Coca-Cola HBC

Like Nike, it started with Stefi Productions calling Konstantinos Kritikos, three to four weeks before a large three-day conference in Athens. We were to produce the event's films: a recap of the whole conference (the atmosphere, the gala, the speeches and the events), on-demand videos of the speeches (edited from footage shot by the conference's own crew), films of the exhibition halls and stands, extra edits as they were requested and, hardest of all, a film of a group activity around Athens, shot, edited and ready to play at the next morning's session.

There were four sides to keep in step: Stefi Productions, the advertising agency running the event, the client's own team, and a director and producer flown in from abroad.

The budget went through many versions as the plan took shape. We hired the full crew and all the equipment, then the editing team. For the day out, I planned the routes of several film crews and timed each one against the groups visiting locations across Athens, so every crew was in place when its group arrived. That day happened to be my birthday.

Around it we added extra sessions, such as interviews in the photo booths, and handled last-minute requests from every side while keeping the agency, the client and the visiting director on the same page.

The day-out film came together in an overnight edit, with almost no sleep, and played at the conference the next morning. We also delivered the full recap film, the on-demand videos of the speeches, the films of the exhibition halls and stands, and every extra edit requested along the way.

The stress was high and the requests kept coming, but every deadline was met.