The thinking comes before the cameras
We're The Bakery, a communications consultancy run by Simon and Stacey Baker. We help organisations build and keep the trust of the people their work affects, starting with advice, and directing video if it's the right solution. That way of working comes from documentary filmmaking, applied to the kinds of complex situations most agencies wouldn't know where to start with.
How we got here
The Bakery started in Byron Bay in December 2014 as a production company. Our first clients were Autism Spectrum Australia, Aruma's Summerland Farm and Riding for the Disabled NSW, and the work was documentary from the start: real people, unscripted, talking about things that mattered to them.
Over a decade of making films for organisations in difficult situations, we learned that the films that worked were decided long before the camera arrived. They were decided in conversations about what was true, who should say it and who needed to hear it. That thinking turned out to be the most valuable thing we did.
So now we start there. Sometimes the answer is a film, and we direct it. Sometimes it isn't, and we say so.
Some situations end at the announcement. Ours don't.
Before we take on any work, we ask one question: is this situation transactional or continuing?
Transactional means the relationship ends at the exchange. A product launch, a brand film, a recruitment campaign. The message lands, everyone moves on, and nobody has to keep trusting anybody afterwards. Plenty of good agencies do that work well.
Continuing means the organisation can't walk away from its audience. The community stays. The workforce stays. The regulator certainly stays. What you say has to survive years of scrutiny, not just land well in the week it goes out.
Two things tell us which one we're looking at. Is the matter genuinely unresolved, so you can't fully control how it lands? And do the people watching have something real at stake, as neighbours, employees or communities who live with the consequences? When both are true, it's our kind of work, whatever the sector. A hospital network explaining service changes fits. A brand refresh usually doesn't, even in a sector we know well.
It's also why we put real people at the centre. A community that has learned to expect spin can tell a scripted spokesperson from someone with a stake in the outcome. People don't trust polish. They trust people.
What we don't do.
We don't do crisis communications or reactive PR. By the time a crisis arrives, the trust was needed six months earlier. We work in that earlier window, so crises are less likely and do less damage when they come.
We're not a general video production company, and we don't compete on price for commodity video. If you already know exactly what you want made and just need it shot, a production company will do it well and for less.
Who you'll be working with
Simon Baker, Co-founder & Director.
Simon came to The Bakery from broadcast and editorial work, and has spent more than fifteen years making documentary and strategic content for organisations in complex situations. He leads the Narrative Brief and directs every film we make, because finding the right voices and getting someone to say something true on camera is the part we never hand over.
Stacey Baker, Co-founder.
Stacey produced and production-managed large-scale theatre in the UK and Australia before co-founding The Bakery. She runs how an engagement actually works: scoping, scheduling, consent and the many people a shoot depends on.
When a project needs more hands, we bring in trusted crews and editors who work to our standard and under our direction.
Based in Brisbane
The Bakery started in Byron Bay in 2014, and we worked with Brisbane clients from early on. After six years based in Tasmania, we moved to Brisbane in October 2025. We work across Queensland, and nationally when the situation calls for it. We still work with clients in Tasmania and northern New South Wales.
Queensland is full of the situations we're built for. Energy and infrastructure projects heading into consultation. Councils and state agencies changing services people rely on. Hospitals and aged care providers explaining decisions that land on families. Each one plays out over years, in front of people who aren't going anywhere.
Being here also means we can be in the room. The Narrative Brief works best in person, and from Brisbane we can get to most of South East Queensland the same day.
How we work in Queensland
Start with a conversation
Most clients begin with a Narrative Brief: half a day on your situation, and a written direction your leadership team can act on. If you'd rather talk first, that's fine too.
Book a Narrative Brief · Start a conversationNot sure yet? Take The Situation Readiness Score. It takes about five minutes.