Meet Your Makers: Shooting for the Stars with Sorrel Higgins

Sorrel Higgins is a producer for global creative studio Coffee & TV. Since joining in mid 2021 Sorrel has worked on a number of projects such as ‘Tár’, directed by Todd Field, as a post production assistant. Most recently she has been nominated for Best New Producer (Post) at the Young Arrows.

LBB> What first attracted you to production – and has it been an industry you’ve always worked on or did you come to it from another area? 

Sorrel> I always thought I wanted to be in shoot production and that was the path I wanted to go down, but I actually fell into post through playing football!

It started with one conversation with my football coach at a training session, who happened to be one of the founders of Coffee & TV, Chris ‘Chops’ Chard. My background is in photography so he offered to put me in contact with people within the industry, but I asked if I could have a conversation about joining his company instead.

He showed me the work they produce and gave me a crash course in post and I fell in love with it!

Three years later and I’m still playing for the same team and have worked my way up to become a producer at Coffee & TV.

LBB> How did you learn to be a producer? 

Sorrel> I started off in scheduling which helped me to get to know our artists and the different departments and familiarise myself with the workflow of jobs.

I then moved into production assistant where I shadowed producers and learnt a lot by just being on client calls and being there from right at the start of a project, right through to the end. I started off with smaller jobs to grasp the workflow even more and to learn what every department did, I had never heard of flame before!

I have a team of amazing and experienced producers and EPs which I could gain insight into how to manage large-scale projects, collaborate with directors, and communicate effectively with teams, I just tried to soak up as much knowledge as possible from them.

LBB> What are your personal ambitions or aspirations as a producer? 

Sorrel> My short term goal at the moment is to land a big Nike job on women’s football, I would love to work more within the world of sports advertising as that’s what I’ve always been passionate about.

My long term goal is to move to our New York office and start working with our American clients actually in America! 

LBB> Which production project from across your career are you most proud of and why? 

Sorrel> I was lucky enough to be the post production assistant on ‘Tár’ a year and half into my career! I learnt a lot and very quickly about being super organised and how communication is key on a big project like that.

Also my spreadsheet skillz went from a five to a ten! Working on a big project like that and for a good amount of time, then seeing your name on the front credits in the cinema was a surreal moment. Think I shed a lil’ tear!