You didn’t become a creative to manage spreadsheets and second-guess every social media post.
About the Studio
The Studio is for creatives who are serious about their work, but feel like the infrastructure around it is quietly falling apart. It’s like looking at a rickety old rollercoaster and wondering if it’s really such a good idea to get on.
Maybe you’re growing faster than your systems can handle.
Maybe you haven’t started yet because the whole thing feels overwhelming.
Maybe you’re somewhere in the middle and you’re creating, but constantly on the brink of burning out.
Whatever stage you’re at, the work here is the same: build the structure that lets you keep going.
Meet the Founder
Gill is a Creative Practice Consultant. Before founding the Studio, she spent years in online content policy at YouTube and Google, where she developed systems and worked with some of the most complex regulatory challenges on the internet.
She’s also a filmmaker, actor and painter, which means she understands the creative process from the inside.
The Studio exists because she burnt out creatively doing what she loved, figured out how to fix it and realised most creatives don’t get that framework handed to them.
The honest reason the Studio exists
I spent years writing late into the night only to abandon the project in my drafts. I once painted a scene of a coastal landscape (with detailed flowers, a beautiful sunset, a cute blue surfer van) only to paint over the canvas on a whim with a giant, arching wave. I didn’t even like it.
That wasn't even the hard part. The real problem was that I didn’t create anything for months afterwards, and felt terrible the whole time.
So finally I managed to change my relationship with creativity. I spent years in high-stakes tech and legal environments, working with complex systems and risk, before I found filmmaking.
That was when I realised that I was applying clear structure to the creative process (thanks to years of project managing, scaling operations, developing workflows and finding the best ways to collaborate with people across a broad network of teams).
That helped me to realise that systems were actually what allowed me to focus on my creativity. They enabled me to keep going.
There's a myth that creatives are simply messy by nature, but I believe that a lot of the time they just aren't working in a way that flows with their way of thinking.
That’s why I typically focus on understanding what that style is before moving onto designing a system that will work best with it. Sometimes it can involve knowing when to add novelty rather than rigid rules.
I use the word systems a lot, but I like to think of it more like rituals, rhythms, routines, architecture, or everything having a home and being in the right place, ready to grab when you need it.
Photo: Ishmael Claxton
Remember that the goal isn’t perfect structure, the goal is to create and do it in a way that makes it easy to keep going in the long term.
I really get the struggle of trying to balance your life and creative energy with all of your other responsibilities.
I constantly use the tools and frameworks of the Studio myself so that I can create more sustainably.
Why work with the Studio?
I’ve worked directly with leaders and decision-makers at YouTube, Google, the University of London and international law firms. I’ve designed systems at scale under real pressure and I know what can break when things grow too fast.
I’ve also been through creative burnout myself. I know what it costs (not just creatively, but personally). That combination is why the Studio is so important to me.
When we work together, I use a mix of coaching and mentoring. The goal isn’t for you to depend on me, it’s for you to leave with tools and frameworks you can actually use yourself.
Tell me what’s not working. I’ll put my problem-solving brain to work and together we’ll find something that fits your actual life.
Ready to get started?
Not sure yet?