By Robert Goldrich

Executive producer Persis Koch is VP of Humble, an integrated content studio which has diversified into features on both the documentary and narrative fronts–the former being the Adam Hootnick-directed Son of the Congo which premiered at last month’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival and is scheduled to air on ESPN next week. Humble and ESPN’s Grantland teamed to produce Son of the Congo which chronicles NBA star Serge Ibaka as he returns to his native Congo to inspire his neighborhood and the next generation of basketball hopefuls.

Humble is also producing the alluded to narrative feature The Saint of the Impossible from roster director Marc Raymond Wilkins. Overall, Humble’s plan is to work with both its own directors as they pursue feature-length projects, as well as independent filmmakers who are looking for Humble’s end-to-end production and post support.

Beyond its feature filmmaking exploits, Humble has expanded by acquiring one company, Paranoid US, and launching another, Postal. Paranoid US was named one of the world’s most-awarded production companies in 2014 by The Gunn Report (Paranoid L.A. and Sao Paulo, Brazil, teamed to rank #6 globally). Paranoid’s executive producers Claude Letessier and Dawn Fanning Moore have joined Humble’s executive team, bringing directors Thierry Poiraud, Nieto, Francois Vogel, Planktoon, and Peter Szewczyk. Moore will be based in Humble’s Los Angeles office while Letessier will split time between L.A. and Paris, planning a future European outpost for Humble.

Humble has also rolled out sister company Postal. Humble, which has always offered full production and post services, is breaking out VFX and post under the Postal banner, which will have its own directorial roster and in-house artists focusing on VFX-, animation-, and design-driven projects, in addition to supporting Humble projects and delivering VFX and post for third-party projects. Postal will be led by executive producer Andrea Theodore, who previously spent four years as Humble’s head of production. Postal’s directorial roster will include Hydra, David Rosenbaum, and Kris Merc–as well as Planktoon and Szewczyk from Paranoid.

Koch oversees Humble and Postal. Throughout her career, she has been involved in all aspects of production. A Boston native, Koch studied at Tulane before migrating to Los Angeles, producing music videos for labels from Atlantic to Warner Brothers. From there, she worked in post on television shows The Practice and Boston Legal, and was promoted to post supervisor on Grey’s Anatomy before advancing to the role of producer at a boutique L.A. advertising agency. In 2009, Koch returned to the East, joining Humble as head of production. Since 2011 she’s been an executive producer and was recently promoted to VP.

SHOOT: What prompted Humble’s expansion into feature-length fare and what drew you to Son of the Congo as the project to put that company diversification into motion?

Koch: Humble has always been a content creation studio, interested in storytelling at the core.  As we grow, our intention is to continue to curate our roster around that fact. All of our directors have original content projects that they are interested in developing, and Humble has always been interested in hearing about these projects and supporting them in any way we can. However, until now we have never had a true initiative to engage in them as it wasn’t our core business and we were still in a position of establishing ourselves within the advertising and commercial production community. We are in a different position now and our old pipe dream is becoming a reality: Humble actually creating, pitching, and producing original content. Whether branded or not, documentary, episodic scripted or whatever length, this was a world we wanted to get into and something we all as filmmakers felt passionate about.

Over the past three years, Sam (Stephens, Humble’s ECD) and I had been pushing Humble more and more into the original content space. Sam’s animated short, Tumbleweed Tango, got some great traction on the festival circuit, we’d written and produced some great longer form branded content, and I was looking for the next, bigger thing to sink our teeth into. When Adam (director Hootnick) brought Son of the Congo to us, I knew right away that it had the potential to be something very cool and worth taking a risk on. We didn’t know exactly how the story was going to unfold and we weren’t sure if it would ever make money, but we knew that Adam was an impactful storyteller and that Serge Ibaka’s history and journey to the NBA was inspiring and worth sharing.

SHOOT: How did you connect with director Adam Hootnick? Is he someone you will also be representing in the commercial/branded content space?

Koch: Our NY head of production, Elizabeth Durkee, introduced me to Adam. She had met him at an industry party and came into the office the next day and told me, you need to meet this guy. We met a few weeks later and I think we sat and talked for almost two hours. Adam was interested in getting some commercial work and I was interested in all the other original content work he had been involved in. Adam is a very talented director, with a diverse background of education and experience. He’s socially conscious, and wants to tell stories that have an impact. He’s really just an incredible human being, and after that meeting I knew I wanted to work with him in some capacity so we agreed to keep in touch.

Adam had worked with ESPN previously, and when they approached him about going to the Congo with Serge Ibaka to tell Serge’s story, Adam asked me if Humble would consider producing it. We jumped at the chance. We do not represent Adam at this point in time, but we are definitely in communication about other potential projects we could work on together.

SHOOT: What were the biggest creative/logistical challenges that Son of the Congo posed to Humble?

Koch: One of the biggest logistical challenges was trying to prep for the project in just two weeks from when it came in the door. Serge was only going to be in the Congo for 10 days, and the days were set–so we were battling the clock trying to prep for a job and also budget and get it awarded at the same time. The crew had to get visas and immunizations, and we needed to submit names and info a certain number of days out, but we didn’t have the budget or project sign off from ESPN yet. So there was a big chicken or the egg thing going on. Finding crew with the right experience and who wanted to take on this project, insurance for our crew and equipment, and just the overall challenges of shooting in a place like the Congo, exacerbated by an extremely tight turnaround, made for a nail biting, fighting the clock situation for us. From a creative perspective, the time crunch provided additional challenges – the director and crew had to go into the shoot somewhat blind, as there was no time to pre-scout for locations or do any pre-interviews. As far as post production, about 80% of the footage shot required Lingala to English translating so that was also a big challenge.

SHOOT: What does the SXSW selection of Son of the Congo mean to you personally and professionally?

Koch: I was very proud. The film itself is just a great piece. It’s not contrived, the message is inspiring and the story is told in a raw, real, and beautiful way. I was also very appreciative of Adam and the entire Humble team that worked tirelessly on it. It was a real team effort. It was our first foray into the feature world and the fact that it got such a positive response was really rewarding, and inspiring to say the least, as we continue to pursue these sorts of projects.

SHOOT: Provide some backstory on Humble’s narrative feature debut, The Saint of the Impossible, which is from roster director Marc Raymond Wilkins.

Koch: We signed Marc a year ago for commercial representation. He had been developing The Saint of the Impossible for some time, and had shot a short Hotel Pennsylvania that served as a great calling card for his style and vision. The film is based on a novel by Dutch writer Arnon Grunberg and at its core is a coming of age story about teenaged Peruvian brothers growing up in New York City. When Sam and I read the script we both agreed that this was a film we wanted to produce – it’s something I would personally want to go see in the theater. It deals with obstacles that may be foreign to many of us but that exist around every corner of this city, and it also deals with universal life challenges that we can all relate to.

SHOOT: Humble’s diversification also encompasses the launch of one company and the acquisition of another. For the former, what is the thinking behind the formation of Postal?

Koch: Honestly, it’s about transitioning from a service shop to a creative shop. Humble has always been an integrated model. Our post department has, on average, cut and finished about 60-70% of what we shoot. As our post capabilities grew, both on creative and technical fronts, we realized that it could start to stand on its own two feet — it could start going after post-heavy or post-only jobs, and we could further develop a roster of directors and CDs who could concept, design, and direct killer VFX and mograph work. It’s still under one roof – the old model is still in play – but the new identity should give this department a chance to grow and shine even more, especially as we move into more original content creation.

SHOOT: As for the company acquisition, what attracted you to Paranoid and how does it fit into the strategic big picture for Humble?

Koch: Claude (Letessier) has done a great job assembling a roster of true artists that we’ve always respected (and tried to gently poach from). Earlier this year, Eric and Claude met and quickly realized that their visions for their respective companies were overlapping in a lot of ways, so we all started talking. For us it fit right into our vision of a new Humble. Again, it’s about being a creative partner, not just a production service provider. The directors coming over from Paranoid are shooting features, designing operas, creating immersive works of art. We’re excited about them as creators and think they will fit right in.

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