In Focus : Underhill Productions
As a production die-hard, the best part of my job is forging relationships with the studios we work with. Learning through their experience to understand how we (as a platform) can continue to improve our service to support their vision.
I first met the Underhill Productions team in 2014, since then, I’ve been massively impressed with their commitment to creativity, and the platform they’ve built to support creative people of all walks of life.
We caught up with Dexter Brierley & Matt Seger (Underhill Co-Founders) to learn more about their journey.
Actual: First things first. When did you start your company?
Alex / Underhill: The idea of Underhill first came about in 2011, when Matt Seger and Dexter Brierley met at SUNY Purchase college. After graduating both Dexter and Matt went on to work full time for different Agency/Media companies, but continued to create work under the Underhill banner outside of their respective jobs. After taking a month long break from their jobs to shoot a passion project in 2017, the two founders decided on the last day of filming to quit their jobs back home and start working on Underhill full time. Underhill really started to take shape after acquiring a studio near the Brooklyn Navy Yard that began to foster an organic community of new and old collaborators — where our HQ still remains today.
Actual: Tell us about your team. Who are the players (creative & production)?
Alex / Underhill: We’re a community, and our community is as strong as our network. While we have our core executive team, including Dexter Brierley, Matt Seger, and Dior Rodriguez on the creative side, as well as EPs Alex Max & Meetra Javed, the real players at Underhill are our network of below the line crew, post-production partners, casting agents, location managers, and all-around bad*ss team members who power our work.
Actual: What inspired you to start a new company?
Alex / Underhill: Our inspiration to start Underhill came out of necessity. It’s no secret that filmmaking is expensive, especially when you need to rent the tools for the trade (i.e. Cameras, Lights, Sound eq, etc.). As up and coming filmmakers we constantly spent our entire (small) budgets on gear rentals, and insurance — so we decided to start Underhill as a way to accumulate gear, create relationships with rental houses, and have our own production insurance. The goal was always to allow us, and our community, to put as much of the budget as we could on screen — so that we could create quickly, efficiently, and constantly. This still holds true to our values as a company today.
Actual: Are there any guiding principles you follow as a company when exploring new projects?
Alex / Underhill: Underhill, at its core, is a community dedicated to pursuing original storytelling and compelling creative. Whenever we are approached with a project, we are constantly working to elevate the initial creative and ensure that every dollar on the project goes toward the screen.
Actual: What trends in platform / distribution channels most excite you currently?
Alex / Underhill: Along with most other folks in production (and beyond), we’re carefully keeping an eye on AI and Web3 applications in the media space. Although not sure whether to be more excited or concerned…
Actual: What was the first project you officially produced as a company?
Alex / Underhill: While there were certain projects early on that we serviced (hired crew, etc.), the first project we officially produced as a company, soup to nuts, was our ongoing “How They Made It” series for Spotify. This documentary series profiles up and coming artists, and explores the intricate and unique ways they found success in the music industry (with a little help from Spotify of course). The entire team (both from Underhill and Spotify) poured their hearts and souls into this project, and it truly shaped the company we are today. (Special shoutout to our friend and collaborator Kim Taylor Bennett from Spotify.)
Actual: What’s the most recent?
Alex / Underhill: We recently delivered a series of spots for Science Moms — a non-profit organization of scientists dedicated to raising awareness of small changes that can be made in our everyday lives to instigate climate-benefitting impacts. Director Danielle Calodney brought this to life in a fun, bright, and comedically dynamic manner, and we’re thrilled with how it came together. You can take a look at an article profiling this in LBB at this link.
Actual: How have you managed your company success? What has allowed you to scale most efficiently?
Alex / Underhill: Success is never guaranteed in this industry, and that remains at the forefront of our minds as we scale and continue to grow our business. We’ve built our corporate model on acquisition and retention of long-term clients, many of whom continue to produce content with us on a weekly basis, even during periods of limited production volume. Beyond that baseline, we are constantly looking to grow our client base through collaborations with brands and agencies. Our ability to scale lies in our ability to implement new technologies and operating systems in order to ensure that our team avoids redundant, duplicate work, while creating the ability for in-house staff to support across multiple projects simultaneously.
Actual: What new technologies have you embraced as you continue to grow? Both in the production office, and creatively?
Alex / Underhill: Both Wrapbook and Actual have become key components of our production process. Both have enabled us to limit the time producers & production support staff spend on menial processes, while also ensuring a more smooth and organized production. Actual’s in-app integrations with both Wrapbook & Quickbooks have allowed us to further streamline and integrate our production workflows into a single central hub. The reporting functions provided by Actual also provide us with an opportunity to constantly evaluate our P&L on a project-by-project basis, providing us with creative and production learnings to inform future projects.
The team:
