Jamie Bendell — Managing Partner & Executive Producer, Big Block LA
Jamie talks to TheNextGag about how influencers are slowly getting into movies, why production companies need to learn to work directly with brands, what Lin-Manuel Miranda means for the theatrical community and why she loves to see artists embrace multiple art forms.
Jamie Bendell is the Managing Partner & Executive Producer at Big Block LA in the USA.
Jamie’s responsibilities at Big Block include having a hand in day to day operations and all management related conversations, working with the development and post production team on their digital feature films, and continuing Big Block’s efforts in developing other theatrical opportunities.
In her spare time, the brilliant Jamie Bendell is also a singer-songwriter and collaborates with two music groups, Hero House and Plastic Cannons.
Her latest release is Pretty Tough with Hero House with an accompanying music video about the current dating scene.
THENEXTGAG: IT SEEMS THAT YOUR PRODUCTION COMPANY DIPS ITS HANDS INTO ALL SORT OF CONTENT, ADVERTISING, TV SHOW TITLES AND STUFF LIKE THAT.
JAMIE BENDELL: Yes. And just so you know, I focus more on our entertainment properties because we have an entertainment arm.
Overall, we are a content creation studio that does branch into different types of content creation. We do a great deal of post-production work and we design show logos and television graphic packages for clients like ESPN. That’s a huge part of our business. And then, in addition to having a roster of directors for our live-action group, we also produce entertainment content for film and commercial theater. More of my background comes from theatrical production but we’ve recently started producing films. We shot three films over the past year.
TNG: WHEN YOU SAY FILMS, DO YOU MEAN FEATURE FILMS ?
JB: Features, yes. So, three features, two that were horror genre films and then one that is a bit more of a high school comedy.
We definitely create content in lots of forms.
TNG: AND STILL ADVERTISING, RIGHT ?
JB: Yes, of course. That’s our core business of our operations in terms of production and working with agencies and brands.
As part of entertainment, I am almost on the side of the company just because our core business is in production for advertising. It is so interesting because our three films were fundraised based on social media content creators. They were films that primarily had influencers — influencers in the latest sense of the word — in them. In two of our films, they have featured roles. It’s interesting because they are amazing actors, but you wouldn’t necessarily know that because so much of YouTube and Vine videos are off-the-cuff or really speaking directly to an audience and engaging with them. In feature films you don’t really get to do that because of the fourth wall. It is very set back from the audience, whereas on YouTube, you are really engaging — almost even in the moment sometimes. Our third film that we shot was written and directed by The Fine Brothers and that is their baby. That is their film so it is a little bit different from the first two.
All of this to say that there is a lot of crossover in between conversations happening right now with influencers and advertising, and content creation for brands, and talking about all these platforms that are developing brand’s studios, and agencies that are developing marketing arms. So, it just feels like it is uncharted territory all over the place.
TNG: FOR YOUR THIRD FEATURE, DID THE FINE BROTHERS WRITE, STAR, DIRECT AND EDIT THE PIECE LIKE INFLUENCERS DO ONLINE ?
JB: They are not starring in the movie, they are very much involved in everything behind the camera and behind the scenes. It is just reflective of their channel. They created a channel where you hear their voice, but you don’t see them. There is consistency between their channel and this film. I think there has to be some authenticity to what you are doing. That is something their fans understand, the fact that they are not going to see them onscreen. They are just going to see their ideas, their mind.
However with other stars and influencers and creators, they are onscreen. Because that’s what you see them as. With Logan Paul for example, a content creator on Vine who was in our second film, he has branched out onto other platforms but is in front of the camera . We even utilize a Vine video within the film, which is, again, having consistency between his native platform and a feature.
TNG: IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS, IT SEEMS THAT WE SEE LESS ACTUAL CELEBRITIES AND MORE INFLUENCERS IN COMMERCIALS AND THEY ARE ASKED TO WRITE/PRODUCE/STAR/DIRECT/EDIT THEIR FILMS. DO YOU SEE THIS AS A TREND ?
JB: I believe in the fact that it will stay multidimensional. Just because we have all these opportunities right now to be so many different things with the use of technology. And even looking at Instagram and how Instagram sort of changed the way people think about photography, it made it more accessible with filters to people who don’t know necessarily or who wouldn’t necessarily understand how to focus a camera. That was sort of the start, seeing people who weren’t photographers, for example, become more fluent in that medium. And I think because of applications like that, we see people who are able to do, and just pick up their phone and create content. So they are their own producer, they are their own director, they are their own editor. As we continue to have so many different tools at our fingertips, we are just going to keep seeing people who are able to do so many things.
I don’t know. I don’t see that changing really. It’s an interesting thing to think about. I think we will always value people who have a lot of depth of experience in one thing. But I feel there is such a strong push for breadth right now.
Although, it is interesting because if you just take in, for example, influencers, they really do have a depth in whatever they do. But, they also create their own content. So, they do all of the writing, the directing. From the title perspective, I think we will continue to see people who are doing all of the different sort of jobs that relate to production. But in terms of knowing themselves and knowing their audience and their content, I feel like that would stay continuous, that would stay consistent.
TNG: WHAT DO YOU FEEL IS THE BEST COLLABORATION FOR YOUR PRODUCTION COMPANY ? THROUGH AN AGENCY ? OR DIRECTLY WITH BRANDS (SOMETIMES VIA A CONTENT STUDIO LIKE FOR YOUR OLYMPUS WORK) ?
JB: I think that we are experienced with both and that we love those relationships that we have with agencies and are happy to work with them. And we also do want to continue those experiences that lead creatives through content, to brands and working directly with brands. I also think it depends on the director that you work with as well. A lot of the work that we’ve done directly with brands has been with Paul Trillo for American Eagle and Gymboree. He has worked directly with Vimeo in terms of their brand content studio. We like to support Paul and the Vimeo Brand Studio.
I don’t think that we would want to do one or the other. I think we like the idea of doing both. Even just having the experience of creating feature films and knowing that brands might want to work on a feature-length project, I think that we would want to explore that. We wouldn’t want to keep it to one or the other. Just because it feels like right now, you have to sort of be open to different experiences and different ways of creating content because things are changing so quickly. It just feels that way all over the place at different festivals that I go to; I was at Sundance for films. As SXSW has changed over the years, it felt like it was so much more music-focused in the beginning, and now it is tech. It is so much tech. But it is also brands and tech, it is also films and tech. It’s all sort of related, but it feels very tech-heavy. It is just interesting to see that shift.
I feel it is getting harder and harder to say that we only want to do one thing because we’re following a trend of all of these people who are taking on multiple roles. I just feel that as a production company, as a content creation studio, you have to be able to manage those different relationships with an agency, with brands directly, with a content creator, and supporting them.
TNG: CAN YOU TELL US HOW YOU WORK WITH BROADWAY SHOWS ? DO YOU DO COMMERCIALS FOR THEM ?
JB: No. We actually develop Broadway shows. That’s a whole different world.
It’s sort of interesting. I was reading this morning in Fast Company the 100 Top Creative People and Lin-Manuel Miranda is number one. And everything that Hamilton has done has brought theater into the spotlight in a way that it wasn’t before. I mean, every so often yes.
We actually develop theater. We develop scripts with writers. We option material. And we try to see it through from idea to Broadway show or to touring production. So, we are partnering with Russell Simmons right now on a hip-hop musical. My entertainment partner at Big Block, Scott Prisand, was a general partner on Rock of Ages. We will help basically actualize the entirety of a production.
And then, it is interesting, because the advertising world of theater feels so different from advertising with brands on television.
TNG: YOU MEAN THE FACT THAT THEY STILL RELY ON PRINTS IN PLAYBILL AND SUCH.
JB: Yes. There are a couple of agencies that work on Broadway and stay and focused on that. That’s a whole different world.
But you do see crossover in that so many studios now are looking at their catalogue of films and saying “What can we develop into a theatrical piece?”
TNG: BECAUSE OF THE MONEY BEHIND POTENTIAL HITS ?
JB: Yes, and they look at different revenue streams. Even Frozen is coming to Broadway. Disney Theatrical has been so strong, understandably, in the work that they produce.
I think for artists, it is nice to see their projects in different media. Of course, I would love to see more.
TNG: YOU MENTIONED THAT YOUR BACKGROUND IS IN BROADWAY THEATER. WHAT WERE YOU DOING ?
JB: Yes, in producing and in developing content.
We were partners of a musical called Heathers: The Musical. We are coming in at various stages. So sometimes we will invest. Sometimes we will just help produce, which means coming mid-stage and involves helping with casting, helping with getting the show up, talking to designers and sometimes even directors. You are at the theater every day seeing how people are responding.
TNG: WHERE ARE YOU BASED ? ARE YOU IN LOS ANGELES ?
JB: I am in New York, and a little bit of LA. I am both.
Our company is based in LA, and I have a partner in the entertainment group that is in LA, and I am actually back and forth quite a bit.
TNG: HAVE YOU SEEN HAMILTON ?
JB: Yes, I have. I am grateful. I feel that way.
TNG: LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA IS THE TALK OF THE TOWN RIGHT NOW. AND IT IS ONLY NORMAL THAT HE IS LEAVING THE SHOW AS HE NOW HAS SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES. DID YOU KNOW HIM BEFORE HAMILTON ?
JB: People were saying that he was great years ago in the theater community, and that is what is so interesting. That’s what is also so fascinating to me that — and you’ve seen it in some interviews of his — “In The Heights” was brilliant, which was a piece that he had on Broadway, that he wrote and starred in. I feel like in the theatrical community we all knew how amazing and brilliant he is. He is such a generous person of mind and creativity. He gives so much to his work and to audiences. That was known in the theatrical community. But I feel like now everybody …
TNG: THE SECRET IS OUT !
JB: Yes, and I think he probably is booked and working for a very long time to come.
To me, that is the exciting thing about what he is doing. I hope his work is sort of paving the way for that fluidity of creative talent coming to films, to advertising, to short-form content.
I love that idea of fluidity of creative talent between short-form content, commercial content, film, theatrical. That to me is fascinating. I hope there is that path of people working in different forms of content.
TNG: EVEN WITHOUT SEEING HAMILTON LIVE, I FEEL LIKE I EXPERIENCED THE SHOW THANKS TO ALL THE SHORT VIDEOS THAT THEY DID IN CHARACTER, LIKE THE ONE WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA OR AT THE TONYS. JUST AS AN INFLUENCER WOULD DO.
JB: I don’t know if I brought him up as an example, but he is involved in the writing and the composing and the acting. He is involved in a lot of different facets of creation. He is another example of someone who is involved in different parts of the process, just like the influencers we’ve talked about before.
And I would say that there is a time at our company as well in that. We have experience creating different types of content.
TNG: I HAVE TO SAY THAT I WAS IMPRESSED BY YOUR COMPANY SHOWREEL. IT SEEMS LIKE A LOT OF WORK, ESPECIALLY THE TITLE DESIGN PART.
JB: A lot of time. Like twelve months, sometimes. Sometimes more. It depends on how many parts there are of the process.
We have 3D, CGI designers. We have a design team that focuses on 2D graphics. They work on a variety of programs.
Jamie Bendell
Managing Partner & Executive Producer
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