Produced with Anthem Multimedia
Vertex Pharmaceutical – Cystic Fibrosis: A Future of Possibilities
-
“Max is — gosh, where do I start — my secret weapon, honestly. I’ve been working with him for years and he’s about the best creative collaborator in post-production I could hope for. He brings something sparkly and amazing, and he does it astonishingly quickly. No ego. Just results. I plan my projects around including him.”
The Challenge
When Anthem brought me in, they were stressed. Twelve hour-long interviews. 10 hours of cinema verite footage. A Fortune 500 client. A twenty-minute runtime. And zero room for error.
This wasn’t just a highlight reel—it was the centerpiece of a multi-million dollar national campaign. The stakes were enormous. Emotionally. Financially. Creatively.
Anthem had worked with other editors before, but none could truly translate the vision. The work was either too surface-level, too slow, or just too generic. Dina (the senior producer) had never really trusted anyone else with this kind of complexity.
This time, she needed more than hands. She needed a creative partner.
What They Needed
(Even If They Couldn’t Say It)
They weren’t just looking for a clean edit. They were trying to untangle twelve people’s stories, fold in past footage, hit critical messaging for both Vertex and the CF community—and somehow make it all flow.
They were afraid the story would be functional, but flat. Too much data. Too many voices. Not enough soul.
They didn’t need an editor.
They needed a storyteller with a scalpel.
What I Did
I’ve done this kind of thing before—turning hours of chaos into minutes of clarity. So I told them: “This is going to work.” And then I got to work.
I distilled 12+ hours of raw interview footage into a tight 6-minute arc—without losing a single key voice.
I integrated older footage and vérité sequences, building a visual rhythm that felt seamless, not stitched.
I rewrote the story structure in the edit, moving key beats earlier to build momentum, especially a segment from Vertex’s CEO that reframed everything that followed.
I fine-tuned the pacing at the frame level—literally adjusting 5–10 frames between lines to give the audience space to feel.
I scored it with care, selecting music that carried the emotional weight across discovery, pain, and breakthrough.
And the ending? That final cry from a father about his daughter? That was the moment we built toward—70% of the piece sculpted to land right there.
How I Helped Them Move Forward
At first, they thought the story just had too many people. It didn’t. It just needed breath.
I helped them see that the problem wasn’t volume—it was architecture. The pacing, the structure, the order of revelation. By moving a few moments, cutting a few redundancies, and giving space where it was needed, the story came alive.
That’s what I do.
The Result
The second cut landed. They were shocked by how cohesive it felt—how every moment hit. We delivered fast, despite the complexity. They felt supported, not managed.
This piece became the centerpiece of Vertex’s CF campaign. Anthem looked like heroes. And Dina? She said what every editor dreams of hearing:
“I plan my projects around including Max.”
Vertex Pharmaceuticals - Cystic Fibrosis: A Future of Possibilities
Need a Story to Land?
Let’s create something your team’s proud of—and your audience feels.
From overwhelmed to outstanding. That’s what I do.