Talent days are unforgiving. There’s usually a hard call time, a tight window, sometimes a publicist or manager watching the monitor, and zero room for a lighting setup that takes 40 minutes longer than planned. A few things we’ve learned doing this repeatedly:
By the time talent arrives, every shot should already be blocked, every lighting setup pre-lit where possible, and every question answered. We don't figure things out on camera.
Publicists and agents are part of the production, not an obstacle to it. We coordinate approvals, usage rights conversations, and timing with them well before the shoot date, not on it.
Flights get delayed. Schedules compress. We plan alternate shot orders in advance so a shortened window doesn't mean a shortened outcome.
Talent — especially athletes and actors who aren't primarily performers — read best when direction is specific and short. We build shot lists and talking points around how the person actually communicates, not around a script that sounds good on paper but stiff on camera.
Production support for brand campaigns with Chase, Google, Curry Brand, Under Armour, Sony.
Brand campaign production for Home Chef, So Delicious, Sony, and PLEZi
Brand campaign production for Chase
Brand video for Modelo in partnership with Live Nation
Brand campaign production for Denvix
Brand campaign production for Kaiser Permanente in partnership with Sports Illustrated
Brand campaign production for Google
Brand campaign production for Kaiser Permanente in partnership with Sports Illustrated
Brand campaign production for Kaiser Permanente in partnership with Sports Illustrated
Brand campaign production for Rakuten
DJ session (live streamed)
Media day
Two weeks of prep, a 3-hour window with Jimmy Butler, and four full setups to get through — a basketball court, an office, a workout room, and a photoshoot backdrop, all at Kezar Pavilion. That’s the reality of a talent day: the shoot doesn’t get more time just because there’s more to capture. We built the shot order around the compression, not around what would’ve been ideal with a full day.
With just two weeks of prep, our crew quickly aligned on creative, logistics, and technical needs to bring the shoot to life. Following our pre-light, we captured motion, stills, interviews, and social-led moments across multiple setups, often simultaneously. On a tight turnaround, the art department built custom environments including a massive white seamless, rotating basketball platform, glossy black plexiglass set, and elevated transparent floor, each helping define the Series 7 visual world. Nearly 40 crew members and 30 client partners worked seamlessly together, adapting to pivots and keeping momentum high from first shot to wrap. We delivered four final pieces blending ARRI Alexa, 16mm film, and photography.
Home Chef partnered with Ayesha Curry to bring her recipes to the core menu for four weeks in Q1 2025, blending Home Chef’s approachable feel with Ayesha’s polished, elevated style. Inspired by her family, travels, and love of food, the creative focused on making each recipe feel warm, relatable, and exciting through a cozy, sunlit kitchen aesthetic, natural shadows, flattering light, and detailed accents that highlighted the ingredients and space. The project included full pre-production and production services, one day of video and photography, 30 video deliverables, and 40 retouched photos.
This was a fun shoot that took us to two locations. We started at a house, capturing Larry’s interview along with supporting b-roll of him and his team working on music and enjoying a BBQ together. From there, we packed up and moved the company to the coast of Half Moon Bay, where we captured Larry riding his bike – one of his biggest passions. With Modelo products and plenty of food featured throughout, we also brought on a food & beverage stylist to make sure everything looked as good as it tasted.
Brand marketing team, agency (if one's involved), talent management, and publicists, all working off the same plan
Campaigns with talent often carry compressed post timelines tied to a launch date; we build our post schedule around that from day one
Ee're not the ones negotiating talent usage terms, but we shoot knowing what's been cleared, so nothing gets produced that can't be used
Call sheets built around arrival windows, hair/makeup timing, and rep-approved schedules
No — we produce the video content around talent that’s already been booked through your agency or the talent’s management. We work alongside whoever handles that relationship.
Yes. Most of our talent shoots involve an agency, brand team, and talent reps all coordinating together. We plug into that structure rather than trying to replace it.
Time. A standard commercial shoot can flex its schedule. A talent shoot usually can’t — the person has a hard call time and a hard out. Everything about how we prep and run the day is built around protecting that window.
We’re San Francisco-based and this is home base for most of our work, but talent shoots often go where the talent is. We travel when the project calls for it.
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