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?
Remote shooting, editing, VFX, color, and mix is here to stay. Maybe not to the degree we’re implementing it now. But you’ll see more clients and agency personnel joining shoots and sessions for some time to come. It’s a great benefit in allowing people to train and mentor while getting involved in the process from afar. On the postproduction end, we’ve taken this time to create editorial and animation tools using proprietary software to automate real time optimization of asset creation. This allows us to move more quickly in the social space giving clients the ammunition to adjust on the fly based on real time results.
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?
We’ve used this opportunity to course-correct our hiring process by turning to action. This includes our process at Deutsch NY, but also how we hire on the outside – with regard to directors, photographers, animators, illustrators, colorists and editors. We’re not just talking about change, we’re doing it. And tracking it. In the past year over 50% of our jobs have been awarded to people of color, women or the LGBTQ+ community. We are proud members of the Double the Line, Change the Lens and Free the Work initiatives – all bringing more awarded work to these underrepresented groups.
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.)?
We’re proud of all the work we’ve done on behalf of all of our clients during this trying time. But one piece that stands out is the work we’ve done for AB in collaboration with Lionel Messi. It responded to a hot cultural topic and gave the fans a message they craved for from an iconic star.
BUDWEISER CROWNS LIONEL MESSI THE UNDISPUTED KING OF FOOTBALL AFTER RECORD BREAKING 644TH GOAL WITH BARCELONA – Deutsch New York Creates Film + Marketing Effort in Recognition of The King of Football
Video Source: YouTube
What are your goals, creatively speaking and/or from a business standpoint, for your company, division, studio or network in 2021?
We’ve recently started a division of Great Machine for hiring and managing the influencer and digital creator relationship. We now have a stable of creators at our finger tips creating content at a fraction of the cost we’ve been accustomed to. They’re experts in the ins-and-outs of internet culture including platform specific features, influential partners, discovering/unveiling new trends, and exploring emerging platforms. These relationships have proven to be invaluable in helping us redefine how we produce social.
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?
Social, social, social. It lives at the forefront of our briefs. Real, authentic, messaging that’s culturally relevant is what our clients’ social fanbase is seeking. In this space, you must put speed over finesse, real over produced, and platform-specific over adapted. Craft has been redefined. There are now many ways to bring an idea to life. It’s our jobs to find that custom solution each time
