We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Heather Seeley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Heather below.

Heather, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

A universal thread of my industry is that successful people thrive in collaboration and creativity. Most people choose production because the enjoy a creative environment where people believe and value many options about how to create the best shoot for the clients. There is usually a lot of laughter on sets since we work such long hours. It leads to a lot of humor. These things contribute greatly to success of a production and I believe translate as tools for success in life.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Working in production came about after a long road of creative careers. I have been a jeweler, florist, retail buyer, exhibition designer, sales person, you name it. I have worn many hats. At a wedding, a mutual friend of the couple saw me right the day after the wedding planner dropped the ball. She approached me after the wedding and had a project that she couldn’t do. It was 11 1 minute videos for a local company and she was the Art Director. She passed it along to me and that started everything. I am forever grateful. I worked my way up to being a Production Designer.

A Production Designer is the head of the Art Department on a commercial or film. The Art Department is in charge of how an environment looks. I love what I do because it has allows me to continuously collaborate with other people to create environments which is something I deeply love doing. I love creating worlds that alter how you feel something, buy something or relate to something. They are not always beautiful which I find to be the most fun. Making things look dirty, worn and weathered is one of my favorite things to do.

I have always really loved gig work in the way that it allows you to delve deeply into what you are working on, immerse yourself in the experience and then it’s over. Commercials are shorter and film is obviously a more in depth process. Both have value. The community of film and commercial production is filled with behind the scene characters that are fast thinkers and creative problem solvers. It takes so many hands to make a production successful.

One of the things that I find to be an invaluable tool as a Production Designer is understanding people. As the lead of the art team I communicate with my own team, as well as the production company and client. It’s so important to learn how to convey ideas clearly, listen to feedback and incorporate the feedback into the art departments vision so we can help to manifest the overall vision clearly and to have it be aligned with the overall creative vision.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I feel like I am the Queen of a pivot. Being a creative is all about pivots. I think creatives often get bored or find themselves day dreaming about what else is out there. I often joke, “here I am pivoting again”.

Post covid and being in an industry that is going through major growing pains with the most recent one being the strikes I am constantly reassessing the viability of what I do. I am a single mom of a 9 year old girl which makes long hours on set and unpredictable days a much large consideration in my work.

I love what I do. It fills me up on so many levels so hopefully no pivot anytime soon.

Any advice for managing a team?

Laughter and Respect are at the top of the list. We all want to feel valued. In production there is a build in hierarchy but the hardest working people with the longest days and lowest pay are always the Production Assistants. The production would never be a success without them. So there value is immense.

Since we work long hours all together often in very tight spaces it’s so important to keep some levity in the mix. I often find myself dancing to a jingle I made up in my head which makes other people laugh. There is a lot of absurdity in what we do. Viewers see a very curated edit but crew see’s the whole picture and what it takes to make it happen is ripe with giggles and jokes.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hatch-creative.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hatchcreated/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-seeley-46a38a21/

Image Credits
@jakeholschuh