The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Author

By Kyle O'Brien, Creative Works Editor

January 20, 2017 | 7 min read

For an advertising agency, Omelet has reached beyond its usual briefs and creative capabilities to make its first full-length documentary, License to Operate. The story of former gang members becoming liaisons between the police and the community was a bold move for the indie LA-based agency, and it has paid off. The documentary has been picked up for national release by cable channel Viceland and will premiere tonight at 10 p.m.

The journey from creative agency to film producer seemed a natural progression, especially for a company based in the film capital of the US. But tackling its first subject was a challenge, especially considering the fairly intense subject matter.

License to Operate chronicles the lives of former gang members who have given up their criminal ways to clean up the streets and to help lead the people in their communities out of the continuing cycle of violence that has plagued the LA area for decades.

That Viceland has picked up the documentary means that the efforts by Omelet are working. The documentary was shot in 2013 and released at film festivals in 2015. The long road to getting it seen by a wider audience has finally opened up, and Mike Wallen, chief content officer at Omelet Studio, and the producer of the film, is pleased that the contract with Viceland has happened.

“It feels great to get broader distribution than the digital outlets we’ve had. Broadcast really allows us to get the film in front of a larger audience, which was really the goal of why we did this, to get the message out to as many people as possible. It’s that important piece of the puzzle that finally falls into place,” said Wallen, who noted that the agency partnered with distribution company FilmBuff (now Gunpowder & Sky) to get wider distribution.

Wallen is a film and TV industry veteran, having worked as a producer and creative director for Fox Mobile Studios, Adult Swim and MGA Entertainment. His move to Omelet gave the agency the opportunity to have finely honed in-house production. With License to Operate, the vision is fully realized.

“As an agency, having production capabilities in house has become the norm. What we’ve done is establish something a little bit differently. We have Omelet Studio, which is what I run, and our goal is to develop branded content for our clients, but then an original slate, projects that are not beholden to a brand or marketing brief.”

That means features like License to Operate. With the mechanism to produce features, and access to the best-in-class third party production resources in Los Angeles, Omelet has been able to break away from the traditional client relationship to extend the brand.

“We’re a small-to-medium sized agency. I think we all collectively said, ‘this is a great opportunity for us to get out from under the stack of briefs we’re constantly inundated with, and just go after it and see if we can pull it off,’” he said.

How the agency became documentary producers

The agency had done plenty of documentary-style content for clients, but this was its first foray into feature-length storytelling. It came about through a relationship the Omelet chief executive officer had with the foundation A Better LA, a non-profit founded by NFL coach Pete Carroll, who used to coach USC football. His mission was to bring law enforcement together with gang interventionists. The gang interventionists were former gang members who had turned their lives around and had the support of the community and earned respect, to help the community and law enforcement understand each other and end the cycle of violence.

“Pete Carroll and his organization said, why don’t we fund these men and women so they stay on the straight and narrow, so they have the resources to help their communities so it’s not just talk, it’s programs, it’s action,” said Wallen.

A Better LA wanted to have Omelet produce a short pro-bono fundraising film to help them with their efforts. Wallen hired director James Lipetzky and the crew got to work. Two months into filming, the two knew they had to keep going and make it a feature.

The film reaches beyond LA

What was supposed to be a localized 10-minute fundraiser became a feature worthy of praise, which is why Viceland picked it up.

The promise of building better communities and working with law enforcement to achieve goals is more relevant now than it was a year or two ago, says Wallen.

“The relevance of the subject matter continues to come into focus. This discrepancy between these underserved communities and the people that are both elected or anointed to protect them, to craft laws on their behalf, this chasm is growing between these groups. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it was picked up to debut on inauguration day,” said Wallen.

“I think that it’s representative of groups like community members and law enforcement coming together and working together, illustrating that gap can be narrowed if they’re willing to leave judgment and the playbook at the door and try to do things a little bit differently. I don’t think the time has been more appropriate for a great example of how real people who want to make the world a better place can do it against all odds.”

Wallen and company saw some incredible moments during filming, both heartbreaking and inspiring. They saw lives lost, families who had parents and children shot and killed at alarming rates and kids growing up without fathers and mothers due to the violence.

“The amount of trauma these kids are subjected to was the most gut-wrenching part. This is a war zone. These kids don’t have a sense of hope or possibility.”

At the same time, he saw people trying to make changes for the better, including the former gang members and even police that lost children to gang violence reaching out and connecting with the former gang members to make sure the violence doesn’t take more young lives.

“Change is possible. We witnessed change against all odds. Men and women you think would never have a chance to turn their lives around. You can’t believe that pivot. That 180 that is possible in every one of us was very inspiring,” said Wallen.

“These men and women are legit real heroes. There’s no glory and glamour in this business. If we could bring awareness to what they’re doing, they could get more resources, more support, more benefit of the doubt,” he said. “Some of them are hardened criminals, but they’re incredible human beings. That’s why this Viceland opportunity is so exciting for us. It means that these men and women will finally get the attribution they deserve for the work that they’re doing. I hope [Viceland’s] endorsement of this provides opportunities for others to pick it up.”

Creative Gang Violence Los Angeles

More from Creative

View all