Abigail Nawrot

Senior Producer

The ever-ebullient Abi nurtured her creative skills at Leith School of Art and Edinburgh College of Art before setting up her own production company and spending four years film making in Tanzania.

Alan Jones

Self-shooting Director

Alan is a highly skilled self-shooting producer/director and editor, with a variety of broadcast and corporate credits.  After graduating from Stirling University, he went to work for BBC Scotland, working on programmes including Munro: Mountain Man, The Cinema Show and Primetime.  Alan then moved into TV development with BBC Scotland’s Children’s TV.

As a freelancer, he shot and directed a number of short films, gathering a series of award nominations in the process.  Alan joined Speakeasy in 2013 and has used his wide variety of skills as a camera operator, director and editor on many different projects.

Alan works across the board for Speakeasy clients including Scottish Enterprise, Aberdeen University, Lloyds Banking Group and the Scottish Government.

Climbing the Black Cuillin on Skye on a cloudless day in May. There are definitely worse ways to earn a living!

“That was good…can we try one more take?”

Breakfast, preferably involving strong coffee.

Colette Black-Heaton

Operations Director

Originally from South Africa, Colette has more than 20 years’ experience in event design, operations, logistics and project management. Her contagious enthusiasm, whirlwind energy and military attention to detail have established her reputation as an exceptional events manager in the UK and internationally.

Eszter Csetenyi

Events Co-ordinator

Eszter really loves events as a way of building communities, spreading messages and creating inspirational environments and experiences. Which is a good job, because it’s her job. Which is also a good job.

Jeremy Hewitt

Creative Director

A chronic over-thinker (he pens an entertaining blog on this topic) with a seemingly unlimited capacity for innovation, Jeremy has overall control of Speakeasy’s creative output, both in Scotland and London.

He is a First Class Honours graduate in English Literature and Language (MA) and has 23 years’ experience as a writer and producer. Jeremy has devised and pitched hundreds of film and event concepts for clients including Travis Perkins, Newton Investment Management, Lloyds Banking Group and the Scottish Government.

He has won countless awards for his work from the Event & Visual Communication Association (EVCOM), the Institute of Internal Communicators and New York Festival Film and TV Awards.

Jeremy is also a guest lecturer on media courses at Perth College and sits on the Subject Advisory Committee for Film and Media at the University of Stirling.

9am on 3rd October, 2004 when I walked into Speakeasy, and every moment since.

The life cycle of the jellyfish and effect of bananas on the ripening of fruit (courtesy of kids’ school projects).

Probably Samuel L Jackson – he’ll do anything.

Jim Leishman

Self-shooting Director

Jim studied Technology at Strathclyde University before taking a Post Graduate Diploma in Electronic Imaging at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art. Jim is a Director and Lighting Cameraman and Director of Photography who has worked extensively in television, feature film, advertisings and documentary.

A rare blend of creativity and practical production skills, Jim brings technical ability and visual flair the Speakeasy team. Personable, popular and professional, Jim has worked all over the world for clients including Topshop, Dewars, BBC Television, LWT and Channel 4.

Jim films and directs regularly for all of our public and private sector clients.

The friendships I’ve made over the years

My new camera

Physics

Jonathan Young

Managing Director

With a background in sales and marketing and more than 25 years in industry, Jonathan brings an unrivalled level of commercial acumen to Speakeasy.

Since joining the business in 2005, he has led the acquisition of two production companies in London and Edinburgh. He has also driven the transformation of Speakeasy into a full service events and film company, including exhibition design and build.

His cool head, charm and unflappable professionalism have seen him compared to George Clooney (only by Jonathan himself…) He’s also an expert tea maker (we’ll need to take his word for this) and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of almost everything Speakeasy has ever done, which admittedly comes in handy.

Jonathan has orchestrated hundreds of live events across the UK and internationally for clients including BAE Systems, Newton Investment Management and the Glasgow2104 Organising Committee.

Working with great people on fantastic projects for brilliant clients. Oh, and getting to play around with all the tech…

Making the tea – but everyone beats me to it!

Bagpipe playing.

Katie Shepherd

Production Assistant

Katie doesn’t have sheep but she does have a tortoise called Herbie which has developed a cult following due to its insistence on appearing in the background of her video calls.

Kirsten Lamb

Senior Events Project Manager

Kirsten graduated from Napier University with a First Class Hons degree in Hospitality (Tourism Management) before taking up events management roles at Standard Life, Dentons, Homes for Scotland and Hungrrr.

Laura Mures

Designer / Motion Graphics Artist

Born in Leon, Spain, Laura is our most multilingual team member and is fluent in Spanish, English and Italian.

After a media degree from the University of Burgos, she continued her academic career in Madrid, graduating with a MA in digital post-production.

Laura joined Speakeasy in 2014 after working for production companies in Italy, Spain and the UK.

Fluent in After Effects, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, illustrator, In-design, Cinema 4D and Final Cut, Laura is responsible for Speakeasy’s motion graphics and animation output. Did we mention she is an excellent photographer and artist too?

My graphics tablet

Drawing on sticky notes

Travelling!

Laura Wilson

Business Development Manager

Laura joined Speakeasy from the Edinburgh Convention Bureau and knows everything there is to know about association conferences and how to win them.

Nia Young

Assistant Events Director

Niamh is sometimes referred to as Neeve, occasionally as Neem, but to keep things simple we’ve settled on Nia.

Peter Smith

Editor

Peter knows Final Cut Pro X like the back of his hand and is also unexpectedly good at Boolean algebra simplifications (using the standard set of equivalences). After a Philosophy degree and postgrad diploma in IT from the University of Glasgow, he worked in IT in Germany, learning the language along the way. Returning to Scotland, Peter began freelancing as a cameraman and editor, gathering a host of corporate and music industry clients. When Speakeasy acquired Edinburgh-based corporate video specialist Republic Productions in 2008, Peter was the company’s senior editor – so we’re v pleased he joined our fold! He now manages our post-production facility in Edinburgh, as well as troubleshooting routine tech and IT problems. The best thing about Speakeasy is... The camaraderie. By the way, I’m currently learning how to... Compute axis-aligned bounding box collision detection for a game I'm making. In real-time, of course. Hidden talent… I once learned enough Norwegian in a month to be able to read a simple novel, solely by listening to Norwegian radio. (It was many years ago, I was unemployed and had a lot of time on my hands. I have forgotten almost all of it. But I still have the book I read).

Stacy Haddow

Events Manager

A psychology and sociology graduate from Napier University (BA Hons), Stacy has more than ten years’ experience in the conference industry, specialising in the medical, academic and scientific event fields. Before joining Speakeasy, she was conference manager at In Conference, professional conference and event organisers who manage large national and international conferences and exhibitions throughout the UK, Europe and North America.

Stuart Simpson

Senior Editor

Modest and unassuming, Stuart has a planet-sized brain and is basically the office expert on Everything. His technical prowess and infinite wisdom have helped us out of more than a few IT scrapes over the years (seriously Stu – thanks!). And his ability to remain calm and rational in the face of hysteria is simply masterful. Stuart has a BA in Film and Media from Stirling University and since joining Speakeasy in 2003, has helped develop our edit facilities into one of the best post-production departments in the UK. Stuart’s technical ability and vast knowledge of Final Cut and Creative Cloud have been developed whilst working on thousands of client programmes ranging from drama to documentary. Office superpower... Fixing anything that's broken By the way, I’m currently learning how to… Migrate a 4GB fibre network to 10GB Ethernet Hidden talent... I can field-strip and rebuild a 2 stroke engine

Victoria Masterson

Content Producer

A news junkie and former hack, Vicky is also an avid recycler and informal member of the Punctuation Police.

After graduating from the University of Edinburgh with an MA (Hons) in English Literature, she freelanced for BBC Radio Scotland before embarking on a 20-year career in print and broadcast journalism.

Specialising in business, Vicky was formerly deputy business editor of The Herald and Scottish business editor of The Sunday Times. She was also part of the launch team at L!ve TV, the former Mirror Group cable channel. Vicky started freelancing for Speakeasy in 2014 and joined the business full-time in 2016. Vicky’s Speakeasy clients include VisitScotland, the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, NHS Education for Scotland and the Scottish Government.

Green Team Champion

Just do it

Audrey Hepburn or Grace Kelly, of course