Flo Clive Believes “Less Is Not More in Today’s World, More Is More”
The nature of production as the industry knows it is evolving fast, ushered in by challenges around sustainability, diversity, budgets, and the drive for more content at scale. To discuss all this and more, Remote Filming - the leading remote streaming service technology - is asking the industry’s top production experts about their best practices and the way they’re utilising technology to help overcome the challenges at hand in an ongoing series for LBB.
Anthony Barry, co-founder of Remote Filming says, “We’re all seeing the industry change. I believe that when it comes to tackling the myriad of production issues, especially sustainability, technology is key. Bringing together the right people and the right technology is how we can make a real difference to production, cutting costs, increasing efficiency and making it more sustainable.”
Flo Clive, head of production at Prose on Pixels (formerly Havas Studios) is the next interviewee in the series. “I am born and bred creative,” says Flo, who was the kid doodling on tablecloths at restaurants, and pursuing first jewellery making and then graphic design at university. Before production, Flo was a talent director which taught her the flow and nuance of pitching alongside the importance all the creatives play in the production ecosystem.
At Prose on Pixels, Flo is helping to address the two most pressing industry issues: production at scale and personalisation. AI plays a big part in this and Flo distinguishes between the two AI camps: tools and generative; both play a role albeit in different ways. Not swayed by the buzzwords, she’s a firm believer in trusting experts while necessarily evolving with the times.
Below, Flo tells LBB why creative excellence should never be compromised to serve objectives like scale, how virtual production is aiding in the sustainability conversation, and how producers must now be the balance between all aspects of production.
LBB> Flo, was creativity a part of you from a young age?
Flo> Absolutely! I was the kid drawing on the paper tablecloths at restaurants angelically sitting quietly. And don't get me started on the utter joy of the humble cardboard box to create a whole new world in.
LBB> You studied graphic design at university. How did that foundation help in your career journey?
Flo> I was originally going to specialise in jewellery in my foundation course and took a sharp turn into graphic design following a desire to ‘have a career’ but also a boy I liked. Let’s be honest – it was 50/50. In my third year after falling in love with the spot Honda’s ‘Cog’ and the sheer brilliance of the story telling in 30”, the choice was work experience or a dissertation. I chose the former and ended up running in a small production company – then one pub visit at the end of the time saw me meet a first AD and, by the time I was due to finish uni, I was already working in the industry I wanted to.
LBB> How has your experience as a talent director informed your production expertise?
Flo> The title of ‘talent director’ always needed explaining, but essentially my every day was looking for talent to work with and building relationships with creatives and directors alike. The hours I've poured over reels and the nuance of pitching is what influenced my work today the most. I feel confident about meeting briefs and curating directing talent lists that really work for the brief.
LBB> Prose on Pixels is still quite new, having re-launched in June of last year. Can you share with us how your head of production role works within this offering?
Flo> We ‘relaunched’ last year, but we’d been around a few years before that as Havas Studios. I am head of the create arm, coming to influence and maintain the creative excellence of the work coming out of the studio. I have built a team around me that is all ex-production companies and edit houses. We all know what the industry looks like and what good looks like. Surrounding myself with brilliant people. My role is to be able to have the oversight to maintain the creative integrity and effectiveness of the workflow of the campaigns.
LBB> Prose on Pixels seems like it was launched to respond to some of the industry’s top challenges: production at scale and personalisation. How have these challenges affected a producer’s role?
Flo> I think it’s important to understand the roles in these specific spheres. Where and when to engage the parties. Ensuring that again the overview is there to manage delivery of efficient toolkits. When to bring in individuals for an efficient meeting and maintaining the headspace of a producer. A producer will naturally accommodate their capacity to a job’s requirements. But it's integral to align and delegate in a world where boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred. Knowing when to engage parts of the industry and protect the individual’s expertise.
LBB> Which other challenges/trends are, in your view, impacting production today?
Flo> Less is not more in today’s world. More is more. We are at the coalface of a changing environment of buzzwords being idealised and idolised, buzzwords that still are in their own infancy but demand expertise. Production is where all the ideas become realities, where we are the problem solvers more than ever before. New techniques, new formats, new technologies, new medias. Everything is a trend, trends are being written, trends are creating a very reactive environment which producers are stoically re-versioning themselves to accommodate. I remember when I went to a recruiter as a producer with agency and production company experience and they honestly couldn’t wrap their head round ‘hybrid’.
LBB> AI plays a big role in Prose on Pixel’s offering. Can you talk about how you’re using it and why it’s the right solution? Are there cases where AI isn’t the answer to production challenges?
Flo> AI falls into two very distinct camps. Tools and Generative. AI tools are integral to working in a fast-paced environment. They are what we use every day to save time, to replicate for the masses, user friendly and distinctively present in our working world. We are constantly working to ensure we are up to date on which programme is succeeding which. Our Adobe partnership means we have intimate access to some of the inner workings of Firefly and making it work with us. Generative AI is something we are very involved in, in the moving image world we are constantly researching and developing its capabilities. With the advances in technology, the reality is constantly checking which capability has outshone the next and finding out how to integrate it into workflows.
LBB> Staying on the subject of technology, is there any other tech that you’re using now, or have used in the past, that have helped to address production issues?
Flo> We are diving headfirst into the problem solving that virtual production offers. Steering the way with our relationships with Reckitt and their commitment to sustainability. We have been instrumental in engaging the creative minds of the agencies within Havas ensuring they understand its capabilities and how to make the most from it.
We’re also working diligently with our Scale and Personalise teams to work out the role my producers play in the bigger, content supply chain challenges the business is working directly with clients on. This is hugely complex, data driven stuff which I know is important, but my continuous ask is to try and make it more interesting!
LBB> Sustainability in production is a big, ongoing conversation. How is Prose on Pixels approaching it?
Flo> We have Havas creating a carbon calculator along with Adobe’s influence which I think is going to start making waves. Along with being partners of AdGreen’s own carbon calculator. We have disclaimers on every shoot that we always try to have plant-based catering and encourage reusable water bottles on set. Also, obviously, virtual production is encouraged to be written from the creative start so that we can curate an environment that promotes local shooting where possible. It’s all an awareness of keeping flights, mileage, and footprints down in every element of production. Ensuring we are working towards Adnet Zero holistically, influencing where we can with the agencies and clients we work with.
LBB> The craft conversation can get somewhat fuzzy when it comes to content at scale, but craft is essential to impactful creative. What are your thoughts on this?
Flo> I am born and bred creative. It's that first and foremost. We build creative worlds that then can create comfortable toolkits to be scaled. I will fight to get the best possible elements on screen making sure that we are starting the production with scale in mind by the way we shoot but not to the detriment of the quality of the shoot. Scale and social are blurring lines on budgets all the time and it's up to the producers to make sure that the creative is still at the heart of what we are making, along with the use case of why it is being made. We are as standard responsible for maintaining the balance between all the parties involved. As the client’ needs stretch, so do producers’ roles. We are always the conduits for the creative, the director, the crew, the agency, the artists and the client. We just now have the added element of closer sight on the media / strategy for the assets more so than before.
Simply put – producers are out there just being *insert swear word* brilliant.
LBB> Finally, in a ‘noisy content landscape’ conversation, what is the key to creating content with impact?
Flo> Relevance. We are in the business of creating emotions. Make the content relevant to the audience and the media you are making it for. Don’t just ‘make all the aspect ratios’.
