Barclay J. Maude’s Undivided Curiosity

Barclay Maude is a man who wears many hats. Speaking over video call, he proudly adorns an ‘Undivided’ baseball cap - a reference to his new role as executive producer of the Toronto-based production company. 

EPing, however, is just one of the hats he wears, recounting that on a recent shoot on a PSA, he not only was the EP, but was also the grip, gaffer, and production manager too, “everything except for the director, DoP, focus puller and Art Dept”. That’s the can-do spirit that exemplifies Barclay; willing to try his hand at anything to make a shoot run smoothly, and commit to opportunities that come his way. Experienced in production and post production for longfrom, short form and music videos, his work blends the humanity and grit of great storytelling with the technical know-how of someone familiar with the inside of an edit suite, all powered by his constant drive and dedication to “staying curious”. 

It’s this spirit that meant his plans to enjoy a “nice, easy, relaxing summer” with his family were derailed, as Undivided’s founders Nikki and Scott reached out, asking if Barclay could jump into the fold for a few months to oversee operations at the studio whilst they went on holiday. However, what was intended to be a summer fling progressed into a full-blown relationship, as Barclay was asked to join the team on a permanent basis upon Nikki and Scott’s return. 

Barclay’s career began in the mid-late ‘90s music video scene, where he found a home in the grip department and became a grip electric, a role he held for just over a decade, working primarily on commercials and music videos mixed with some long format projects. Feeling the need for change, he transitioned into the production scene in the late 2000s. 

Spending eight years dedicated to long format content production, Barclay learnt the ins-and-outs of the craft, climbing up the ladder from unit manager for episodic television, to production manager to seasoned line producer. It’s a format he still works in and actively produced for; over the past four years he’s been working on his most recent release, an episodic series entitled ‘Tales From The Void’ which made its debut on Screambox in October. 

A producer who gets stuck-in and gets his hands dirty, Barclay immerses himself into each project that comes his way. Even if that means spending 10 days totally off-grid, which is what happened whilst producing the documentary feature ‘Alone Across the Arctic’, documenting explorer Adam Shoalts’ epic 4000 kilometre journey across the Canadian Arctic. 

Barclay’s entry into the commercial space was born from a desire to enter the market - as well as practical necessity. “When my wife and I started a family, I didn't want to spend 200 days a year driving an hour to work and an hour home, so that's when I moved into commercials, and I knocked on every commercial door as a line producer in Toronto with some moderate success and had an opportunity to work with some really great companies”. 

For so many, the pandemic altered the way people were working and what they were working on. For Barclay, it demonstrated another example of his can-do attitude, and led to an introduction to post-production; “a friend called from a colour, finishing and VFX house, and said, “what do you know about post production?” And I responded with, “I don't know fucking thing about post”, and he responded with, “great, you're hired”. And then he said, “Dude, you're a good producer. And it's just using a different set of tools – you'll figure it out”. 

And figure it out he did, spending two years at post production studio Nice Shoes based out of New York, followed by a stint as executive producer at Red Lab in Toronto. Arriving at Undivided with longform, short form, production and post production experience under his belt, it’s no surprise that the team were keen to have him on board, and that Barclay was excited to get stuck in. “What excites me about this role is that Undivided as a company has done such a great job out of the gate over the last two years, so I get to jump into existing momentum and see how we can help level it up.”

That’s not to say that Barclay feels like he knows everything. Undivided boasts its own photography roster - a territory that’s somewhat unexplored for Barclay, yet an area he is keen to learn more about. “My field of expertise is motion, production and post, so something that also excites me is to learn the photography side, which Scotty and Nikki know very well. Nikki had a photo shoot last week, and I went and spent some time on set. It excites me that that is a revenue stream at Undivided and that it’s such a big part of the business.”

Undivided’s core philosophy is grounded in honesty, collaboration, diversity and inclusion, believing in cultivating from within and helping talent to grow and evolve as part of the studio. For Barclay, it’s a two way knowledge exchange, fuelled by his evergreen curiosity, reflecting, “I have no problem learning from people who are younger than me, or even less experienced – I think that what’s important is that you stay curious, as there’s a lot that everyone can benefit from.”

“I'm still getting my feet wet and trying to understand the game. I'm no expert whatsoever, and I think that that also excites me. I'm one of those people that learned early on as a young grip, that I thought that I knew everything, and it turns out I knew nothing. So I try to enter every new challenge with that kind of attitude.”

Operating with boundless curiosity, energy and a determination to get stuck in, it’s clear that Barclay will be giving his all to Undivided, bringing his own sense of fun and enthusiasm to the work. 

Building on the growing momentum and drive at the studio, he’s keen to help take Undivided to the next level, with a sense of fearlessness and pride, he recounts, “I think that in order to be on the leading edge of what's next, you also need to take chances. You also have to work with your artists and roll the dice, and some of it's going to work and some of it's not going to work, but I'd rather try and fail than follow in somebody else's footsteps.”