I’ve been creating Upfront sizzle reels the whole of my career. As a producer, as a Creative Director, as an executive. In all of these roles, I’m tasked with creating a full-frontal view of how attractive a product the brand is to the advertising community, with the expectation being that the audience (the advertisers) will commit to spending oodles of dollars of their brand’s product on the platform I’m creating these reels for.
There is a lot of money riding on an Upfront reel. It is a team effort. Heads of departments weigh in on scripts, visuals, and of course, messaging. Strategy is my way in to crafting the story. I delve deeply into the research–our partners on the research team could predict to the hour when they’d get my “It’s Upfront Season” email. I comb through content, looking for the right moment, the supporting soundbite, the most talked about stars to include. I work closely with my crew—at BET, once it became apparent that the three of us (CD, W/P and Editor) were like the Borg, we were always honored to be assigned to the Main reel. The following reels are just a few of the Upfronts I managed as a Creative Director while at BET. With writer and producer Dave Williams and editor extraordinaire Peter Ringer —and the approved graphics package, we would work closely together in live Zoom edits, building these reels. Days roll into nights that roll into weekend. For most of February and all of March, and a tiny bit of April, I have become well-versed in how to build the story of BET, using research, marketing and talent that will generate a banger of an ROI.
