We are in extremely unfamiliar, and challenging times for our world and industry. And frankly, it’s probably the wrong moment to be launching a new company. But in our short history we have prided ourselves on not only being innovative, but nimble - in producing high quality work with the resources at our disposal and adapting to whatever challenges come our way. With years of experience behind us, and veteran industry support around us, we’ve somehow found ourselves busy during a pandemic. For that, we are grateful, and look forward to sharing our adaptive capabilities with our partners.
Right as everything got turned upside down at the end of march, Steve director Micah Perta created a spot for Trade Coffee that was timely and poignant, and not easy to pull off. The project went from green light to air in 7 days. Casting on a truncated timeline and producing a commercial from multiple couches in multiple cities without a roadmap was an exhilarating challenge to say the least. It was also a departure for Micah, who is usually a comedy director. The tone was more serious and sensitive to what the moment called for - but, again, part of the adaptive DNA of Steve Unlimited. Press Here.
Building off that success, Micah was tasked to do a similar style promotion but on steroids, with 78 stars from across MTV Networks for their internal 2020 Upfront Campaign.It was a star-studded galactic sing-along set to “Happy Together,” by The Turtles, with everyone from Kevin Costner to Snooki. Micah created a best practices video (if you ask him nicely he might even send it to you even though he is embarrassed by it), was on-call for a week fielding questions from celebrities, hopped on Zooms or phone calls to direct remotely - he basically did anything he had to to get the right footage back to create the psychedelic Zoom from space it would become.
When Circus Maximus approached Steve Unlimited to collaborate on shooting a spot to promote wearing masks in NYC, we jumped at the opportunity. Not only is Steve a huge lover of everything New York (and big Cuomosexuals), it was also a chance, for the first time in two months, to actually get off the couch and out in the world to shoot something. Not like in the past of course, this was a whole new world of socially distant shooting. But luckily the aforementioned adaptability of Steve Unlimited kicked in and we love the end result. With a crew of only three people and everything shot in and around director Micah Perta’s neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn (including his fire escape, his neighbors, his pizza joint, and his bodega), we were able with only a skeleton crew to deliver a unique, lighthearted take on a PSA, which was an ode to the city we love.
Micah then shot eight spots remotely in four days for Philadelphia Cream Cheese, GUT and Five to Sixty. He cast on Zoom. Then sent film packages with cameras, laptops, lights, even first aid kits. While shooting, he had his entire crew of department heads, from DP to Art Director to Food Stylist on Zoom helping set frames and walk talent through setting up gear and using the camera. It was the most difficult thing he has done not only in this pandemic, but in his career (the same was said by his entire veteran crew). But it was an amazing experience working, and makes him feel uniquely prepared for any scope of any challenge that comes his way.
…and safe ❤️