Inventing brand stories? Nah.

Nothing makes me happier than throwing out my own writing because someone said it better.

One of my favorite parts of talent-led storytelling is getting to know the person before we ever get on set. Those first conversations are my jaaaaam. I come prepared with questions, but I keep it down-to-earth. Let’s just talk. I want to hear how you see your world.

Getting people on the call, though? A whole ’notha adventure. On one Strava x Oura campaign, I was scouring IG and cold pitching athletes in DMs. I had mutuals telling people to check their spam folders and trust that I was NOT a scammer. Very glamorous work.

The worst thing I could do after all that is make them recite the brand’s message back to me (eww). In our first call, Arby described how everything that went into her training, right down to the rest and meditation, came together like a symphony. A SYMPHONY. I tossed my draft. lol.

We already had our campaign idea, but I loved how she saw it in her own life. I rewrote the treatment around that conversation, then worked with one of my faaaave sport directors, Matthew Lucier, to bring that feeling and story to the screen through pacing and framing. All those little pieces working together.

That’s what I friggin’ love about this work. Telling brand stories that already existed in people’s worlds.

Plus, you meet some dope people.