Monique Needham
Narrative Director and storyteller based in London. Getting to the root of what you're really trying to say.
What I’ve noticed
Feel familiar?
Twenty years. One instinct.
Content is everywhere. Everyone is posting every day, all the time. It feels like we post just to keep up with the Joneses. Yes, there's a time to be reactive, but if you want to really connect with people and not be forgotten, we have to go deeper. Content that's rooted in something real, not just something fast. That's the difference between being seen and actually being remembered.
If you're trying to get to the root of your story, whether that's your whole brand or one campaign, I'm your person. You might be a founder who's never quite had the space to articulate what your brand actually stands for. You might be a team working in house or at an agency, about to launch a campaign or commission a creative piece of work and need to figure out what you're really trying to say here. This is where my narrative experience could be useful.
This isn't brand strategy or production. It sits in between. It's narrative development revealing the heart of the story, whatever you're building.
I started in unscripted television, on shows including Come Dine With Me and Big Brother, finding the true, human moment inside something unplanned and shaping it into a story people wanted to watch.
Every step since has been the same instinct, on bigger stages. Brand storytelling for Apple and Samsung. A live streamed London Fashion Week show for Burberry. Short films for M&M's and Warner Bros. A film for a charity that needed one true human story to explain their work.
Different rooms, different budgets. Same goal. Get to the root and the story comes alive.
Latest Project
HOMAGE
Client: HCEO x Media Trust
A short film marking 40 years of the Hackney Caribbean Elderly Organisation, made to help them win funding and support across London.
The easy story: meet the members, show what the centre does. The true story was more interesting. These aren't just community members. They're the generation that contributed to building modern Britain. This centre is one of the few places where homage is paid.
One member in particular, Dorothy, carried that truth for the whole film.
"We gave all our heart to England, which we heard was our mother country."
Funders don't remember a case for support. They remember a person.