As our Head of Production, there’s not one person at Synima who doesn’t rely on Charlotte for support, and her astonishing rise within the company has been nothing short of inspirational.

Matt Giles, our Co-Founder, remembers Charlotte’s confident and ambitious attitude from the first time they met. In her interview, Charlotte showcased her forward-focused mindset and started questioning the interviewers instead, inquiring about the five-year plan and finding out where the company was headed. “I was so impressed by her – that she was already thinking with a business hat on and where the company could potentially go.” Drawing on experience from her previous job, a Production Secretary working on BBC’s The Apprentice, Charlotte wowed us immediately and soon joined our small team of just 4 others, becoming Production Assistant and the first woman in the company.

Charlotte Head of Production

The Early Days of Synima

The following January, Charlotte had worked her way up to Producer and had taken on a wide range of responsibilities, from managing client accounts, to producing and directing on set in multiple locations, to growing the largest company account. For five years she drove an hour and a half to and from work in her white Fiat Panda, dedicated and ready to take on the day’s challenges – whether that’s climbing on a rowing machine in her jeans for a stand in role for one of M&Gs projects, doing the heavy lifting through camera magic, or whether that’s supporting us through a tough time after a burglary which severely impacted our ability to shoot. “She’s always been willing to stand in and do the dirty work” says our Head of Learning Jason Lowe, and she’s demonstrated her ability to lead and remain level-headed in the face of adversity time and time again.

Charlotte makes sure we always stay on top of things, implementing new strategies that keep us up to date. She researched and introduced the databases we use, from One Page to Monday to Connect Teams, and with Kate Kelk our HR Director, created and continues to update our Staff Handbook for both the UK and US. Becky Hill, our Senior Producer, commends her ability to “cut down any problem to its size with minutes”, and the decisive, confident action she takes has proven that she’s the perfect person to take on the aspirational role of Head of Production, which became her title in May 2019.

Charlotte on Film Set

Our Producer Katie Harrington has been a longtime friend of Charlotte’s, having met her back in university 12 years ago: “working with her for the past two years has been an absolute joy and it’s amazing to see she’s still exactly the same calm, warm, funny girl with all of her added responsibility and heavy workload.” Charlotte has ensured growth from when our company was just a small team in the UK, and we’ve had the pleasure of witnessing her growth too, with her now trailblazing the implementation of strategy and being responsible for the efficient running of operations across regions.

From Assistant Producer to Producer to Head of Production, Charlotte has been instrumental to the development of our company at every single stage, and as our animator Anna Molnar puts it, has always “remained the superstar she is.”

Everyone here at Synima sends Charlotte the warmest wishes and congratulations, and will dearly miss her and the wisdom she brings as she embarks on her new journey into motherhood. We know the skills that make her such an amazing leader – her empathy, strong will, and intelligence, will also make her, as our junior animator Zuzanna Elhag says, “the perfect mother-to-be.”

Synima Video Production Company Team Shot