Who we are
Who
we are
As a senior producer with over 20 years experience, Kat Cooke founded Compadre in 2014 to meet a real need in the marketplace for high-end production of television commercials and advertising still campaigns. Compadre is a full-service production company located in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. At a glance, our services include stills, motion, production and post as well as everything in between. To help us reach these goals, we also represent a range of the most creative and experienced award-winning photographers and directors in Brisbane and beyond.
PRINCIPAL & SENIOR PRODUCER
“The Louise every Thelma needs.”
There’s not much in the world of film production that Kat Cooke hasn’t seen and done, so she’s rarely phased, and invariably ahead of the game. It was no accident Kat was the first person in Brisbane to pull photography and stills production together into one seamless, well-oiled operation.
With over 20 years’ advertising agency experience in client management and production, as well as with government film commissions and alongside giants like Disney and Warner Bros., Kat saw what the industry needed and made it happen. Typical, really.
Today, Kat is known as the steadiest head in the business, with an uncanny ability to make planets and people align. The more bizarre and outlandish the project appears, the more she relishes it.
From your first meeting to long after the final edit you’ll know that to Kat and the team, you’re more than a client, you’re a Compadre too.
PRODUCTION MANAGER
“Your no-fuss fixer – R2-D2 in the body of a bloke.”
Matt knows film production. He loves every gritty, difficult, joyous, sweaty, magnificent thing about it. In fact, it’s the challenges of the changing industry he loves most. Nothing makes him happier than untangling a knotty problem and turning it into something beautiful.
His early working life laid the ground perfectly; as a very young man he worked as a cinema projectionist on the Gold Coast and also as a bartender (what better training for keeping order without killing the vibe?.) After completing his degree in Film Production, Matt leaped boots-and-all into the film industry and never looked back, quickly earning a reputation as the guy you want on your team. Kat Cooke recognised Matt’s talent and persuaded him to leave his successful freelance career to join Compadre, a successful move which proves the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.
As a producer, Matt knows how to keep a project running on time and to budget, while at the same time forging the kinds of relationships that last long after the final edit.
OFFICE MANAGER & PRODUCTION SUPPORT
“Our Hermione, the smartest of all of us.”
Very little happens at Compadre without Lizzie knowing about it, and in fact, she’s likely the one who made it happen. Meetings, facilities, schedules, budgets, food, music, parking … Lizzie has her finger on all the pulses.
After more than 25 years’ working in Brisbane advertising with pretty much all the big agencies and notable production houses (DDB Needham, BCM Partnership, Patts, Cutting Edge), Lizzie has built a reputation as a whip-smart dynamo with an intellect and ability that people rely on.
Lizzie’s broad, deep experience means she understands every aspect of motion and stills production while at the same time being plugged into the very real pressures facing our clients. Together, that makes her the perfect person to manage (note: Lizzie doesn’t ‘juggle’ anything) complicated schedules, limited spaces and busy people. And she’s nice while she does it, which is kind of magical.