MY FILM AND TV BACKGROUND

The first job I had was working as the PA to the head of SVT Drama. They were currently co-producing the biggest Ingmar Bergman production ever, “Best Intentions”.

I went on to work with the one and only casting director in Scandinavia at the time, who would become my mentor, Olle Westholm. We auditioned people for absolutely everything, from small commercials to the James Bond films.

But I wanted to get out on the shoot and searched out more hands-on production work. I entered the unforgiving freelance market as a casting director and production manager for several of the largest production companies in Sweden, such as Traktor, Gem Film, Mekano and Atmosfär. They were at the time raking home the international commercial awards and some had offices in New York and Los Angeles too. We flew off to Hollywood for shoots and I sent teams all over the world to film for Ericsson, VO5, American Express etc.

But again, I wanted more and bigger, so I moved to New York. I worked at the Ricki Lake studios as well as worked on some low budget feature productions, but eventually I settled in England, first in London where I worked on documentaries for Channel 5 and ITV, then I got pregnant, cut down on my working hours and started doing still photography instead. 

As my son grew older, I slowly went back into small video production work on my own terms, and I realised that the market had changed completely. Films could be done so easily now, no need for a massive crew and a cinema, anyone who had a website could have – and needed to have – a video. 

But of course it wasn´t the same thing. I was used to massive crews, script writers, agencies, actors, producers and directors. Now I had to do it all myself, with someone who´d never been in front of the camera. So The Vlog Academy was born. Where we could look at the whole process and find out what worked best for each company at a very fundamental level, from brand message to the final video optimisation.

Times and algoritms are constantly changing. We need to be aware of so many things now, and we simply can´t keep up with everything. So with an extended team of industry professionals, I´m now supporting people at all levels, but the main creative process stays in my hands.

Mi Elfverson