SECCADS match fund HOP Digital R&D

Regional development body SECCADS have agreed to part-fund the R&D phase of a new project that we are very excited about.

HOP Digital - hopdigital.works - is an idea that I have been developing for more than a year but with Coronavirus and lockdown there felt like a particular urgency about getting it up and running. I’ve assembled a small team to push things forward, including longtime collaborator Vicki Murrell, designer Victor Liew and food entrepreneur and marketeer, Kate Rintoul.

We want to provide independent food and drink producers with outstanding media assets, coupled with a clear marketing strategy on their use, in order to help these businesses develop a strong online presence in support of their e-commerce activities.

There’s lots of research still to do but very excited about this,

Lockdown and the Crick Report

Lockdown has been both a challenging and interesting time.

The majority of our commercial and content work dried up by the first week of March. In fact, work was being cancelled at the beginning of February - regular client BCG had commissioned some films at the huge MWC conference in Barcelona which got pulled. This was the first sign that things could get pretty bad.

By late February things weren’t looking too great but a relationship struck up with Michael Crick whilst making a film about Brexit led to filming and editing his weekly news show, the Crick Report, for Mail Plus.

Over the course of five weeks we covered a number of stories including Amazon’s growing stranglehold on the UK consumer, whether Boris’s Johnsons government could deliver on its manifesto commitments given emergency corona-virus spending, and the difficulties charities faced raising money during lockdown. Michael was great to work with - an incredibly experienced journalist, he can turn out a cogent and engaging story in hours - and the opportunity to travel in and around London as lockdown deepened was southing else and a visual experience I will never forget. The picture below shows Whitehall and the Cenotaph all but deserted…the centre of one of the worlds great global cities about as busy as a village green on a weekday!

London's March4Women

The GLA commissioned me to film the March4Women and cover Mayor Sadiq Khan’s speech.

It was a great event, with good attendance and huge enthusiasm despite the weather. It was made all the more poignant as it was one of the last gatherings of its type to get through before coronavirus lockdown.

Brexit Day with Michael Crick

News is tough gig coming from content and film work but when you get a chance to work Michael Crick - I’ve always loved his direct and uncompromising style - you don’t pass up the opportunity.

We spent a long day running around Hastings and area getting the views of local people and businesses and what they felt about Brexit. Enjoyable excuse to talk closely with fishermen. Unsurprisingly, there was a dichotomous split in views.

BCG support Pyladies event

BCG has a significant number of offerings involving a digital component. Sitting behind these are expert coders and data scientists.

BCG wants to support diversity in this area so sponsored the 2019 Pyladies meet up in Canary Wharf. BCG Partner , Nadjia Yousif gave an inspiring keynote speech about her experiences as a woman working in computer sciences and AI.

English wine and the vineyards of the Sussex weald with Michael Smith

Locate East Sussex and the Wealden council commissioned writer, broadcaster and filmmaker, Michael Smith, and Ed Bishop from Scissorhands Prods to make a series of films exploring the vineyards of the Sussex Weald. This is the first film of four, and will be serialised on Caught by the River.

Lovely to be making films like this….wandering through the Sussex countryside soothed by the soft autumn light and colours. Michael is great company as well and a first class creative. Hidden Spring vineyard and the walks around it are something special.

Looking forward to picking this series up in 2020 and tasting more of these scrumptious English white wines.