amazing work, so we have always prided ourselves on the stories we tell and the way in which we tell them behind the camera.
LBB> From summer zombie films to branded content for global names, what’s been the most pivotal moment in Lowkey’s creative evolution so far?
Jamie & Connor> We’ve been really fortunate to have done some things we never dreamed of in the past few years, like produce a number of feature films, travel the world and create work for brands and artists we love. Two particular moments spring to mind where it felt like things changed.
The first was in 2015 with our short film ‘Infinite.’ We were around 21 at the time, and we were planning on working on a small short film; being naive and hopeful, we went to a BAFTA-nominated actor George MacKay to play the lead, and somehow he said yes. Our small short grew to over 50 people, Arri sponsored us, and the film travelled worldwide, giving us confidence that perhaps we could make a career out of this. We decided to try to make ‘Infinite’ into a feature film, and seven years later, renamed ‘Kindling,’ our debut feature was released in cinemas and through the BBC and Amazon Prime. The other moment was when we quit our jobs to go full-time with Lowkey at the start of 2020 with high hopes… which were cut short after two months by the pandemic. At this time, we got an AJ Tracey music video, which they wanted to shoot the day after the pandemic ended. It was our biggest budget project to date, and we spent the pandemic planning it and rescheduling it whenever the lockdown dates were moved. But finally it was shot, the day after restrictions were lifted, and released within a few days. Suddenly, our inboxes started to go off more than before and really launched Lowkey into the company we are today.
LBB> Your first feature, ‘Kindling’, came together alongside the company’s growth. How has the experience of making long-form work shaped your approach to shorter-form content like commercials and music videos?
Jamie & Connor> It was all quite symbiotic in honesty. It’s like the company couldn’t exist without ‘Kindling’ and vice versa. It took seven years to finance it, so in that time we realised we wanted to be working, creating things the right way, and that we could do this across shorter-form content and work with directors, brands and artists that we love.
As we learned more about financing a feature, we learned more about running a company, and did bigger commercial projects, which then built energy for ‘Kindling’. What we’ve always loved about narrative is the collaborations, co-productions and partnering with other people and directors. I suppose these influences have benefited the way we work on shorter-form work as we don’t want to see other production companies as competitors or directors as creatives who should work solely with us – we’re always wondering if there’s space for more collaboration across the board.
LBB> You’re now B Corp certified, and that validates years of work behind the scenes. What does that milestone mean for you both personally and professionally?
Jamie & Connor> Personally, it’s massive for us. It’s so easy to say you’re doing these things and you’re striving for this way of working, but it’s another thing proving it and having it verified. We believe we’re also one of the first feature film companies to have been certified, which is something we’re incredibly proud of. Professionally, it means we have now made a commitment to use business for good. As a B Corp, we have to consider all our stakeholders, and that is mandated by our articles of association. We’re held to high standards of social and environmental impact, and for our clients, it means working with a studio that’s creative, conscious, and accountable.
LBB> You’ve built a strong ESG backbone – from AdGreen certification to set diversity. How do you ensure these values stay central even when they’re not client-mandated or visible in the final product?
Jamie & Connor> When it’s built into the DNA of the company, you sort of live and breathe it. Ultimately, we’ve always said it’s about doing the right things always, so we can sleep well at night, and so a lot of the ways we work, we’re doing it for us and because we believe it’s the right thing to do. It’s how we’ve been brought up, and it brings us happiness. It’s a bonus that it also has a positive impact on our staff, the work, the crews and clients we work with.
The question about client mandates actually reminds us of something from our B Corp certification process. One example for us is carbon tracking and offsetting. We do it on every project as standard because it’s the right thing to do. Ironically, we actually lost B Corp points because we weren’t monetising it, as you get points for charging clients for this. But we hope that says a lot about our approach. These things aren’t just for show or sales – they’re how we operate, whether anyone’s watching or not.
Values stay central when they’re part of company culture, and so to do that, we have to take everyone along on the journey with us. We share learnings across the team and openly invite feedback so it becomes something we evolve together, rather than something enforced top-down. It’s about building trust, pride, and a culture that sustains itself.
LBB> You’ve moved away from a traditional director roster to your Full Disclosure Representation (FDR) model. What inspired that shift, and how has it changed your relationships with both directors and clients?
Jamie & Connor> There are three things that have inspired the shift. Firstly, we’re not really sure we believe in directors being locked to one company. Surely different companies have different values and different styles of work, as directors do? And they should be able to work with their preferred partners, as it is in the narrative space where directors have different projects with different companies.
We secondly want to always be authentic in our voice as a company when we’re working with clients. If we have a commercial which has a neurodivergent lead and we had a roster without a neurodivergent director, then potentially we wouldn’t be creating the piece with an authentic voice leading the vision. It has also allowed us to expand our offerings with a range of directors, photographers, and creative directors suitable for different styles of work, while also expanding our network of people we love collaborating with.
Connor> On a personal side, I only work as a director in narrative and never pitch on commercial projects. Having a roster changed my thinking, and if I were to work in commercials, I would want to be able to both work with the appropriate companies for each job, but equally, go where the work is, to sometimes just pay the bills. If it’s one of my beliefs – that I wouldn’t like to be tied to a sole roster – then why should we expect this of others?
LBB> Lowkey now spans creative development, production, and directorial matchmaking - how do you typically plug in to a brand or agency’s process?
Jamie & Connor> We’re built to be flexible, so how we plug in really depends on what a brand or agency needs. Sometimes that means coming in right at the start – developing the creative from scratch through our in-house creative direction service, The Suite Shop. We’ll work with you to shape the narrative, define the look and feel, and build out the campaign in a way that’s aligned with your goals and budget.
At other times, we join a bit further down the line. Maybe you’ve got a script or a concept and you’re looking for the right director to bring it to life. That’s where our Full Disclosure Representation (FDR) model comes in. It lets us pair your brief with a director whose voice, vision, and lived experiences genuinely align with the story a client is trying to tell, whether that’s someone in our network or a freelance director they already love. And when things get hectic, especially for in-house agency teams, we’re able to slot in seamlessly under an agency's banner. They give us the budget and the brief, and we handle the rest. Ultimately, it’s always about making culture-defining work and making the process as smooth as humanly possible.
LBB> Your work for Champion and ‘More Flames’ for Climate Spring both highlight how ESG principles can elevate creative. How do you thread that mindset into campaigns from pitch to post?
Jamie & Connor> Well, it starts with ensuring that we’re doing AdGreen on all productions so that the environmental impact is always being tracked. We also show this on our website so that we can be held accountable here.
But truly, when it comes to ESG principles affecting work, it’s no end. Champion was working with a deaf rapper called Signkid, who, in turn, in our piece for Champion, came up with a whole new sign for BSL, which was developed because of the work we did together. The success of this campaign resulted in Champion launching its own line of BSL t-shirts and murals in NYC. The creative was elevated by Signkid and allowed the expansion of the campaign in ways we couldn’t have imagined, while always representing Signkid’s voice and lived experience in an authentic way.
LBB> Tell us more about The Suite Shop, what’s the ambition behind it, and what kind of brand or artist collaborations are you hoping to build through that creative direction arm?
Jamie & Connor> The Suite Shop is our creative direction and ideation arm, built to give brands, artists and labels a space to shape their campaigns from the off with the right creative partner leading the charge from day one. Within The Suite Shop, we can work with overall budgets to suggest and tailor campaigns to any client's needs. This can include TVCs, social content, graphic design, merchandise, pop-up installations, photography, etc., all under one roof with a creative director aligning everything at the helm. At its heart, it’s about bringing flexibility into the creative process. We’ll work with clients to define the narrative, build a brand bible, and set the look, tone and feel of a campaign; then they can pick and mix the assets they need. It’s about not locking into an all-or-nothing model. That adaptability is a big win for clients navigating shifting timelines, budgets, and priorities.
It also means we can help tell the story from the very beginning so that every piece of content works together to feel part of the same world, creatively and strategically. We’re especially excited to collaborate with brands and artists who want to push boundaries and challenge what audiences expect, whether that’s culturally, visually, or emotionally. The Suite Shop is a space to explore what’s possible when creative direction and production work hand in hand.
LBB> With ‘College Town’ returning for Season 2 and a third already in the works, what excites you most about storytelling at that scale, and how does it influence your day-to-day commercial projects?
Jamie & Connor> It’s our chance to blur the lines between entertainment and advertising. It’s not just branded content, it’s lifestyle-driven, character-led storytelling that earns audience attention, rather than forcing it. At Lowkey, we come from a background in long-form, documentary, narrative, and feature films, and that experience shapes everything we do. What ‘College Town’ has shown is how we can combine that long-form sensibility with short-form, branded execution: building a world, creating space for real voices, and letting a brand exist naturally within that space. It’s not about shoehorning in a product; it’s about embedding the brand in a story that people genuinely want to spend time with. The success of this format has already had us coming up with loads of different ideas to pitch to brands, so we’re just waiting to see who picks up what we have next!
LBB> And lastly, what's next for Lowkey?
Jamie & Connor> It sounds corny, I suppose, but staying happy, staying value-led and staying on track with what we’re building. We have three features set to shoot in the next 18 months, so that’s very exciting, but the biggest change is the launch of our new website, our becoming a B Corp and our further commitment to this way of working.
We’re excited to double down on that commitment and meet more like-minded brands, agencies, and creatives, and we want to work together. What’s really next for Lowkey is continuing to lead with our values and ethics to ensure that change is made across our industry from the ground up.
