50 States, 50 Stories
A Super Bowl Commercial for Google
For over a year, my friend Jeff Lictfuss and I have been discussing his vision of a fully remote post-production studio. No brick-and-mortar space, just the best talent working from anywhere. Then, along came the perfect challenge: Google wanted to create 50 unique commercials, airing simultaneously during the Super Bowl – one for each state.
Most people would say, “That’s not possible.” But we weren’t thinking that small. I spent weeks designing the workflow manifesto, figuring out how we’d shoot across all 50 states while ensuring our editors had instantaneous access to sunk proxies and project files. We deployed five teams, each with an AE, traveling with 5G routers, hotel Wi-Fi, and Starlink, syncing audio everywhere from farms to factories to airplanes. Our post team, spread across the country, worked in tandem. Over three months, our team shot, edited, color-graded, and delivered more than 600 assets to Google.
On this project, I worked both as the Technical Director and the Colorist. The run-and-gun nature of production made color especially challenging. Each spot had wildly different lighting, from factory fluorescents to snowy wilderness. But rather than forcing a uniform look, we embraced the documentary style, letting each ad exist in its own world.
This project was a monster, but I’m so proud of how smoothly it ran. No major errors, no chaos. Just an ambitious idea executed flawlessly. Google was over the moon. And despite my usual dislike of commercial work, this one was both creatively fulfilling and technically challenging. Pretty much the perfect job!
