Laura Northover Joins Electric Studios as Executive Producer
Electric Studios welcomes Laura Northover as executive producer to add to their rapidly growing cult of talent and top-notch tastemakers. Laura joins with a wealth of experience under her belt working at multiple industry institutions, most recently in her four-year stint at Blink, creating everything from short-form and narrative alongside long-form development, music videos, commercials and branded content.
Jon Purton MD at Electric Theatre Collective said, “Laura came in to help us on a freelance basis and it only took a couple of days for us to realise how well she fits with the Electric culture. She's well connected, she's got a real understanding of the process of production and is a problem solver. Electric Studios is all about finding the best creative solutions to briefs that are maybe unique or potentially challenging and Laura has already shown that she can make things happen.”
Laura's addition at Electric comes at a time when Studios are in a state of constant expansion and growth; working on a whole host of new and exciting projects, alongside being nestled within Electric Theatre Collective who are at an all-time high, scooping up multiple awards and top post house accolades left right and centre. Safe to say it's a great time to be part of Electric and we are excited to work with Laura and take Electric Studios to new heights.
Ben Honour EP at Electric Studios said, “We are thrilled to have Laura join us as a full time member of Electric Studios, as our new EP. Laura brings a wealth of live action and animation production experience, from working at some of the top production companies in town. We are excited to see Electric Studios grow further and look forward to the future with Laura bringing her production expertise to the team.”
Geoff Parsons head of creative at Electric Studios said, “Laura is brilliant. She’s got this infectious energy that helps drive everything she touches and makes us want to push our already ambitious plans even further. She is literally the perfect fit for our work, our culture and attitude to all of the above - we’re all super excited to have her become part of what we’re building!”
Q> Why Electric Studios?
Laura> I came in as a freelance EP with no intentions of going permanent at the time, but right from the get go I realised what a special place it was and…yeah…it’s safe to say, my head was turned!
ETC is at the top of its game and Electric Studios has been killing it since it was established two years ago. It has the energy and vision of something brand new with the firepower of ETC behind it, which is a really rare combination.
With its mixed media approach, Electric Studios perfectly exemplifies the idea, ‘the medium is the message’. I love the fact we’re not pinned in by any constraints and it feels like a very timely approach to the way the industry is evolving.
I’ve never stuck rigidly to one pathway and I’m a big believer in running towards what’s most creatively interesting. So after seeing what Ben, Geoff and Jon had already created, along with the talent of the team, I just knew I wanted to be a part of building what’s to come.
Q> If Electric Studios were an animal, what would it be? and why?
Laura> I’m fascinated by sea creatures, especially the weird ones, so I think I’m going to go with an octopus. Not only are they super intelligent and social, but it’s said they have nine brains, which run along all of their eight tentacles. That’s a pretty good metaphor for how all of the departments work together in a masterful act of synchronicity. They also have three hearts, which (conveniently for this analogy) represents VFX, colour and studios. Cute.
Q> Tell us two things that you’ve done / made in the last year outside of work. One that you’re proud of. The other that’s embarrassing.
Laura> So this year I’ve just about maintained my Duolingo streak, which has been achieved through a complex set of alarms on my phone. Just this week I had one that went off mid yoga class from the other side of the room and that was pretty embarrassing. It’s currently day 473 and I’m hanging on by a thread.
Over the summer I got myself an iPad Pro so I could take my pen and ink illustrations into Adobe and Procreate. It’s been a lot of fun playing around with that. One of the great things about being in the studio is being exposed to lots of interesting programmes and ways of working, so I’m hoping to pick up a few things and hone some skills.
Q> You’ve been in the industry for a while now, what would you say are the biggest changes you’ve seen over your time?
Laura> One of the best things to change was the push for more accessibility to the industry and a new wave of new blood and diverse voices as a result of that. However, the last couple of years have made it even harder for fresh faces to cut through the noise, particularly since covid, when the more established names have been so available for work, creating less drip down as commissioners and brands play it safe in a time of instability.
It’s no secret that the industry is facing a bit of an existential crisis at the moment and one of the biggest changes is the way that content is being consumed. This has had a huge impact on the types of projects being commissioned and that’s across the board - from commercial work to music videos.
Despite all of that, I am very optimistic as there is so much talent out there and I’d love to see more risk-taking on people and on ideas. There’s an opportunity to adapt and I’ve seen some really good examples of what that looks like over the past few months.
Q> It’s 2047. Who is the global president and what was the best Electric Studios project of the year? With any luck, absolutely no one we’ve heard of at this moment in time or their children.
Laura> Electric Studios have just completed a major award-winning project for the Mars Tourism board, promoting all-inclusive net zero package holidays.
