"Alison Butler is a brilliant designer. She has incredible instincts for character, tone, bold expression where necessary and forensic detail in all things. She is above all a collaborator, listening to a director's wishes, hearing the needs of a DOP but always able to hold her own vision in tact. She is the kind of person you want to go to work and meet and have coffee with and discuss all things related to the project and everything else besides. Her untiring ability to try everything, work at everything until the very best solution is found, all with a superb sense of humour, make working with Alison a complete joy."
Director: Coky Giedroyc 'Save Me Too'.
"Alison is a fantastic designer. Completely unflappable, generous and always able to find a creative solution no matter the scenario. Her eye for colour, pattern and overall design is distinctive and elevated. She was incredibly collaborative, an energy that permeated throughout her whole team. I recommend her highly and definitely want to work with her again in the future."
Director: Vanessa Caswill 'Gold Digger'
"Alison came onboard Save Me Too, the second series of Lennie James's BAFTA-nominated drama, in 2019. From the off I was absolutely delighted by the love and originality she gave to the show. Second series are often challenging for the need to remain truthful to the established world while also being dedicated to innovating further. Alison was serious and meticulous about returning to where we'd been while also creating bold, ambitious new places that were entirely her own, inspired vision. On a day to day level she was a joy to work with: sunny and collaborative and always able to walk that most difficult of lines, integrity of vision and pragmatism of production. There was something in every single scene which reminded me just how lucky we were to have her."
Producer: Lizzie Rusbridger 'Save Me Too'
"It was a real joy working with Alison. We collaborated very closely, and explored and developed our visual plan together - and Alison was able to bring it to fruition brilliantly. We had the usual challenges of budget and time of course, but I always had more to work with than I could ever have really hoped for - we were able to do much bigger shots than we had the right to. The world of the film never felt compromised, only enhanced with great imagination and skill, allied to brilliant lateral thinking. Nothing was ever too much trouble, Alison kept going - pushing the film to be as good as it could be. And all with a steady focus and a great sense of humour. Can't wait 'til next time."
Director: Jim Loach 'Endeavour'
"The Morse universe enters the heart of the Swinging Sixties... The design team earn their corn tonight with some impeccable sets and mocked-up band posters." The Times Newspaper 14/01/17.
"Alison worked incredibly hard under very limited resources to produce some excellent work. Not only did she invest huge amounts of time and effort to realise our Director's vision, she went above and beyond what was required. The end result was something we were visually very proud of, and Alison's contribution was enormous."
Ally Gipps Producer, Warp Films
"On a film like Cherry Tree Lane it was so important to get the look of the entire piece exactly right. We had a very short period of time to shoot and with only one location to film everything, it was so important that the production design contributed to the overall cinematic feel of the film.
Alison and her team, were fully on board from the offset, totally committed and there to offer great creative solutions as well as being independent and strong enough to take things in a direction that suited the film as a whole. Extremely brilliant."
Paul Andrew Williams Director, Steel Mill Pictures
“Allie’s designs are always imaginative and creative, she’s also very easy to work with and a great member of any production team... And she laughs a lot... Usually at me..... "
Will Brenton Director, Wish Films
"Alison Butler created a stylishly shabby Walford, inside and out, for the internationally award winning show EastEnders: E20. She provided our young four lead characters with a playground for parties, for love and for drama that looked urban, authentic and cool on screen. Allie is a bold designer - a great team player, and a fabulous person to have on a shoot. Every production should have an Allie Butler."
Deborah Sathe Producer, E20
"Alison is a hard-working and conscientious production designer, who knows all about the pressures facing a small-budget production and offers creative solutions. You never hear the words "no" or "can't" from Allie, but she'll find a way to imaginatively deliver what you need in a way that suits the limitations of your budget. Plus she's lovely, so it's a win-win situation for a Producer!"
Michael Towner Producer, CBeebies
"I first met Alison on the feature film ‘Cherry Tree Lane’ which she was the designer on and was very lucky to have her design my second short film.
Alison has the great ability to not only think in terms of space and design, but to get under the skin of the characters. Her questions in pre-production had a huge impact on the detail and finessing of our production design and I couldn’t recommend her more highly. She has an amazing eye and attitude and is now also a great friend."
Kerinne Jenkins Director, Steel Mill Pictures
