A short film unpacking the conflicted emotions the black/BIPOC community feels on Juneteenth. Brought to you by WK’s black affinity group noir and WKNYC creatives.
What inspired the idea for this film, and its premise?
Tommy Woods (Lead Creative/Writer)
The idea originated when a close friend and I ended up working on an earlier Juneteenth—and had a conversation about how ironic it was that we had to work while many of our white co-workers were partaking in the holiday. And when we started building out this idea further we were only reinforced how common that conversation, or ones similar to it, are within the black community.
Donovan Triplett (Sr. Strategist)
We were also inspired from conversations about humor, and about the tendency in the ad industry to treat Black topics with a sort of one-note brand of seriousness. Lots of intense statements or earnest spotlights. But the fuller picture of living life while Black is that we joke about everything. And it’s often conversational humor that helps us express or navigate our feelings on even the toughest topics. So with another serious Black topic coming up with Juneteenth, we wanted to find a way to drop into a more intimate slice of life from a Black perspective and explore the mixed feelings about America’s newest holiday.
What were the challenges you encountered in terms of how to present this idea? How did you land on the scenario in the film? What were the other ideas you had and how/why did you finally land on the final scenario?
Ray Smiling (Director)
The challenge of presenting this idea was the complexity in the topic. There’s not really consensus around Juneteenth in the Black community so it became an exercise in dialogue. That’s fundamentally different from most things I’ve worked on. Add on to that the sensitivity around the issue and it really became a situation where you start considering every single word and how it could be taken.
Tommy Woods (Lead Creative/Writer)
Everything from the script to casting to shooting to editing was a collaboration that needed to be filtered not just from a creative perspective—but a black one. Our greatest asset was the amount of hands and voices, many of them black, in the room that helped craft this to be more authentic at every step.
Donovan Triplett (Sr. Strategist)
There’s a natural Black vs. white that’s unavoidable when you’re talking about a holiday like Juneteenth. Which we wanted to include for the honesty of it all, but also didn’t want “what white people need to hear” to take up all the space. The main thing was just trying to set a scene that felt real and relatable for the people who have these kinds of conversations all the time. Other versions leaned more toward a shopping Black-owned PSA–which we of course need more of–but that felt like too easy of a resolution to a problem that money can’t completely fix.
How did you go about casting the film –the on-screen talent as well as the production talent that were involved (director, etc.)
Ray Smiling (Director)
Our casting agent, Allison Twardziak, found our cast for us. She has a really great eye for finding talent that feels authentic and natural, who can craft these really lived in characters. Our DP Philey Sanneh was extremely instrumental in crafting the visual language of the piece and making sure every frame was really beautiful and considered.
Where did you shoot this? How long did it take to produce? Any interesting anecdotes from the set? Was it all scripted, or were there some ad-lib moments?
Ray Smiling (Director)
This film was shot a week ago in East Williamsburg at a Black-owned restaurant called Sweet Science. Everything came together on this extremely fast, with lots of late nights and weekends from all involved to make it happen in a limited timeframe. Because of the limited timeframe, everything in the film is scripted. We were just moving too fast to really adlib in any meaningful way.
Where will this be running?
noir (Wieden’s Black affinity group)
Juneteenth Thoughts” will be running on all of @WKNY and @WiedenKennedy social platforms. Those include Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
What are your ultimate goals for the film?
noir (Wieden’s Black affinity group)
Our goal for this film was to create a piece of work that serves as a catalyst for conversation around Juneteenth. Specifically, we want to foster dialogue that dives into how this new holiday should be celebrated and by whom.
Anything else important to know about it that I haven’t asked about?
Donovan Triplett (Sr. Strategist)
Even though the film offers some thoughts, hopefully it’s clear that there isn’t one answer to such a muddy topic and conversation. We’ve all got to figure it out as we go along.
Eric Alexander-Hughes (Editor)
It’s a rare opportunity when an editor is able to let his work speak for him in such an explicit way, but this was one of those very special and rare occasions. I’m very proud of all the hard work the team put in on this, and truly honored to have been a part.
Film Credits
Wieden+Kennedy New York
Chief Operating Officer: Neal Arthur
Chief Creative Officer: Karl Lieberman
Creative Directors: Matt Mulvey, Blair Warren
Creative Lead/Writer: Tommy Woods
Creative Lead/Art Director: Jacobi Mehringer
Account Executive: Autumn Carson
Community Manager: Jade Smith
Senior Social Strategist: Anwar Warner
Senior Brand Strategist: Donovan Triplett
Brand Strategist: Aiden Million
Business Affairs: Ronald Brown
Business Affairs: Josh Christie
Producer: Zaynah Ahmed
Production Assistants: Kareem Adeniran, Cameron Carr
Project Manager: Ariana Jefferson
Content & Editorial Specialist: Eno Oduok
Social Strategy Resident: Ni'A Landon
Production
Production Company: Division7 & Made by Limbo
Director: Ray Smiling
Director of Photography: Philey Sanneh
Managing Directors: Kamila Prokop & David Richards
Founders: Patrick Milling-Smith & Brian Carmody
COO: Andrew Colon
Head of Production: Alex Hughes
Bidding Producer: Gillian Altman
Executive Producer: Chris Dodds
Executive Producer: Luigi Rossi
Head of Production: Alex Hughes
Producer: Francesco Raffo
Producer: Leon Derriey
1st AC: Karleah Del Moral
2nd AC: Britney Bautista
Gaffer: David Ospina
Key Grip: Jared Diaw
Production Designer: Megan Nishiyama
HMU: Brittany Ward
Sound Mixer: Travis Jones
Editorial
Editorial Company: Arts Academy
Editor: Eric Alexander-Hughes
Assistant Editor: Jason Tawiah
Executive Producer: Timory King
Producer: Chelsea Spensley
Mix & Sound Design
Audio Post: Heard City
Managing Partner: Gloria Pitagorsky
Mixer: T Terressa Tate
Executive Producers: Jackie James & Sasha Awn
Senior Producer: Liana Rosenberg
Producer: Nick Duvarney
Assistant Producer: Dylan Stetson
Assistant Mixers: Ronnie Stapleton, Seth Brogdon, Virginia Wright, Zoltan Monori, Chenoa Tarin
Color & Finish
Finish: Company 3
Senior Colorist: Nick Metcalf
Senior Producer: Katie Andrews
Flame Artist: Cody Edwardson
Producer: Chris Lewis
Executive Producer: Connor Callaghan
Actors
Stephan Junior as “Caleb”
Judeline Charles as “Alexis”