INTERVIEW SERIES
An on-the-ground interview series where Brendan dives deep into the wildlife filmmaking community, asking industry professionals and emerging talents to share their stories, tips, tricks and advice.
1. IN2WILD - developed and filmed at Wildscreen Film Festival, UK.
2. WildSide Chats - developed and filmed at Jackson Wild Summit, USA.
All graphic branding and visual designs are created, edited and produced by Brendan Cohen.
How It Started...
On the very first day of Wildscreen, I was able to meet the most amazing and talented people. I was blown away! My mind was racing with ideas. By day two, I had already came up with an idea on how to seize this opportunity, and spend that night designing logos, coming up with catch phrases, creating target audience analyses and building a prospective list of guest speakers.
Time is critical when attending networking events, so each interview was designed to only be two questions long, hence 'In2Wild' is more than just a clever play on words.
The 'Why'...
Coming from Australia, where our wildlife filmmaking community and industry is very small, I felt so privileged to have all these impactful and eye-opening conversations. I knew how helpful these conversations could be to other aspiring science communicators, those who sadly can't attend such festivals.
I felt a deep desire to give back and share my discoveries.
Over three days, I interviewed nine professionals, reaching 6,800 views across the first six videos.
How It Continued...
When I found out I was accepted to volunteer at Jackson Wild, a US-based impact storytelling platform in Wyoming, USA, I knew I had an opportunity to do something special. Seeing the demand for accessible perspectives through In2Wild, I decided to pitch this idea to them.
They accepted my request and we adapted it into ‘WildSide Chats’ for their Summit.
How It Improved...
In order to effectively build and improve, I pre-arranged interviews with professionals and collaborated with a Spanish-speaking conservation journalist who helped to conduct additional interviews so we could reach new Latin audiences. I also invited fellow emerging science communicators and wildlife filmmakers to share their questions and concerns, empowering their voices and experiences to shape the interviews.
In three days, we interviewed 29 people, reaching over 28,800 views within just the first ten videos. We even had industry leaders approach us!