Get to know Notch: Hannah Elston

Meet Hannah Elston, one of the newest and youngest members of the Notch team.

She has been working in the production and advertising industry for five years now. At the very beginning of her career, Hannah worked in live shows as a writer and producer, transitioning to the broadcast space during the pandemic, and has made the move towards creating social media content. 

Now, she is a Notch producer that works on accounts like AMEX, Farm Boy, Cadillac Fairview and P&G to name a few. Executing creative development, from pre-production to post-production, she is involved in projects from beginning to end. 

Recently, I sat down with Hannah in our new office to chat about her experience working at a Publicis-owned company, where she’s at now and what’s next for her. 

As we sit down for the interview at the new Queen Street office in Toronto, Hannah turns to me and asks, “Alright Lindsey, what’s your first question?” 

[Laughs] Right to the point! OK, so how long have you been working at Notch for?

I just made it to one year with Notch, my work anniversary is in August! It’s so crazy to think about. It’s really flown by and I’ve learnt so much. 

It feels like you’ve been working here for much longer.

I know! I’ve worked on so many fun and challenging projects since then. I’ve definitely grown a lot as a producer.

What has been one of your favourite projects?

Ugh! That’s such a difficult question. I’ve worked on a couple shoots for a car brand. Every time, they had quick turnarounds that tested my communication skills and my attention to detail under pressure. It was worth it though because the final deliverables always look so cool. 

Another one, since I can’t pick just one.. would be a coffee brand we recently worked with. We got to shoot fresh coffee in a real downtown café in Toronto that I scouted and completely took over. It was a little outside of my comfort zone, but ended up being a great full-day shoot.

What has been the most challenging project for you and what did you learn from it?

There’s always one that sticks out more than the others [laughs]. It was over a $100,000 production budget with a lot of expectations, and we had to build the creative idea from the ground up. The concepts kept shifting and changing, making the timeline longer than expected. It tested my resilience and ability to learn how to accommodate and compromise with clients. In the end, the project ended up being a success and got a lot of impressions on TikTok, which the client was happy with.

When it’s a win for them, it's a win for us, right?

Oh yes, even if the middle part gets a little challenging. It’s cheesy, but it’s true.

As I know you’re already keenly aware, production is all about timelines. What is the fastest project you’ve worked on so far at Notch?

Coming from a broadcast space where we would plan shoots almost months in advance, transitioning to Notch was a big adjustment for me. The fastest timeline for a shoot I’ve worked on so far was three days of pre-production planning. We started booking everything the Friday before and shot on the following Wednesday. That included getting a crew together, booking talent, location and literally everything else. It was wild, but I did it!

Wow, that is super fast!

Yep, and now basically no timelines faze me. Don’t get me wrong, I like to still have an appropriate schedule. Please be nice to your producers! But I’m used to it now.

How do you stay so organized?

Lots of lists! My whole work-life revolves around making lists, long ones in my brain, or writing them all down on paper. Without that there would be no way that I could keep track of everything. That’s my secret.

What is the most beneficial thing you’ve gained so far at Notch?

Teamwork is one of the most beneficial things I’ve learned so far at Notch. Not only having people that I can bounce ideas off of, or people I can go to when I’m not sure how to solve a problem, but also having co-workers and managers that understand that in production, we may miss things or make mistakes but that’s just another way we learn to grow and become better producers.

Agreed. The Notch team is one of a kind! Thinking back to when you first started, how did you get into the production world? Was being a producer something you always thought you would get into?

Nope, not at all. After graduating university, I had no idea this job even existed. I was initially hired as a writer but naturally transitioned to producing my own written content, and the rest is history. I feel a lot more confident in my skills now, and look forward to working on cool, social projects as they come!

What inspires you about working at Notch?

Everyone on the team is really supportive, not only about the work that I do professionally but also my personal development as well. I recently published my first book, You Are My Sunshine, which I launched on Amazon. The entire team has been so happy for me, and I have really appreciated the encouragement.

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You can follow Hannah’s writing and production adventures on Instagram @hannah_elston.

To get to know more of our Notch team, look out for our next blog post! 

Words by Hannah Elston 

Interview by Lindsey Cepek