Framing 20 Years in NY with Steve Drew

What’s your favorite borough or neighborhood in NYC? Why?

Smaller than a borough, larger than a neighborhood: Prospect Park, hands down.  It’s so many things to me. An escape, a place you can meet friends, somewhere to get lost inside of. Early mornings are full of cyclists, joggers and hundreds off-leash puppers. Afternoons are full of people wandering around enjoying some peace, reading books and, occasionally, someone balancing a television on their head while singing a pitch perfect rendition of John Legend’s ‘All Of Me’, riding a broken monocycle. It is still New York.

What NYC tourist activity have you yet to do?

I’ve been here for close to 10 years, and have yet to visit the Statue of Liberty. However, our team have recently just modelled and textured it as a CG asset, so I’m calling that itch at least partially scratched.

What has been your favorite project or client collaboration in your tenure at Framestore?

Tough call!  In commercials, it would have to be working with Oscar Hudson on his film for Apple Airpods, ‘Bounce’. Oscar is a deftly clever director and he’s a joy to work with. There was a real childlike innocence to that film. The approach we took, marrying the special and visual effects via trampoline, was genuinely fun.

In the episodic world, Dead City season two. I can’t say too much about it yet but we’re having a BLAST blowing things up practically and digitally. But I’ve been wanting to work on horror since about 1987, so maybe I’m biased.

What sets Framestore apart and makes us a trusted creative partner for episodic content?

Almost anyone can execute a brief. At Framestore we like to brainstorm – offering suggestions, alternatives, enhancements and ideas for clients to chew on with us to try to make the best show possible. They can see the creative investment we’re making. That shows them that we care, and reassures them they’re in the best hands. Also, if they can see we ENJOY what we do and, importantly, do it with a vision aligned with the showrunner’s, then it becomes a true collaboration.