Grand Union Creative

WHAT WE DO

THE PEOPLE
WHO DO THE WORK.

Most companies are mostly frontline. Technicians, operators, drivers, line workers, store teams, the crews out in the field. The people who make the thing, move the thing, and fix the thing. We make documentary films and brand films about them. For recruiting. For the people already there. For the customers who never see what it takes. And when a story is bigger than one company, we make that too.

WHO WE FILM

Frontline employees. Craft workers. Skilled trades.

Frontline covers more than people think. It's everyone whose job doesn't happen at a desk: the craft workers and skilled tradespeople, the technicians and field crews, the plant floor, the warehouse, the delivery route, the storefront, the clinic. We've spent twelve years on those floors and in those trucks, and we've learned the one thing that matters. The people doing the work are the story. Not the building. Not the brand book. If most of your workforce never sees the inside of headquarters, those are the stories we're built to tell. And past the frontline, it's founders, farmers, chefs, purveyors, anyone whose work is worth watching up close.

WHAT WE MAKE

Documentaries and brand films, mostly about people and work. Here’s the range.

  • 01Documentary films and series

    Unscripted, story-led films about real people and real work. One film or a whole series. This is the core of what we do, and everything else on this list comes from it.

  • 02Employee stories and spotlight series

    One person, one job, one true story, told in their own words. Shot on the floor, in the truck, in the field. Companies use them for recruiting, for culture, and for reminding people why they're there.

  • 03Brand films

    Shaped, elevated storytelling. Written and polished when the job calls for it, with the real world as the backdrop. The polish of a commercial with something true underneath.

  • 04Recruitment and employer brand films

    Show the job as it actually is, told by the people doing it. Recruiting films a twenty-four-year-old welder would believe.

  • 05Internal communications video

    Call it internal if you want. We don't. A film your people watch in the break room is doing a harder job than the one your customers see, and it deserves the same craft. Leadership messages, safety and onboarding, town hall content, spotlight series. The best internal films we've made ended up outside anyway.

  • 06Culture, change, and transformation films

    New leadership. A merger. A hard year. The moments when people need to be told, and shown, that they belong. A standard corporate video can't do that. A film can.

  • 07Video and photography content libraries

    One production, built to feed every channel for a year. The long film, the cutdowns, the stills for the hub and the careers page, the town hall clip, the captioned version for the floor.

  • 08Original documentary work

    Stories we develop on our own, like The Purveyors, our docuseries about the people supplying some of the country's best kitchens. Same crew, same eye, our call.

BUSINESS TO PEOPLE

There’s always a person on the other end.

We call it business to people. Not business to business, not business to consumer. Whether a film is going out to customers or in to employees, somebody is going to sit down, watch it, and decide in about ten seconds whether it was made for them. We've worked this way since the beginning. It's why we treat an internal film with the same care as a product launch. People can tell. The companies that get this have teams who feel seen, and feel seen enough to stay. The ones that don't make the ad for the customer and the memo for the staff, then wonder why nobody reads the memo.

ONE PRODUCTION, EVERY CHANNEL

Nothing gets made in a vacuum.

Here's the question whoever approves your budget is going to ask: where does this live? We answer it before we shoot. A single production comes back as the film, the social cutdowns, the photography, the internal hub version, the recruiting page assets, and the clip for the next all-hands. You're not buying a video. You're buying the year of material it turns into, and the plan for where every piece goes.

THE WORK

We’ve been doing this a while.

See all work →

QUESTIONS

Things people ask us.

  • A short documentary about one person and their work. Who they are, what they do, why it matters. Usually unscripted, shot on the job, told in their own words. Companies use them for recruiting, internal communications, employer branding, and social.

  • No. Frontline and employee stories are a big part of what we do, but we also make documentary series, brand films, recruiting films, and our own originals. If it's about real people and real work, it's in our lane.

  • Yes, and we make them to the same standard as anything a customer would see. Employee spotlight series, leadership messages, change and transformation films, safety and onboarding, content for town halls and all-hands. The best internal films we've made get shared outside the company anyway.

  • Manufacturing, energy and utilities, construction, agriculture, logistics and delivery, food and beverage, healthcare. Anywhere there's a frontline.

  • We're based in Chicago and shoot wherever the work is. Our productions have taken us across the country and into Mexico. We travel with a small crew or staff up locally, whichever the project needs.

  • When the project calls for it. Documentary work is unscripted by nature. Brand films and recruiting spots sometimes need a script, a voice, or cast, and we write and cast those too.

  • Every production is planned for multiple channels from the start. The long film, cutdowns, stills, the internal hub, careers pages, events. One shoot, a year of material.

  • Tell us what you're working on and who the story is about. We'll come back with a point of view, not a price list.