A Sit Down With Barry Quinn

At Searchlight, we have the privilege of working with some incredible clients and candidates. One of the most rewarding aspects of our work is checking in with our placements and watching them thrive in their new role. We had the pleasure of catching up with Barry Quinn – Animation Producer for Lime Pictures. Barry chatted with us about his start in the media industry, his time at Lime Pictures and working with Cathy and the Searchlight Team.

Beginnings:

Barry has a unique story – having not known what career to pursue after graduating from university with a degree in politics, Barry began to carve out a career in the media industry. Barry found his first role as a volunteer trainee for Media Action, working to create a ‘Visit Scotland’ cassette for the local tourist board. Barry’s first big break came with his role at Edinburgh Festival, arranging interviews with a “publicity shy Russian conductor” and a “feisty Cuban prima donna ballerina” – All done on a fax machine!

Big Break:

Barry’s big break came when he began to co-run Fesitval FM (a 24-hour radio station airing during Edinburgh Festival), created by, the now well-known, Somethin’ Else. The station helped launch the careers of some recognisable names such as Jo Brand, Graham Norton and Jenny Eclair.

Shortly after, Barry left the country with the aim of seeing more of the world. Arriving in Hong Kong with ‘virtually no money’ and no radio work available, Barry made a career move that has since shaped his whole working life.

“Getting a bit desperate, I saw an ad to write continuity links for TNT and Cartoon Network and got the job. It was an unexpected opportunity and turned out to be brilliant as I learnt about old classic movies and all the stars of the golden age of Hollywood and then went on to become a promo producer. I really loved this job as good promos are like mini programmes, you learn how to come up with a concept, write a script that can tell a story in 30 seconds, plus you learn to edit and add music, graphics and sound effects”

Barry’s based his decision to move into children’s television on the work being ‘fun’, making the decision easy for him. With more freedom and the ability to work with some well-known IP (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Scooby Doo) it would set barry on a path to become a stand out in the children’s TV sector.

The BBC:

Coming back to the UK and having spent a period working for Disney, Barry went to work for one of the leading kid’s TV producers in the UK – BBC. Barry joined the BBC as an in-house development producer – the role Barry credits for bringing together everything he had learnt from his time in the industry. Barry’s role entailed creating bigger and more commercial ideas for Cbeebies, enabling him to work with some amazing talent and develop or create a whole range of content from puppets, magazine shows and animation.

Barry’s proudest moment came when he received a call in the Atlas mountains informing him his first commission for Cebeebies called Nuzzle and Scratch had been picked up – a puppet show featuring two slacker alpacas.

Barry spent 15 years working for the broadcasting giant, in his time building up a plethora of incredible work that he either created, co-created or produced, including top-rating CBeebies shows: ‘Go Jetters’, ‘Kerwhizz’, ‘The Numtums’ and ‘Furchester Hotel’

The Lime Recruitment Process:

In late 2021, Lime Pictures came to Searchlight looking for help to find a new Animation Producer. This is when Cathy (MD for Searchlight) found Barry and immediately saw his potential for the role.

This new and exciting role aligned well with Barry’s previous and extensive experience within the industry. The new role would also provide an opportunity to develop his skills further and push Barry’s potential. The more he considered his options the decision became easier – we discussed how he found the process:

“Cathy approached me and talked me through the role, guiding me through the process, along with setting up meetings with Lime. It made the whole process very easy!”

Life at Lime:

Although the decision to leave the BBC did not come easily, Barry had been with BBC for 15 plus years and felt a change was needed. Barry has only been with Lime Pictures for a short while now but has already managed to sink his teeth into the new role, becoming a vital team member.

Projects Barry is working on he is excited to share with the world. Unfortunately, Barry is unable to share with us details of his upcoming projects, as the projects are under tight wrap. Barry can tell us, however, that the projects are heavily ambitious and like nothing he has ever worked on before.

Barry has a lot to look forward to with his time at Lime Pictures, we chatted about what he is hoping for in his time with the company:

“Just to be able to work on such ambitious and exciting content, it feels like a real step up from what I was doing before and it’s great to be doing something different.”

Advice For Aspiring Media Workers:

Barry has picked up a deep set of knowledge during his career – we briefly spoke about advice for those looking to break into the industry:

“Try a bit of everything, all skills are transferrable, and it’s good to change jobs and embrace change, it really can reenergize you, sometimes opportunities arise that you should go for!”

Wrapping Up:

We hope you enjoyed reading this interview with Animation Producer for Lime Pictures, Barry Quinn. It was great hearing from Barry about his years of experience in the industry, going from strength to strength. We’re certain he will have a huge impact during his time at Lime Pictures.

We love catching up with the candidates we place. Being able to hear about Barry’s plans in his new role makes the work we do even more rewarding.