IWD2023 - Life as a female leader in the VFX industry

Tracy McCreary of BlueBolt discusses what it’s like being a female running a successful VFX house in the UK. She runs Bluebolt, an award-winning, independent visual effects company in central London, with recent credits including The Peripheral, Becoming Elizabeth, The Irregulars, The Spanish Princess and The Last Kingdom.

Do you feel your gender has helped or hindered your career development, or has it made no difference?

I would say my gender had both helped and hindered my career. I started out as a production assistant in Hollywood and I’ve had a career blessed with amazing opportunities but it took me a while to break out of the ‘assistant’ mentality of my early career, in part because of a lack of female role models.

I was incredibly lucky to cross paths with Lucy Ainsworth-Taylor and Angela Barson – BlueBolt’s co-founders. Meeting, and then working with them, was one of those serendipitous moments in my career, giving me two incredible role models. I’m grateful they paved the path for me.

Many studies show that women want to do things perfectly or really well before they’ll apply for a role or push to move up in their careers, as opposed to being 60% ready and taking the leap. Lucy and Angela really believed in me which was very empowering and has enabled me to rise to the challenge and step into my role as MD at BlueBolt. It certainly wasn’t a role I felt I was 100% ready for.

Life experience also has helped me view things through a different lens and I think become a better leader. Balancing childcare with my role, for example, helps me have more empathy toward women and men in the same position. Fostering a caring, inclusive working environment and a decent work/life balance has helped us create the culture we have here at BlueBolt and retain a fantastic close-knit team who look after each other and that is really important to us.

Is it easier to try to create a better gender balance in the workforce if the company is led by a woman?

I think it helps but it doesn’t solve the problem. We make it a priority to lead by example and foster an environment where women know there is no end to how far they can succeed. Making fair work practices and equality a priority has always been at the heart of BlueBolt.

We know the importance of having women in senior positions to shine a light and inspire the younger women in the company to follow their path. This is what we are constantly looking to achieve at BlueBolt. Our senior team includes myself, Cath Duncan our head of production, Lucy Tait our finance director, Tamara Toppler who leads DMP as well as our co-founders Lucy and Angela.

While there’s a drive to create a better gender balance, the talent pool is still unequal. We have twice as many males applying for jobs, even for junior roles, than we do females. It’s at the front of our minds and a key aim here at BlueBolt to achieve a better gender balance. We’re particularly proud of the split in our systems and pipeline team as this is an area that has been notoriously male dominated. Five of our team of 15 are female and we’d like to increase this.

Tracy McCreary is managing director of BlueBolt