Are you ready to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of commercial and film production?

In the dynamic world of content creation, the digital shift is not just a trend; it's a revolution that's reshaping the role of the producer and the entire industry. This is a recap of our current podcast episode, and we're thrilled to have special guests Angie Daily and Sam Gibney from the social media content company LoudnClear joining us to share their insights.

The Digital Revolution in Content Creation

The seismic shift towards social media and digital content creation has profoundly impacted the landscape of commercial production. With platforms like Facebook and the ubiquity of smartphones, producing content has become about creating experiences that resonate with viewers on a personal level.

Authenticity and Community: The New Marketing Currency

In the realm of film production, authenticity and community engagement have become the new marketing currency. Influencers and content creators are at the forefront, driving the demand for genuine narratives and strategic approaches tailored to different platforms and audience preferences.

Influencers and Authentic Reviews

The authenticity of influencer reviews has become a focal point, with many driven by passion rather than payment. This emotional connection is key to engaging with fans and audiences, making the role of the producer in curating these experiences more crucial than ever.

The Intersection of Traditional Production and Social Media

The evolving dynamics between traditional production roles and the influence of social media and digital content creation call for collaboration and understanding. Producers must acknowledge the significance of social media and digital content in the success of a project.

Embracing New Technologies and Human Creativity

The integration of AI in content creation and the evolving landscape of the industry cannot be ignored. Balancing technological advancements with the irreplaceable value of human creativity and cultural awareness is essential for producing content that truly connects.

The Virtual Production Revolution

Virtual production is revolutionizing the industry, offering a "mind-blowing" marriage of tech and film. While challenges in communication and problem-solving exist, the possibilities are endless, especially as the technology becomes more cost-effective.

Looking Ahead: The Next Five Years in Production

The future of production lies in understanding the audience's desire for reality and genuine narratives. Community-driven platforms like TikTok and the two-way communication between fans and IPs are shaping this future, emphasizing the importance of creating content that resonates authentically.

The Advent of Spatial Computing

Spatial computing is poised to have a significant impact on production and daily life. With major companies investing in technologies that merge our physical and digital worlds, we're on the cusp of a new era.

Final Thoughts

The world of production is on the brink of a revolution, with virtual production, AI, and spatial computing leading the charge. The key to success lies in embracing these changes while maintaining the human touch that makes content truly compelling.

As we continue to explore the future of production, are you ready to embrace the digital shift? Join the conversation and let's navigate this exciting journey together. Stay tuned for more insights and opportunities to learn and network with industry professionals. Here's to creating impactful and authentic content for the digital age!

Read the Transcript!

Lawrence Lewis - You're listening to Producers Happy Hour. I'm Lawrence Lewis and I'm.

Sister Christian - Sister Christian.

Lawrence Lewis - And we're here to help you unravel the complexities of film and commercial production.

Sister Christian - Whether you're a seasoned producer, a production executive, a bitter, or a key part of the production team, we're here to equip you with the insights that I know Lawrence and I wish we had when we started out.

Lawrence Lewis - So you can navigate today's production challenges, conquer those demanding clients, and unlock the magic to seamless production.

Sister Christian - All with a cocktail, of course. So grab a drink, say goodbye to the gatekeepers, and let's dive into the art of producing.

Lawrence Lewis - We've got some great guests with us today before we dive in. What are you drinking for a happy hour.

Sister Christian - You know, the time of day I know never matters. But since it's only the afternoon, I'm having a Coors Light.

Lawrence Lewis - Oh, okay.

Sister Christian - Yep. I'm ASMR for you guys.

Lawrence Lewis - I'm pretty similar. I'm having a modelo light. So we're we're in the same ballpark, and we have with us from loud and clear.

Lawrence Lewis - Angie Daly and Sam Gibney. Welcome to happy Hour. Yeah, yeah. Are you guys joining us for a happy hour beverage?

Angie Daily - I'm on the clock, but I have a hard cider. It's been the alcohol because I'm going to go exercise later, so I'm like, yeah.

Sister Christian - Oh, I only exercise on Coors Light though.

Sister Christian- So going I have.

Sam Gibney - A Oregon beer called Deschutes, but it's a festive winter beer. Oh yeah, a festive winter ale. And I'm wondering it's winter somewhere, right? So I go for it.

Sister Christian - Well.

Lawrence Lewis - It was winter two days ago in LA. Now it's 78. So hard to tell.

Sam Gibney - So that's what I'm drinking for sure.

Sister Christian - No.

Sister Christian - Nice. Cheers.

Lawrence Lewis - Cheers. So before we get started. If you've ever listened to one of our episodes and felt like you wanted more than what we could fit in our 30 minute show, well, we've got a little message for you.

Sister Christian - Picture this close your eyes. All the resources, links and info on the current industry news we were talking about, plus some bonus insights we didn't have a chance to mention.

Sister Christian - All delivered to your inbox for free.

Lawrence Lewis - Yeah that's right. That's why we created the episode guide. It gives you more insight into each topic, each interview guest, and each industry happening that you need to stay on top of. It comes out every other Tuesday, the same day as our new episodes drop.

Sister Christian - Go to Producers Happy Hour Comment guide and we'll send you all the goodies.

Lawrence Lewis - Yes we will. All right, loud and Clear is a new digital agency delivering new capabilities in the dynamic world of social media and content creation by infusing AI. We've talked a lot about AI on the show by infusing AI in its creative workflows and sustained brand narratives.

Sister Christian - The two people behind Loud and Clear, Angie Dailey and Sam Gibney, are joining us today to dive into how the shift towards social media and digital content creation affect the role of producers in commercial film production. Like us.

Lawrence Lewis - Welcome to the show, Sam and Angie. Yay!

Sister Christian - So I know I'm, like, on the edge of my fucking seat right now because I'm super excited now.

Sister Christian - Like, just I'm back in, like, I don't know, 2007 or 2008. The phrase back then was like, we need to go viral. We need to make something viral. Can we do viral? And you're just like, no, you can't.

Lawrence Lewis - We need to make a viral video, which, you know, there's not necessarily such a thing. You make a video and the algorithm decides if it goes viral or not.

Sister Christian - Exactly.

Sister Christian - Laurence. So now it seems that social media, we're finding that it is just as important or even more important than the broadcast commercial that we're doing, or at least it's given the same amount of equity in a treatment. If you do not have a campaign around the main commercial campaign, then nobody's watching. The way we get our television, the way we get our shows these days, streaming services. I mean, the old model is gone. When did you start to notice the shift towards, you know, more social media, more digital?

Angie Daily - I've always worked in the digital space and I've done marketing for films.

Angie Daily - I started at a film studio and it used to be websites. We had to make websites for everything. Everything had to have its own website, a destination where people could come when.

Sister Christian - A landing page.

Angie Daily - A landing page. Yeah, we need to bring.

Sister Christian - A splash.

Sam Gibney - Page. Remember that, Angie? A splash.

Sister Christian - Page. Yeah.

Lawrence Lewis - Splash splash page.

Angie Daily - So and then I think with the smartphone technology like the iPhone hit the market and that just sort of shifted everything like that. And Facebook really just like taking off was like the perfect combination right around 2004, five, six, seven.

Sam Gibney - And with I'd say to add to that the, the commercial side of things, making a commercial or making a trailer, they started to put that into at some stage into Facebook and different sizes, different formats. They did that with paid media as well. I mean, that's what I started off doing is paid media. But I remember going into one of the execs offices and they announced, hey, we're going to have to there's a whole new format, a whole new way of doing things.

Sam Gibney - And it's called Facebook. And that was the start, I think, in and around that same Andy Daley time, you know, that that 2006, 2005 time is when it all changed for me as well. So no longer was at the 728 by 90 banner ad that you would use a trailer from and plop it in, or a commercial or 160 by 600 or a whole buy on, like IMDb, for instance. It went from that to like this whole new shift into scrolling. The migration started to become more social and community orientated than it was traditionally in commercials and the way we did things before.

Angie Daily - And now it's funny because I'm going to tell you guys I was a little under the weather like the last couple of weeks, and so I did a lot of television watching, movie watching, and I rewatched The Social Network. It seems so dated now. Everything's TikTok right now. Everything is like short form. These crazy. You have people attention for like four seconds, like it's so intense, changes so fast.

Lawrence Lewis - We've talked a lot about exactly that, like the banner ads, the IMDb takeovers, and, you know, you just plop a trailer in or something. How have you seen this type of content develop over the years? It's gotten pretty sophisticated because people are learning the algorithms and learning what makes content catch on. So what have you seen and what have you adapted into the work you do?

Angie Daily - What we're seeing now is a trend towards like organic, behind the scenes, candid moments that are shot on production on set, like while things are being filmed and it has and it's all shot on phones and it has. Very like organic look to the platform. So I think that's the trend versus, you know, Sam and I when we started we would spend weeks making these like motion pieces and all this very developed stylized content that I think our clients are sort of moving away from. and which is why it's so important to kind of have a strategy and get ahead, like, what are we going to do while we have the production shooting? Like, how can we get in there? And what kind of things can we capture?

Sister Christian - Because it's immediate, right? The moment that it's captured, it's sent.

Sister Christian - And then it's like edited and then put up, like people want to know stuff within a day or two of it happening. Not no longer is it, you know, a month worth of edit time.

Sister Christian - Or.

Sam Gibney - Sometimes in real time system as well, like some things are in real time, from press junkets to red carpet events, capturing content in real time and spitting it out to all these social platforms, I find it's the gap of of community with talent, and they're trying to squish it quicker and quicker and quicker and closer and closer, get the IP closer to its audience and closer to its community. And with the advent of all these platforms, acts as it's called now. It's all about community and what they want. And I mean, you know, just case in point, there's a big movie on that mention it that had one version of it, and the fans decided it wasn't good and they wanted another version. And, you know, the populous decides now the community decides that was a game changer as well.

Sam Gibney - So I think community plays a lot into the demand for content.

Lawrence Lewis - So when speaking about like the immediacy of it, all right, getting stuff as quickly out as possible, you're talking about when you're on set of an IP that people know and are aware of, like a TV series that people already love and are fans of, how does that change? What's the approach then, when you're working on maybe a commercial project or something that's not out yet that people don't know about yet, and you do have that time to kind of massage the material?

Angie Daily - The approach would be different. If we're working on a brand that maybe doesn't have the same fandom that like Zack Snyder, Justice League, right? So it would definitely involve more, you know, what's the intention kind of where is their audience, what platform, because there's different ways to approach different platforms.

Sam Gibney - The actual commercial side of things. I feel it's important to to note that even if it isn't brand as well as like a movie or TV show, that there is still a fandom there.

Sam Gibney - And there are there is demand. I mean, Nike for instance, or Reebok or Nintendo. They all have fandoms. Doesn't matter what it is, it could be linked to the entertainment or a brand. But they all have fandoms and they all need nurtured and they all need fed. That's insatiable. Know that people want to get closer to these IPS and to their talent. We're tasked with creating a strategy for that. But the TikToks of the world and everything that is trending, I would say when it's coming from something that's getting shot and will be released later, you can't rely on trends because trends are real time, and you know what is trending today will not be trending when this is released, say, down the road in the.

Sister Christian - Fall or.

Sam Gibney - Tomorrow. Yeah. Or even tomorrow. Because things, the trends switched so, so quickly. Trends are truly not trendy until they become organically like viral. like the guy going down on a on his rollerblades or on a skateboard, drinking the drink, playing Fleetwood Mac.

Sam Gibney - I mean, that that was just it just nobody could understand how viral that went. But that was incredible. These are really amazing things that are telling us in this game that came from the paid media side and the structured linear side of advertising, that it is all about community and it's what people levitate to. But there's always the companies go, how did that get so big? Let's follow that. Let's milk that. It's like, you can't. It's an organic thing that happens.

Sister Christian - It's the same thing. Hearken back to the viral video days, right?

Sister Christian - Yeah.

Sister Christian - Well, right. It's the same thing. It's like, how can you tell what's going to happen when it happens.

Sam Gibney - Or even timer. Remember that was actually. Yeah, fueled by the people. It wasn't fueled by any any agency or any strategy like Barb and Heimer or whatever it was called, where people were going to see double features, completely diametrically opposed movies, stylized movies.

Lawrence Lewis - Yeah, yeah.

Sam Gibney - Yeah, they were dressing like it.

Sam Gibney - And that was the fandoms coming together. That was genius. Genius. That's that's the thing that I love about advertising and social media, for sure.

Sister Christian - Part of it can be like a trend is picked up by an influencer or something. Then, you know, like you're all set, right? But I've definitely been in the influencer space for about ten years now or so of just like, you know, what we used to call spokesmen or spokespeople and that is now like, you know, influencer, but now like instead of just getting a chef, you want a chef influencer. And it's like, okay, because everything or like when I do casting like, how many likes and follows, like, you absolutely have to go and look at an actor's social media before you book them these days, especially if they're going to be if it's a product that you know. A pharmaceutical or something like, you definitely have to go and look at that kind of stuff too. I remember and people said that it was the millennial generation that when it came to airbrushed beauty like a CoverGirl commercial that used to spend millions of dollars on it didn't look real.

Sister Christian - It was it was airbrushed and fake, you know, once it came out and then there was this huge trend of going to natural light and filming and that. And then now it's just like ladies like me looking into a phone and, you know, putting there not just like me, but putting their makeup on. And that's what people want to see. They want to see their realness. And so is that what you attribute to the spontaneous ness of what a trend is, coupled with the possibility of influencing?

Sister Christian - Yeah, I.

Sam Gibney - Think the market now in fandoms, they don't want to be thrown over the head and sold the way it used to be done. I think they want to be connected to the hype, connected closer in an organic way, to feel safe, to purchase, to consume. And that is all to do with how social media is playing out now. And it's getting into a game of racing to the point. That's what I call it, racing to the point as quick as you can.

Sam Gibney - You know, 30s feels like a full feature now for any people that are consuming on TikTok and stuff like getting straight to the point within four seconds is what you're trying to do. And it's I remember even social media ads being 20 to 30s and neither asking it to be 5 to 10, like it's getting shorter and shorter and shorter and shorter, and you have to cram in a message, but also not over the head selling message. A look at this cool, organic, raw, real thing. And that's why I think TikTok is very, very successful because they're fast becoming the next Google, because I think that's actually what they're wanting to be, because generations today are wanting to. They get their truth from TikTok. If they look at a product or they look at a movie, instead of seeing a traditional commercial saying, go and see it. And they kids today know that that's made by the company making the movie and want to get that sale or that ticket sale. They'll go to check tock and get an honest review and honest chat about that, or an honest thought with an influencer.

Sam Gibney - But a product, what we used to search and find things on Google, there's no finding things. They don't search.

Angie Daily - Yeah, they don't search. They don't search for things anymore.

Sister Christian - Yeah.

Sister Christian - I mean, I get like if I need to change the, you know, belt in my washer, like I'm going to go watch, I'm going to go to TikTok and say or like clean the, you know, bathtub out with, you know, the jets in the bathtub, that kind of stuff. Like I just go to TikTok because it's gross and real and people tell you exactly how they did it, all their mistakes, and you're like, great, I have learned something and now I feel like an expert.

Lawrence Lewis - You know, it's funny you said a lot about community, but I'm wondering about, like, authenticity. People want to feel like they have an authentic connection to these influencers and content creators when they're talking about. But I struggle with that because this is their job, right? So, you know, some of these are brand deals.

Lawrence Lewis - Not to say they're not going to be honest in them, but do you find authenticity in terms of just personality an important thing?

Sam Gibney - Influencers. Yeah, this is their job. But also there is a lot of honest influencers there that actually review things and aren't getting paid to do it because maybe they're there for fans by fans approach. You know, they love the fandom anyway and they would jump at the chance. Maybe they get a t shirt or or an exclusive. That's the big thing that I'm seeing is being offered an exclusive. That's your your golden ticket. You're not getting paid, but you're getting exclusive. You're going to be the first influencer to to review this product or review this game or this movie. And because you're a fan of that, then they seek out these types of influencers that love that IP, and then they'll do it for that. So you you're going to get around that and also get closer to your fans believing it because they know that they're their influencers not lying and or they're not selling something in a different way.

Sam Gibney - Just I'm still getting paid in the back door. A lot of it is to do with what I just said. I think there are other influencers out there. Yeah, they're still taking money, but I think people are smart to that as well.

Sister Christian - I think that.

Sister Christian - What you said, too, about the knowledge for the behind the scenes, the realism of that and like the the appetite for wanting to see how things are made to prove that it's an authentic, like experience that's being lived right there, whether it's a show or a brand seems to be the trend, right, for what the social media space is right now. And so it'd be interesting to hear from you guys what you feel like. I know sometimes you're paired with, you know, like you're just told to do this. Great. And like the this network is hired you and this is the production here. The producers talk to them and work it out. Right. So when you partner like that from that end and knowing that you're the you know, what I would consider and what I'm sure that the client considers is just as important as the show is the hype around the show.

Sister Christian - Like, what do you expect from your your counterparts on the show or the brand or something like? What what what could you tell us that would be important for them to know as producers?

Sister Christian - Yeah, yeah.

Angie Daily - I would look at sort of what is the conversation that's already happening in the social space about that show, about that game? What are people saying, what's kind of the mood? And then based on that you can say, oh, okay. So we have this one show that we work on and there's like this secondary storyline that no one really thinks is that important. But all the fans are like, we want more of this, we want more of this. So all the content that we were creating for a while was tailored to that. It wasn't even like one of the main show arcs. It was just sort of a secondary thing. Every time we did anything in revolving around this storyline, people went crazy. I was like, really? Okay, like, this is what they want.

Angie Daily - So I think a lot of it has to do with just listening. Emotional connection and authenticity is really how people want to be connected. They want to make that connection with brands. They want to feel something.

Sam Gibney - To add to that, I think not just brands, but talent. Like from my experience, they all want to be real. Now, nothing wants to be fake. I think when they're trying to sell any movie that they're attached to, any game or any commercial, any brand, I think just showing authenticity of the experience and basically the behind the scenes and stuff that we do and people on sets, I think fundamentally is to get to the fandom, to show the reality of the fictional thing that they're they're going to be watching later on to show that there are real people behind those characters and showing those sets and those props and, and all the production that goes into it's fascinating, but it just makes it feel real. And then relating to people's lives as well, by way of ideas and how we generate this custom content to reflect outside in the real world, people's lives as well.

Sam Gibney - You know, I was just on TikTok because we have to do these researches to see what's trending and things like that. And I, I.

Sister Christian - Just watched I just.

Sam Gibney - I just watched it down to and it was a phenomenal piece of cinema, cinema. And I loved that movie. I know some people didn't, but I love that movie. But the main actor I came across and I didn't know he was a piano player straight away because I'm a musician. He automatically talked to me more because I know how to play the piano. I know how to play an instrument and write a song. And here he is doing that. That brings me closer to you. I want to see you like that. Then all this stuff even makes it better when I see you on screen, because I know behind it you're a real person and you got qualities and got talent. And so I think all of that is, is I think when you go to set is to be aware of that's what fandoms of anything that you'd be shooting from a commercial for a product or a brand to a game or whatever.

Sam Gibney - There's a whole audience behind that that you're creating this for. They want to see that it's real.

Sister Christian - So when Lawrence and I were go back ten years ago, let's say, on jobs, and then we were told that a behind the scenes crew or a social media crew were coming on, or even a hell, sometimes it's still photographer. We were taught to protect our part of the job at all costs.

Lawrence Lewis - Because at the time it was more important.

Sister Christian - I know that both Lawrence and I, which was an oddity, I can I can vouch for that were inviting. We would invite people in. We would like, of course, you know, we're all here to do a job. Let's hug. But not all producers out there used to treat the side aspects, you know, like that. They just weren't because there's a snobbery around like the main project there usually is. Right.

Angie Daily - And they still don't.

Sister Christian - Okay. So that's what I was kind of getting at. We know like Lawrence and I know how important your job is for sure, where your biggest advocates, but not everybody out there feels that way.

Sister Christian - Right. So when you approach and you go into a job, I mean, like, again, the success of the job is made or broken or the on TikTok, to be honest. Like if there's nightmares that come out about the show before it even comes out on TikTok, then people aren't going to watch it. I mean, like, just to be honest. So again, like, I want to know what you how you guys navigate that?

Angie Daily - Well, I would say I think just what you said, sister like is so important for people to know because we're all there for the same cause. Our group is just an extension of what you guys are creating. We're just trying to support that. So we're really working for the same towards the same goal, just in different ways. Our team is always incredibly sensitive, like productions main role is to stay on schedule and to make sure stuff gets shot. And so we our team is like, if if talent doesn't want to participate, all good.

Angie Daily - If the producers don't approve a concept, all good, like if they're the shoot is too small and a too small of a space. We don't mess around. So we try to also be.

Sister Christian - Sure.

Angie Daily - Yeah, be very, very sensitive about what's happening because we know, like you guys are on a tight schedule. You have a lot going on. There's you know, it takes a lot of different things to come together. To make anything in production. So, you know, we we try to be very, very sensitive to that and know that like the number one goal is to get whatever it is made and that we're there to support. Right.

Sister Christian - Well, sometimes the.

Sister Christian - Show is supporting.

Sister Christian - Your TikToks. Is how I mean, honestly, that's how I feel. People should be looking at this these days. They're they're of equal weight. And I know that in the last year, we have absolutely seen treatments that are that give social media deliverables more weight than the broadcast commercial.

Lawrence Lewis - Yeah.

Lawrence Lewis - And it's like, you know, we've got a crew of 100 people making the 32nd dinosaur. And then you come on set with like 2 or 3 people doing the stuff that is really getting the views, really getting likes going viral, doing all that stuff. So, you know, understanding that balance, even though you can execute what you're doing with a small team. And it takes us so much more people and trucks and gas to do what we do, there has to be some sort of understanding of the equilibrium, if not a greater importance, to what your team is doing in some in some situations, it used to.

Sam Gibney - Probably be the traditional way was the production was the flagship. But I think now we're all part of the flagship. And the flagship now is what are we doing, be it a movie or television show or brand product, like what we're doing this to, to show this to the community who loves it and the fandom who loves it. This IP that we're all working towards, and we all play an integral part of it, and we are the result of the change in the paradigm of technology, the change in the shift in the way we access information.

Sam Gibney - And it's forever changing and it's getting quicker with AI, with spatial computing, there's going to be all these new zeitgeist of how we deliver content. But from production to even what we we started doing banner ads. Everything has its right place. Everything is a strong cog. But I think we should realize that we're all part of the same mission, whatever we're working on. I think that's really, really important. I hope those days were and I knew this as an art director going on, set to capture social back in the day with my creative director. Production would look over us like, oh, they're here, you know, and we'd be the we'd be the last one. We'd be the last one with the least amount of time to shoot the greenscreen footage they'd already shot with the talent for the commercial. We had this last couple of seconds to do some stuff, and it was all rushed.

Sister Christian - Yeah, you.

Angie Daily - Have two, two minutes go.

Sam Gibney - But it's all serving the greatness of the end result, which is when the movie launches or when the brand launches that you get maximum impact and joy from the people who love that IP or love that product.

Sam Gibney - And we're all part of that. We're ambassadors of that. So I think that's really important that if there's anybody listening that does have that apprehension changes. I think always a great thing, but also camaraderie and coming together under the same roof because we're we're working on the same project. We're on that same set.

Lawrence Lewis - And, you know, we always talk about a lot of the time for ad agencies. It's about the experience they have on set. You know, sometimes you're just shooting the boards, sometimes you're, you know, you that's all you're doing. So the experience that they have on set and what happens when they're in the edit room with all the material, it's coming together. That's where decisions are made about how good the live action production was. So if they come out and it's like, oh, they didn't give us any time to get anything good that we can use on TikTok or we can't, you know, the social stuff. Yeah. They just they bullied us. They didn't let us in.

Lawrence Lewis - That's going to reflect negatively on the production company, the director and the producer, because you didn't cooperate and let that share the moment with the teams that have just as much and sometimes more influence in, in the end result.

Sister Christian - Have you ever wanted to take your commercial film production skills to the next level?

Sister Christian - I always.

Lawrence Lewis - Do. Based on that, we've got something special for you. We want you to join us for our very first in-person producers boot camp.

Sister Christian - That's right. It's super exciting. You're hearing it here first on Sunday, April 28th, 2024. Coming up very soon in Santa Monica, California. We, Lawrence and I are hosting a half day immersive deep dive into the art of commercial film production.

Sister Christian - I mean.

Lawrence Lewis - Talk about community and mentorship, right? We're finally got someone kicked us in the ass. His name's Jordan Brady, and he's like, just fucking do it. So we're doing it. We're gonna be in person and we're gonna we're gonna import all of our knowledge into your brains.

Lawrence Lewis - Limited spots are available just to make sure that everyone gets personalized attention. It's going to be a very small group. So grab your seat now.

Sister Christian  - And we're so fortunate to be presenting alongside Jordan Brady's commercial directing bootcamp. This workshop is your ticket to mastering the intricacies of producing stellar content at top tier levels.

Sister Christian - That's right.

Lawrence Lewis - Elevate your filmmaking skills with insights covering everything from deconstructing director's treatments to negotiating agency and client relationships, all from the producer's point of view.

Sister Christian - This course runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for solid hours and is only for 95. Hell, that's a bargain. Plus, it's the day after Jordan Brady's Director's Bootcamp, so you can make it a weekend of learning and growth.

Sister Christian - And as.

Lawrence Lewis - A special bonus, we're offering a $100 discount to everyone who is participating in Jordan Brady's commercial directing Boot.

Sister Christian - Camp. Head over to.

Sister Christian - Producers Happy hour.com/boot Camp to secure your spot. Today.

Lawrence Lewis - I want to know what you guys are doing with AI. How are you integrating that in your workflow and what's going on? Tell us.

Sam Gibney - For our business, we wanted to be orchestrators of our own vision, still be the orchestrator, still be the brains behind it. But sigh as a tool and embrace it and find a way that it just works for us as an agency. It may work for different people and different production houses, definitely, but people in all softwares for all production eyes becoming a component. There's a new update with an AI feature in it and it is scarily fast and it is amazingly helpful. But then also it is taking away jobs, but maybe not necessarily forever, but maybe to manufacture new ways and evolve new ways for jobs. But I do feel in our industry and you can correct me if you think I'm wrong, but I think all the traditional things, from copywriting to production in our side account directing strategy, even motion design and graphics and ideation for, you know, for pitches, there's not going to be the need for as many minds, but those those titles will still remain. There's just not going to be a lot of them.

Sam Gibney - So if you think of the social Darwinism, you don't have to be the fastest, but not necessarily the slowest either. You don't want to be the slowest, so just finding your niche, finding your pace and I think was loud and clear. We're embracing it and we're finding what way it works for us in a lot of different ways from ideation, like I said, all the way through to creation of ideas and strategy. But to put it in its rightful place and not the most important thing, is not to rely on it, because then you lose your sense of what the culture you're building and your company is. This is inevitable. These things, these growing pains are going to happen. It's just I feel we should be future bright as creatives, future bright, and understand it and use it for the best that we can.

Lawrence Lewis - We've talked about that. It's like we were saying earlier in this episode was that connection, that community, that authenticity, that you, you know, the connection you feel with an influencer or content creator? We see it all the time, especially in what, just this podcast.

Lawrence Lewis - Once we start putting videos out of our faces and us, you know, clips of the show, it's like, oh, we got a lot more engagement, a lot more interest because we're human. They can see who we are, that human human connection will be missed and will have a need. So, you know, it can't all just be, you know, motion graphics and and you know, I influencers.

Angie Daily - Yeah. And I don't know if you guys have ever like used ChatGPT or any kind of of the AI tools to try and try and like write jokes. Right. Try and write like humor. And it just isn't there.

Sister Christian - It tanks so.

Angie Daily - You know, it tanks hard. So there are still a lot of I mean, I think having an awareness of what it is and ways we can use it, but really, when it comes down to it, like we need the human element, we need the cultural awareness, you know, the humor, like it just isn't. And it can't like do any graphics with hand and then.

Sam Gibney - Also getting back to like what you guys do in production and making commercials and stuff like that. I mean, that is still a massively needed entity of creation. And I see our teams taking that and taking piecemeal from it and creating social aspects of it and. So it's like this beautiful big beast that is made and people take from it to create all this other great content. So I always see it as like the mothership, for us to then divulge and take stuff from and inspiration from to create our, you know, in our worlds, social connection.

Lawrence Lewis - Just for the record, I asked Chip just now to write a joke about commercial film production shifting to social media content. And here's what we got. Why did the commercial film producer break up with social media? Because it kept cropping out the important parts.

Sister Christian - All right, that was good.

Sam Gibney - That was good. Or was it?

Sister Christian - I don't know,

Sam Gibney - That wasn't that or was it?

Lawrence Lewis - Yeah.

Sister Christian - I mean.

Angie Daily - I wouldn't give it any kind of humor.

Angie Daily - Awards. If there is such.

Sister Christian - Are that words.

Angie Daily - For comedy.

Sam Gibney - Dry humor movie.

Sister Christian - Is it dry? Yeah. There's a there's a couple dry I don't know I don't know. Yeah.

Lawrence Lewis - Future bright I really like that saying because it is true. And you know every new invention scares everybody for for a while. And then we figure out how to use it and how it's a tool staying future bright. And you guys what you're doing obviously, you know, you're you're ahead of the game and you're forward thinking. So what do you as a company and as individuals, what are you what insights do you have about, the world of production over the next five years? Where do you see things going?

Sam Gibney - Oh, that's a great question. Actually. I wanted to turn it back on you guys and ask your question from our end, if you don't mind. Sure. Let's do it. What do you guys think of right now? We're working for a virtual production company as helping them with social media and getting their voice right for this new production company is going to open up in Europe.

Sam Gibney - I wanted to know what you guys, production people, think of virtual production and how that's going and how that's coming into the play from The Mandalorian to work sets. You don't have to go around the world to make a car commercial. You can actually do it in a set with real time lighting. Unreal engine that changes the game productivity, imagination, quickness to respond to whatever the client needs and changes, but also effective monetary value. from spending so much money to go on sets to shoot these things across America or across the world. Now you can virtually do things virtually in in house, like a car commercial or something like that. And then also I'm not touched on it, but volumetric video is another thing. But just on virtual production, what do you guys see or how is that influencing your job in any way?

Lawrence Lewis - I just did one for Mercedes in a in a large volumetric stage in Atlanta and a it's amazing. You know, the whole experience is, is mind blowing all the way from previs to actually being there on the set.

Lawrence Lewis - It's a marriage of two different types of creative people, tech people and film people. And, so I think there is there is some challenges there that need to be worked out in terms of how we work, how we communicate. It's like, you know, when something's, you know, not right in the set, somebody will fucking go out there and move the rock or put a tree in front of it and we go, and, that's not exactly how problems in the tech space get solved. So I think there's a little bit of a different approaches to that. And we're not speaking the same language. So, you know, it's like, I need to know why we can't shoot this thing. And there really isn't a reason that I'm going to understand. And they don't know how to explain it to me because I don't understand code. There's a hiccup there. The cost is pretty high to really build worlds that are photorealistic 3D in Unreal Engine, and then if you need foreground elements, you still have to have an art department and you have to kind of previs everything.

Lawrence Lewis - So the scale at which the art department is building the foreground live elements matches the scale of what the Unreal Engine artists are building in this. It's fascinating, and it's at least in my experience, it's more geared to longer productions, bigger productions that have months, months of prep to kind of work through all these things. Whereas commercials, it's like, we got two weeks, you know, to. And so, you know, you know that that gets a little challenging unless it's something creative, like the spot I did, they were they were a little more artistic and a little more stylized and surreal rather than realistic worlds. But it is a fascinating process, and I think it is going to make a big shift, along with AI in in how we work and in the landscape of locations and shooting and filming and stages. And yeah, because if I can build one wall and everything out the window is, you know, fantasy land. Yeah, yeah, that's that's the way is it.

Sam Gibney - Something that you're embracing or a production artist you feel, in your opinion should be embracing or because it's a virtual production is not going to it's is it going anywhere or is it going to be a fad?

Sister Christian - Well, I think that, right now it's not, cheaper to do it.

Sister Christian - Right and until it becomes cheaper to do it, then people are going to go out and do the the thing that they're used to doing. Right. There's that familiarity there. But when I've done it, you know, you like have three hours with a celebrity, you know, and so you've you spent the time doing it. They can't physically go to the location, you know, and spend two days filming it. They only have three hours. So I've sent crews to go photo like capture that and then it's built around that too. So that's another option for sure. I think that right now the cost doesn't outweigh the practicality for short form. For long form. Yeah. The Mandalorian love it. You know, like can't wait for the next one. It comes out like every year like around Christmas time. So you're able to keep that schedule. That part I think is the cost effective part of it. When it comes for short form. I don't quite yet see the cost effectiveness, but I mean, there is an interest in it for sure.

Sister Christian - And I think that it is the future. I think that when somebody cracks that like code of like what stock House now has like, here's some fields and farms and shit and we can just pop that up there that. Yeah. No, I mean I think that it's coming, but I don't know that today I would tell somebody to shoot that way versus practically it would just depend on the situation. But there will be a day where it's like, yes, you should absolutely be doing it on a stage.

Lawrence Lewis - Now back to you. So what are you where do you see this all going? You know, you're ahead of the game. You're you're forward thinking, your future bright. What insights do you have for us about production in the next few years?

Angie Daily - I'm a little conflicted, like as a as a human. And I'm a child of the 80s, right. So like, I don't really want to spend all my time on my phone scrolling around. So, you know, I understand kind of the resistance, but I also but it's like all these things that we're talking about, like, obviously social media is not going anywhere.

Angie Daily - So I think.

Sam Gibney - The advent of the community coming in and, and like acts or TikTok and fans getting closer to their IPS and, and their and their talent, and it's becoming such a two way door now where it used to just be one way where it was linear. You're just selling products now. You have to listen to the audience because the audience isn't dumb. You know, the audience wants not a hard sell or even a fake sell. They want reality. Give us reality and let us decide ourselves. And if we feel safe in this community that we can share and we can talk about it and we can give our opinions about it, then the better for the IP going through a lot of, you know, if it's not a good IP or it's not doing its job right, then people are going to say that we live in a world where we can create our own narratives about the things that we like and create our own gospel for that. And that is an empirical part of where I think things are going.

Sam Gibney - It is we have to look and listen to the people who are consuming these products and the films, the music, the the games, the brands. and then also, just to top it all off, at the top, I do feel when you have a company as big as Apple and you have a company as big as Disney coming together and creating something like the this headset that they've got. He's been.

Angie Daily - Waiting this whole episode, the.

Sister Christian - Whole.

Sam Gibney - Episode about AVP, not alien versus predator. Yeah. AVP, Apple Vision that spatial computing is going to change and shift everything. I mean, it is in fact spatial computing. Everything that we do will become spatial in the environments that we're in, how we consume, how we spend, how we litigate our lives every single day, and how we go about our lives every single day and what we do as a business, as a career, but also what we do and choose to to entertain us. We'll all be, you know, these will not be ski masks.

Sam Gibney - I mean, I'm coming to the day where I feel in the future, whatever we're doing in production or on social media, whatever we're doing to work on these things, we will lose phones. I think my opinion is it has a shelf life. Yeah, we will look at back in the day, like in 30 years time, people go, wow, they used this thing and held it to get all their information.

Lawrence Lewis - Carry this thing around a.

Sam Gibney - Block that is now, you know, a doorstop or these big blocks, you know, to have a bigger screen. Now I can watch, you know, as big a screen as I want, and I can be on Tatooine watching Star Wars with my nephew, who lives in Sydney, and we can both talk about it as avatars. That changes the game. It brings the world so much closer together for for creation, I think. And consumption.

Sister Christian - It sounds like inclusivity, which is what before Covid was experiential in my opinion. So I can see that experiential and then the inclusivity of what real time fans can look at whenever you're on set, you're like, within 30 minutes there's a TikTok up of, you know, they're they're feeling included.

Sister Christian - They want to feel included. And when they have feedback, feedback is directly read and then acted upon then, yeah, like they are included. It is like experiential. So yeah. No, that's. That makes a lot of sense. Something to look forward to.

Sam Gibney - I'd also add, like even what we're doing right now, having a podcast that's on a flat screen on a laptop. But in the future, what will it look like with spatial computing? But we will all be in a virtual space and we can see each other in our own rooms, you know, wherever we are. be it in the desert or here in LA, or maybe we're doing a podcast with someone in New York. Are they all going to be wired in? And we'll all see in our own personal space, our friends that we're doing this podcast with.

Sister Christian - And it will.

Angie Daily - Be at a sushi restaurant, we'll be at a fancy sushi restaurant.

Sam Gibney - And these these glasses will come down to as small as Laurence's glasses that you're wearing right now.

Sam Gibney - Like that's going to happen. This is the start. And then it's where we go from there. And all these things that we do and all the things that you do, how that plays a part in that future. I think it's future bright, though. I think it's going to be fantastic. I have to believe that.

Lawrence Lewis - Right. There you go.

Sister Christian - Yeah, I know, I.

Sister Christian - Want my glasses.

Sister Christian - Down.

Lawrence Lewis - Yeah. Where are they? I'm going to order them. Sam and Angie, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate you. This was a lot of fun. You guys are doing really interesting things, and it was exciting to have you on here to to chat about it.

Sam Gibney - Our pleasure. Thank you so.

Sister Christian - Much for having.

Lawrence Lewis - Us. People want to know more about Loud and Clear. How can they get Ahold of you?

Sam Gibney - Oh, just go to Roger loud and clear. Com you have the website, but also Sam or Angie at Roger. Loud and clear.

Sam Gibney - Loud and clear with an n.

Lawrence Lewis - Yeah, LoudnClear.com. Great sister. How do people get Ahold of you if they want you?

Sister Christian - www.sisterchristianproduces.com and Lawrence, if they want you, how are they going to get you?

Lawrence Lewis - www.LawrenceTlewis.com. Thanks, everybody. Thanks, sister.

Sister Christian - Thanks, Lawrence. Everyone.

Lawrence Lewis - Yeah. Cheers.

Sister Christian - Cheers.

Sister Christian - Thanks for joining producers. Happy hour.

Lawrence Lewis - If you got value from this episode, please don't keep it to yourself. Spread the love by rating and reviewing us on Apple Podcasts.

Sister Christian - And let's be honest, we wouldn't have the show without you. Your feedback helps us to keep making this amazing content.

Lawrence Lewis - This show is brought to you by our editor, Bren Russell at www.Podlad.com.

Sister Christian - Christopher Daniels, who is our branding expert and one fabulous treatment designer.

Lawrence Lewis - So until next time, always.

Sister Christian - Remember making.

Sister Christian - It is hard.