1) While there’s no question that this giant COVID-19 comet has knocked our industry out of its usual orbit, I’m proud to say that GS&P has adapted brilliantly. Within the first two weeks of the quarantine, we created 30-plus new ads and have continued producing work for more than 80 percent of our clients, thanks mainly to our robust in-house facilities. We’ve also stayed close to production companies in terms of their current capabilities and have been working well with many despite the challenges. We’ve been making a lot of stuff. I’ve actually never been busier.
2) GS&P has never been afraid to take on charged topics, and the current climate is no exception. In fact, the latest calls for social justice have only fueled the agency’s ongoing efforts. A group of volunteers at the agency created the #Respond2Racism Twitter bot, which features Asian frontline workers responding directly to COVID-19 racism.
In response to the injustices against George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, we produced “Being Black Is Not a Crime” and “Not a Gun” for Courageous Conversation Global Foundation. For Tulsa, we created a print ad that read, “Being Black is not a crime,” which doubled as a sign for people who were protesting during the weekend of Trump’s visit.
4) GS&P’s innovative “Lessons in Herstory” technology (an app that uses augmented reality to celebrate stories of women typically omitted from history textbooks) for Daughters of the Evolution has been crushing the award-show circuit, winning—most recently—the white pencil at D&AD. And rightly so. It’s a perfectly important tool for the times that will hopefully inspire even more technologies geared toward social justice and equality. Oh, and if you have kids at home right now, like I do, you’ll totally appreciate this: we just launched Camp Tonsafun for Xfinity through their X1 platform. It’s summer camp for your hellions—er, little ones—right in your living room, with cool, crafty lessons taught by artists and celebs across the NBCUniversal stable. Without the risk of Wave 2 Cabin Cross-Contamination. And hey, after four months of domestic quarantine, I’m sure you’ll agree that it comes not a moment too soon for parents across America.
5) We’ve been in heavy production mode for Comcast/Xfinity throughout the pandemic, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how smooth the transition into the uncharted world of remote Zoom shoots (let’s call them Zoots) has been. The approach really works. Sure, it’s not the same as being on set and making “in the same room” decisions, but in the end, the output hasn’t suffered in the least. I suspect that this approach will stick around long after COVID-19 subsides. Maybe permanently.
7) On Comcast/Xfinity we always include a diverse group of directors for creatives to review. And we work hard to always include at least one woman or person of color in every triple bid. That has always been our goal. We sometimes do come up short and average closer to 40 percent inclusion in the bidding process.
We also work to include a diverse group of artists on the crew. We track DPs, ADs, editors and composers right now. Lastly, we are working to implement a process by which we include more entry-level people, using programs like Streetlights and Made in NY (https://www1.nyc.gov/site/mome/industries/pa-training-program.page).
These programs promote diversity by training people for entry-level positions in film and TV. We have a long way to go, but we’re committed to being on the forefront of this important movement. We have full agency and client support.