Happy Hour Productions was formed in 1999 by Tom George. Happy Hour was initially designed as a creative outlet for Bristol based film makers in the production of short films, music promos, and independent film & animation projects.

Over the years, that remit has grown to include tv / cinema commercials, corporate films and animation productions. In 2003, Happy Hour became a limited company, with Colin Gardiner joining the directorship of the company.

Since then, Happy Hour has focused on TV commercials and high-end corporate film production. We find this work tremendously rewarding. Being able to apply feature film production quality to TV, video and animation based projects gives us a real sense of satisfaction as film makers. It is in our interest to provide our clients with the best 'production value' possible for their projects.

What do we mean by 'production value'?
The perceived value of the production on screen, compared to actual monetary value. For example, if a particular TV commercial has a budget of £80k, we can make it look double that! Looks good for us, and looks good for you.

How do we do that?

Although we also have a base in London, this is one of the reasons we produce from our Bristol production office.

Bristol is arguably the UK's second city for TV production. The facility houses are among the best in the country, the creative crew and technicians we work with also work for the 'soho' London companies, as do our set build partners. Our directors are all award winners...in a nutshell, part of the reason we can provide high end productions at lower cost is our location (and we are in the nice part of Bristol!). Likewise the facilities and crew don't charge London weighting or rates, so we work with the same talent for less cost...The rest of the savings are down to good producing!

And why the name 'Happy Hour Productions'...?

Well, we do get asked that a lot...to cut a long story short, Tom directed a play in 1997, in Derby, entitled 'Unsuitable for Adults' (by Terry Johnson). The play was set in a pub, hence the company took the name Happy Hour Theatre...and the name just kind of stuck when we started making short films & commercials.

Ultimately, we want to make people happy for at least an hour at a time, and we are great fun to work with!

If you are still reading this...well then, frankly we are amazed...don't you have work to do?