Love Thy Neighbour in 2016

How would you describe and reflect on 2015 for the industry, creatively speaking?

From a production company perspective, I think we’re all starting to feel more sure-footed in this new era of content. I doubt that this was an absolutely phenomenal year for many companies, but I think most of us valued the stability and continued to learn how to be nimble and pivot where necessary. I expect that next year companies will be even more confident and constantly shifting to reflect a changing landscape. 

What about your company’s creative performance; how much do you think you’ve grownthis year?

One huge thing is that we’ve become DGA this year, in a time when non-union companies are thriving. It’s ironic that a company that started out as small as ours, known for being lean and mean, has now become a DGA company. The core of our brand is that we’re filmmakers, and as filmmakers our directors want to pursue opportunities in television, in movies and ultimately some of the best opportunities out there mandate being DGA. So despite a new economy in advertising, we decided that our directors were worth investing in, and in order to continue attracting and retaining top-notch talent we have would inevitably have to affiliate with the DGA. 

What has your own best personal achievement been in the past 12 months and why?

Having a baby! The demands of this industry continue to come at me like a bullet train every day, but having a newborn at home puts things in perspective in a positive way. 

And looking ahead to 2016, what are you most excited about in terms of the industry andadvertising?

Truthfully, I’m really looking forward to expanding the relationships we have with our current clients and agency partners. I sense that professional loyalty may be coming back into fashion. The challenges of the projects that come across my desk are so great that I think agencies will value having trusted partners. We’ve made really meaningful relationships with the creatives and producers we’ve collaborated with over the last few years and I can’t wait to team up with all of them again (and hopefully some new folks, too) to make better and better work.

Give us an example of a strategy/approach from a brand you’d like to see more of in 2016…

Whatever is so compelling to us about UNbranded content - about the shows we binge watch, the podcasts we listen to, the videos we click on - I’d like to try to bring more of that into the branded space. I’d like to try and move branded content and get as close to original content as possible. In the case of an campaign like GEICO Unskippable, I think that’s a concept and an execution that is so brilliant, so current and creative, that it is as good or better than any original content out there. That’s the kind of stuff we want to work on. 

Which campaign, piece of work or moment will you remember this year for and why?

That GEICO Unskippable campaign comes to mind. That moment when President Obama sang Amazing Grace at the funeral for the mass shooting victims - that was an incredible piece of content. The Jinx on HBO - that was also a game changer this year.

How do you think the US has performed this year in comparison to other leading markets such as the UK?

The US continues to lead the production and entertainment industries, despite London and Euro markets gaining a foothold and producing some really cool work. More talent and money flows into the US market than flows out of it, but that might not always be the case. The more digital our industry gets, the more it will resemble a meritocracy, and the less relevant regional markets will be.

What’s your new year’s resolution, workwise or other?

To be more "filmmaking-forward" in everything we do. To find partners who want to make really great, compelling work, and whose motivation goes far beyond just “shipping the spot”. To always seek to make the best version of any project that possibly could exist.

What one piece of advice would you give to the industry to take with it into 2016? 

I guess I’d just say take good care of each other. Take care of your vendors, take care of your clients, take care of your collaborators. We’re all in this together and I think we’ll do well in the long term to look out for each other and try to give as much as we expect to get. 

What do you hope you’ve achieved by this time next year in terms of work?

We’ve built a lot of our directors from scratch by jumping on opportunities that were under funded or that were especially creative but uniquely challenging - things like Sean Pecknold's Goldieblox spot, Christian Sorensen Hansen’s Audi work, the Gatorade spot we just did with Abby Wambach and the Muller spot we did with Rachel Goldenberg. These were all opportunities to participate in really creative, current projects, and the reason our directors got them was because they were "up-and-coming" and willing to work incredibly hard at executing them.

By this time next year I’d like to see those directors breaking into the mainstream. I know that our team will work just as hard no matter the size of the opportunity. In the case of directors like the ones we represent at SOCIETY, I think the mainstream, big broadcast advertising world is really ready for these folks and what they have to say.