Red Summit Productions

Rockefeller Center has always been a special place for me. Some of my earliest, most vivid memories of NYC involve standing in that plaza with family, looking up at the Christmas Tree, or watching the Today Show broadcast live. It’s where I first fell in love with the city and incredible energy.

Running a production company for over 15 years, people often ask me where I find inspiration. The truth? It’s entirely about our surroundings. Every time I pass by 30 Rock I feel the nostalgia of my younger days.

Luckily, being in NYC means inspiration is literally built into the NYC streets. We headed out to Rockefeller Plaza this week to see the LEGO Group’s massive FIFA World Cup Trophy. As creatives, seeing a company take a simple medium and scale it to something that stops people in their tracks is the exact kind of energy we bring to our own work at RSP.

We are proud of the recent work we did in LA for a client and their brand related to the World Cup.

A decade and a half in this city, and it still finds ways to surprise and fuel us. The Final is almost here, and we are completely locked in.

Who are you rooting for?

Big thank you to Cache_Seven for sending us to the North Shore of Oahu with Big Wave World Champion Jamie Sterling!

Jamie was born and raised on the North Shore and the ocean is truly in his DNA. As a professional big-wave surfer since the age of 16, he doesn’t just know the water, he deeply understands it. Watching him guide Red Summit Productions' own Brent Adams through a surf lesson from the technical land training all the way to paddling out into the lineup was nothing short of incredible...and FUN!

That experience perfectly highlights what continues to remind us: the right guide changes everything.

isn't just a platform; they are bridging the gap between everyday adventurers and elite experts. They connect people with real professionals who love what they do, share the exact gear they trust, and passionally bring others into their sport.

Whether you are looking to elevate your own adventures or find vetted, athlete-approved equipment, they are shifting how we experience the outdoors.

Head over to cache7.com to find Jamie Sterling's full gear list and book your own North Shore experience!

Director of Photography: aguatography
Produced by: Red Summit Productions

My takeaway from hearing Coach Kirby Smart talk about great leadership:

First of all, Kirby was incredibly kind, cool and buzzing with energy!

I recently had the opportunity to attend a Jesse Itzler Leadership Summit at Duke University and listen to The University of Georgia's Head Football Coach, Kirby Smart. Two major takeaways from Coach Smart have been sticking with me ever since that I wrote down.

1. "𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀." To me, leadership over the years has best been shown in what others do when the pressure is on. I remember supervisors from various shows and productions that stand out in my mind. I learned more from seeing the action than from hearing the action.

2. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗣𝗘 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸: Fire, Passion, and Energy.

At Red Summit Productions, we aren't just letting these insights sit in a notebook. We are actively applying FPE to our daily work and using it to empower our team:

• 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗘: The drive to win new work and show our clients that no matter how ambitious the goal, we can achieve it.

• 𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡: The dedication to prove that our collective hard work, meticulous planning, and creative ex*****on truly pay off.

• 𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗥𝗚𝗬: The relentless enthusiasm required to successfully put all the complex puzzle pieces of a production together.

𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀

We believe the best way to develop leaders is to actually give them the floor. That’s why we are intentionally putting our staff into leadership roles, giving them the autonomy, trust, and opportunity to lead real initiatives. Fail fast.

Whether it’s for our full-time team, the incredible freelancers we hire, or the clients we serve, this is what Red Summit Productions is all about: creating an environment driven by Fire, Passion, and Energy, and backing it up with action.

- When you empower your people to lead, everyone wins.

A huge thank you to Jesse Itzler for putting on an incredible summit and to Coach Kirby Smart for sharing such impactful, actionable insights that we're already using to elevate our team.

How does your team cultivate leadership from within?

Earlier this week, I wrote a post about the competitive FOMO I get when I see a production happening in NYC while I'm passing through for a client coffee or heading to one of our own locations. This past Sunday and Monday, we might have been the ones giving other production companies that same feeling.

I'm incredibly proud that we hired talented creatives from every corner of the production world to make this happen. I'm equally proud knowing that today the client is happy, the SSP is cooking up proxies, and Adobe is mastering the edits.

So here's our recap—and a sincere thank you to everyone who helped bring it to life.

5 floors. 50+ crew members. 1 historic Upper East Side townhouse (with a very old elevator).

To close out June, we took over a massive five-story Manhattan townhouse for an incredible production. And if you've ever shot in NYC, you know exactly what that means.

Sunday: Load-in day. Furniture moved, custom sets built across three floors, and gear hauled up more flights of stairs than we'd like to count.

Monday: A full-throttle 12-hour shoot day. Permitted trucks, A+ talent on set, and a 50+ person crew moving in perfect sync.

We had Video Village on floor three, client-favorite NYC bagels and coffee on floor four, and cameras rolling throughout the rest of the house. Every department was locked in.

By the end of the night, we wrapped, packed up, and put the home back exactly the way we found it. Like we were never there.

We treat every rented location like it's our own.

Here's the real takeaway: One of the best agencies in the business trusted us with this massive production because they knew we don't just create beautiful visuals - we manage the complex logistics, moving parts, and tight timelines that come with high-stakes productions so they don't have to.

If you have a complex creative vision and need a production partner who can execute the logistics just as seamlessly as the creative, we'd love to help.

Send us a DM or shoot me an email. Let's bring your next big project to life.

Just over a year ago we had the pleasure of joining Cache_Seven and Eric Larsen for a few days of gravel riding in Gunnison County.

For those who don't know Eric, he's skied to both poles, summited Mount Everest, completed the Explorers Grand Slam, and survived conditions most people can't even imagine. Having him lead a gravel trip means you're going to be prepared. Detailed gear list ahead of time, home-cooked meals by the fire, a sauna to close out the day. He doesn't do anything halfway.

Brent rode alongside some speedy journalists, clipped in for the first time, and didn't flinch. That tracks, he is fearless and is always doing the coolest adventures.

Cali and Beau Larson documented dozens of miles of trails and the gear that makes it all possible. Thanks to Otso Bikes for the incredible rides, and to Cache_Seven for bringing us along.