The most exciting thing I have found about my career so far is the ability to constantly shift and change my role as I wish, whether this be co-ordinating on a TVC production to art directing a side project to producing an advertising campaign.

You need to wear many hats in the industry and being able to do that is something I really enjoy.

You always need to start somewhere even if it’s not exactly what you want to do. When I graduated from SAE I took a full-time job at a broadcast editing company which isn’t a creative position, but it taught me a lot about the post production process and got me a foot in the industry very early. Plus, the team I worked with made every day a great day and that is something which is very lucky in your first job.

From there it’s been a whirlwind of exciting opportunity! I interned at a production company in Los Angeles during the summer before landing myself my first role at a production agency called Now We Collide in Surry Hills. There I was able to grow from a production coordinator to a producer and work on campaigns for amazing brands such as Clinique, ESPN, Universal Pictures, Princess Cruises, Mortgage Choice and Disney.

My current role as a producer at Crater is already taking me around the world to produce work I am really proud of. We are bunch of friends who have worked in the industry in different places and having the chance to work on projects with awesome people every day is an achievement in itself.

What inspired you to enter into the career you’re in?
I love the collaboration of this industry. No matter what you are working on, it is essential to have a team of specialists around you to help create the final product. Working with great creative minds, and essentially, good people is what got me excited about working in film. I also think being able to express ideas and turn them into reality is a really rewarding career.

What are your fondest memories of your time at SAE?
I got the chance to write and direct a short film before I graduated which is something I thought I wouldn’t have the courage to do so early on. But with the encouragement from my lecturers I was able to bring that vision to life with the other students in my class. It was a short film set in Nazi Germany so recreating that in Sydney was a challenge and a really fun experience. We road tripped to Milton, NSW and worked together to film something we were all pretty excited about. The best part about that production was that it helped me in realising that the process doesn’t need to be as big and scary as you make it out to be in your head.

Are you able to shed some light on how studying at SAE lead you to where you are now?
Studying at SAE helped me to put the fears of failure behind me. Being on a film production set can sometimes be daunting but getting practical experience gives you the confidence to walk onto set and feel excited rather insecure. SAE provides practical subjects where you are given a brief for a film and then you each get a role as you would in the industry. I started the course wanting to be a director and I soon found out that I loved producing when I was assigned the role as producer for one of the short films. Being in an environment that lets you get hands on with all the roles from pre-production to post production prepared me for what to expect when applying for jobs and continuing to grow throughout my career.

What are your career highlights?
Working on large scale TVC campaigns in Australia has been a great privilege for me. From coordinating them to producing them in such a short amount of time has been a great achievement and a reward for the hard work I have put in. One in particular at this stage would probably the Disney campaign for Disney Princess Hasbro Dolls, it was a campaign shot in two days producing 4 TVC’s, multiple Stills for retail, print and social and Social Content for online and social media. It was a so much fun every step of the way and the team around me were made up of some of the best talents in Australia.

What projects are you working on at the moment?
There are a few briefs on the table that we are working on but the most exciting thing we are working on at the moment is a short piece we will be shooting in London at the end of June. Producing work outside of the client work we do is a nice break from the day to day production and gives us an outlet to be creative without certain agendas. Stay tuned on our Instagram @crater_au.

What advice would you give to students aspiring to become successful in their field?
It is a bit cliché but have fun and enjoy what you do. Very often you can stress about deadlines or unexpected issues arising, but if you do what you love, you will naturally create work you are proud of and resonates with others. Also, not to get wrapped up in the day to day and explore what other people in the industry are doing, go to events and talks, always be looking for inspiration.