Meet the Team | Lily Ketley
Today we’re chatting with Technical Manager Lily Ketley about her journey from teaching herself Premiere Pro in college to designing the technical workflows that keep post-production moving. We dive into the art of “rubber duck debugging,” the benefits of a distributed team for the neurodivergent brain, and why there is a unique beauty in being bad at a brand-new hobby.
Was there a specific spark that made you realise you wanted to work in post-production?
Hard to say when the first one was, but in college I had a great film studies teacher who really encouraged my path down self teaching myself Premier Pro, he really pushed for increased access to the facilities which is a great environment to learn in. I started making short films and found that while I enjoyed the filming and planning process, the bit my heart was really in was post and I would spend hours, days, weeks behind a screen editing and learning. Back then I didn’t think it could be a job path so I was going to abandon it, but my teacher encouraged me to stick with it. Along the way I found solving problems editors face and designing systems and workflows for them is something that scratches a good itch in the brain.
Beyond the technical skills, what “soft skills” do you think are most essential for your role?
Part of working in tech will always involve communicating with people who don’t work in tech, and who may not know the clearest ways to describe their tech query. This means being able to listen to what someone is telling you and then read between the lines and ask the right questions to get the information you need, as well as adjusting your niche terminology usage based on their own technical understanding. Simply put, it’s about being able to translate from a non-technical persons explanation and then communicate with them in a way that they feel heard and the solution is kept simple and clear for them.
Do you have a work “quality of life” hack or a tip that you swear by?
Rubber duck debugging! Honestly though, the brain only has so much RAM in there, and often explaining an issue to someone helps the brain organise its thoughts. And if that means explaining your issue to a rubber duck then that’s what works! They say when you try to teach someone a concept then it sticks in your mind better, same principle applies. So next time you’re stuck on a problem and you can’t make it make sense, explain it to a rubber duck or an equivalent!
How do you find the experience of collaborating with a distributed team?
Personally I love it, as someone with an undiagnosed flavour of neurodivergence I can get over stimulated in an office filled with people, so being able to jump between different sites and work from basically anywhere is fantastic, including doing conform prep from my phone while stuck on a train 🙂
When the systems are off, how do you hit the “reset” button?
Love me some arts and crafts! I am a firm believer that art is deeply connected to the human soul and no matter how that gets expressed is a beautiful thing. I greatly enjoy trying a lot of different things, but most importantly, and perhaps something that is difficult to understand, I enjoy being bad at something I’ve just started, because this means there is growth to happen.
If you could recite one piece of advice someone gave you, what would it be?
An excellent piece of advice I got from an editor very early into my journey: do no harm, but take no shit. What I took that to mean eventually was be kind and respectful to everyone you meet but do not accept being treated poorly. And most importantly, take care of your body, drink that water and get that exercise, and give your brain something other than a screen to digest.