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It’s not so often that people stumble into their perfect job. But that’s been the case for GEMA UK's Best Newcomer, Sonia Lefrançois, junior creative at Hearst Networks (formerly A&E Networks EMEA) in London.

In her role, Lefrançois has gotten to create, develop, write, produce and direct on-air campaigns for Hearst Networks’ channels in the UK: Sky History, a joint venture with Sky; true-crime channel Crime+Investigation; and Blaze, which airs such programs as Hardcore Pawn and Storage Hunters. She’s also gotten to develop her own ideas for campaigns, spots and even short-form series. 

Lefrançois attended the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands and earned a degree in international business. She then moved to London, where she received her masters degree in media at King’s College London. She started at Hearst as a creative team assistant in August 2022 before being promoted to junior creative in June 2023.

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Lefrançois shared with Spotlight what led to her winning this award.

‍Spotlight: Since Hearst partners with Sky on Sky History, did you like history before coming to Hearst? Is that what attracted you to Hearst, or was it more like they have a job and I need a job?

‍Lefrançois: The history part really attracted me. My grandpa is from the Czech Republic. He's a historian there, and he's always taught me all these stories about history. He knows an incredible amount of things, and I think he passed that on to my mom, who then passed it on to me. 

‍Spotlight: When you were looking for jobs, did you have an idea of what your dream job was?

‍Lefrançois: I didn’t even really know that this job existed until I found it! Going into production made more sense with my background in business and media. But I’m so glad I found this job, which is probably my dream job, because I get to do so many different things. When you work on short-form, you almost have free reign over the whole project. You get to write the script, brainstorm ideas, direct either on set or voiceover artists. You build a narrative and you edit it as well and you color grade it. You basically do everything. It’s really fun and it’s incredibly interesting to me.

‍Spotlight: Tell me about the two on-air campaigns you've done that you mentioned in your awards submission reel (above).

‍Lefrançois: Both of these happened this year. The first one was Bradley Walsh in Egypt's Cosmic Code for Sky History. 

That was a really fun one to work on. I really liked the topic and it was fun to work on set with such a big TV personality. That was probably the first time I got to work so closely with such a big talent. 

The second one was with Laura Whitmore for Crime + Investigation.

For both of these, I was mostly ideating different concepts of where we could take these campaigns for paid media and translating that into different scripts. I was writing lines to camera to film with Bradley Walsh or with Laura Whitmore. I was also directing on-set, and building the narrative while I was editing all of these different assets that I had to produce. 

‍Spotlight: Do you feel like because you have shown this interest and initiative that if you are willing to pitch an idea, Hearst Networks lets you run with it? 

‍Lefrançois: I'm very lucky to be at Hearst Networks for this reason. When you're junior, you don't necessarily get to work on the biggest campaigns all the time so it's a fun place to experiment. 

Last year, I shot a promo in the office called ‘Green-Eyed Killers’ for Crime + Investigation. My actors were just my colleagues that I recruited on the day and that was a lot of fun, despite the promo's sensitive subject matter.

I volunteered to do that because I had an idea that I really wanted to see come alive. At Hearst Networks, the management lets us experiment a lot and allows us to have a lot of freedom when we’re experimenting with different ideas and technology. Obviously, I still have to pitch it and explain how it would work. But I’m very thankful that I work for a company that allows me to do that.

‍Spotlight: What sort of mentorship have you received along the way, and what has been the value of that mentorship?

‍Lefrançois: I've definitely had some great managers that have really helped me, especially when I was very new in the company. I was very keen on learning a lot of things very quickly. And they saw that, and they helped me a lot, giving me advice and helping me with editing techniques, things like that. That helped me start to build my skills. 

All of my colleagues who are not necessarily on a senior level have been incredibly influential as well, helping me shape my own skills and my own approach to creativity. Everyone has a different way of working and of approaching ideas and I’m constantly being inspired by my colleagues. 

‍Spotlight: What encouraged you to submit for best newcomer at the GEMA UK awards, and did you produce that video yourself? 

‍Lefrançois: I did produce the whole reel myself. My two managers told me they were thinking about putting me forward for that award this year. I was obviously very happy, grateful and honored. 

‍Spotlight: How did it feel to win best newcomer? 

‍Lefrançois: It was very fun, extremely exciting and a great honor. I was kind of stunned, to be honest. I wasn’t expecting it. When I walked down the stage I realized my knees were shaking so bad. 

‍Spotlight: Had you been to an awards ceremony before? 

‍Lefrançois: I had been to the GEMA UK Awards the last couple of years as well as Promax UK before that. I've always gone with my team.

‍Spotlight: Now that you've gotten to try this whole range of things, what have you found you like doing the best?

‍Lefrançois: It has to be filming, shooting and just being on set, and especially directing. I honestly love pretty much all of it. I just think it's so fun to come up with ideas and then to use your imagination to see how that vision can come to life.

‍Spotlight: How often do you find that the way you initially envision a project is close to the way it ultimately turns out? Do you find you have to adjust your expectations along the way? 

‍Lefrançois: When you're on set, there are a lot of things that can not go exactly according to plan, like with the schedule, for example, or things might take a little bit longer than you expected. So then that changes how you want to do things, how much you can scale up or scale down and either way, it ends up looking a little different than you first thought. 

Sometimes you have an idea on set you haven't thought of before. Maybe you see everything set up with the lights and it just gives you a different idea. I think that’s an aspect of it that I like as well. I like the fact that it’s so dynamic. 

Spotlight: It sounds like you're pretty happy in your job, but looking ahead, what do you think lies ahead for you in terms of where you want to take your career?

‍Lefrançois: It's kind of as I said: I didn't realize how this job existed, and it became my dream job. Once I started it, I came to realize that I am very happy. I'd love to work on more projects where I get to direct. I would love to get more responsibilities within my job, possibly get on a slightly more senior level. But I think directing is the biggest thing I look forward to in the future.