THE CONTINENTAL . FROM THE WORLD OF JOHN WICK

creative direction . strategy . live action production

Set in 1970s New York City, limited series The Continental explores the origin of the iconic hotel-for-assassins centerpiece of the John Wick universe seen through the eyes and action of a young Winston Scott.

The Ask . In addition to making the Clio nominated campaign for Best Action Series (wink), I was tasked with making six unique behind-the-scenes featurettes for the worldwide release of The Continental. The themes and ideas were roughly sorted out, but specifics were open for interpretation. This content would premiere along with the release on Peacock in the United States and Amazon throughout the rest of the world.

The Challenge . We had a restrictive number of assets from set, needed to create more with limited time, and all assets needed to be used across multiple featurettes. I had cast and crew interviews that were filmed during principal photography in Budapest, but it wasn't enough. We needed followup shoots. However the cast was tied up in production and we were about to enter serious WGA/SAG strike territory. How could I come up with six different pieces of content, created from the same source material, that satisfied the Creators, Producers, Lionsgate, Peacock and Amazon at the same time? 

The Process . On the verge of the WGA strike we orchestrated a behind-the-scenes interview with Director and Executive Producer Albert Hughes as well as Showrunner and Writer Kirk Ward. We dressed a beautiful 70s style set on a sound stage in Los Angeles, and asked pointed and thoughtful questions. It was smashing. Both Hughes and Ward gave us insights and fun anecdotes that we were able to stretch across all six pieces without redundancies. Additionally, we filmed a supplemental shoot with Producers Basil Iwanyk in New York and Erica Lee in L.A. which really elevated these pieces as the cherry on top.

Let’s get into it.

Welcome To The Continental–the virtual tour through the set. Can we walk through the details of the sets and rooms from The Continental to tease the show and get fans excited? Production had concluded and the sets were dismantled or existed in Budapest. What would this look like? 

I started by going through pre-production documents. I found blueprints. 3D models. Maps! Sketches! Reference material. I also had a small amount of interview footage from the talented Production Designer Drew Boughton talking about working on the sets. Watching that footage is when it hit me–I could go back to the source! I reached out to Drew and through email interviews and video responses gathered more pointed material. He answered questions related to each room and his approach to the sets. He shed light on his discussions with the Creators and his intention behind each piece he selected. I took Drew’s interview, the pre-production documents, and interviews with the Creators to the editing team and we carved out this featurette. The networks were pleased, and this became the San Diego Comic-Con teaser prior to the show’s release. The Result:

The next featurettes take the form of Inside The Episodes for each of the three “Nights”. Each episode is approximately 90 minutes in length and we had to get into the making of each one. Using the previously mentioned interviews with Albert Hughes and Kirk Ward as well as cast interviews I, along with the editing team, divided the best responses across three episodes and artfully crafted these deeper looks. The Result(s): 

2024 Golden Trailer Award Nominee

Moving on to Behind The Score. The show’s composer, Raffertie, opened up his recording space in England to allow filming and an interview about his process. We beautifully paired the scene in the show to footage of the orchestra recording that day and the outcome was this special piece. 

The Result:

The History of The Continental was especially interesting because it had a contractual requirement to be 8 minutes in length. How could we use the footage of a prequel to tell the history of such a fictional yet iconic hotel? For this piece we relied heavily on the interviews with Iwanyk and Lee as they were very close to the John Wick Franchise as a whole.

The Result:

1 Clio Nomination & Win
2x Golden Trailer Award Nominations

production materials

 

Want more of The Continental? I hope so because I’m proud of it. Link to the international trailer campaign here.