CEO
PluckStudio
What’s the most relevant business and/or creative lesson you learned in 2020 and how will you apply it to 2021?
Two words: kindness and agility. Being kind matters- one can get entranced by the thrum of production. It’s easy to forget we’re all going through stuff. People and kindness need to come first. Agility means finding ways to create when the old ways fail. Personally, I am hoping that 2021 brings more kindness. I’m pretty sure the new year will continue to require more agility.
How will the events of 2020–from the pandemic to the call for social and racial justice–impact the content you create and/or the way you work?
First, the pandemic. PluckStudio officially launched in 2020. We got to do exactly one live-action production in New York, then the world went into quarantine. But one client told us they had our back and they helped keep us afloat with projects throughout the year. And I’ll tell you something, I’m hearing the same sort of story from several agency owners. It was a terrible year, but it was also a year where kindness happened.
Second, social and racial justice. I think 2020 showed us that we can all do better. Our little crew of creatives is already a diverse group. But I want PluckStudio to do better and that means more than making sure you’re ticking diversity boxes. This year I did a lot of thinking, which led to a manifesto of sorts about who we are and what we stand for. We plan on using this to strengthen our DNA and focus our efforts in 2021 and beyond.
Gazing into your crystal ball, what do you envision for the industry–creatively speaking or from a business standpoint–in 2021?
To be successful the industry needs to keep changing- to be more agile, transparent, and kind. I don’t think we’re going back to the way things were. At PluckStudio, we’re putting a lot of love into our new 3D animation and VFX capabilities, because those are pandemic-resistant lines of business. We’re embracing virtual production and remote production. We were already great at doing more with smaller, more focused teams. We were already about radical transparency. And we were founded as a “people first” kind of organization. This is the way.
What are your goals, creatively speaking and/or from a business standpoint, for your company, division, studio or network in 2021?
PluckStudio is now at a point where we do not need to chase every lead that comes our way. We are looking for clients who fit, both culturally and creatively. We’re not afraid of saying no, but we love to say yes. In addition to our commercial work, we’ll be launching new entertainment properties this year as we build our brand. Most of all, I want us to grow wisely and with intention in 2021.
Tell us about one current project you are working on for early 2021.
We are currently working on several projects, from in-house creative development to new client productions.
How did your company, agency, network, service or studio adjust/adapt to the marketplace in 2020 (new strategies, resources, technology, health/safety expertise) and what of all that bodes well for 2021?
2020 was a dumpster fire, and anyone who says differently is to be considered untrustworthy. Things that hurt: turning down commercial work because certain agencies wanted us to do things that were not safe in a pandemic. Watching several brands turn their video marketing off as they hunkered down. Most of all, the constant weight from the realization that so many of our beloved friends in the industry were hurting- especially actors and crew- when production got shut down. Yet, there was some good in the year: we realized that we did not want PluckStudio to be yet another generic production factory. We launched an animation unit! We created a holiday teaser film for “Duck & Snowman’s Christmas Adventure” that almost half a million kids watched. Overall, 2020 forced us to think differently and act with intention.
What’s your New Year’s resolution, creatively speaking or from a business standpoint, for your agency, department or company?
My resolution is simple: to be more kind, more agile, and more grateful. To help where I can. To align with like-minded helpers. And to celebrate the good days and the good relationships we have. 2020 taught us these are precious. Finally, to drink more wine and eat more chocolate.
The Gardening.club. Grows AI Talent Roster
The Gardening.club., the sister company to production house The Sweetshop, has assembled a lineup of eight new artificial intelligence (AI) artists. The ensemble of talent looks to redefine storytelling by fusing cutting-edge AI with human creativity. The Gardening.club.’s guiding rule is that AI is never just a substitute; it must enhance and expand creative vision.
The fresh cohort of AI artists will bring an extra dimension to the work already championed by futurist Tomas Roope, co-founder of The Gardening.club, along with AI artist and co-founder Jacqui Kenny whose collaborative projects with brands like Gucci, Google, OpenAI and Louis Vuitton have impacted both the art and commercial worlds.
Melanie Bridge, co-founder and CEO of The Sweetshop and co-Founder of The Gardening.club,, said, “We’ve made it our mission to unearth the world’s top AI artists—it was a mandate for us that each would be a brilliant storyteller with a unique voice. It was also crucial that their body of work demonstrated not only artistic vision but would seamlessly translate into the commercial world. It’s not common to see this level of mastery in AI artistry, and we believe our roster of eight represents the very best out there today.
Bridge continued, “We have also been working hard with copyright lawyers worldwide to develop a comprehensive system of protocols, that ensure we can confidently use AI in our commercial projects--we are very proud of this and believe it to be an industry first.”
Joining The Gardening.club are a group of talented artists who have already made waves as storytellers in the AI art world--Kenny, Floam World, Nathan Boey, Ethereal Moon, Junie Lau, Aashay Singh, YZA Voku, and KEZIAI. These artists’ backgrounds are... Read More