Our new Talent Farm on their first day together. Today, they met our people, heard our vision and watched our company video. They also got their first big test - find an authentic way to introduce themselves to the world. Time limit? One week.
Let it begin.
After looking through a variety of portfolios, resumes, and interviews - we've arrived on our new Talent Farm. Drumroll please...
The interns' first day will include a viewing of our company video. Their first assignment will also be handed out. Thanks to everyone who showed interest in Talent Farm. Hope to hear from you again in 4 months.
On Wednesday, we'll meet with each intern individually and talk about our time together and we'll let them know what their future is with our people company. I look forward to our conversations. I've watched each one of them climb and fall and climb again. What they tell us will help us shape the future of this program. I'm not sure they realize how special they were when all 9 of them came together. The following is my favorite memory of each of the 9*:
Baii: When she was photographing our company picture, she literally did some break dancing moves to get the shot. Talk about dedication. On another occasion, I threw a sharpie at her eyeball by accident. Luckily, she had her glasses on. Eva: When I didn't include Eva in a new business website assignment, she did it anyway. The design was good enough to present and good enough to be the winning design. So pretty good. That's how I remember Eva. Glenn: So talented on so many levels. My favorite memory of Glenn was the night Zara and I drove him home from work. We talked about life more than work and I got to know the Glenn he should always be. Oh yeah, I also fell into and broke our company ping pong table in a heated game against him.
Matthew: My favorite memory of Matthew was how well his character held up when we broke everything around it down to test the talent underneath. I'll always remember a shitberg-free email I got from him after a grueling pitch. He is wise beyond his years (which is pretty old to begin with). Travis: Travis loves people and it shows. You see, Travis flashes people a lot. In my entire advertising career, I've never seen an intern's nipples more than I've seen his. Stop it, Travis. Stop it. Will: When I met Will in an informational interview at another agency, I instantly saw how much potential he has, despite his horribly art directed book. Luckily, he's a writer.
*Hydra9 will release a results video at the end of their internship.
Halfway through their internship, Hydra9 has been full of surprises. They are a funny, talented, driven, flawed, beautiful and compassionate bunch. I definitely have the flawed part in common with them, but some of them have qualities I can only dream about. Wish we had more time to help develop their aim. Part of being new at something is you're new at it. So it's not always fair to judge their first attempts. Measuring their true talent is dependent on a bunch of variables. How many shots did they get to show their quality? Were they given enough time (never)? Did they have the right tools (cameras, programs, tutorials, etc)? Did they play from their fucking heart?
Of course, I'm partial. Our interns are halfway through their creative boot camp. What a better way to show their progress than with charts and graphs!
I've been in advertising for over 10 years. Or in non-ad people speak, I've lost all forms of emotion other that jadeness and cynicism - many times over. But for each time I've lost my way, for every moment I've forgotten why I love the potential of ideas... I've found a foolproof way to remember.
NOTE TO SELF: Keep people around you who deserve what you have more than you.
Our 9 interns officially revealed their journal to the world today. Check them out once in awhile. Who knows, maybe they'll help you find a few things you lost along the way too.
...Matthew G and Matty B for their Top Chef piece.
PROS: Chose a difficult idea to execute well. Then executed it well. Good acting. Good editing.
CONS: Small. Few. It was almost too easy for them.
Second to fourth is everybody else (in no particular order):
Amazing Race by Jason and Travis
PROS: Beautifully shot. Interesting idea. Unexpected ending.
CONS: Too many unnecesary characters that didn't help build their story. Sometimes less is more. Still need more growth with storytelling and comedy timing.
Pimp My Ride by Will and Glen
PROS: Funny concept. The montage and song made the piece.
CONS: Off brand with Pimp My Ride without reason, never even showed the car. Felt like they fell in love with an ending instead of making the most out of a good idea.
American Loggers by Tran, Kristen, and Eva
PROS: Funny. Unexpected. Fearless.
CONS: Editing hiccups and timing issues. Not the best actresses in the world.
Overall, a worthy hello world. The interns also soft launched their blog. They're not quite ready to share it with us. But soon, right?
We wanted a fun (yet trashy) way to introduce our 9 interns to the world. What a better way than to make them produce audition tapes for reality TV shows? The 9 were divided into 4 teams and random TV shows were drawn from a hat. So without further ado, here are our new interns (in no particular order):
Matthew and Matty
Glen and Will
Jason and Travis
Tran, Kristen and Eva
Hope you enjoyed getting to know the interns as much as we do. Stay tuned, the 9 are launching their blog site today and we'll announce this assignment's winner tomorrow. Also look for future updates on their journey to becoming reality show contestants. Yikes.
I recently got a new job as Chief Creative Officer of Pixel Farm Digital. This is my journal on our people and our shop's evolution.
