Hello, I am Paige Albiniyak, editorial director at Promac, and this is the not so daily great podcast. Today, I am honored to be joined by Tahira White and Whitney Hedden, and they are co-founders of Creative Agency, 19th and Park in New York City. Hello ladies, thank you so much for joining me. Hello, hello, thank you for having us.
So before we start tonight, I went through the 12th process of identifying your titles and then I still didn't give them. So Tahira is the president, and Whitney is the CEO, correct? Correct. So, let's just start at the beginning, telling me how you guys met and what you both did before you went on to start 19th and Park and let me start with Tahira.
So, we met through mutual friends in New York. We both went to school in Virginia and so had a mutual friend base out of there, worked together on a variety of projects and random startups, but ultimately 19th and Park was the one that stuck. My background, I have been in production since 2008 from intern PA, PC and all of the above, operating as a line producer for a variety of brands and production companies went freelance and started to build my own client base around 2014. And then it was in 2017 that we decided to bridge our experiences together to create even more opportunities for both of us in developing a production company, which became 19th and Park.
And then for you, Whitney or anything to add there? I mean, same thing on how we met, but totally different origin story. I came from corporate back on like Tahira said, I went to school in Virginia, moved to New York around like 2009. I knew I wanted to work in like television media, didn't really have a clue what that was.
I actually started my career in production and hated it and was like, wow, this is a lot of work. And so I wanted to get into more like creative and ideation. I wasn't really sure what that was. So I ended up doing branded content and kind of went through the corporate ladder amongst a bunch of different media roles.
And so I've worked at pretty much every major media company from Viacom to iHeart to Time Inc, where my last job before starting 19th and Park was leading digital marketing at Essence Magazine and Time Inc on their multi-cultural brands. And then like Tahira said, we started working together, actually started working with her and bringing her in to produce some projects that I had in house at my full-time job. And then eventually we just saw how our working chemistry works together and decided to spin off and create 19th and Park. And then how long ago was that?
So the initial project was in 2016, but I didn't let T convince me to leave my job until 2017. So I was still working a full-time job. I actually had like no intentions of being an entrepreneur to here is always kind of had that like, I want to run my own shop thing. And I was like, I really like corporate cards and like, I like my job and my paycheck every two weeks, but around August of 2017, I officially resigned.
And then we went full force into starting 19th and Park. So we say our true start date is like around like 2018-ish when we actually sat down and was like, okay, we were running a business and we're doing the things. So how did she convince you? It didn't really take too much.
We were actively producing a lot. And I was just like, this is no longer a part-time job for you. But you've got to come over here, run the books, manage the clients and do all the things because it requires both of our effort and time. I feel like you were also ready to kind of go at the same time.
So it didn't really take much to your point. Were you working on this part on the side and then also doing a corporate job or how was that working? Yeah, I was doing a full-time executive job and then doing this on the side. And then it started to, it just started to escalate.
Like we started getting more and more projects and things going on. So yeah, it just started to become bigger and bigger. And it was one of those things like, either we're going to do it or we're not. To T's point, like I really loved my last job that I worked as an employee, but I was just doing a lot.
Like I was bringing in a lot of business and clients. I just didn't feel respected and taken care of in the way that I wanted to be as well as understanding how we purpose we had to serve in the greater scheme of like advertising, marketing and media. Okay, I'm going to come back to that in one question. But then when you decided to launch your business and you decided to do it in New York City, how should they not be terrifying me?
That just seems very expensive. So how did you sort of overcome that fear? Of jumping from corporate? Yeah, and being like, okay, now we're on our own financially and we're running off the face and we're doing all that stuff.
I mean, the easiest way to say is I overcame the fear because I didn't think about it. It was super impulsive, it wasn't a well thought out plan. I really annoyed at my boss one day because I had asked for like a raise and all these things. They didn't want to give it to me.
And then one day they had me like working on this like super high level project. I was like, way above my pay grade. And I was like, this is silly. And we had, you know, thankfully we had jobs and things coming in.
Like one of the things we always talk about is that we had a business before we had a business. So a large part of what we did was we ended up like having to back in a lot of stuff because we were actively working even without like a proper like bank account and stuff like that. So I just didn't think about it. Honestly, I think if I thought about it, I might not have quit, honestly, but thankfully I didn't.
Yeah, it's not like you had to like quit your job and then start, you had already sort of built the bridge before you didn't have to leap off anything. Yeah. I was already out here freelancing and hopping company to company, not knowing necessarily where the next project was coming from, but it would always show up. So I was kind of used to that level of instability.
And faith. And faith, yeah. Okay, so you guys started doing stuff, getting clients. Do you feel like 19th in parks?
So now you're about five, six years in. What do you feel like it is about 19th in the park that's unique that brings clients to you that makes people think you're out to work with you when there's a lot of competition? I mean, for me specifically on like the agency side, I think in the agency and the production side, honestly, it's our perspective. I think we look at things a lot differently and that's the continuous conversation that we get from our clients of, I would never would have thought of it this way or this is a different angle.
And as you can see, like we're not really people that just like, we're not just going to take something just because somebody told us to take it, right? Or that it's a good opportunity or something we're going to ask questions. We're going to dig deep. And we have a really great eye for talent as well as like untapped talent, whether that's on creative side or producers or directors, which is honestly what led us to one part nine and is what has led to the success of 19th in the park as an agency of just really being able to tap into the community and resources and figure out more efficient ways of getting to really good results and not always having to abide by the traditional angles in which people have done in the past.
You heard, do you want to add anything back? No, she covered it well. I also say just being really personable and relatable to our clients, we don't have a ton of buffers in between, we don't have a ton of overhead, we keep it nimble and so there's always a direct connection with us as founders at some point in time, with our clients or with the creatives that we're working with, even for one part nine, the roster, and working with the artists directly day to day as is waiting and getting to know them and building for relationships. And so things don't always feel as transactional as it seems and as even has been my experience in other houses that I've worked out or worked with.
Okay, so you guys have mentioned this a couple of times, let's go ahead and jump into this, so people know what we're talking about, which is one part nine, which is something separate that you guys started recently. So to hear, I'll say with you, if you can just sort of tell us about why you started it, what it is exactly, what it does is different from what you're already doing at 19th in park. Yeah, so production is actually the foundation of the company. We started as a production company and then creative services like really organically grew from there over the last two, almost three years.
And really as we scaled, it became important for us to separate the two and ensure that we still have a traditional production company model and can continue to expand our relationships with agencies, brands, studios, networks alike. For me, production is the cornerstone of advertising, media and entertainment, knowing that and understanding that it's something so critical to any idea coming to life. I hold pride in that being a specialty that we have in something that we're able to extend and offer not just internally, but also to additional clients. And one of the things we always say, and I guess I could have mentioned this in the last question is, in addition to our perspective, whatever is being pitched or being put forward by our creative and strategy team is always also looked at from an executional lens because we have production experts in-house.
So it's not, we're throwing stuff at the wall or creative is just throwing stuff at the wall and has no idea how it can come to life and then it's just shopped around and then there's a budget disaster from there, which has definitely been on the tail end of that in my career, we're thinking about execution all the way through from the moment. I won't say the beginning because we're not allowed in creative brainstorms, so certainly before they begin to be presented. And so that execution mindset, again, has always been at the foundation of 19th and Park and then continues now into one part nine and allowing us to continue to do things from commercials to podcasts, do more branded content to even some original content pieces, documentaries and some additional long form assets as well. So the creative services part then actually stays at 19th and Park, is that correct?
Correct. And so, but you, just to make sure I have this, I understand this correctly, you actually started 19th and Park was sort of this production company intent that evolved into creative services. So then you started another division that sort of takes you back from to where you started. Back to our roots.
Okay. Why did you, why did you, like you needed to have a separate division to do that versus doing it within 19th and Park? I can take that as far as how the creative services entity came about and action built out of it. So like we said, like my background is in development and marketing and to here is in production.
So it worked out really well. I was being able to execute production. I have a more of a knowledge of production than most creative directors typically do. So it was easy for us to partner together and work on set and also take on a lot of the entities involving in production like talent and, you know, set design and creative and starting to really like help even mold ideas versus just being full on execution partners.
So as that started to happen and people started to come to us to do that at a larger realm or build out full marketing plans. 19th and Park, the agency started to like grow and come about. But what was happening was to tease point like our bread and butter of production was getting a back seat and our production companies really roots are in executing and making sure like ideas come to live live production, whether that's experiential, whether that's a documentary or branded content. And so our production company is able to exist independently of the creative services agency with also producing their own content working with the director rosters that we have as well as partnering with other brands and entities that don't have to invest in the creative services aspect of our business.
It was getting a little convoluted for people to understand like what can they come to us for as well as production just really needed its own home where they can exist as their full selves. Okay, that makes sense. And then when you guys have sort of mentioned and also talks about this on the website about the linear agency model and how it's outdated. And I just wondered what you mean by that and how you guys, what kinds of things you guys are doing but does this differently, the execute differently or more?
I mean, how we talk to it about with our clients is like we're a process company first. So we supply the infrastructure for all the existing entities to happen for any type of creative execution or advertising level work. However, what makes us different than other agencies is that we have our in-house leaders and our in-house teams but we are constantly working as in service to the gig community and to the creative community at large. So we're bringing in subject matter experts across multiple different facets of the campaign, of a business unit to make sure that that is, you know, specific for that audience, especially because we serve as unique audiences.
So whether that's bringing in a strategist or a creative director or producer or a director that solely fits within the ethos of the campaign that we're trying to bring about, it really changes the quality of work. It also allows us to be able to have such a diverse body of work. Do you feel like that way of working where you kind of bring in the teams you need per project is becoming, sort of goes against what I just asked you, but is becoming more the norm that people are working, are getting more used to working that way as opposed to being like you have obvious people in-house that are always working on, you know, the various project? Yeah, definitely but we pioneered it because when we first started working like that seven years ago or so, people thought it was crazy.
They didn't understand it and they didn't understand the difference between project-based work, especially from an agency standpoint. And now it's kind of like, now this is the norm where people are going project-based, more people are actually seeking out smaller agencies instead of the big houses. Like I think over the past three years, especially post-COVID, we saw a huge disruption in that space. And one of the things too, like, you know, where a lot of people were businesses were having a downturn, we saw ourselves increasing around that timeframe, but it was because of our ability to be nimble and, you know, build these both teams and also, you know, directly connect into brand teams and help them, you know, push the limit versus a lot of the heavy overheads that come with working with some of the big 10.
Yeah, can you talk about that a little bit, how, what happened to the way you work when the pandemic happened? Or did you feel like, well, actually we've already kind of are set up to work this way. So you were able to kind of just continue on as you were. Yeah, I can talk about the second and all classicity from a production standpoint.
I think that's where we had the most change. But as far as like, we were a really small team, like we were still, you know, two and a half, three years into being a real company, I would say. So we were able to just like kind of pick up and take, you know, what we did into our homes, which was a blessing. We did have a physical office at first and we have shut that down since we haven't gone back to any type of brick and mortar since.
But I think what happened for us more on the strategy and creative side was just, we just had to start to think differently. Like our services to our clients didn't really change. Like moving into our homes versus the office wasn't that different, but we had to strategize differently. And then our partnership with production became even more important in how do we execute against ideas.
Okay, so T take it from here on production. From a production standpoint in the beginning, it was very challenging, but you were able to really see the way that producers can innovate in a variety of different ways, from the way that we would build cameras, build, you know, virtual kits, the different type of drop kits that started to come about to really continue to feed the ecosystem and ensure that content could be produced. I remember it was actually our chase part of it all campaign was the first live production that we did. I wanna say in August of 2020, which was quite daring, but we had already began to think about mapping and zoning and rolling people in.
And it was just like another level of production, putting pieces together that really saw the whole community, not just within 19th, but through commercial TV and film, because we were all really leaning on each other's expertise and, you know, experience and thought process during that time to still be able to make the work that we did. We saw some things shut down. I think the first day, the first week of March, we had a big shoot shut down and had to be converted into drop kits. One of the other things that I personally don't mind that we saw was that we didn't need as many client villages and people that need for that amount of presence, which often more than not, deters a day, leaps over just a lot of changes and stress on the production team and the talent no longer happened because you only needed to be there if you had to be.
And I feel like that was always something that we were pushing for anyway prior to COVID. And then we also were able to support experiential companies and teams to be able to keep their festivals or their conferences going. My background actually started in experiential live events and conferences and trade shows and then evolved into content commercial production. So I was able to really put on that hat and understand how an event works and where and how we can convert a physical run of show into a digital run of show.
And so we consulted, I wanna say three different conferences on how to maintain their audience and build these virtual sets and assets for them to still do their conferences throughout the year. And so that became an additional actual line of work for us, which we'll continue even now, because now everyone's leaning into a hybrid model. They're not forgetting about content anymore, even when they're doing live experiences. Yeah, not having everyone in their mom on the site, I've heard that a lot from people that are happy.
They're happy to sort of shut that. What kind of things that you started doing because of the pandemic have you continued to do? Have you found anything besides that one, or any efficiencies that you gained or realized, actually this works better, we're just gonna keep doing that. Or are you pretty much all back to what was before pandemic?
We're pretty much back, other than the efficiencies of like who really needs to be there, we're pretty much back to normal. I don't, I can't think of anything. I'm just like running through the last couple of shoots. I can't think of anything that we're back to fitting, they're back to pre-pros.
I mean, pre-pros aren't in person or the phone. We were doing that before the pandemic as well. Yeah, I don't think that there's anything else that has changed. And then with experience though that you guys do, which that experience is I think much harder than people realize because it's all happening in real time.
But have you found, you know, it's interesting because that's all, I feel like just sort of coming back. Like I just went to NAB last month and that was really the first time I think they had actually were able to have a full NAB. But have you found that experiential and conferences that those all seem like they're coming back to normal? Is anything about that changed in the way that you produce those?
No, they're definitely back. The one thing again is them understanding the importance of content. I think experiential producers or companies that throw events were able to see how much further their reach could go by implementing content streaming or taking that content and then chopping it up, you know, in 12 different ways for assets later. I don't think that many people realize that Bloomberg does at all time.
I feel like their whole channel just rotates content from their events and their conferences. You have a couple of other people that do that. But I feel like through the experiences during the pandemic more event producers were able to see that. And now I kind of see that everywhere.
But I was just a self-buy, I went to self-buy this year and last year and nothing, it was fully back to North. Even last year it was. Oh yeah, whereas people there from Afghanistan, but no, the conference was on, there were very low mass mandates. All the activations were live, it was fully thriving.
Okay, I feel like this year I heard much more about South Five and last year I felt like it was still kind of quiet. And you know, it used to be at that time of year, you would just get constant news, a barrage of news and pop culture moments and stuff. But anyway, my experience at any of you was also like, okay, I guess we're back, which actually it's in Vegas. And I was walking down the strip in Vegas and I was like, I am not ready.
I am not ready to be in America on this level. But anyway. It's so daunting coming back from being like inside and having to function back to normal again. It's just daunting to be around all those people and also it's Vegas.
So it's just like exponentially. Yeah, I'm going to a conference in Vegas next week. And I was like, are you excited? Like not at all.
I will probably stay in my room for my hotel. Well, yeah, you'll see. You got in the world and you're like, wow, we're really back. Okay.
Let's go back to one part nine for a second. When exactly did you guys launch it? Was it was it just this year or has it been up for a bit? Maybe it was just this year, it was maybe a month ago?
Okay. Sometimes when I gave up it's been up for a while. Okay, continue. Yeah, we've been ideating on it for a while.
And of course it took a while to build the brand identity, sign the artist, decide on the artist that we were going to lean into, get their alignment and just kind of get all of our ducks in a row. But I think what month are we in? This is May. So a little bit over a month ago that we officially launched.
Okay. So can you talk about who did the signings order that you launched with and sort of why those were the people that you decided to go with? The artists are all multidisciplinary artists, which is really important to us and just paying attention to the ask of the industry. So they're either photographers and directors or DPs and directors or Okema, for instance, is actually a writer producer, a really amazing story producer and director as well.
And that was important to ensure that they can, they and we can optimize opportunities for them in the industry. They are all also artists that we have worked with before and have been committed to helping expand their portfolio and giving them more branded work from dark and lovely to meta to healthcare.gov to NFL and under armor, understanding the importance of them having these big names in their portfolio to drive or create more opportunities for them and fulfill the request of the creative directors and art directors that are passing down these opportunities through the pipeline. That was the key strategy and they're still work that we're doing to continue to elevate their portfolios. And we have a very familial aspect to our company.
And so it only makes sense to roll that into one part nine as well. I think Dana I've known and have been following her work in the scrubs since 2014. I remember printing some of her first exhibition work in 2014, beautiful body movement shots of a model Adonis. And now I've followed her for over almost 10 years in just evolving her portfolio, becoming the first black woman to cover Rolling Stone, becoming the first black woman to shoot the ESPN body issue.
Vladimir, who's another director, worked with him. He was kind of first playing with drones. And then since then he's shot male chimp content for us. He's shot eBay luxury content for us.
But then even more so has amazingly built his own portfolio with clients from Dior to Starbucks and all of the alike. And similarly for Fred and O'Kima, O'Kima was actually our COVID officer. And I forgot that until she, she reminds us of it. I don't want to say in like 2018, no, it couldn't even because COVID was 2020.
It was 2021 where she actually was on set. She did dark and lovely. She did dark and lovely and she did also ropes too. And, but she had always had a passion for directing and writing and continuing to ambitiously put herself into programs and Sundance and CDDP.
And we saw that light in her. And because we had the trust of my clients and ability to decide who we wanted to use, we would lean into her. I think we first, she creates, she'd produced her, she directed, honestly like four different projects for Meta with us. And then we recently did our healthcare.gov commercial.
And so that similar approach existed with all five of the artists that we work with. This is a dumb question that I should know the answer to. But when you sign artists, what does that mean exactly? Because not like they're just, they can only work for you, right?
So what does that, like if you sign, what is that relation? What relationship does that create? For us, it's different with everyone. I think we are a little bit more flexible.
And again, to what he's quite like very supportive of the gig economy and very respective of the fact that they all had careers before us and have their own set of clients. So we are working with them to develop their brands and help position them, position them even more so for the commercial and advertising space. That is the expertise that we have, our sales rep have, as well to know what our directors and creative directors, like it or agree with it or not, need to see to pick them for a commercial or to pick them for that million dollar job. And so we give them that expertise and that information to help and then work with them to really curate their portfolios, to be able to make them more presentable to these individual decision makers.
We're currently working with Cut and Run in a strategic partnership with them to create these dope 60 second reels that will be able to use our sales tools and then we'll put that sales engine behind them. That of course, as artists, as independent artists, you may not have the resources to do, but we will put those resources into making sure that their name is everywhere and that they're in front of everyone, not fully exclusive. However, if anyone comes to them for a commercial opportunity then it's understood that they will let us know. And especially if it's something that could be a conflict of interest to the pipelines that we're leaning into.
Okay, so there has to be some trust baked in here. Lots of trust, yes. Do you also find that, you know, you've got these different artists that you work with across the board, maybe some sign, maybe some not, but that you then you get the clients and you find certain projects team, like good fits for certain artists. So then you're sort of matchmaking.
Always matchmaking. Yes. And matchmaking on both sides, right? So one of the things we started with also is we went through just, what's your wish list?
You know, like who do you dream of working with? What type of work really makes you excited? And then we started to explore, okay, how can we get you to that point of create, you know, directing this Amazon lifestyle commercial, Amazon family commercial was actually something that we really love? Or how do we get you glad to produce a full like global or direct a full global Nike commercial as well?
And so yeah, it's understanding their dreams, their wishes, letting them know, doing a portfolio review of where they are and then helping them understand where they need to be to achieve certain, those certain benchmarks and opportunities that they're looking for. And then as opportunities come to us, part of our job is to sell them in based on what we have in their portfolio. And, you know, the sell is, isn't always easy and I have a lot of thoughts around that, but we're able to break through for the most part. Do you want to express any of this?
That's not why the sell is amazing. It's not easy because I think there's intention verbally to create more opportunities and hire more diverse directors, whether they're black or they're female or they're Asian, but the ask and expectation is that they have these experienced portfolios, right? And five, I've gotten a pitch for a VFX commercial for a large brand and the request was that this black director, that they were so gone, how it needed to be a black director, needed to have at least five to six VFX examples of work in their portfolio. That's probably not realistic for most.
Same thing goes for auto. So I just think if the intention is to reflect today's society and reflect diversity, then it can't just be only an output, but also in the creation process. And I think that these individuals that are reviewing portfolios that are, you know, making the decisions on who gets hired have to understand that it requires thinking outside of the box, right? It's really challenging the way that they're looking at the craft and they're looking at the art and really seeking skill over experience.
How do they light? How do they frame? Can they catch movement? You know, can they catch action?
It doesn't necessarily have to have a brand name attached to it. And sometimes when art directors, creative directors, decision makers as a whole are moving fast because it's a fast engine and I understand that they're looking for the easiest thing to grab. And that doesn't really allow for breaking through the existing barriers for disadvantaged artists or creatives. Yeah, this is the complaint, that's not the right word.
The challenge I guess that I hear a lot about people are wanting to hire with more diversity and inclusion in mind, but then there's no opportunity to give these overcoming artists the experience they need and sort of nobody's really willing, not nobody, but people aren't so willing to give them that first experience that will give, to get them to where they need to be where they feel confident in hiring them. Well, they aren't really willing to do the work, right? And there's work behind making a change. There's gonna be additional effort in a conversation to understand a treatment or suggest changes or be a bit more collaborative in those development processes than you may have had to have been working with the same white male director that shot part commercials for the last 15 years.
Yeah. Are you finding that it's changing at all? Are you finding that it's still mostly lip service? It's giving a lot of lip service still, but the request for specific requests for diverse talent has definitely increased over the last two years before it may not have even really been considered or asked, but we do still run into the portfolio issue.
So obviously you guys are doing work here. What would you like to see or what are you encouraging to happen so that maybe not everyone, but more people are also doing that work. More people as in like brands or people that are making their requests, like people are requesting, we would like a diverse director, but then they look at the portfolio and say, oh, they don't have the experience we want. What would you like to see done with an industry to rectify this problem to close this gap?
For us, and let's hear a speaker yourself as well, but it's just like, we just push, honestly. I think the work that we do in general is what we do to help that people are making that change. We hold people really accountable. We teach and we push as much as possible when it's viable for us.
It's definitely a two way street. We can advocate and do everything that we can, but brands have to be receptive to other people have to be more receptive to other procurement teams need to be more diverse or more educated on these things. So all we can do is continue to advocate for the things that we know. And on the back end, when it comes to the artist side, really help them understand what the world is on the other side, because what we see too, is a lot of them, they don't have the experience of working with brands or putting together treatments in the ways that it's gonna be acceptable to Amazon or Netflix or Coca-Cola in those realms.
And a lot of times, even if they have the right ideas or the right things, they don't have the structure. And that's also why we're really honing on like we're a process company first. Like we release all of those barriers as 19th and part as one, part nine, so that the artists have room to create, but we're making sure that it's corporate ready and we're the ones that are speaking the language and being able to push things forward in a way that we know is gonna be received. You had, go ahead, Tara.
Oh, no, I was just gonna add, just going back to what I said before, like really looking at skill over experience when reviewing these portfolios, if your intention is to diversify, if your intention is really to hire, you know, directors or artists, creators, creatives from disadvantaged or minority communities because when you make that statement, you're also, you should be, I would think, staying it with the understanding or going into it with understanding that that experience doesn't exist. And that is the whole, you would think, the whole intention of your initiative in the first place. And then trust the partners that are putting them forward. I think a lot about art and I think a lot about how we say advertising, film, what we're doing, we're creating art, we're buying art.
And a lot of times when you're buying art, literally, you may not know the artist, but you're looking at the work, you're appreciating the skill, you're appreciating the craft. And if you're purchasing that art, it's probably because it's coming from a respected gallery, right, a respected exhibition. And I think I compare that to a production company or an agency, not really, more so than a production company, but we can say it as well, that if we are representing them and we are putting them forward, then there should be a bit of a trust value in us as partners to ensure that what you are expecting and what you're looking for is going to be achieved in the end. But I was gonna ask, if you guys have any examples of exactly like the advantage of hiring people who see the world differently than you do, is that you maybe get a take that you've never thought of or you get something that's different, but actually surpasses their expectations or even doesn't even come near your expectations because it's so different, but it may be so much better than what you thought you would get because something you would have never thought of yourself.
But I just wonder if you have any examples of more like you put these together and what has, you know, you put a client together with an artist and what has emerged has been something different, but so surprising and great. I feel like every time, honestly. Like I think it's a lot of times where we've pushed for certain talent or even certain approaches. Like we've gone into certain productions or doing brand of content in web series and revamp bringing in like traditional TV showrunners to help a digital content or script writers in different spaces where they wouldn't typically be utilized and really had to push for the approach or the direction with a client to understand what the end result is going to be and always pleasantly surprised.
One of the things, I think this was one of your questions, but you know, when we say we incubate talent, it's so true because so many people, especially diverse talents have started at 19th in part. Just like we said with Okema, right? You come in doing something else or having a dream or having an ambition and not being able to get a shot or, you know, having a skill set that, you know, can be built up or cultivated, but like nobody's just taking a chance on you. Where the people that take chances and then from there, people skyrocket.
You know, there's people that have started at 19th that, you know, almost are at a space where they feel like they're too good to work with 19th now. Neither here nor there, but at the same time, like we all know that you started here. Like we're the ones that gave you your first shot, your first opportunity and you had to come in and like show improve with your skill set, but you wouldn't have gotten that opportunity without us. Also, not even gotten opportunity, but it really shows and we've continued this even beyond is like the amount of work behind the scenes to what Winnie mentioned, developing a treatment in a way that it can be presented to a client like a Nike, pivoting the treatment when you've gotten multiple different stakeholders from such a large brand, giving you feedback, it may not have liked the first idea that came forward, pushing through the post process and all of those deliverables, understanding what it means to show up on set and direct on set and engage with clients that are sitting in a video village and preaching a variety of different demands and changes to you and what that feels like.
That's all a part of what we could say, our incubation process is practicing your pitches before you get on those briefing calls, going through feedback of how you can adjust your language, how to sit up and present and take over the room. Like there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to emerge artists and really get them in a place where they're comfortable also presenting to be trusted by clients and we have to at any point definitely done that for quite a few that are now rolling in commercial opportunities for sure. That's interesting too, because some of that stuff like you just sort of take for granted, like somehow people magically know how to function in these environments, but that's actually not true for many people. Yeah.
Especially not as creatives. And probably maybe at a point did not want to, but now it's even a benefit of having those kills as well. Exactly. What cool projects are in the works at one, part nine?
Well, not really, I have liberty to say, but we do have a documentary that is coming out later this year. Really excited about that. It is a branded partnership. So it's also kind of leaning into branded entertainment and what it means to be able to create a long-form story while still having the backing of a brand partner.
So that's the con later this year. And again, the collaboration with Cut and Run is pretty cool because they are a renowned house that we've worked with in a variety of different ways and they're really ending up our director reels and elevating both the director and our vision of how we want to present them to the world. So that's been, that's in the works right now. And that's been really exciting to see all of these pieces come to life and see their work presented in a way that we've envisioned and we've talked about, but now it's actually real.
Who is Cut and Run, sorry? Cut and Run is a post-production house based, they're all over New York, LA, Austin too, I believe, but they're one of the top in the industry and in commercial and advertising, most of the commercials that you've seen, they've definitely touched. So you'll have to let me know about that when it comes out. We'll send them your way.
Okay, that would be great. And then last question, which is what advice do you give to up-and-coming artists and producers in this field? And that's whether they come from it. Do you have an advantage background or not or just whoever they may be, what advice do you give?
Even before they get to us, have some documentation of your work. I think that's so important, utilizing Instagram, LinkedIn, creating a portfolio, taking the time out to even seek out resources of what people are doing. You wouldn't believe just how many people just don't have even a representation of work that we can defend. And that becomes really difficult at times.
Like I spend 70% of my day looking at people with portfolios and books and Instagrams, always sourcing and resourcing, especially from a creative standpoint. And it's really hard to even advocate for people that don't have a solid representation of their work. So how would you identify them? And so you see them on Instagram, but then if you bring them in, they don't have it assembled into a portfolio you can show because you're obviously something that shows what their talent is.
That's what I'm saying. That's really hard to do for people. So typically the people that we have worked with, they've either shown a skill set, we've gotten to see them or we're taking a chance on them and they've given an opportunity or they put something together, maybe they've responded to a treatment or a bid or something like that. But when it comes to us like finding talent, because there's always a need to find talent or new people, that is what I would, that's the advice I would give them.
Find a way to display their work or even find a way to create work, even if it's not for a brand or not hired for, that can showcase some elements of your skill set, even if they're on an iPhone, because that's how people will find you, that's how we'll find you, to even be able to get you to that next opportunity. And now I said last question about it was a lie, but so how do you find these people actually? How do you identify these new talent? Everywhere, we got to keep our ears to the streets.
Yeah, sure, everywhere. So many different spaces and communities, a lot on Instagram for sure. And just recommendation from friends as well. And then in New York, is it like you're back in the theme so you can kind of find people in the world too, more than we could for a while.
Like there's artists spaces or there's events or that, things that you go and experience and you go, okay, who did this and go check them out with? I feel like for a while, we were trying to find stuff from the wild of our homes and it's hard to happen upon stuff when you're just at home all the time. Yeah, I think the internet poses such an interesting opportunity for artists and talent that they really need to take more active responsibility in having a digital presence. And that doesn't even kind of create or become an influencer because I feel like that's, when you say that to somebody they're automatically like doing dance videos and it's like, not what I meant by having an online presence, but you know, we're all at the age where we remember like live physical books and people having to go and like shop around these like books of their work and things just to get selected for being places or the agents that used to go and like physically be in your face.
And now the internet has everything. Even if it is a physical event or something like that, you still have an experience about experiential events, you still have the ability to content capture or to capture it from your perspective. And I definitely think taking the responsibility of personal branding is an artist responsibility because unfortunately, we just no longer live in a world where you can't do that. Not just on social, but also websites and portfolios and having your work organized.
The amount of time it like takes me getting a request for a director and needing to fulfill that request is like a 24 hour turnaround, usually. And so if I, if I'm wanting to put an artist forward and they don't, and it happens at the time, they don't have all of their assets in one place in a Dropbox folder that can easily be shared or they don't have a website that's most up to date with their most recent work that can be shared and that creates lost opportunities. So to any point it's definitely important to build your digital presence both on social, online and then having your assets organized in a way that can easily be reached, easily be utilized to sell in more opportunities. Only other advice would be to begin playing with AI and virtual production tools and not to get left behind.
Now are you guys doing that? I am playing with it for me. And we're trying to do a session for the One Park Nine roster on my journey because we've seen how it can be utilized for treatments as well as creating stock imagery. It's one of the hard parts about treatment sometimes is you're ideating on something even really creative, a lot of times you are thinking of something that you may not have an exact visual reference for but something like a mid-journey AI tool is able to create that imagery for you and take up your treatment enough.
It's not necessarily easy and there are definitely specialists and partners, but it is important to understand what those tools are and begin to play with it a bit. And then virtual production meaning like shooting on LED screens and what it means to not have full live sex is definitely something that we're seeing. It was already happening, but it definitely became expedited and utilized a lot more in COVID. And now we've been continuing to evolve since then.
There's like a new studio up in the Bronx that just opened that has a huge virtual production dome that they just opened last week. So we're seeing that start to be more and more present. And so as directors, as DPs and even creative directors and art directors really thinking about how to play with that technology in those game engines are gonna be important for the future. To be left behind or left out just because a client asks you to shoot on LED screens or utilizing LEDs versus shooting on a psych.
It's interesting because I think from your perspective, like what mid-journey does, it seems like that's something that interesting to you, you know, there's also like conversation right now about fear around those tools because will it take away jobs from creatives? But how do you feel about AI in that way? Do you feel like it's something that will actually be a benefit to what you do? Yeah, I think sometimes our lives easier always been playing about burning out and we're scared of tools that's gonna give us a little bit more free time.
I think it's important to play with it and get to know it a little bit better before being so important. I'm in the middle point, right? I think there's a lot of things about the regulations of AI that are, yeah, a lot of the regulations of it, how do we use it safely? How do we use it to protect intellectual property?
What does that look like? I think it was a little premature to be rolled out to the masses, although I do think it's wildly helpful. We recently used mid-journey on a pitch. I mean, it was great to tear this point, like needing to get those visuals that don't exist and being able to do those things.
But I think where we get into a risk, especially to the creative industries, like we see right now with the writer strike and people saying, well, we'll just use chat GPT to do it. Or we'll use this to take away from the human elements that, you know, make creativity, creativity. And that is a scary space to be. So like there is, there is the guise of like productivity, but then there's also artistry.
And I have a fear of us losing out on artistry if it goes too far. I think where we're at now is great. But this is literally the tipping point. And if it's accessible to us, then that means like, this is like the bottom of the barrel.
And that there is like a very higher powerful thing and seeing like the concerns. And I have a scientist's sister as well as like all of these like articles and things of how people can see it and movies and just everything where this can go left. And I think if not used responsibly, it can definitely go left. And by design, people are definitely going to lose jobs.
People lost jobs when computers were introduced, right? Like regulation for sure is extremely important. And I do hope that we're not as slow. Our government is not as slow at regulating AI as they have been with regulating social media as a whole.
Everything else, right? I was like, there is no regulation. We're still trying to get regulated. So while we're working.
Yeah, it's funny because I was actually wanting to ask you guys about the brighter strike, which Whitney Broach and I did not. I was just listening to something about it saying they were talking about Chappie P and AI and how about the piece in the negotiations? Although the studios haven't really responded to it. But yeah, it is interesting that it's all in the conversation.
Is the writer strike effect what you guys do at all? Or is that a separate branch? It can. It has the ability to.
I think just because it's all writers, not just television, writers and things like commercial writers and stuff. And like we said, when we get into doing branded series and content, we do like to tap into content writers and developers. I think their issues in why the strike came about isn't necessarily our arm of the business. Although I need to look up how they're being affected with commercial production with the distribution and the screening things, but typically they're paid out from that as a flat fee not commissioned as a writer.
But I wonder how it's affecting actual actors and stuff like that. But it does, but not really in the same as like, because we want a lot of like copywriters versus like true content development writers. But if we were in development of certain things that we would bring in a script writer, or it could for sure. There is a domino effect on the crew side that will come not immediately.
But in a couple of months down the road, perhaps, there being a gap on production or lack of production. And so it's not that it affects us, but it does make us conscious of making sure that we're extending opportunities to those crew members as well, understanding that they may be needing some jobs and opportunities, which opens up more crew. I was going to say, that's not sort of helpful to you. Yeah, it's not a bad thing.
And we definitely want to be able to support anyone that may have been affected and there may be artists or crew again that were not available to us before that maybe now. Yeah, yeah, it's complicated. I mean, in terms of the issues that they're negotiating, I was just like, I was just listening to something today. It's like, wow, there's a pretty broad spectrum for the issues there, so it could go on for a bit.
Yeah. All right, ladies, both of you, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. It was great chatting with you.
Yeah, this was great. Thank you so much, Paige. OK, and then I'll look forward to learning more about the documentary later this year. And otherwise, have a great day.
Thank you too. Thank you. Bye. That's it for this episode of the Daily Brief podcast.
If you don't already, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcast. If you have comments, questions, or ideas for conversations, please feel free to reach out to us at dailybreathappromax.org. And as always, thanks for listening.