RESIDENCE, the director-in-residence initiative that aims to bring underrepresented voices into the commercial production community, announced today (1/18) that it will expand beyond Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GS&P) in 2023. Founded by Jennifer “JP” Patterson while she was at GS&P, RESIDENCE will become an independent organization based in Los Angeles with the mission of serving the broader ad community.
This evolution allows RESIDENCE to work with more brands and agencies and broaden its mission to create brand storytelling opportunities for historically underrepresented filmmakers, as well as to ensure authenticity in brand messaging earlier on in the creative process.
RESIDENCE’s inaugural cohort launched in 2022 with 12 directors, all of whom completed the three-month curriculum and were also put forward for paid GS&P-client projects, including films for Capri Sun, Sam Adams and the Smithsonian.
“This program was a huge success and, in many ways, exceeded my expectations,” said Patterson. “Brands have a responsibility to tell stories representative of the communities we live in. I love the spirit of innovation we’re seeing in the industry right now, and it is the right time to scale the program to the next level and widen our connections to more brand and agency partners. It’s a dream to steward and lead a program that empowers underrepresented talent.”
Jeff Goodby, co-founder and co-chairman of GS&P, shared, “We were so proud to partner with JP to launch RESIDENCE at GS&P. We soon realized the program is much too big an idea for GS&P to house exclusively. RESIDENCE has the potential to remake the industry for the better, and we know it has to grow beyond our walls in order to effect real change.”
With the upcoming launch of RESIDENCE’s second cohort in 2023, Patterson is focusing on creating bespoke programs for brands and curating director talent to meet the briefs that grow out of those programs. Patterson is currently in talks with partners for 2023 and plans to launch this new cohort of directors in the spring. FREE THE WORK was the inaugural-class launch partner and is now collaborating with Patterson on director selection for the upcoming class, and program opportunities.
“JP is empowering underrepresented filmmakers in new ways, creating a model for change,” added Margaret Johnson, chief creative officer of GS&P. “We look forward to watching RESIDENCE scale in order to overcome the important challenges this industry faces in advancing underrepresented filmmakers.”
To learn more about RESIDENCE, Patterson can be contacted here.
