Live Action Projects combines strategy, creativity and empathy to unlock narratives and build trust with broad audiences through stories with purpose. In commissioned work, we offer comprehensive content services for premium clients and partner agencies.
Build Trust Through Storytelling
In our work to source, produce and distribute meaningful stories of real people, we believe that trust is paramount. It’s the currency of nonfiction storytelling.
What does that mean in practice? We build trust with clients to create the conditions for making exceptional work; we earn the trust of our subjects to midwife their most vital stories; and we deliver that trust to audiences, all packaged up inside mini-docs, TV series, feature films, photo essays, podcasts, and other storytelling vehicles. We measure success by how well audiences reciprocate that trust back to us – and to the brand partners who make the work possible.
Integrated Storytelling Campaigns
We build upon the narratives we co-create with clients through story workshops by applying our storytelling chops and resources to create fully integrated content campaigns. The beauty of documentary storytelling, especially through film, is the flexibility of the footage we capture. This allows us to develop suites of high-quality, cinematic content for multi-platform, multi-channel campaigns, from :15 instagram pieces to :30 broadcast TV spots to :90 Facebook pieces; from 3-minute anthems that anchor sites to longer content that plays festivals, earns media partnerships and attains mainstream distribution.
Real storytelling doesn’t begin and end with documentary-style film. From scripted spots based on true stories to podcasts to text message plays to experiential marketing, it’s all on the table when it achieves a client’s goals. For example, Live Action founder, David Modigliani, co-created the Small Business Revolution with Deluxe, which included working with National Geographic photographers to create NYT-style photo essays and build an Instagram account that amassed 36,000+ engaged followers from scratch.
Earned Media Through Quality Content
Because we combine award-winning filmmaking with expansive industry relationships, the partners we work with often earn more media by investing in quality content than they could buy with the same budget. A willingness to pull away from advertorial-style branding and to commit to quality production can yield extraordinary partnerships with mainstream distribution outlets.
For example, Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) funded a 12-part documentary series, pitched and co-directed by Live Action founder David Modigliani, which was acquired by MSNBC and Netflix. MSNBC aired one episode per month for a year, providing bundles of precious airtime, monthly tent-poles for WWP’s messaging and millions of impressions on new audiences.
As owner of the series copyright, WWP now receives quarterly royalties from Netflix – a literal return on their investment. Had WWP taken the same budget, created a series of short PSAs and then bought media to distribute them, it would not have achieved nearly the same reach – and, just as importantly, audiences would not have encountered WWP’s brand and mission in such a unique and emotionally engaging way.