Hazel Priest

Content Producer

Hazel Priest

Hazel is an accomplished video producer. She has a First-Class Honours in Film Production from Solent University, which she was awarded in 2019, and she has been working in the creative industry ever since.

Prior to joining Southpoint Films on a full time basis, she was a regular freelancer for the company. She also worked for City Eye, a community video production charity based in Southampton, who organise the annual Southampton Film Week. And, if that wasn’t enough, she was regularly taking on independent projects as a Production Assistant, Assistant Director, or Editor.

Hazel has always had a passion for filmmaking. As a child, she would find herself trying to take over when the home video camera came out. This early interest encouraged Hazel towards a career in video production. She loved producing new ideas and expressing her thoughts through film, art, and media.

When Hazel was young, she experienced bereavement through the loss of her Dad. She was introduced to Simon Says, a children’s bereavement charity. In 2013, Hazel and the group produced a short animation titled ‘Every Hour, Every Day’. The film drew from the group’s personal experiences and aimed to raise awareness about how bereavement impacts young children in the UK.

This encouraged Hazel to pursue media production at college and then university. In her final year of study, she became the Film Coordinator for the Student Film Forum, where she would organise monthly events for creative students to pitch ideas and network with one another.

When not working, Hazel can be found out and around the New Forest with her camera scouting for new areas and hidden gems, watching Friends on Netflix for life advice, and – to go full circle – volunteering at Simon Says, helping young children in hope that they will find their passions in spite of their losses, as she did.

When thinking about her career so far, Hazel is inspired by Friends characters Chandler and Joey when they gave life advice to Rachel. “Give yourself the fear.” To Hazel, this was enough to encourage her that if you want it, you need to get it.