Brooke Pope

I've been incredibly fortunate to have amazing supervisors and mentors throughout my career, especially two inspiring women who made a huge impact on me. My first job out of college was at a woman-owned company, and she was a strong woman who built that company by herself and earned tremendous respect throughout the industry. She really took me under her wing and gave me opportunities - she even promoted me to post-production supervisor maybe a little bit before I was ready, but I think she believed I could hit the ground running and learn on the job. Then during my time at Level 3, I reported to another woman who had risen to managing director in this historically male-dominated business. Both of these women were very hard workers who were compassionate and kind, but still able to make sure people did what they needed to do and earn the respect of their colleagues. Seeing women rise to those positions - starting their own entertainment companies or becoming managing directors - is really the exception, not the rule in post-production. It takes a strong woman, but also a compassionate one. My educational background also shaped me, including attending an all-girls Catholic school for junior high and high school, which gave me a certain camaraderie and empowerment. I walked away from that 6-year experience feeling very confident, very empowered, and very comfortable in my own womanhood. Beyond formal education at Cal State Northridge, most of my learning has been on the job - they threw me in the fire and I had to figure it out, sink or swim. All these years later, I'm confident in my job and know how to navigate tense, difficult situations and inspire people. A big thing for me is leading with compassion, grace, and openness.

The best career advice I’ve received was, “You’re either going to sink or you’re going to swim,” and it taught me to embrace challenges, trust myself to figure things out, and grow through the process.

Right now, with the state of the industry, I would say run. However, if the industry was in better shape, I would say you have to work hard, and you have to work harder than your male counterpart. You have to learn to work collaboratively with a team and learn great client service. At the heart of it all, we're a client service industry, and we service some big names. With those big names come high demands and hard work, and not a lot of room for error. So I would say work hard, do what you can to keep learning, and always put the client first.

The biggest challenge I face in this male-dominated post-production industry is feeling like I always have to tiptoe around when asking people to do their jobs. When I started out, I always felt like when I would ask someone - and most of the people I worked with were male - to do their job or a task, I had to say please and thank you. I would constantly find myself apologizing, even though there was no reason to apologize. I felt like I had to massage my requests when dealing with men and asking them to do their jobs, whereas I think a man-to-man interaction may not feel like that. I felt like I had to be careful so I wasn't seen as bossy. Over the years, I feel less and less like that, and I think it's taught me to be a better colleague and manager - to be polite and give people grace. Although I was tiptoeing around like I was walking on glass just to get people to do their jobs, ultimately it's made me a more compassionate and better colleague and leader. Beyond gender dynamics, the industry itself has been incredibly difficult since the pandemic, with the writers and actors' strike and work moving away from Los Angeles and out of the states entirely. I've seen many colleagues let go, and I hope production picks up here in the States because it definitely hasn't been great.

The values most important to me in my work and personal life are compassion, grace, openness, a strong client-first mindset, and supporting and inspiring other women.