What’s the impact of the pandemic on you, your company, your approach to doing business in the future? What practices emerged that you will continue even as restrictions are loosening?
The impact of the pandemic is that we all had to change the way we do business. But like any good production challenge we figured out a new way forward to get our jobs done. Remote everything is going to stick around but not for everything I think.
How has the call for equity, racial and social justice affected, honed or influenced your sense of responsibility as a company in terms of the content you create and/or your commitment to opening up opportunities for filmmaking talent from underrepresented backgrounds?
When you are diverse in everything you do, you tell more truthful stories. And that lifts everyone up because it’s what the world is.
What’s the biggest takeaway or lessons learned from work (please identify the project) you were involved in that was or is in the running for current awards season consideration (i.e., Emmys, Cannes Lions, etc.)?
As much as I don’t want to admit it, I think we learned that sometimes the shortest most unrealistic deadlines can actually be beneficial in the decision process. Facebook gave us a really good challenge and we made a lot of work in a short amount of time.
While gazing into the crystal ball is a tricky proposition, we nonetheless ask you for any forecast you have relative to content creation and/or the creative and/or business climate for the second half of 2021 and beyond.
The content furnace burns pretty strong. It is going to need feeding constantly.
What are your goals, creatively speaking and/or from a business standpoint, for your company, division, studio or network in 2021?
Having joined Cartwright just over a year ago I am excited to see our growth and trajectory. We are ambitious, smart and want to make great work.
What trends, developments or issues would you point to thus far in 2021 as being most significant, perhaps carrying implications for the rest of the year and beyond?
Remote production has certainly made us question the way we do everything. We cannot lose site of the craft that goes into telling great stories. So let’s interrogate everything we changed this last year and then make sure we actually need it or use it.
What work (advertising, entertainment)–your own or others–struck a responsive chord with you and/or was the most effective creatively and/or strategically so far this year? Does any work stand out to you in terms of meshing advertising and entertainment?
To be honest – this last year I have loved and needed all of the comedy the industry has made. We just finished some comedic work for YouTube TV that felt very satisfying to put out into the world.
