A brighter way to amplify your communications.

More than a decade ago, we began writing industry news and content for businesses in the entertainment technology sector. Since then our content has been used to elevate our clients’ profiles and communication channels both online and in print worldwide.

Experts in all creative

Today, the Fifth Estate's full-time team of creative content producers continues to supply businesses with engaging and relevant news, blogs and articles alongside photography, podcasts and video for websites, e-marketing, newsletters, social media and print.

Connected

Not only that but our social media marketing expertise helps clients further build and share their brands online.

Brand Focused

Content is the voice of your brand so it's important to give it the focus it requires. Creating engaging relevant content consistently through established processes is what we do. And, it's what will take your brand from good to great in today's busy communication environment.

Who We Are

Sarah Rushton-Read

Team member
Sarah Rushton-Read
Founder
Founder Sarah Rushton-Read is no stranger to shining light on the dark and illuminating the picture with focused accuracy. For many years she was a production and stagemanager, beginning at The Holland Park Theatre before studying for an HND in Electronic Engineering in Theatre Lighting & Sound. This led directly to a full-time job in the lighting department of The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, while Sarah’s passion for lighting design saw her touring with Pimlico Opera among many other productions. She lit an award-winning garden for Merrill Lynch at The Chelsea Flower Show, and took up key lighting management appointments at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Vari*Lite and Studio 23 before expanding her horizons in journalism and production management. Beginning with its very first event 10 years ago, Sarah was a judge for the annual Knight of Illumination Awards for outstanding achievement in lighting and video design for theatre, concert touring and television. She then became the awards’ Chair of Concert Touring & Events, organizing the other judges and liaising with all the leading designers in this sector. Quite naturally, five years ago The Fifth Estate began producing and organizing the event, one of the most prestigious occasions on the industry calendar. While continuing to shape the success of these Awards - The Fifth Estate is a prime mover behind the scenes every year - Sarah has for the last eight years supported and promoted the progress of women in this male-dominated industry through the auspices of Women In Stage Entertainment (WISE), an organization set up with lighting designer Paule Constable in the true spirit of challenging the status quo. In fact, there’s little doubt that had Sarah been around in the Tudor Court, Elizabeth the First would have played lead guitar in the band. Today Sarah sees The Fifth Estate as a consultancy that can link the industry and the media together and shine a light on the future for everyone - boardroom and broadcast, warehouse and web site, factory and front page.

Lee Baldock

Team member
Lee Baldock
Apart from marshalling the complex inputs and outputs of the leading monthly title Lighting & Sound International (and its daily news website LSIonline) as Editor for 13years, in this position Lee couldn’t help but generate a deep groundswell of trust and admiration among the captains of the entertainment technology industry. His roll call of confidantes ranged from CEOs to sound engineers, from crew leaders to lighting gurus, and all the decision makers that matter from here to Sydney Opera House. Given that LSi is published by the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA), it was inevitable that Lee’s grasp of the media became a forceful conduit to the business success of its members. His understanding of the publicity needs of the many andvarious organizations within entertainment technology became finely tuned to everyone’s best interests - including readers and advertisers, frequently a tricky bridge to cross. Lee is particularly acclimatized to the intimacy of the trade media sector, especially having in his undergraduate days worked briefly (as a security guard) at The Daily Mail, where he saw just enough to grasp the advantages of avoiding the mainstream printed press. “Serving a specific trade with highly targeted publications creates a special rapport with the people in it, one that simply doesn’t exist elsewhere in the media. In the role of mediating between them that I now have, I’m grateful for it every day.”

Andrew Organ

Team member
Andrew Organ
The Fifth Estate got Andy on board to grow the Knight of Illumination Awards. With over 15 years experience in specialist publishing and events, he’s got a strong track record of building up magazine and event brands and first stumbled into the entertainment technology world in 2015 when he started working with Lee Baldock as the Commercial Manager of LSi magazine. After building up revenue across PLASA media EU, he was swiftly promoted to manage the PLASA events and media sales teams. Andy’s other passion is music and sound technology. TV and film credits included music for 'The Sopranos', 'Six Feet Under', 'Equinox', 'Top Gear', 'Nowt as Queer as Folk', numerous TV adverts. Also released many albums under via indie labels in UK, US, Japan and across Europe.

Georgia Rushton-Read

Team member
Georgia Rushton-Read
Georgia Rushton-Read combines account management with photography at The Fifth Estate, and really gets her teeth into the old pixels when capturing the essence of her clients’ achievements at a dizzying array of live performances and events that really flash the bulbs. She also manages the revolving door of talented freelancers as they fly around the country doing the same, making sure that no detail is missed from the burgeoning portfolio. She has a degree in English & Creative Writing and devoted five years to helping the charity Rape Crisis build up its vital training and documentation. She also grew up on the road, as Sarah’s daughter, and not even having a flight-case as a cot has dented her enthusiasm for gigging.

Genevieve Phythian

Team member
Genevieve Phythian
Genevieve Phythian completed her apprenticeship in Creative Digital Media and slotted perfectly into The Fifth Estate jigsaw puzzle. Her NCTJ in Multimedia Journalism and Online Social Media Marketing Diploma equally gear her up for the front line of innovative content creation for the agency, where the skills of authentic reporting are not lost in a maze of tweets. Somehow she still has time for digital graphic design, and takes care of the social media strategy so crucial today for the fevered attention that surrounds the lighting and video industry’s unchallenged annual highlight: The Knight of Illumination Awards.

Who We Work With

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