Studio
An agency for real stories.
We develop, shape, and produce documentaries and brand films for companies that believe the story should lead. We've been doing it since 2014, out of Chicago — usually wherever the real work is happening.
Most shops are built to do one thing — think it up, or shoot it. The handoff in between is where stories get watered down.
We're built to do all of it.
Strategy, directing, the edit — the same hands the whole way. The people who find your story are the people who shoot it. One team, from the first conversation to the final frame.
Documentary
Unscripted, story-led films about real people and real work. We find the narrative, we don't manufacture it.
Brand Films
Cinematic, shaped storytelling — often narrated, always rooted in something true. The polish of a commercial, the soul of a documentary.
How We Work
Founders
Two guys who met on a rugby pitch.
We came up doing a little of everything — that's what you do when it's just the two of you starting out. Early on, we chased the dream of directing commercials, and we got there: a Dr. Scholl's spot you've probably seen, the ones that count your steps. It was fun. But somewhere between the boardrooms and the manufacturing floors, we figured out what we actually loved — finding the real story inside real people and real work, and shaping it into something worth watching.
FH Paschen handed us the keys first — a brand story and a few mini-docs on their people. Then Exelon, our first Fortune 500, trusted us to tell their employees' stories in documentary form. Not long after, we were writing, producing, and directing the Made By Us series for Kraft Heinz, and making brand films at national scale for Amazon.
We came up wearing every hat — Habs framing shots behind the camera, Christian cutting nearly everything we made for a decade. We don't need to anymore. Today we staff our DPs, crew up, and run the productions — anywhere from a tight team of four to a set of thirty. But having done every job ourselves is exactly why we know how to lead the people who do them now.
Habs is the one who can't stop talking about the story — head of creative, the big ideas, the structure, the why. He still speaks a DP's language from his years behind the camera. Christian is head of production, and a lead editor for over a decade — so he brings an editor's eye to set, seeing how a story cuts together before a frame is shot. One dreams it up. One gets it made.
The best part has never been the gear, awards, or accolades. It's the people — the ones in front of the camera who let us into their lives, and the crew beside us, who after this many airports, far-flung shoots, and long drives have become some of our closest friends. We don't take any of it lightly. We show up, we pay attention, and we tell it like it's worth telling. Because it is.
