1) Every moment of every day counts. And there’s just never quite enough time. Thus, we choose our moments thoughtfully, work to improve our ability to tell stories and with the amazing tools we have at our fingertips; try to improve the human condition, all while challenging ourselves constantly and consistently, and have some fun and laugh a bit along the way.
2) The production company model is ever evolving and adapting; we are an active part of this story and continue to find our best narrative here. Obviously, brands are looking for a lot of different creative solutions from their media suppliers and we are diligently working with them to find the smartest ways to communicate, meet their rising, varied expectations while also entertaining our audiences. Our integrated production model lends itself well to this ask in that there are a lot of jobs out there presently that look for complete one-stop solutions, i.e. Production/Creative, Animation, Post, Audio, Design, GFX/VFX and then combined with Motion/Print/Social/Digital/Varying Format Deliverables, Mobile, Interactive, VR/AR, etc. This is all a big part of our landscape today and our robust offerings and intellect are tested daily.
Further, I started on the AICP Board in 2018 and have some strong ideas about what the future production company/agency/client model might look like and what we can do to continue to strengthen the independent production community moving forward. I have been a part of the independent production side from day one and fully committed to leaving the community in better shape than when I started – clearly, no easy task, but it seems that we can do this if we become more united and also change things up a bit.
4) We literally just finished our charity: water, charity: ball gala, 360 experiential project (working in tandem with TRADEMARK). We locked our case study film last night and look forward to sharing it now with our clients and friends (and maybe a judge or two). 360 technology and immersive VR/AR experiences are truly at their infancy and we are plowing forward. It reminds me a bit of the early stages of CGI production when we would wait for hours to render one single frame. The charity: water gala offered an opportunity to design a film that immersed an audience in a 360 shared experience that mimicked the way in which the Ethiopian villagers surround a drilling rig and well. The manifestation was The Halo, a bespoke 276’ x 20-foot, 40,000 pound circular LED screen that surrounded guests at the SF Armory. Each guest had an iPad with an app that allowed them to contribute during multiple giving moments through a live auction. A custom back-end server tracked and tallied donations on the LED screen. The gala raised more than $7M, enough to fund more than 500 clean water projects in Ethiopia and operate a new drilling rig and crew for the next 6 years.
6) We are investing in people. Last summer we opened a Los Angeles office with two amazing creative executive producers Taylor Ferguson and Erin Tauscher. They are the absolute best and I just feel fortunate to be able to work side by side with them each and every day. Then, just recently here, we added NY EP Mark Kovacs who is also such a solid production person and complements all that we do and has amazing energy and life for our business model. We are going for it in 2019, building up our small family/army/team, and ready to embrace all that our clients are consistently presenting. I like to say ‘yes’ first, let’s take the risk; let’s do the job and let the art and the creativity lead, trust one another, stay focused on the work, and deliver.
