OpenTable x Bravo x Top Chef: Dish It

The Assignment:

“OpenTable and Bravo partnered with Booklight to take on the ambitious goal of traveling the country, telling the stories of former Top Chefs in their respective restaurants. Season One was executed by an expansive film production traveling through New Orleans, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles and Colorado Springs, Booklight created a web series that culminated in a wonderful campaign exploring the diversity in food and people around our nation.” -booklight.co

Back in December 2019, I was thrilled and terrified when @chrisnewhard and @jcbmatthew of @booklightco asked me to DP this project. I was thrilled because I was going to get to travel the country and shoot at amazing restaurants with my good friends, Dan and John, and terrified once they told us we had 4 days to shoot 4 chefs in 4 different cities. And even more terrified when I found out we’d only have about 2.5-3 hours to shoot each chef portrait video before we had to jump in an Uber XL with our pelican cases to make the plane to the next city. So we hopped from Miami, to New Orleans, to Chicago, and to Colorado Springs and had 4 stories in the can in 4 days. And then we received word that we would do one more in LA the following week.

Everything went off without a hitch and we had five great Chef stories to tell for OpenTable. All of the chefs were really nice and accommodating despite their busy schedules. Chris and Jacob at Booklight absolutely killed it in making sure all of our logistics were taken care of, Tiffany at OpenTable was wonderful at being our on-site producer, and of course, Dan and John killed it as always as colleagues and being so fun to travel with. Also, big shout-out to our local G&E/audio crews for being able to execute all of our requests in a timely and professional fashion. Projects like these remind me that I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else for a living. Thanks again to @booklightco and OpenTable for this opportunity.

Client: OpenTable x Bravo

Production Company: Booklight

Executive Producer: Chris Newhard

Producer: Jacob Matthew

Director: Dan Mendenhall

Director of Photography: Joe Grasso

Camera Op/Drone: John Kolleh

Infiniti x Philly Mag: Lived in Luxury

The Assignment: Film a two-part branded content piece for Infiniti and Philly Mag that highlights local entrepreneurial influencers and how “Lived in Luxury” relates to their businesses.

Agency: Philadelphia Magazine

Production Company: Koi Fly Creative

Producer/Director:  Leslie Schmidt

Director of Photography: Joe Grasso

Aerial Videography: Eric LaCasse

AC: Jay Miller

Associate Producer: Erin Versaggi

Gaffer/Grip: Zachary Van Heel

Sound: Nate Attias

Executive Producer: Stacey Grant

Director of Production: Dave Bisson

HMU: Danielle Laragione