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
Connection. More than ever, we looked to connect with our staff and clients. With the weight of the world weighing on everyone this past year and many of us struggling to keep our sanity, staying connected in a genuine way to the folks we work with, and for, became really important to us. Meetings usually began with a genuine, “How are you doing?” and we’d all talk through current events and try to help take some of that burden off their shoulders or at least do our best to rally through it all together.
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?
It’s always been important to us, not just as a company, but also as individuals. It’s at the forefront of what we do and what we stand for. Putting in the extra time to find the right folks for projects and connecting them with opportunities is vital in all of us creating stronger communities and better creative.
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 don’t really strive to do work with the hopes that the end result is chosen or considered for awards. We put our heart and soul into creating the best work that we can...if that gets considered for awards seasons by our clients, well then, that’s just a happy outcome for all who worked on the project.
While gazing into the crystal ball is a tricky proposition, we nonetheless ask you for any forecast you have relative to content creation and/or the creative and/or business climate for the second half of 2021 and beyond.
People entered the year dipping a toe into the water to see what 2021 would bring but now, folks seem eager to get work out into the world. But as we’ve learned from the last 18 months, there’s no predicting the future; rather, how best to prepare for what may come our way.
What are your goals, creatively speaking and/or from a business standpoint, for your company, division, studio or network in 2021?
For this year, a main focus for us has been how to stay connected and keep pushing one another creatively while still making sure we support each other. As mentioned before, having a studio where everyone feels supported is vital to us and as a result, we feel this fosters our best opportunities creatively.
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?
For this year, a main focus for us has been how to stay connected and keep pushing one another creatively while still making sure we support each other. As mentioned before, having a studio where everyone feels supported is vital to us and as a result, we feel this fosters our best opportunities creatively.
What work (advertising, entertainment)--your own or others--struck a responsive chord with you and/or was the most effective creatively and/or strategically so far this year? Does any work stand out to you in terms of meshing advertising and entertainment?
I always appreciate the work that Nike and Google have done to make a statement about what they believe in as a company. You can’t go wrong by taking a position and standing up for something.