WMM Creative Services - Authentically Tell Your Story
Mar 29, 2021
From facilitating a structured, community approach around the filmmaking process (through our Lab Pipeline), educating filmmakers (through professional tutorials, industry workshops and webinars, and Smartphone Studio programming), and providing affordable production and post-production resources (like insurance and other services), WMM has firmly established itself as a presence in the indie film community. With these facets of the film collective and production company thriving, CEO Sam Mestman, President Aubrey Mozino, and constant collaborator and member Steven LaMorte, are bringing the same community-minded, budget-conscious, quality-driven spirit to the newest division of the WMM family - WMM Creative Services.
WMM Creative Services is an extension of everything WMM espouses, with the simple goal of authentically telling the stories of businesses, schools, and organizations across all digital and social platforms. By bringing modern cinematic techniques to branded content, this division of We Make Movies is solving the dilemma most businesses and nonprofits have been having as they transition to modern digital marketing strategies. The need for content is ubiquitous and not exclusive to artists as it once was, as everyone is asked to create a massive amount of social media, website, and sales content in today's marketplace. As indie filmmakers who are well versed in telling stories, the Creative Services team is taking their skills, applying them to the needs of various enterprises, and delivering Hollywood level content at a fraction of traditional marketing costs.
A sample of just one of the services - Branded Content Micro Docs - provided by Creative Services.
Key players of WMM have been moonlighting as providers of these services and content for major tech manufacturing and media industries for years, but the pandemic provided a backdrop to perfect this approach for the past year, as they (along with everyone else) "needed to adapt to the new media ecosystem," muses Sam Mestman. Remote production altered the elements of a shoot, necessitating more multitasking such as editing in real time, including collaborators in more authentic ways, optimizing efficiency overall, and being able to take more risks because there was more freedom in the setting. Throughout the past year, the Creative Services team developed as they consistently brought their "unique strategy designed for the modern content creation era, that leverages traditional branding, design, video, and blog content, and that is SEO optimized for the web and all modern social media platforms (including YouTube)."
Creative Director Steven LaMorte praises his "tiny, but mighty team" and their steady practice of utilizing WMM members across the globe, Smartphone Studio alumni (such as New Mexico's Native American reservation pupils), as well as influencers from several walks of life. The division grew organically, from the seed of wanting to provide video literacy to the masses, to realizing that those who are not in the position to tell their stories on their own still have the need to communicate who they are and what their brand is all about. By providing high quality content, that is genuine in its approach and that can be used on multiple platforms, clients have found that this centralized way of marketing not only optimizes growth according to individual brand standards, but elicits more engagement from their customers. The company has had the opportunity to work with monumental brands and create noteworthy content. "In fact, our work has been used as an example of what clients want us to create for them, without them knowing that we actually created those campaigns!" laughs Steven.
So what is it that Creative Services actually provides? Branded content that authentically conveys the message of who and what your brand is. Polished presentations of user generated content, as well as high quality social media content. Highly customized tutorials, industrials, "explainer" content, and every conceivable digital service that is in demand in today's digitally driven world. Creative Services will tailor anything to individual brand standards, including live events, such as The Orphaned Starfish Foundation Gala held virtually last October. Post-production Supervisor Mathew Roscoe relishes the opportunity to "give voice to the voiceless" and in true WMM spirit, Sam Mestman says it best when he says that Creative Services is a "beautiful marriage for getting creative people to solve problems for the rest of the country... and globe."
Visit wmmcreative.com and schedule a consultation!
Written by Sapna Gandhi
Sapna Gandhi is an actor, singer-songwriter, and content creator. In addition to TV credits such as BOSCH, SHAMELESS and SCANDAL, she has appeared in numerous shorts, features, and series, including festival darlings IN ABSENTIA (Raindance) and THUMPER (Tribeca). Gandhi has produced several series and films under the umbrella of her production company Elegant Grotesque (most recently SCRAP, starring Anthony Rapp and Vivian Kerr, and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ STRANDED ON THE EARTH, directed by Mike Bruce). She is also 1/2 of the musical duo, VATAVARAN, was born in England, raised all over the states, studied English and Women’s Studies, and trained at the American Conservatory Theatre in SF.
