Content Creation + Marketing
The Client
Fox Digital Studio (or FDS) is an American web series and web films production and distribution company which was founded as a division of 20th Century Studios, which is now a part of The Walt Disney Company. It produces branded content, TV and films which initially premiere on digital platforms like Amazon Prime, DirectTV, Hulu , Netflix and Yahoo before expanding to traditional markets.
My Role
I was hired as a full-time Creative Executive in 2012(-2015) after doing contracting work with the studio. My role was to be involved in all aspects of the business — talent outreach, creative/script development, production, post-production, focus testing and marketing. I also managed producers, editors, writers, and graphic designers.
Development
From talent solicitation, to script development, to pitching…a project is only as good as its fundamental story.
Development: Talent Outreach
One of my key roles on the FDS team was soliciting talent to potentially collaborate with. Having previously run the short film department for the Sundance Film Festival for five years, I had amassed a huge network of filmmakers, cinematographers, managers, agents and more. This rolodex proved invaluable when working with a studio.
During my tenure, I brought in more than 60% of all pitches and materials that we considered as a team.
Although I’m no longer a full-time employee, I continue to consult with the FDS team on a part-time basis by soliciting fresh talent and pitches for new initiatives.
“Content can be riskier, more provocative, and more confessional now. Itʼs a crowded market, and one way to stand out is to have a really unique POV.”
— (Former) FDS VP of Production Steven Hein, Forbes Magazine
Development: Script Notes
As having “good taste” is rather subjective, it’s fair to admit that we all have different creative sensibilities. With a 1,000 foot view on this topic, this distinction becomes trickiest when executives work with creatives with whom they aren’t aligned; fighting for ideas or a general direction until a project falls apart.
While I can’t in good faith boast I have “good taste”, I can at least make an intellectually-honest argument that my sensibilities are very eclectic. I have diverse interests, multi-faceted curiosities, and am quite literate to a healthy range of genres, formats and trends. While working as executive, I believe this was an asset because it put me in a solid position to understand multiple creative voices. My approach is always, “What is the writer trying to do here, and is it working?” which I felt was the healthiest and most productive way to approach any material when giving notes, implementing actionable feedback, and striving for the best product possible.
A never made crowdsourced storytelling experiment I conceived, inspired by the 28 Days Later franchise.
Development: Pitch Ready
As branded content was a part of the FDS content pipeline, much of my time was spent putting together dozens of pitch decks, sizzle reels, and prepping formal pitches to stakeholders. I have extensive copywriting experience, as well as a seasoned eye for imagery, graphics, and titles. This experience was further echoed and developed in my advertising work.
Production
At FDS, we took on a broad range of projects. From comedy and sci-fi, to branded and TV, the studio was perpetually exploring new stories and formats.
DIRECTV’s Suit Up, Director: Chris Leone
Production: Branded
When I started at FDS, I had entered a unique period where brands were exploring new ways to tell their stories beyond traditional :30 second spots. As a studio, our initial model was to implement a brand organically into the story that very much stood on its own, narratively-speaking. Typically this involved producing feature-length style stories that could be cut up into 8 mini-episodes when distributed to various web outlets (if you’re a student of the traditional three-act structure, you probably can see where things could be naturally separated).
Shotgun Wedding, Director: Danny Roew
Production: Feature Films
Features remain a personal passion, and I was happy to work with the team to produce a number of long-form projects, both in office and on set. From comedy to sci-fi to horror, we explored a vast amount of stories that found distribution at places like Netflix, Amazon, Yahoo, the festival circuit, and more.
Parallels, Director: Chris Leone, Starring: Constance Wu
Production: TV Pilots
During my tenure, the feature climate was getting smaller as episodic content was gaining in both prominence and scale. FDS’ vision was to shoot a number of “backdoor pilots” that could work as standalone feature films, but could be expanded and serialized to become an episodic series in success. This was a win-win scenario; even if features didn’t make the highly competitive transition to TV, they could still be consumed by an audience on various digital outlets (the vast majority of traditional pilots are shelved and have no such luxury).
Production: Comedy Incubator
As part of my role with Fox Digital Studio, I was the lead executive put in charge of creating narrative short film content at the sister comedy network MadAtoms. My role was to scout new creative talent and intellectual property that could be incubated through the channel. In success, these projects would be further developed by Fox Digital Studio.
For new and emerging filmmakers, securing initial work with a studio can often be a difficult and daunting task. Our vision with MadAtoms was to cast a low-risk, high-reward net that could platform filmmakers from multiple backgrounds and various levels of experience.
RPG OKC - Director: Emily Carmichael
Exhibition
From focus testing to special screenings, we wanted to deliver work to whom it mattered most: the audience.
(Blindfolds not included.)
Exhibition: Focus Testing
While the independent filmmaker is to be praised when following their vision as an auteur, there’s several more degrees of accountability when working with a studio. In order to make sure our content was working with the audience to whom it was intended, we often would screen our work on the lot, followed by a questionnaire (which I generally organized) and candid discussions. These experiences helped me better understand consumer habits and attitudes.
Exhibition: Special Screenings
In order to generate positive word-of-mouth, we hosted a number of special screenings for our projects, including some festival runs. Having venue experience, I typically was the one to book the venue, work on deliveries, submit to festivals, and coordinate logistics & guest lists.
Downtown Independent in Los Angeles
Marketing
Before our projects premiered on their respective digital outlets, there was key art, social promos and trailers to be made.
Marketing: Key Art
One of my roles was soliciting and hiring graphic designers to design key art for our projects. This required some level of internet research, vendor management, and various feedback rounds.
Poster for Shotgun Wedding
A promo I wrote and creatively supervised to promote Parallels
Marketing:
Social Promos
Our entire team was pretty involved in this process, each having certain strengths when it came to social media. My favorite was writing and producing snack-bite shoulder promos for some of our projects.
Marketing: Trailers
We would always create trailers for our projects, sometimes several variations at a time. I got to lead a number of them, writing scripts and working closely with an editor from concept to completion.
Trailer for Devil’s Backbone, Texas, Dir: Jake Wade Wall.
Marketing:
Content Strategy
As we also ran a daily comedy video channel, we posted a new piece of content every day on YouTube and/or Vimeo. It was my responsibility to fill out our slate by licensing new shorts, often from what I’d find from the film festival circuit.
Once a solid library was built, we curated themed months and specialty weeks, all while trying to make sure they resulted in a climb for our subscription base.
A Madtoms Production Calendar
Takeaways
After more than three years working with the Fox Digital Studio Team, I had a number of professional takeaways...
We were able to consistently adapt to a changing world. When I started, the digital field was thought of as the red-headed stepchild of the industry, only to be one of the most exciting and respected arenas when I left.
We also were in the midst of the influencer revolution which mandated a rethinking of strategy. This resulted in a lot of negotiating between virality and incubation value, and the studio team did a good job overall of trying to find a proper merging point.
This negotiation was very evident in the development of our sister-comedy channel, Madatoms, as the programming eventually changed focus to more personality-driven/’vlogger’ content. Although my tastes tend to favor more traditional content, change is a natural part of the landscape. Nevertheless, I was happy in my time to help bring forth several festival winners, critically acclaimed shorts, and help incubate talent for bigger studio endeavors.
While there were several un-produced projects that I wish we had taken on (true to any development experience), I was able to garner specific skills and experience that has helped me as a producer and writer, both in advertising and ideation.