Tell us a bit about your organization and what your specialty is in the film and video space.

Helen + Gertrude is an award-winning, full-service digital marketing and advertising agency with an in-house production team. While data is core to what we do, we know that it is just one part of the human experience. We take a human-centered design approach to our work, from the way we conduct research to how we show up on set. Our in-house production team is composed of photographers, videographers, editors, and producers who are strategic in creative strategy, technical execution, and storytelling.

As the Production Lead at the agency, I oversee all of our photo and video productions as the key creative producer. I work closely with my team composed of incredibly talented video directors, photographers, and editors to design and execute shoots that are integrated with our client’s media strategy from the start. We are social-forward, but work across all major marketing placements from web to broadcast.

What is your organization’s ethos and how does it set you apart from industry competitors?

As an in-house team, we are entrenched in the media creative strategy and get to collaborate with our amazing full-service team to bring big ideas to fruition. This positions us well to build unique narratives that focus on achieving campaign and sales goals in harmony with what actually adds value to customers’ lives.

Also, the agency at large prioritizes sustainability, representation, and accessibility from concept to execution to develop marketing plans that help reshape the industry and ensure our clients feel good about how their dollars are spent. With each production, my team uses sustainable practices on set, helps clients facilitate diverse casting, and donates excess items like food, clothing, and more to partner charities.

How can people join or learn more about what you do?

Go to hg.agency or reach out to me on LinkedIn to chat about our services!

Tell us about your Telly Award winning piece. What’s the story behind it?

The Child Advocacy Center of Greater Rochester (CACGR) is an organization focused on the prevention and intervention of child abuse. Many in the community know of the organization through its powerful work in child abuse intervention. However, they came to us wanting to tell a more hopeful story about their work preventing abuse in the community and restoring families after traumatic events.

We first evolved and refreshed their brand to prioritize community involvement and partnerships, aligning stakeholders with the mission of hope. Then, we translated all of those elements into an emotional narrative for a new brand video that could represent the organization for years to come. The video was used across broadcast, CTV, web, and social. Every aspect of the campaign prioritized safety, prevention, and the center’s ongoing commitment to protecting and empowering the community.

What are you most proud of about this piece? What was your biggest challenge during production and how did you solve it?

There are countless challenges when it comes to narratives related to abuse and especially child abuse. Even though we were lucky enough to be telling the story of hope through an organization that provides vital services to victims, we still needed to address the severity of the topic and approach it with utmost sensitivity. To provide audiences more than talking heads telling you about the impact of CACGR, we used emotion and color as narrative devices to SHOW you how victims transform when they have access to the center’s services. That meant we could also avoid any specific scenes related to abuse that may be triggering to viewers. To be respectful of both victims’ privacy and hired talent sensitivity, we worked closely with a talent agency (MTF Modeling Agency) to inform talent of the topic at hand before including them in the casting. We also had dedicated team members on set focused on ensuring a calm and safe set environment for our talent to tap into the challenging emotional parts of the narrative.

Do you have any advice to other filmmakers based on your career or your team’s approach to work?

Don’t be afraid to push boundaries! Sometimes clients will come to you with direction, but at the end of the day they are hiring you for your unique vision so be sure to share that with them. Just make sure that vision is backed by a meaningful connection to their company and audience and not just a creative idea you’ve always wanted to shoot.

Can you share a behind the scenes story or fun fact about the making of your piece?

The beauty of this piece is that it doesn’t require the audience to catch this detail to enjoy it, but I have always loved how the team integrated the brand colors into the lighting design of the shoot. It was no small feat on set and, now that you know, you’ll notice how the color builds from dark and muted to bold blue, then purple, then pink, ending in bright warm light. This was a genius way to communicate the transformation of our characters and also honor the dark place that victims of abuse find themselves in.

Tell us about the most memorable response you got from this work.

Several members of our team attended CACGR’s live brand refresh event at our local outdoor public market, where the video was shown publicly for the first time. Watching the Rochester community react in real time while standing united in support of ending child abuse was a uniquely powerful moment—and one that is rare to get to experience in our industry. The center’s CEO later shared that the video made her cry the very first time she watched it, which was a valuable reminder to our team of why this work matters.

Complete this sentence: ‘Great video storytelling is…’

… a labor of love that requires vision, passion, and hands-on collaboration to bring a shared idea to the screen. It creates connections, evokes emotion, and incorporates diverse perspectives to touch the hearts of viewers.