As part of our ongoing series of interviews with the people of LEAP, we introduce Producer/Marketing Manager, Jen Reznick.
Jen Reznick has been a producer within our film and post team where she divided her time between facilitating postproduction and reporting the news about our moving image projects. She now works across LEAP, writing and sharing stories about the creative endeavours across the group.
How do you express your creativity?
I tend to express my creativity by helping others communicate theirs, so whether that’s helping a visual thinker put their ideas into words for a pitch document or fleshing out a story from a list of bullet points about the elements of a particular project, I like to be part of the creative conversations we have at LEAP.
What are your tools?
I use my MacBook Air and start typing away in Word. The online thesaurus, dictionary and grammar reference tools are handy, particularly because I grew up in the US, and I have to keep straight all the idiosyncrasies of British and American expressions, punctuation and spelling. (I do miss the letter “zee” sometimes.)
When does creative inspiration usually strike?
Creative inspiration always strikes me when I should be sleeping. I try to keep a notepad and pen close to my bed, so that I don’t have to stay awake worrying that I might forget a good idea.
Do you do anything special to develop creativity?
I read a lot of advertising and marketing industry news and talk to the people doing the truly creative work here at LEAP. It helps me shape how I write about and share our work. I also keep an eye out for interesting topics to develop thought pieces with the team.
Briefly describe your favourite work space.
I love to set up my laptop in the sunniest room of my house to enjoy the light and warmth as I write or copy-edit. It’s important for it to be a quiet space. Sometimes, I’ll plug my ears to help me concentrate on getting something to sound just right as I read it over in my head.
Who’s your inspiration?
I’m really impressed by anyone with talent in the visual arts, moving image, dance or music. I’ve had a chance to dabble in many different creative areas which has given me an appreciation for the hard work and dedication of those who truly excel in their chosen pursuit.
When I see an ad that we have worked on, a film with a friend’s name in the credits or hear a song by an old mate’s band, I’m always really excited and proud to say, my friend or colleague made that!
What’s your hidden talent?
Now that my daughter has started school, I’ve discovered a joy for making things out of assorted bits and pieces to bring children’s storybooks to life. My challenge is to make her collection of written and illustrated stories so enticing that they eclipse her urge to sneakily binge-watch videos on the iPad.
To this end, I spent weeks making a board game and sewing a collection of anthropomorphised fruit for a Kitchen Disco story sack. Another time, I turned a pair of old socks, felt scraps, some ribbon and a headband into an Angelina Ballerina costume for World Book Day. I even scoured our local charity shops for little stuffed animals and figured out how to make a pattern to sew a tiny antelope so that we could play-act the story Handa’s Surprise.
Find out more about the people of LEAP in other interviews with members of our team.
