Producing Tomorrow's Producers: It's All About Balance for Holly Rowden
Holly Rowden is a partner and executive producer at Alfredo Films, a commercial production company based in Toronto. Holly co-founded Alfredo with a classmate shortly after graduating film school, knowing nothing about business or advertising, She has since produced TVCs for both national and global brands, including P&G, DoorDash, Scotiabank and Chevrolet. Her campaigns have gone on to win awards at Cannes Lions, Webby, One Show, LIA, Gerety and Clio. Avid-reader and enjoyer of all the small things, Holly will take any vision and make it a cinematic reality.
LBB> What advice would you give to any aspiring producers or content creators hoping to make the jump into production?
Holly> Be careful what you wish for, lol! But really, working in production is so rewarding but also so taxing as well. On a high level, you need to be okay with irregular hours, do well under stress and pressure, and somehow find time to carve out a personal life so you don’t burn yourself out.
It’s a lot to balance, but if you’re able to, you’ll have an exciting and fulfilling career ahead of you. I think the best advice I can give is to learn from people who are more experienced than you - and find people whose opinion you can trust to rely on when you’re just learning.
LBB> What skills or emerging areas would you advise aspiring producers to learn about and educate themselves about?
Holly> I think the qualities of some of the best producers I’ve worked with are: being detail oriented, communicative, proactive, and a good problem solver. That may sound super generic but it’s true! The best producers think of everything and don’t let details slip through the cracks. They’re adaptable for the ever-changing game plan and can problem solve on the go, and they can communicate all of these things to their team effectively.
Other than that, you can only learn by doing. I think a mix of shadowing / working under experienced producers and also throwing yourself into smaller projects as a producer as a combination is the most efficient way to learn.
LBB> What was the biggest lesson you learned when you were starting out in production - and why has that stayed with you?
Holly> You have to balance taking advice from people who have more experience than you, and also the little voice in the back of your head. At the end of the day, no one is going to care more about your career than you, so you really have to navigate what’s best in any given situation between advice and your own gut. Your reputation and career may depend on it!
Advice sometimes comes without context. Always get a second opinion when you’re unsure and try to find a community of folks who you can really trust/ who have your back.
LBB> When it comes to broadening access to production and improving diversity and inclusion what are your team doing to address this?
Holly> As a Black and Asian owned company that had to fight and rely on support to get to where we are now, we feel the responsibility to lead by example and push for the very best in terms of the work we do. And hopefully in the process we are forging a bit of a path for anyone who wants to follow.
Across the board, we also push for as many types of people on set as possible. We like to meet and work with new people, to expand the roster of crew who are available to us - little ways we can help push the needle, even if slightly!
LBB> And why is it an important issue for the production community to address?
Holly> I don’t believe we have an obligation to make the world a better place, but the Canadian ad industry members that I know would like to, which I think we can all agree on with some level of conviction. As a whole, I see that we envision a world where diversity is normal and not something that needs to be strived for. The best and freshest work comes from many different voices, not just one kind, and a welcoming ad industry can only benefit our future. I think we can all agree on that!
LBB> There are young people getting into production who maybe don’t see the line between professional production and the creator economy, and that may well also be the shape of things to come. What are your thoughts about that? Is there a tension between more formalised production and the ‘creator economy’ or do the two feed into each other?
Holly> I think the two worlds are on opposite ends of a gradient, where we may find ourselves more and more in the middle of in the future. The commonality is that you’re getting something made at the end of the day.
The difference is that a “formalised production” usually has more working parts and therefore requires much more communication and management from a producer than a content creator, who usually is making content with less moving parts. Neither approach is better of course, and both require similar problem solving skill sets, but as someone who has worked on both sides, I prefer the former!
LBB> When you first joined the industry as an executive producer, what do you think are the most striking or interesting changes (and what surprising things have stayed the same?)
Holly> Well, I became an executive producer right before the pandemic, which has been interesting! I don’t have decades of experience to compare with how things work today. I hear stories of “the good ol’ days” but am enjoying the current world of Canadian commercial production. It’s got plenty of challenges to keep us busy (challenging creative, more deliverables, a million aspect ratios!).
I will say, in the time we’ve been here, there has been a movement to really push the craft and make amazing work. Perhaps in the era of sharing work on LBB, Instagram and the like has held us all to really high standards! I’m not mad about it.
LBB> When it comes to educating producers how does your agency like to approach this?
Holly> As an EP, I’d like to think our producers have educated us more than we have them. They are the experts of the field and have years of experience on me! But I think something that all of our line producers would hopefully agree on is that we like to lead with honesty and transparency across the board. That’s something that we make clear to all of our line producers when working with them for the first time. I’d like to think it’s something they’re all more than game for!
LBB> It seems that there’s an emphasis on speed and volume when it comes to content - but to where is the space for up and coming producers to learn about (and learn to appreciate) craft?
Holly> Not all, but most of the producers I know got into this industry because they liked films, or went to film school. At the end of the day, producing is still such a creative job and most of us know what’s good and what’s not so good. I think naturally anyone who is passionate about producing will push to make the best work possible, and what’ll come with experience is the know-how of the process and how to get there.
LBB> On the other side of the equation, what’s the key to retaining expertise and helping people who have been working in production for decades to develop new skills?
Holly> Like I mentioned above, I’d say transparency and honesty are the ways to go about this. We all know we live in a changing world and in addition to that, there is no right way to go about some things. We try to be honest about the way we like to do things and keep the conversation and be open to producer’s and other crews thoughts on the best way forward / approach based on the given situation.
LBB> Clearly there is so much change, but what are the personality traits and skills that will always be in demand from producers?
Holly> Attention to detail, adaptability, proactivity and AMAZING communication.
