Stress is a problem that affects everyone and when it comes to work and pressure, the film industry is as competitive as it is alluring. I’m sure at some point we’ve all watched dramas about network executives in tense meetings or read rumours about the behind-the-scenes scandals of movie stars and directors. Today we’re talking to an 18 year old professional making her way in the film and television industry, understanding how she handles the pressure that comes from working in film at such a young age. Sammy Reece is working for Sister, the production company known for producing modern classics such as Chernobyl and Gangs of London. Their style is gritty, bold and outspoken about important societal issues. Amongst other jobs, one of Reece’s roles at the company is to analyse new scripts to decide whether they should be made or not. “I’m sort of the quality control for the company, deciding which concepts get taken further and which don’t”. Basically she’s the first line of defence against your student film sci-fi, fantasy dystopia script that’s a metaphor for lockdown or your parents divorce or right wing politics or something.
In all creative jobs the hours are gruelling at the start so you really need to be passionate about your job to stick it out and make the work worthwhile. When we asked Sammy about her daily routine, she revealed a frankly relentless itinerary starting at 5:30 in the morning. “I’ll get up and walk straight to the gym.” Sammy goes to the gym and swims for about an hour and then heads to a coffee shop. “I’m very precise about my coffee so it took a while to find a coffee shop that fits my taste.” Then it’s off to work from 8am to 7pm “usually but the day gets a lot longer around deadlines.”
I’m tired just writing this but her day doesn’t end there. Sammy heads straight from work back to another coffee shop and works on her own writing and only then goes home to presumably sleep immediately to get up at 5:30 the next day and do it all again. “Social life is a difficult balance with such a busy schedule so I make sure I carve out time at the weekend for my friends.” Sammy’s routine changes as soon as the weekend arrives, she says she spends her days sleeping and her evenings out with friends. However, even with this leisure time in place, it can be difficult to fully disconnect from work. “I’ll find myself sitting with friends thinking about a random pitch deck I saw days earlier or checking my emails over and over to make sure I’m really up to date.” One of the features of having offices in both London and LA is that emails can come in at any time because of the time difference so it is a challenge to disconnect fully when more work is coming in at all times. Despite all of the responsibility, Sammy is quickly rising through the ranks at Sister, showing that anything can be done with the right level of dedication and grit.
Reece says her motivation comes from “her creative drive” and the “strong sense of community at Sister. ”But even with these inspirations, it can be a challenge to be so young in such a challenging industry. Right now, Sammy finds relaxation through her morning swim and tuning out, watching bad horror films on Netflix, something we can all relate to. We helped Reece find new ways to relax by showing her the “Zen mode” feature on her Oneplus 9. Zen mode locks all but the essential features of your Oneplus phone allowing you to “tap into calmness” without distractions like social media or work emails holding you back. Oneplus and the “And… Breathe” campaign recommended that Sammy should use Zen mode to reconnect with nature in her local green space on her lunch break. “It really helped me focus for the rest of the work day” and “definitely helped me sleep better that night.” Sammy Reece needs all of the energy she can get for her intense job so a good night’s sleep can be the difference between the next Chernobyl being made or not – the show not the nuclear disaster, although that would raise the stakes somewhat. As I have written about before, for adults today, relaxation is seen as an optional extra, restricted to overpriced and pretentious meditation classes or two weeks of holiday in some remote island every couple of years. This idea that relaxation is for secure, usually financially independent people only is a misunderstanding of a fundamental part of what it is to be human. For relaxation to be seen as ‘stress points’ that can be cashed in when we can afford it is very harmful. “And breathe” with Oneplus is about taking back relaxation on our own terms by disconnecting so we can mindfully connect again with our green spaces. It helped Sammy and it might just help you out too. If you’re feeling like you can’t find your flow at the moment, I implore you to try out Zen mode and explore your own local green space, you’re not going to regret disconnecting because nothing fixes overworked and under-slept better than a twenty minute break in a beautiful green space.