There’s no question that the television industry is competitive, and it can be hard for a small prodco to break through the noise and find its niche. In ‘Small Companies, Big Ideas’ Realscreen chats with indies that are innovating and thriving, showing the unscripted world that sometimes the best things come in small packages.
The latest edition of Realscreen‘s Small Companies, Big Ideas series spotlights Brooklyn’s The Front, a female-led documentary production studio and creative think-tank.
With offices on both U.S. coasts, the fully independent production company was founded by award-winning filmmaker and media executive Thalia Mavros (pictured) in 2016. Mavros’s mission for The Front is to elevate narratives from underrepresented and unexpected perspectives, focusing on storytelling “that can spark conversation and change.”
Within its first four years of existence, The Front has launched the traveling dance competition series The Sauce, executive produced by and featuring Usher, for ill-fated short-form streamer Quibi, and is behind a number of previous titles for Spotify’s Best Advice franchise and National Geographic’s Untamed and WildLife with Bertie Gregory. The indie studio is also currently in production on a number of yet-to-be-announced long-form projects in the docuseries and feature length-documentary spaces.
Prior to launching The Front in 2016, Mavros was the first executive creative director at Vice, where she launched some of the youth-skewing media company’s most innovative verticals, and also led its joint venture with Intel, The Creators Project. At Vice, she helmed the director’s chair for projects from the likes of Pharrell Williams and Johnny Knoxville, and interviewed such luminaries such as Errol Morris, Werner Herzog and Harmony Korine.
Here, Mavros discusses the benefits and disadvantages of running her own boutique production house.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
The Front has been in business for about four years now. Can you tell us about the origins of the company?
I was setting out to create something I hadn’t been seeing in the industry yet felt was so necessary – a creative playground where women and underrepresented groups could come together to tell edgy and thought-provoking stories that could generate more complex conversations for women and others, while appealing to viewers everywhere.
At the time, I was noticing a commodification of feminism that felt exclusionary, and there was a whole world of experiences, themes and emotions left unexplored. I started The Front to tell those stories, and I believe deeply that the best way to achieve authenticity in that pursuit is to have people behind the camera who can understand and relate to the nuances at hand.
With your background at larger companies such as Vice…
Read More: Thalia Mavros on creating The Front