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How to Produce "Impossible" Videos · Gimbal Podcast

• 0:00
  and about an hour later I walked out with a job as a producer full-time.
• 0:04
  You are working with some of the most impressive creators in New Wave already.
• 0:08
  What was the hardest moment of that production?
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  I continued working literally from the hospital and I worked remotely and then I joined
• 0:14
  them at the finish line in Nepal. What do you do if you have a fantastic video idea but
• 0:20
  logistically it's just way too hard to pull off? You probably put it in the back pocket and hope
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  that one day you have the opportunity to make it. That's not what my guest today has done.
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  She in fact takes those ideas and makes the impossible possible.
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  Now she works with the likes of Red Bull, KSI, Max Fosh, among a bunch of other names in
• 0:42
  traditional media and in the creator economy. This is a fantastic interview and I hope you please
• 0:47
  enjoy. Okay Molly I want to start this interview by asking you about one specific video that I think
• 0:54
  you played an important role in. It was the video where you took stray dogs from Morocco and
• 1:00
  sent them on a private plane of all things to the UK. Can you walk me through what that video was
• 1:07
  like making it from ideation all the way up until upload? That was probably one of the more
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  long-term videos that I worked on for Zach Alsop. We talk a lot about dichotomy in content especially
• 1:18
  for Zach. So what's the opposite of private jet, luxury and wealth? Well then we think about
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  dogs that don't have access to privilege and are sort of like the stray dog community.
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  And by spring of 2024 we were really mobilizing to make it happen and that included
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  lots of conversations with customs agents, with vets on both sides, both the UK and in Morocco.
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  And I often look back on that and think oh my gosh why didn't I just hire some extra PAs or
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  something because I was doing it all on my own. One of the core elements that I kind of
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  talk about a lot on this show, stuff like that like something I've learned in film school is when
• 2:02
  you're coming up with a video idea of being a short film or even a YouTube video, it's really
• 2:06
  important to think about the practicality of that video. It's like you can't write a video that
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  takes place in space because you don't have access to space. But one of the things that's like
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  really interesting to me about you and I think we'll get into your production company just
• 2:20
  in a little bit. But you kind of take on videos that are seemingly logistically challenging.
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  And this one here, you know, getting dogs from Morocco to England on a private jet is something
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  that is so logistically challenging for most YouTube channels that it would probably kill it
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  at the ideation phase. How did this one not die one month into it? Like how did you persist?
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  What strings did you pull at to keep going and to actually achieve what is, in my opinion,
• 2:51
  really really damn hard to do? Yeah, I think this video is a good example because we were faced with
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  so many knows along the way. And I mean the amount of loopholes that we had to create, it was
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  a bit mad that it was a success in the end. I think the passion for our collaborators
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  played a huge role because pretty much from the first week of research, when I connected with
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  some of these, you know, facilities and I sort of saw the faces of the dogs that needed help,
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  it was like a no-brainer. We were going to do whatever we possibly could to make that video happen.
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  That was a unique experience in just our hearts were so in it. But I guess more from an industry
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  perspective, your job as a producer is in part to be a yes man, you know, you're there to satisfy
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  the client, you're there to be inventive and creative and think outside of the box. And there
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  is a little bit of let's be realistic, what's in budget, you know, there's a balance. But
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  I would hope that you're exploring every single option, no stone left unturned if you're
• 3:57
  turning down an idea or if you're moving on from like the original concept. So you went from
• 4:03
  Saturday Night Live to producing YouTube videos. Some people might see that as like a step down,
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  but tell us why you actually saw it as a step up. It wasn't just Saturday Night Live, I have to say,
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  it was, I was working on a load of different shows around the New York City Circuit. I respected
• 4:20
  the hustle culture, but I also felt culturally there was this people were feeling a bit downtrodden,
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  there was sort of a negativity around set. It did feel like people were under the gun with budget,
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  and there was a lot of redundancy and people were just feeling down simultaneously. I was questioning
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  my place in the industry because I was looking at my higher ups and going, I don't really see a lot
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  of balance here for family time or for personal creativity or health or wellness or time off,
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  and it was very much an industry where you were expected to sort of be grateful of course for being
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  there, but regardless of what was thrown at you and it was tough. I don't want to throw
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  anybody under the bus. I'm actually my experience at Saturday Night Live in particular was very
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  positive, but it was sort of other sets that I just felt, maybe this isn't for me long-term,
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  and not for lack of toughness or work ethic, but just feeling like it was wrong. At the same time,
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  COVID happened, production stopped, and it gave me that opportunity to reflect and to think about
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  what other ways can stories be told, and how can they be told faster, more efficiently,
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  how can I connect more closely with the audience, how can I personally being a part of the
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  production team have a bigger impact on the story being told, how can I have a closer connection
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  to the creator, and that led to freelancing on different YouTube sets and with short-form creators
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  as well at the time. It's like the rise of TikTok of course, so we saw a huge influx of help needed
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  in short-form video content, so yeah, that's kind of how that came about. Was there like one moment
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  where you realized like, I'm a YouTuber, I'm a TikToker now? I don't think I knew it at the time,
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  but I was grabbing coffees and connecting with as many creators as I could during COVID, and one of
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  those people was that also. He asked me to grab a coffee. I asked him to grab a coffee to sort of
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  pick his brain about YouTube and about what it's like working on that side of things, and about an
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  hour later I walked out with a job as his producer full-time, and it was insane because it was not
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  what I expected. I actually was living in New York at that time and I happened to be just in London for
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  a week, so I had a couple of weeks to get home, pack up my apartment, finish my thesis remotely,
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  find an apartment in London like it was a scramble, and literally a few weeks later I was working in
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  his studio, and it just felt like a huge opportunity because I was having a direct impact on the
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  stories being told, feeling the reaction of the audience, and having a lot more fun, like just being
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  myself and being creative and thinking outside of the box and sort of making up our own roles.
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  It was like Wild West. Was he very convincing or were you just ready?
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  Yeah, I would say both. I would say from the moment we met we really connected. We're very good
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  friends to this day because we have a similar outlook on life and ethos for approach to storytelling,
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  and that is very much to ask for forgiveness, not permission to go for it and see what happens,
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  and to think big and sort of dream big. So that resonated with me in that conversation, and I have
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  Zach to thank for pushing me into what was probably already a natural progression in my career.
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  What is your approach when you receive a no, or perhaps when you don't even hear back at all
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  from anybody that you really depend on for a video? I mean, practically, if I've emailed someone
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  then I'd go to calling. If I've called them and they don't answer, I go to in person. If in person
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  they're not there, then it's about reaching out to the network online, who else knows them,
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  what other degrees of separation are there. There's always a way to connect the person. I have
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  this fascination with degrees of separation, and I know that if I wanted to reach President Obama,
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  I could probably do that somehow just through some degree might take time. It might take a lot of
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  effort, but there would be somebody that is willing to connect you and put you in front of the right
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  people or put you in the right room. So yeah, just being super inventive. Do you have any rules
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  where it's like, let's say, okay, I start with an email, I'm going to give them three days to
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  respond. And if they don't respond, I'm going to call them. And if they don't answer my call,
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  I'm going to wait another three days. Like, what are your rules for making sure that you're doing
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  it respectively and not ruining the relationship from the get go? Yeah, I mean, I think you always
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  have to have respect for people's time and energy. And I wouldn't say three days because
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  well, people are busy. And it depends on the industry as well, right? Like, it totally depends on
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  who you're reaching out to, what collaborator, what does their world look like? If I haven't heard
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  back from somebody maybe in a week or 10 days, then I'll send a follow-up email.
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  So it's planting seeds, being patient, and hopefully giving yourself enough time. I think this
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  is something that creators don't always grasp is that it just takes time to create new relationships
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  with people that are going to be ultimately on camera or giving you treasures for your story.
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  So you just have to be on their on their best side from the very get go. So I'm not here to hound.
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  It's a delicate balance. They have to want to be involved as much as you want them involved.
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  And it's helping them to see that it's it's reading people and being diplomatic.
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  You brought something up that was really interesting where you said you have they they have to
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  want to be involved. In this particular video where you're taking dogs from Morocco to the UK,
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  you are communicating with the country of Morocco, you mentioned. What made them want to
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  participate? Or did you have to frame it in a perspective where it was like there's a good reason
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  why you should actually do this? Yeah, I mean, there were multiple layers. So as it pertains to the
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  government, that was a trickier conversation to have. We were lucky to have a wider community
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  of support through the activists, the veterinarians, the you know, the fundraising that was
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  happening online. And of course, in in some cases, it is an advantage to lean on the sort of
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  blue tick. We call it the blue tick effect, like Zach is a known personality coming to their country.
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  They want to make sure that he's painting Morocco in a good light. So there's a bit of that. And that's
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  when I talk about diplomacy. That does play a role as well. But in that case, I have to be honest,
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  there were times in that video where we were so so close to the success of it. And sort of one
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  person on a bad day was saying no. And I did I got a little bit more heated about it. I got a
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  little bit more defensive about it and really like pushed and pushed and became the person that
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  that they didn't want to get a phone call from that day. But that that was sort of an unusual
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  situation where everything else was perfectly in place. And there was just one, you know, one
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  thing that we had to jump one obstacle we had to jump through. So you hope that that's not
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  usually the case and not the card that you have to play. But in some cases, it is it's necessary.
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  So when you worked with Zach, like the video that we're talking about is now a couple years old.
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  And you were his producer, right? His full-time producer at that time?
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  Yeah, yeah. Is that going to work together for three years? It was wonderful.
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  Yeah, we love Zach also. His content is so funny and so original. So that was your position
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  for a while. But you've since transitioned away from working for him exclusively. And now you are
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  the founder of Blue Door Productions, which is what? On paper, a social first production house
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  that bridges the gap between traditional media and new wave. We work with a range of creators
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  and brands and new talent as well to kind of not only, I guess, fit in the mold of where the industry
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  is, but hopefully carve where it's going next and pioneer. I always say like it's like the new
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  frontier. So guiding people into the new frontier as well. But yeah, create creator first stories
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  are what we do very well. And that's what we're quite passionate about.
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  Okay, you seriously undersold yourself just there because you are working with some of the most
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  impressive creators in new wave already. But also you're working with like massive
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  traditional media brands. Yeah. Who are some of your clients?
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  Well, on the brand side, I mean, we've worked with quite a lot of people like the most current
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  would be like a Red Bull sort of that, you know, they're huge super brands. But thank you. And
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  that's been a really rewarding and super challenging experience just to get an insight into that
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  crazy world and what's possible. Because as they say, like gives you wings, it's no joke. Red Bull can
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  they can like turn a key and unlock crazy crazy stuff. So that's been really fun to see from the
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  creator side. We work with Bambino Becky, Max Fosh, Skinner Score, Friends From Work, who's like
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  this, this is a new team made up of Arthur Hill, Arthur TV, Italian Batch and George Clark. I mean,
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  literally list goes kind of on and on. Very, very lucky that these incredible creators have trusted me
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  and trusted us to execute their projects. A lot of that is years of building relationships and
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  earning trust. And yeah, I mean, I guess that's the whole the whole reason why Blutor exists is
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  it's founded on this this network, this community that that probably lies in a mix of who I am
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  personally and professionally because I do believe that if you work really hard, then you can play
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  hard as well. And if you're expected to be in really close proximity with with these people and
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  traveling for days on end and, you know, working strange hours, then you should be and you should
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  feel comfortable being yourself. And as long as the work gets done, then that should be allowed as
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  well. At Blutor, you have big, big corporations, big channels like BBC and Channel 4 that come to
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  you for help in navigating the creator economy. So what would you say legacy media companies get
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  wrong when they're trying to work with creators? I think they're starting to get it right, I will
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  say. But there's a disconnect between traditional and and creator stories because of how long it
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  takes the legacy broadcasters to catch up and to be inventive and think fast. And it's not necessarily
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  an individual's fault. It's the hoops they have to jump through, the approvals, the amount of time
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  it takes and how many cooks are in the kitchen to get a project over the line. Whereas we operate in a
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  world where you can have an idea and three days later it can be posted and super viral if you're lucky.
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  So legacy broadcasters have to understand that the process has to happen a lot faster and they should
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  trust the creators who know their audience intimately. Trust their creative vision and if you're hiring
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  a creator or, for example, a social first production team, trust that our instincts are correct
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  because this is our specialty. And I know that's very difficult because they have their own way
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  of doing things and everything is changing very quickly. But if they want to connect with a younger
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  audience with under 35s, they have to go where the audience already is, which is these platforms
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  YouTube. That's why we're seeing BBC partner with YouTube this next year, which is going to be a
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  really exciting project for them. I just hope they find the the right collaborators blue
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  productions. Tell us why you are the right collaborators. Like what do you think that you do differently
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  that other production companies can't do or won't do? Well, I mean, it's layered. We have we have
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  obviously a strategic plan for how we develop a story and how we publish and the way that we
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  interact with an audience throughout the story beats. You know, thinking just tough on my head,
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  like the five points of a successful YouTube video, for example, which are packaging,
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  your your hook has to be extremely strong, your pace moves quickly, retention techniques,
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  and then the stakes that are involved in that story to keep people asking like, how is it going
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  to end? Why am I still here? But what we do while at Blutor is, and when I say we bridge the gap,
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  what I mean is, you know, we have TV foundations in production. We have a director of photography
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  who is, you know, he's been in the industry for 20 years and is an incredible DP as it comes to
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  kit and coverage. But then we also have on the other side a young YouTube strategist who is
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  chronically online and spends most of his time researching trends and algorithm changes.
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  And in general, we are, you know, Jen's Millennial Gen Z founded company. This is what we know.
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  This is how we consume. We're already in it. We're, you know, they're like sort of asking,
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  how do we reach a younger audience? Well, partner with the younger audience, partner with the
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  creators partner with a young production company. Was that the transitionary moment like you worked
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  for Zach for three years? And then Blutor was the next step. There was nothing in between?
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  Well, while I was working with Zach, I freelanced quite a lot, which is how I sort of opened doors to
• 17:47
  who became Blutor's clients more long-term. And simultaneously, I started the industry happy hour,
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  which was, you know, building blocks for my black book here in the UK and also my contacts in the
• 17:59
  States. That industry group is very much the foundation for who Blutor works with on a larger
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  basis. We have a core team, but then we recruit different personalities and crew based on our client
• 18:11
  project in our hands. So it's, it's a collaborative effort. So I say there's three of us,
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  but like it ends up being a huge number. I mean, I'm talking about like over 500 people that I have
• 18:22
  access to that I can call on at any given time. In New York, LA, London, it's, it's very, very special.
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  These are crew members. These are camera operators, video editors, producers, producers, directors,
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  thumbnail editors, strategists. I mean, it's whoever you need. It prop masters,
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  hair and makeup, animal trainers, you know, transport officers like fixers on the ground and in
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  remote distant places, ambassadors in some cases who want to get involved and and tourism boards.
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  It's kind of insane. I mean, the network really extends far beyond just your basic crew.
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  I try my best to create physical places as well like spaces that that people can come in person
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  and connect because so many of us work remotely and we freelance and we kind of work on small
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  in small teams. So to host events as much as I can where you can interact in person, build new
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  connections, whether that's new friends or booking gigs or, you know, having a laugh or cry
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  or a debate about the state of the industry. Like these are really important conversations I think
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  to be having in person. And it goes far beyond just a recommendation letter for your next came
• 19:33
  up or your next producer. I think that this industry can be very isolating, especially for,
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  you know, the post-production team editors who work from home, even some producers who work from
• 19:43
  home. So it is cool that you have something where there's like a physical hangout. The industry
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  happy hour, as I know it, this is a WhatsApp group, is there more to it? Yeah, I mean, there is
• 19:53
  more to it. There's there's a there's a few different WhatsApp groups based on like region
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  and then based on specialty. So we have, for example, New York chat, a London chat, an all female
• 20:05
  chat. We've got a producers chat, you know, a cam-ops chat. So like there's sort of different
• 20:13
  segments to it. And majority of the events take place in London just because that's where I'm
• 20:17
  based. But I've hosted events in London or sorry in Dublin, New York, LA as well. I hope one day,
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  you know, it feels very much right now like I have to be physically there in order to
• 20:28
  execute it to the to the standard that I would want. But I would love for, you know, somebody in
• 20:34
  LA to take the reins when I'm not always there and sort of, you know, carry on the happy hour
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  legacy as it were because I think it's important. And I think the whole wheat we're creative.
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  At the end of the day, we need to be interacting with each other in person and sharing. There's,
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  you know, there's healthy competition, but I also think there's room at the top for for for so many.
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  And the barrier of entry into our industries a bit strange. It's not obviously getting into
• 21:01
  a traditional route, which is what I did through TV 10 years ago. It was difficult, but there was
• 21:07
  a clear path of how you work your way up, how you become a producer or how you start shooting on set.
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  Whereas now it feels, it feels like a great time to get involved because you can very easily sort
• 21:19
  of find the right person and go for a coffee and get a job, but somehow there's a disconnect between
• 21:24
  people that are in it and like our our tight circle of kind of established people in the field
• 21:30
  and people that want to get involved. So I'm just thinking, you know, if you're 20 years old
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  and you're a student and you really want to make a story or you want to work in YouTube or you
• 21:38
  want to work with a certain creator, how do I get, how do I help that person find their team,
• 21:44
  find their flow, you know, find their niche. So yeah, I think I have a lot of empathy for that
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  because I spent so many years wondering what the hell I was going to do with my life and not
• 21:55
  that I have the answer yet, but like, you know, I'm on a right, I'm on a good track. So,
• 22:00
  yes, anytime anyone reaches out to me and says, you know, can I pick your brain or can I have a
• 22:05
  coffee or a zoom chat? I'm I'm always here for that. How did you know? Okay, now's the time to
• 22:11
  create my own thing. Did you have clients already coming inbound and begging you for your time?
• 22:15
  Or did you have bigger ambitions? Where were you where were you at with this? Yeah. It wasn't
• 22:20
  something I anticipated. I never my parents are our business owners and I never sort of grew up
• 22:26
  thinking I'm going to be an entrepreneur. I want to start my own business. In fact, it was quite
• 22:29
  the opposite because I know how difficult it is. When I was working for Zach, I was also allowed
• 22:34
  to freelance, which is amazing kudos to him because he he really like never wanted to clip my wings
• 22:40
  and saw that I sort of had a drive to be filming more and learning from other teams as well.
• 22:45
  So in doing that, I saw different ways of working and I I was able to really be challenged on
• 22:53
  a whole bunch of different levels and I found myself, I mean, especially after three years with Zach,
• 22:57
  I found myself just wanting wanting a little bit of a bigger challenge. Not not to say that, you know,
• 23:03
  Zach's videos were sometimes challenging, but of course when you're in the same team, you kind of
• 23:06
  get into a flow, you get very comfortable and I'm I'm never one to stay in my comfort zone. I'm
• 23:11
  always sort of, okay, what's next? What's going to keep me growing and push me forward? So yeah,
• 23:16
  it was it was a means to an end really because the freelance work, the requests were there was
• 23:21
  obviously a need for a producer in the field and there wasn't sort of an existing. This is like
• 23:27
  three years ago. So there weren't a whole lot of production companies that could facilitate that.
• 23:31
  I saw that gap in the market and then also I just remember thinking I want to see what my
• 23:38
  capabilities are outside of somebody else's framework or somebody else's sort of availability
• 23:45
  or scheduling or you know, so I did want to have a little bit more freedom and space to experiment
• 23:53
  with that and see what I could really achieve not only like sort of financially or like professionally,
• 23:58
  but in my like personal creativity as well, like what concepts could I create and lean into and
• 24:05
  what other creators could I sort of help along the way. So that's probably where Blutor came from.
• 24:10
  It was it was like a natural progression, but the first year that Blutor was open, I didn't
• 24:16
  tell anybody that I had a production company. I was I guess I was sort of hoping I wouldn't become
• 24:20
  that person that like posts about a new endeavor and then like three months later goes cold, right?
• 24:27
  And I had no idea if it was something that I really did want to do more long-term. The first year
• 24:31
  was I tried to keep it on the low. That didn't work. I think quite a few people just knew that there
• 24:37
  was a production company specialized in YouTube and they needed that help. So the word kind of spread
• 24:42
  internally, which was amazing because it meant that we had a lot of inquiries right out the gates
• 24:48
  and and then last year it just was like non-stop. It was kind of insane. I had an accident happen
• 24:54
  to me. I almost lost my leg in a vehicle accident in East London last January and I was thinking to
• 25:00
  myself, oh my gosh, like this company is only six months old. Like what's going to happen? How am I
• 25:07
  going to sustain this? And I just still can't get over the trust that the clients had for getting
• 25:13
  the job done no matter what and the patience as well when I when I wasn't fully there. And also
• 25:19
  for my team, primarily for Stan, Gaskell and Ben Sherlock, who just completely stepped up to the
• 25:25
  plate and like took over, for example, our biggest contract of the year, which was with Red Bull,
• 25:30
  that wouldn't have happened without them. So I'm very lucky that there's like a solid team and
• 25:35
  network to lean on. Could you give me an example of like a creator or a brand that came to you with
• 25:40
  like a pretty rough idea maybe and how you transformed that into a fully realized project? A great
• 25:47
  example would be Mitch Hutchcraft. He approached Bludor with this big dream to complete a record
• 25:53
  breaking triathlon from England to the top of Mount Everest sort of off the back of the hardest
• 25:59
  geysers race across Africa and and the trend of extreme physical feats making sort of headway
• 26:07
  across all platforms. So I think the idea for Limitless came came about about a decade earlier,
• 26:13
  but Mitch didn't know how exactly to execute it. So he approached Bludor asking for help and it was
• 26:19
  a huge risk. He didn't have any social following or social knowledge on how to navigate the
• 26:25
  platforms. He didn't have any financial backing, but my partner Stan and I took on a meeting with him
• 26:30
  and thought like how, first of all, we believed him. We believed in his vision and we knew Mitch
• 26:37
  to be just genuinely kind and deserving and a really hard worker and he had proven physically
• 26:43
  that he was capable of it through his training over, you know, various training camps over the last
• 26:48
  year. And so we just decided let's give it a go. Let's let's see if we can support this story.
• 26:54
  And about a year later, you know, we saw Mitch summit Mount Everest return safely with crew
• 27:00
  300,000 followers and about 30 million eyes on the story over the last few months of the mission.
• 27:07
  Huge press press coverage, you know, he's got now a book being released in the spring and a
• 27:12
  documentary in development. So that was just one of those examples of taking a huge risk and
• 27:17
  it being a great reward not only for us, but for Mitch who now has a career as a creator and
• 27:23
  as an extreme outdoorsman. What was the hardest moment of that production? There were several very
• 27:31
  challenging circumstances. One of them was having to reroute the entire mission from
• 27:39
  crossing around into Iraq. It was very last minute change based on the circumstances in that
• 27:46
  region at the time. We were worried for crew safety because of Mitch's background in the Marines
• 27:52
  and his visa being declined. So we were sort of there was two different routes that we were
• 27:58
  considering and one was through Afghanistan and the other was through Iran. So it was, you know,
• 28:03
  a complex thing to plan and we ended up going through Iraq and finding incredible
• 28:11
  fixtures on the ground that could take the team and guide them through remote regions and to
• 28:16
  safely pass through Pakistan and into India. So it was really wonderful that we in the end pulled
• 28:24
  it out of the bag but it was very challenging logistically. I would also say a difficult moment
• 28:29
  was personally as well as professionally when my accident happened last January. I was actually on
• 28:34
  a meeting on route to a meeting with Zach and a 24-wheeler truck came into the cycle lane in East
• 28:42
  London and ran over me and my bike and yeah it was pretty mega but I was literally due to fly to
• 28:51
  India for the remaining three months of the journey that week and I felt just a tremendous guilt
• 28:58
  because it meant leaving Mitch and Stan on the ground alone for the duration of Pakistan in India
• 29:05
  and into Nepal before I could sort of trust the that our expedition leaders at AGA would
• 29:12
  would help them and I remember it sounds ridiculous but I remember right after the accident happened
• 29:18
  I was on the tarmac and I reached into my pocket to grab my phone and call Zach who was a block
• 29:24
  up the street and I told Zach to come and get me and you know be with me as the as the ambulance
• 29:29
  was arriving. The first thing I said to Zach was call Stan. I mean of course I said you know call
• 29:34
  my partner but I said call Stan he has to know what's happened because I know he's relying on
• 29:40
  me to be there and I think that Stan tells the story of course in a really different way but it
• 29:46
  it was a sort of low point for him and Mitch as well. I'm I'm glad they were able to you were
• 29:51
  able to continue with them from remotely. Yeah I continued working literally from the hospital
• 29:57
  and I worked remotely and then I joined them at the finish line in Nepal but yeah it just made
• 30:02
  for what was already really challenging underdog story to be you know even more difficult when
• 30:06
  you lose a third of your team. But yeah I mean they were very supportive and they obviously
• 30:12
  understood the situation I was in so but I just felt I just felt bad and and I was you know we
• 30:17
  were mid negotiations as well for for the finish line fundraising and all that so it was very complex
• 30:22
  thing to try and delegate and and and find resources that could help. How did you pitch Mitch to
• 30:28
  people to sponsors to sponsor him? It was strategic outreach finding people that I I knew that
• 30:35
  history would resonate with either because they had a background in the Marines where they you
• 30:39
  know do wildlife conservation research like like Mitch does or they knew Bludor's capabilities
• 30:45
  and trusted us to execute the project well. Yeah I was you know for every yes it was probably a
• 30:49
  hundred knows so just I spent about three months the summer before the mission kicked off
• 30:55
  knocking on doors calling emailing thousands of people I mean really thousands it was a graft
• 31:02
  to say the least because at the time Mitch didn't have any following so we didn't have much to
• 31:07
  stand on apart from our our word just to trust us to trust that we could do this well. I think it
• 31:13
  in part helped to show our portfolio of projects we had done previously both Stan and and me in the
• 31:21
  same way that we saw what Mitch was capable of in our first meeting with him we kind of saw that
• 31:27
  spark and that lighten his eyes you know we we kind of had that trust that he could do it for
• 31:33
  whatever reason some of our sponsors felt the same way when they met him and he is he is a person
• 31:37
  that you can't help but love him he's you know he's we always used to say he's like a golden retriever
• 31:42
  because he's just so happy go lucky and like energetic and bubbly and positive he's because got the
• 31:47
  mental strength of I mean I've never met anybody like it he the whole year that he was on the road
• 31:52
  it was like positivity positivity just keep going you're working with companies like Red Bull on one
• 31:58
  side and then YouTube native creators on the other how does that mix of clients give blue door
• 32:04
  and edge when it comes to understand what's actually working in the creator economy well I say that
• 32:08
  like working with brands usually means a like a logistical challenge on the ground so working with
• 32:15
  a larger crew and more kit and bigger budgets and a lot of moving parts so so that from a technical
• 32:22
  perspective keeps us sharp as camera ops and as producers and directors on the ground but working
• 32:28
  with creators means that we are always at the front of where the industry is going because I do
• 32:34
  believe that the creators set the standard for the trends and the algorithms so it keeps us relevant
• 32:40
  in that world and I think it's really important I think in the matter you know how big our our
• 32:44
  branded clientele becomes the goal would always be to work with creators because it keeps us in the
• 32:50
  know and it's also what we enjoy it's very personal and an intimate process of you know authentic
• 32:57
  storytelling what do you think it is about the way that you operate that makes people so comfortable
• 33:03
  trusting you with their ideas gosh you should ask the clients I'm not too sure um I do think it
• 33:10
  it goes back to the point I was making earlier of just working hard and being able to play hard
• 33:15
  I recognize that I'm not here to pretend to put a front on of being bigger than we are or
• 33:23
  more corporate than we are we're here to be quite personal on a level and to be storytellers
• 33:30
  at our core in order to tell good stories you have to make people comfortable I think it probably
• 33:35
  comes from being raised by um by a family in the hospitality business you want to open the doors
• 33:42
  the blue door as it were and make sure that people feel at home and they that they can be themselves
• 33:47
  and they can be honest and they can be um vulnerable to to you as as a curator but also to the
• 33:54
  cameras even if they're on and flashing it is it's creating an environment where people can feel
• 33:59
  very comfortable to tell the story you said blue door heads three wings commercial creator and
• 34:05
  passion how do you decide which projects get your time that this is something that we're always
• 34:11
  adjusting and it depends of course on the time of year it depends on our bandwidth as a team
• 34:16
  um but I try and split it sort of 30 third third of of each side if I can if I can help it
• 34:24
  the passion projects are fewer and far between mainly because they are bigger risk and and
• 34:31
  bigger reward when they do well which so far knock on wood like they've all done very well but I have
• 34:36
  to take those on uh carefully and patiently uh whereas the corporate kind of commercial branded
• 34:43
  stuff I can only take on we'll say one big project each quarter purely because of um the time
• 34:50
  that it takes to develop an idea and execute it with a larger uh internal team whereas with our
• 34:56
  with our creator relationships I prefer them being on retainers although I do a lot of freelance
• 35:02
  work as well but just because the retainers allow us to form real long lasting relationships um which
• 35:09
  just makes the process less has less friction and also it's always a good thing when I can understand
• 35:15
  what a creator wants before they have to explicitly tell me if I can sort of read their mind and
• 35:19
  understand their vision then we'll execute the project very smoothly so that's a happy balance
• 35:25
  I like to think but at the minute we're certainly still in a growth period so still always
• 35:30
  looking for new clients and trying to say yes and building our team to whatever the demands are
• 35:36
  which is why that network of you know over 500 individuals is so important and so key we're not
• 35:42
  in the business of saying no or turning people away I say yes as much as I possibly can and as long
• 35:48
  as they feel like the right culture fit or um they feel sort of a gap that we're not currently
• 35:53
  working on whether it's like a you know a beauty campaign or a sports challenge or uh like a
• 35:59
  comedy piece like wanting to make sure that we're we're not squeezing ourselves into one niche and
• 36:04
  that we can sort of do it all and that that keeps us on our toes as well how do you make sure you
• 36:09
  allocate enough time to like also building that community and that network I mean that to me is a
• 36:14
  priority it it always has been because who are we without our community it comes easily to prioritize
• 36:20
  that into fine time I have our next industry meet up on March 12th the general rule of thumb is
• 36:26
  I organize an in-person meeting in London every quarter uh and then whenever I'm in New York
• 36:31
  or in LA I'll make time whether it's a few days or a week or a few weeks I will absolutely arrange
• 36:37
  for a gathering there as well um just to keep keep you know making appearances in like meeting
• 36:44
  faces putting faces to the name like making sure that everybody is aware of who we are and and
• 36:49
  word of mouth is so crucial to this business so it's our own way of marketing I suppose
• 36:56
  you know we don't have an extensive marketing strategy it's it's just at the minute trying to
• 37:00
  keep up with opportunities but we wouldn't be where we are now without that network spreading the
• 37:06
  words so um and you also run a your woman in media chat what kind of conversations are happening
• 37:12
  there that aren't happening in other places it's it's a wonderful group of women across the world
• 37:19
  I mean we have producers and editors and camera women in you know South Africa Australia
• 37:26
  Hong Kong LA Ireland it's it's all over the joint which is really special it keeps a pulse on
• 37:33
  how everybody's feeling on representation on fairness in pay and also I think just gives
• 37:40
  women a place to feel um that they can find friends find support as well as resources for work
• 37:48
  so yeah there's a lot there's a lot of value in that youtube is pretty male dominated how are
• 37:54
  you working to change that uh always every time I try and build a new crew for project I I
• 38:01
  probably first looked at what women are available um because there aren't enough of us I would say
• 38:06
  I think it's called edit hers is wonderful when it comes to recruiting female editors there's
• 38:11
  really a great network of female PAs as well who are up and coming and um and really keen to get
• 38:18
  involved so I lean on them as much as possible as a as a female lead on a team I'm very conscious
• 38:24
  of being a minority in the room and wanting to see more women on set yeah I find that it makes for
• 38:31
  a more productive and work environment a highly communicative way more organized bit more discipline
• 38:39
  it really makes the process a lot easier when you're leading a team that's equal if not majority female
• 38:46
  all right we'll just do a rapid fire list of questions and for your previous shoots so
• 38:51
  longest shoot you've ever done uh I was awake for 42 hours on um mitches swim across the channel
• 38:59
  so we obviously had to prep kit beforehand and and shoot him waking up and getting ready the night
• 39:04
  before and then he was in the water for 18 hours that was just such a brutal watch um but yeah all
• 39:10
  in all 42 hours nonstop with the cameras rolling so that was kind of crazy most stressful project
• 39:17
  you've pulled off I'm gonna say the the rescuing the dogs from Morocco just because I was prepared for
• 39:23
  anything that could happen but but worried that there would be so many variables out of our control
• 39:29
  and we had dogs in tow and people waiting on the other end to you know to meet their new
• 39:35
  family so it's a little stressful most fun you've had on set I'm very lucky to say that we laugh
• 39:43
  a lot um you know we work with tons of comedians we work with groups of friends so there's a lot of
• 39:48
  banter one of the biggest laughs that we had was uh one of my first shoots with Zach we we basically
• 39:55
  tested pet friendly policies and hotels uh in the english countryside and we brought a pig into a
• 40:01
  hotel room and it was like I won't go into the details because it was so vulgar but yeah we we couldn't
• 40:08
  stop the chaos from unfolding and the cleanup that had to happen and it was it was a quick way of
• 40:15
  getting to know each other and getting you know getting our hands dirty shall we say most remote
• 40:20
  or random location that you shot in I guess sort of like northern Iraq was was pretty mental we
• 40:26
  were sort of in and around the the area of Herbie also not not like rule but it was just so far away
• 40:32
  and so different from anything I'd ever experienced before the added challenge of being like the
• 40:37
  only woman on a on a team meant that we recruited a friend who had spent time out there called Jackie
• 40:44
  to be my chaperone and she she was alongside and it was just a wonderful really wholesome
• 40:49
  hospitable experience in the end but um very different from anything I'd ever seen before
• 40:55
  brand collabier most proud of hmm maybe working with red bull because it was a win uh sort of
• 41:04
  against all odds blue door head basically just opened up at stores and like we really they had no
• 41:10
  reason to trust us like our track record was there but it was you know it was it was a very new
• 41:16
  company and um and I'm appreciative that red bull took a chance on us and and like recruited us
• 41:21
  for the job and we executed it very well I was super proud of the team it was like a year-long effort
• 41:27
  so yeah proud that to know that we can do something like that on that scale um what's one
• 41:33
  piece of gear that you can't live without on set like that's a tricky question because it totally
• 41:39
  depends on the shoot on the environment that we're shooting in I would always try and bring two
• 41:44
  things that's an fx3 because it's so easy to like handheld running gun let's just get the shot
• 41:50
  and go um and I also love like a mini like a monitor just so that I can keep track of like what
• 41:55
  what are what's in frame what are we shooting but yeah that's like a that's a tricky one because
• 41:59
  you know every every shoot calls for something different uh biggest green flag and biggest red flag
• 42:04
  in a client oh um green flag is when a client comes prepared when they've done their homework
• 42:11
  and they are sitting into the meeting as ready as we are and um that is not always the case
• 42:17
  believe it or not because they're very busy and sometimes they get a little lazy with their homework
• 42:23
  red flag I have worked with some divas and I think having an ego especially with like nobody deserves
• 42:32
  that nobody like has earned you know having an ego I don't care if you're you know Brad Pitt like
• 42:38
  it's it's more just when you come to set with like an expectation that you're above other people
• 42:43
  that's not for me I'm probably not gonna work with you very long if that's the case this is like a
• 42:47
  collaborative environment you know treat people equally no disrespect on set yeah what is one
• 42:54
  brand you'd love to work with I've done like short form stuff for Guinness through creators I have
• 43:01
  like this really big project in mind for Guinness that I won't share but it's a huge goal of mine
• 43:07
  and I would love to get that over the line so if you know anyone at Guinness shout
• 43:12
  blue door it makes sense because my dad owns pubs and like Guinness is his main that's his thing he's
• 43:19
  the Guinness guy in New York so I love to sort of secure that on my own path like away from dad
• 43:26
  okay and then the final question that we have been waiting for who is a creator that is on your radar
• 43:33
  wow super difficult question an established creator one of my favorites right now is Sam
• 43:39
  porn fourth he's oh talk about somebody who does their homework and is really prepared he's
• 43:44
  so talented and he's he's just such a creative mind you know he never runs out of ideas it seems
• 43:50
  and his team with his brother Harry like they're just on it they're really really good at what they
• 43:54
  do it probably up and coming or somebody who you might start to see soon is a figurative artist
• 44:01
  called pie herring she's just really inspiring she's very inspiring she's spending the next several
• 44:08
  months out in East Africa painting women working along the coast to preserve the ecosystem and I hope
• 44:15
  that you'll start to see her content roll out in the summer very very talented artist and lovely
• 44:20
  person if you want to find you or work with you what's the best place to find you probably just
• 44:26
  our website bludorproductions.co or you know you can DM me on Instagram or email me molly at bludorproductions.co
• 44:33
  that works too okay we'll be sure to link those in the description thank you so much for watching
• 44:39
  and listening to this interview if you liked it please consider subscribing or leaving us a review
• 44:44
  on the audio platforms it really helps us in the early days of this show if you want to check out
• 44:48
  another episode now would be a great time to do it so we can string you along as a viewer or a
• 44:53
  listener and let the algorithms know that we're making good content thank you so much see you next week