Strike Anywhere’s Creative DNA Delivers Work that Turns Heads

Strike Anywhere is an award-winning creative studio based in California - you might know them from viral campaigns like ‘Coors Light Bear’ with football star Patrick Mahomes and Tubi’s ‘Interface Interruption’ Super Bowl spot. After starting as an independent film company 14 years ago, making narrative and documentary features, Strike Anywhere stands today as a diverse creative studio with a production arm made up of filmmakers, producers and creative minds.

Founders Barry Jenkins, Michael Jacobs, Justin Barber, and Ryan Simon initially met on the festival circuit and bonded over their shared love for the craft of storytelling, and ambitions to experiment with filmmaking for brands, agencies and film studios alike. “At the time, technological changes allowed us to break the mould in every way,” shares Ryan. “Deconstruction of filmmaking approaches and pushing to do things we’d never done before fuelled our collective fire.” 

He continues, “The way filmmakers worked with clients and creatives was blurring. Breaking these forms down, building them back up to be fresh and special, and finding ways to support our growth as individual and collective filmmakers was a lot of fun.”

Above: Ryan Simon

Starting first in San Francisco, Ryan says the company was described by clients as “Hollywood in the Bay”, executing high craft and high concept ideas - with compelling no-corners-cut visuals - for “blue-chip brands, top-tier agencies, and premium streamers.” Some of the team’s earliest commissioned work included some of Meta’s first professionally produced branded marketing content, as well as video art installations for a boutique hotel chain, and a feature-length documentary for Xbox via McCann. Not to mention, several feature films that received distribution and awards, prompting brands to get in touch, looking to emulate their look and feel, or connect with similar audiences.

“Because we started as a directing collective with a production and post arm, the creative studio has been built into the DNA of Strike Anywhere since day one,” says Ryan, explaining the evolution of the modern Strike Anywhere set-up. “What has changed the most is the scale of our work; our creative, producing and filmmaking teams; the diversity of projects; going from domestic to global; and taking on briefs from social to broadcast to film series.” 

He adds, “Delivering work that turns heads, sparks emotion, and isn’t on our reel yet continues to push us forward at Strike Anywhere deeply.”

Ryan and his co-founders have now spent over a decade at the intersection of entertainment and advertising, developing a network of creative talent that allows them to curate bespoke teams specifically for each project. “Our teams are invited to work with creatives at agencies early and often in the process. Brands love that we can write and produce ideas on their behalf. Studios have long understood the value of directors who write their own stories. And agencies find us very helpful when making projects outside their clients' 30-second broadcast comfort zone.”

Above: Coors Light - 'Bear'

Formally, Strike Anywhere, the production company, and Strike Anywhere, the creative studio, are distinct entities. However, as the lines between brands, agencies and production companies blur, they naturally bring creatives and filmmakers together to produce unexpected results. 

“Creatives love working closely with filmmakers, and filmmakers love working with creatives, and getting a chance to push ideas beyond the execution - particularly in conceptual and strategic places.” Ryan believes this is the future for branded entertainment, bringing specialists closer together instead of siloing them. “We love what’s happening in marketing and entertainment and can’t wait to make more of what is next.”

He adds, “This culture and way of working came about as a direct result of our company’s first projects, which were feature films. These projects were unique visual stories crafted to push beyond trends and reach a quality of timelessness in storytelling. They required an incredibly skilled team of individuals who are all mutually connected to the story they’re telling. We aim to emulate this inspired fervour and momentum in all of our projects.”

One of Ryan’s proudest moments so far has been the company’s first Super Bowl spot, ‘Interface Interruption’ for Tubi, which was a first for the brand and the agency (Mischief) too. “At Cannes, we talked about how we all had skin in the game. It ran during Super Bowl LVII, and most people had no idea it was an ad at all - everyone had a knee-jerk reaction and assumed they were sitting on their remotes. There was one hour to work with NFL commentators Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen, and we wound up shooting them against a green screen in a converted hotel ballroom to get their coverage. It earned several Cannes Lions, garnered a lot of buzz, and ‘won Twitter’.” 

Another highlight for Ryan is ‘Lucky Lyft’, an in-car, branded trivia game show they developed and produced. “We shot eight episodes in two days, used cash cannons and confetti poppers, and provided [host] Bob the Drag Queen with a custom Lyft-pink wardrobe to highlight the brand and give the spot a distinct look.” Strike Anywhere hired and oversaw the writers' room, working with the architects of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ and other hit quiz shows to help Lyft connect more deeply with its target audience on YouTube and TikTok. “The seamless integration of branded original content and random acts of joy was amazing to experience on set for the cast, crew, and once live, for audiences too.”

Strike Anywhere also recently produced the documentary feature film ‘As We Speak’, which premiered at Sundance 2024. The film documents the criminalisation of hip-hop lyrics and is now streaming globally on Paramount+. As with most documentary projects, Ryan says this was “a labour of love” for several years, before they found director J.M. Harper who could apply his distinct vision to the material. 

“That was a true highlight as a producer,” he says. “We’re proud of kickstarting this important conversation and giving a nuanced, in-depth look to a topic that needs more attention in the cultural landscape.”

Still rooted in their indie filmmaking past, Ryan says Strike Anywhere encourages constant experimentation with new equipment and ideas - “from the first RED camera to the latest generative tech.” When building out their team, they look for people with similar ambitions to push boundaries in visual storytelling, who are going to bring new tools to the table to share. “If it's working for a creative, a filmmaker or a producer, it will likely work for the rest of the team.” 

Today, Strike Anywhere is busy as ever, currently rebooting a show for FX, pitching a project about an alternative World Cup, optioning a book of grounded sci-fi stories for film and TV adaptations, and, of course, meeting with plenty of filmmakers with original ideas that they aim to produce. This is on top of the company’s commercial work, which continues to build fresh audience experiences for brands.

“We’re now close with over 15 brands who come to us consistently with a wide range of projects, with needs spanning production, creative and strategy,” says Ryan. And while more brands and agencies seek to bring production in-house, he is confident that Strike Anywhere’s services will remain a popular mainstay of the commercial landscape. 

“I’ve never seen a production entity that works for everything and everyone, be it on the vendor side or internally at agencies and brands. Clients and their ideas will always have outside needs based on a variety of ever-changing market factors.”

Noting that they’ve worked directly with the likes of Google, Meta, and Pinterest since inception, he adds, “It’s about being good partners and focusing on what matters with the work… We look at projects for brands like we do films. We break down the message and goal, aim to get the most production value on the screen, and move forward with ideas and visuals that create lasting impressions.”