What was your background prior to joining us?
I came from a completely different work world to CineArk’s. I was a wedding planner in Dorset and before that was working as a Cruise Director at sea. Both of these roles were based on organisation and planning, which is something I needed when joining CineArk.
What did CineArk look like when you joined?
I originally joined the company back in 2019 as the PA to the Board members, this lasted all of 2 weeks before I was moved into the Office team with Spencer and Lucy, which was great fun and fast paced. I was employee number 7 in the business, so we were a small team that rallied together to make all scenarios work. The company grew so much over time and I took on a number of other roles including Crew & Logistics Manager and Central Ops Manager.
What does a typical day look like?
My days consist of managing the building and overseeing the Central, Accounts and Kit Room teams, which means it’s incredibly varied. In the Central team we are responsible for recruitment, training, H&S, social event planning and staff welfare. Accounts manage the finances and obviously that’s a huge part of any business so along with the team I have oversight of all income and expenses. With the Kit Room team, we work closely to manage deadlines of kit coming/going without compromising processes. With tight timeframes and changing schedules, we have daily briefings with the whole company and weekly huddles with the Kit Room team to keep our standards as high as possible.
What do you like about the job?
No two days are the same, I can do my best to plan what I’ll be doing and something will always crop up to throw that out of the window. It keeps my days interesting and is very satisfying when you find a solution to something that only cropped up recently.
What impact have the writers’ strike and SAG strike had?
The strikes have changed our daily work lives dramatically. We are a company that thrives to provide an incredible service to all our clients so we are using this time to go through all our in house kit and processes to see which areas we can improve on. In doing this, we hope to be ready to spring into action again as soon as the Strikes are resolved.
What are you looking forward to at work?
I have always really enjoyed watching CineArk grow as a team and as a business. The team we have really makes the company what it is. I am heading off on Maternity leave for a while so it will be a strange one for me to be away from the company but I am looking forward to seeing how things have grown when I return.
What makes a good day?
Team work! In managing the 3 teams I work with there is nothing better than watching them pull together to find solutions. Even more so when they do not need any input from me. It shows their confidence in themselves and their team!
How would you sum up CineArk in a sentence?
Providing solutions for productions and crew is at the forefront of what we do.
Favourite film?
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
