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NERDy Work Secrets from Lydia, Head of Business and Talent

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As a production company that represents diverse talent and crafts for global clients, NERD Productions has always been progressive in everything we do! We had mastered the WFH concept way before it became a thing we all now call ‘the new normal’.

The creative industry never sleeps and we need to be at the top of the game, producing and creating inspiring visuals. To our team production is all about human connection and relationships, this is why we have Lydia. She is a ray of sunshine and that one person who always brightens up every room she ever happens to be in. We spoke to her and she shared her secrets of working and nailing it at NERD!

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We hope these thoughts give you an insight into what it is like to be a NERD and rock the world of production!

  1. Our talent pool is where the magic happens. I feel motivated when I watch our directors shine, see them grow within their skillset, and the spark in their eyes when they receive the next script to work on.

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  1. The importance of maintaining relationships is what numerous lockdowns have taught me. It is important to gain but also maintain those relationships with our creatives, friends, and producers. We like to have casual chats and catch-ups with our clients and talent. Good relationships always lead up to a fantastic job in the creative industry!

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  1. NERD is a bunch of very creative people and we thrive when we receive exciting scripts. As a sales rep, my day-to-day life consists of lots of calls, emails, knock-backs, and cancellations. This line of work is extra rewarding, especially when you secure another wonderful project. That being said, receiving inspiring, creative scripts is one of the main points that makes me excited about work!

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  1. NERD Productions is a big family. The past year has proven how close we all are and how important it is to be there for each other every step of the way. After all, we are all in the same boat and we sail together! The culture at NERD is what keeps me going – regular catch-ups, Zoom coffees, virtual parties, and that general feeling of belonging and care.

  1. Last but not least is running. This is one of those activities when I connect with my body, let it flourish, and nurture my mind. I like to get a good early morning run at least 2-3 times a week. What is better than a sense of accomplishment and endorphins early in the morning? Ready to crack on and keep winning! 
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NERD’s Queer Artists on What Pride Means to Them

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#PrideMonth at NERD is a special time when we reflect on our efforts to represent LGBTQIA2S+ community throughout the year 🌈 ! Our goal is to keep increasing awareness of the community, its history and identity. We are proud to represent LGBTQIA2S+ talent and spread the word about everything they do 🏳️‍🌈. This year we will be sharing a brand new series of posts called ‘NERD’s Queer Artists on What Pride Means to Them’ updated every Wednesday till the end of June!

Ira Giorgetti

Pride month is a time when people from all creeds, backgrounds and beliefs come together to uplift one another and celebrate the things we all hold in common. It’s a time of gratitude, of love, of peace and of hope. A time to unite and appreciate how far we’ve come in our fight for a more equal, diverse, inclusive and representative world. 

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Pride By Ira Giorgetti

I find Pride month is a great time to reflect on my work and how it relates to, engages with and enriches the lives of others in the community. Alongside my commercial work I love to collaborate with other queer artists and discover the interesting truths and stories people in the community have got to share. My personal project in development titled ‘Transmigration’ was inspired by all the brave and amazing queer folk I’ve crossed paths with and gotten to know over the last couple of years, many of whom I met at Pride! 

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Pride by Ira Giorgetti

It’s important for LGBTQIA2S+ people to celebrate their individuality, spirit and history as well as an opportunity for the entire community to come together and unashamedly be who they truly are. Celebrating Pride and diversity and the spectrum of sexuality gives everyone an opportunity to expand their thinking and grow more accepting of the people they share their cities with. It’s also a great time to just have fun and uplift those around you, some of whom may be going through more than they let on.

Ira is a London-based creative producer and photographer at NERD Productions. See more from Ira here.

Roman Bratschi

Pride means to me to be who you are and do whatever you want without living in fear or shame! I’m grateful to live my life as I want and always have the support of my friends and family.

Roman is a 3D Illustrator and Animation Director. See more from Roman here.

Shay Hamias

With pride month being taken over by commercial companies in recent years, it has lost its origins of speaking truth to power, and I feel less represented by it.

When I was asked to write about what pride month means to me, I wasn’t sure what to say. NERD, led by Milana, is truly all about diversity.
I am proud to work for a company that facilitates diversity and inclusion across race, gender and sexual identity throughout all of its projects. I am proud that I get to collaborate with people from a range of diverse backgrounds, and I’m proud that it’s done all year round, not just one month of the year.

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Shay is an award-winning Animation Director and mentor at NERD. See more from Shay here.

James Gifford

For me, Pride is about love and acceptance no matter your identity. Pride welcomes anyone who’s ever been made to feel out-of-place or ashamed of who they are. I don’t think self-love should ever be quiet or hidden away, but rather celebrated loudly, proudly, and with open arms.

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James is an Illustrator at NERD. See more from James here.

Ian Clarke

Visibility matters. Pride started as a protest, and that protest later became a celebration of all things LGBTQI+. People were initially quite uncomfortable seeing gay people proudly parading themselves on the streets, and refusing to apologise for being themselves. London in 2021 is a fantastic place to be a gay man, I am married to the person I love and society’s recognition of that union means everything.

However attacks against LGBTQI+ in the UK are on the rise again. In other less tolerant countries Pride parades are violently dissolved, with assistance from local police forces. Trans people face discrimination and the threat of violence on a daily basis. You see, although, some of us have legal protection and acceptance from society, many more struggle to be their authentic selves every single day.
Visibility matters. Pride should always remain a loud and proud protest.

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Ian is an award-winning Animation Director. See more from Ian here.

As Pride month comes to end, we would like to remind that inclusivity and LGBTQA2S+ rights should be a priority during the whole year, both in your day-to-day life and in the workplace.

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Discovering ‘Medela’, directed by Shona Auerbach.

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This calming film by our Shona Auerbach was one of the projects this year that has brought the sense of normality and joy to everyone on set and in production! 

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Many mums would agree with us that breastfeeding can sometimes be exhausting. This is where Medela takes over and you can have more time to enjoy a few moments doing what you desire with your little one!

This was a project shot mid-COVID featuring REAL new mums, real people! It was important to bring a sense of confidence and comfort to the set.

Let’s see how Shona pulled it off:

To be honest, I hardly noticed the restrictions other than wearing masks.  I often work with the same crew, we are a good team together, we like each other and that makes a big difference. The team I didn’t know was the agency. We had done several Zoom calls beforehand so I felt like we had spent some time together. That helped us, and I think we worked well together.

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Our Founder & Executive Producer Milana Karaica also adds:

We had to capture that very special & delicate bond between a new mother and her precious little baby, now try doing that during a global pandemic. Our task was even more challenging by the fact that we wanted to capture these special moments by real mums and babies, not actors. As a new mum, myself to a 5 month old baby girl, at the time, I knew exactly how anxious mums can be and what our mums were going through during these unfamiliar times.

This is why I knew Shona was the right person for the job! If we were to get our mums to relax, trust and open up to us so we can be let in on those intimate nuggets, we needed a director that would make the set feel safe and mums looked after.

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It is such a calming and relaxing film, Shona was working with little angels this time, while previously directing professional actors like Gerald Butler in her feature films.

How different was it this time for Shona?

I think the babies in Medela were great, but it helped because they were with their mothers most of the time, so they didn’t really notice whether we were filming or not.  Filming non-actors is always different and working with children is another type of direction too, so you have to approach it with a more captured attitude.  

Pre-filming, I have ideas in my head on how I would like it to play out but inevitably working with children allows some spontaneity. They are too young to direct in a formal sense and therefore I try to guide them in a direction but I am open-minded that they may give me any number of alternative moments which I have to then adapt to. Although I may be aiming for a particular vision, it may not always be possible because they are not actors, therefore I try to create a space where they can feel as comfortable as possible, allowing me to capture moments. 

Working with actors is different again, I can have an image in my head and how I would like it to play out and with the help of the actor, I can go all out to make that happen.  All these options work for me, and ultimately in the end I am looking for the most natural performances, they are just different techniques of getting it.

Enjoy the film and see more from Shona here.

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Welcoming Director Lewis Andrews to the roster of talent at NERD Productions

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NERD welcomes Lewis Andrews – a young director with a distinctive cinematic style, who filled our hearts with joy and excitement for future projects together!

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We asked Lewis a few questions about his career, passion, and future plans:

How did you manage to get such a large folio at such a young age?

I dropped out of school to pursue my passion for filmmaking as I was already doing what I loved. I weighed it up, is leaving my education any more of a risk than pursuing a university degree in film? The point I am trying to make here is, curating a large portfolio happened when I took the right risk for myself.

The first pivotal project in my career was a short documentary film I made for a pub in my town Hertford, called The Dog and Whistle. I was highly lauded by locals when the film came out on YouTube. I decided to start my production company Wonderfilm Pictures to help market my work. I got contacted by various people after the pub film release, including a content producer at Sky Sports. Since then I have worked with Nike, Vogue India, Puma, Red Bull, Sony Music and more.

My leads continued to expand through recommendation and word of mouth. I have been very fortunate in my career which has taken me to over 10 different countries. My portfolio is like one big spider gram of stories, mis happenings and coincidences which exemplify how the world is small and everyone knows everyone.

My first ever job on a feature film was changing the bins on set. I remember the bizarre feeling of competition, even with the other fellow bin changers in my department. As if there is anything you can possibly prove to anyone important on a film set with the insignificance of changing the bins, in order to hopefully become a world class film director one day, I had to fight for my position as top janitor first.

I have since been fortunate enough to work on some huge feature films Mission Impossible, James Bond, Fast And Furious and Cinderella with an excellent company XM2 Pursuit, world leading aerial cinematographers.

Lewis Andrews Nerd Productions On Set

What advice would you give to anyone who wants to pursue a career in directing?

A key thing for me has been creating opportunities for myself. Good advice I would give to someone is to be polite, sociable and introduce yourself to as many people as possible. Try to form connections in all departments because you never know who can help you and vice versa – from your fellow bin collector to an assistant director. 

If you find yourself on a set one day, right at the bottom, feeling a million miles away from where you want to be, just know it is a very fortunate position to be in. 

What inspires you?

What inspires me are ideas. I love the melding of components that make a concept great. I get inspired when people take things creatively to levels that have not been attempted before. I get inspired by ideas that are so fresh you feel irritated that you didn’t think of them first. Elon Musk is an inspiration of mine because I think he is possibly one of the most influential people alive at the moment. I think Kanye West, Drake, The Weeknd are doing marvellous things for the creative world.

There are too many actors and directors to name that inspire me. Steven Spielberg has always been at the centre of my inspiration for style of direction and editing. In particular, I think he makes his imagination feel the most real to the audience. His movies make imagination feel real. I think he captures disaster in a very realistic way, forcing you to feel immersed in his movies. I have always been inspired by the vastness of space and how little we know about it. I get inspired thinking about how different things could be in the future. Some of my favourite movies are War of The Worlds 2005, Empire of the Sun, The Joker, I, Robot, No Country for Old Men.

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What excites you the most about joining the NERD talent roster?

I am excited to be amongst such a wide representation of diverse talent. I love the approach of the team; they have been so positive and detail-orientated when giving feedback about my work. Their staff have all been welcoming and they encourage creativity. I can tell that NERD’s founder Milana Karaica has a wealth of knowledge and I would learn more from her. I have joined the NERD talent roster at a rather strange time in history, during a global pandemic. When the world is a bit more normal, I would love to meet the NERD team in person.

What is one thing that most people don’t know about you?

I once worked in a Michelin star Chinese restaurant in St James, London called Imperial Treasure as a commis chef. I love to cook for my girlfriend in my spare time and one day I would like to launch my own brand of cupcakes.

See more of Lewis’s work here.

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NERD’s toast create animated narratives via mini-worlds

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Chris and Ty are the fraternal union behind toast, known for their dreamy miniature animated worlds that tell amazing stories. With their heavily stylized 3D animation style, Toast’s eye-catching and mesmerising scenes allow them to express their distinctive style while grabbing the audience’s attention

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Sharon Liu Talks Chinese New Year: 2020 The Year Of The Rat

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Chinese New Year is almost here! Have you ever wondered what this colourful, elaborate celebration is all about? What’s the meaning behind it, why is it celebrated? Well, Google search no further. Animation director Sharon Liu talks superstitions, the Chinese Zodiac, folktales and what the fortune for those born in the Year of The Rat is destined to hold.

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