TECH Racoon takes on Meryl McLaren as commercial director

Racoon has appointed Meryl McLaren as commercial director. She will support the growth of the post-production business and work with the founders on the development of the Racoon platform, which is due for release later this year.

McLaren joins Racoon from Gravity Media, where she oversaw its post-production and broadcast rental offering and worked within the leadership team to grow the business, including the launch of its Manchester production centre in May 2022.

Previously, McLaren worked as commercial manager at BBC Studioworks, delivering studio and post-production services to a wide range of productions. She was integral to the relaunch of the studios at Television Centre in 2017 and ITV Daytime’s move to White City in 2018.

Racoon centralises all the services offered by a traditional post facility and delivers them wherever they are needed – at home, in Soho facilities, in clients’ offices and on location. It was set up by former employees of The Farm Group, including David ‘Klaf’ Klafkowski and Charlotte Layton.

Layton said: “I am delighted to be reunited with Meryl (and Dill the dog) and am looking forward to reigniting the brilliant dynamic we forged when we previously worked together. Meryl will be an integral part of the team. Racoon’s momentum is gathering pace and we can’t wait to share the fruits of our endeavours.”

McLaren added: “I’m thrilled to join the incredibly talented team at Racoon and to support our customers to plan and execute brilliant work with flexibility and within budget.”

Klaf said: “It’s great to welcome Meryl on board, her wealth of industry experience and in depth knowledge of production practices and personalities brings even greater strength to our game changing team.”