Evolve Studios: Can Storytelling Heal our Fractured Culture?

“We don’t go around; we go through”. 

For the independent production company Evolve Studios, success is found in the middle of the venn diagram between imagination, ambition, and sheer hard graft. Joel Edwards, Evolve’s founder and EP, humbly describes it as a “blue collar work ethic” - one that’s underpinned the studio’s work for entertainment giants like Disney and Netflix alongside commercial projects for Coors Light, T-Mobile, BMW and more. 

But whether it be in the world of entertainment, commercial, or something in-between, Joel is betting on one big idea: That quality still wins. That, in a world of endless content, hype, and distraction, true creative quality remains the signal that cuts through the noise. And, on top of that, Joel posits that quality storytelling can go beyond measured effectiveness and reunify a culture that’s falling apart at the seams. If that sounds ambitious and provocative in equal measure, then it paints a fair picture of Joel and the studio he’s founded. 

“Most of us working in the world of media and entertainment sense that culture is fragmenting,” he remarked to LBB. “But when you step outside into the real world, that division is even more severe. The U.S. today feels like six or seven separate nations, with deep and significant societal divides. However, I truly believe that compelling stories have the power to unite and bring us closer together.”

Looking through Evolve’s portfolio of work, there are a few examples of this approach playing out in practice. The studio collaborated with Netflix for a series of promos in support of the streaming giant’s David Beckham biopic, which ended up landing with a significant cultural impact. Beyond that, they took Percy Jackson fans behind the scenes of the Disney+ blockbuster series, bringing the audience closer to the source material than ever before. 

 

Crucially, Evolve is able to lean on expertise all the way from production to post, editing, music and sound under its own independent roof. That gives Joel and the team a Swiss army knife capable of answering any creative ask with their quality-first philosophy. 

“The over-saturation of content can be a problem for marketers if you’ve lost your way and forgotten why you do what you do”, he says. “And the truth is that a lot of marketing is overplayed. As a viewer it can be easy to switch off when something feels overly like an ad, and influencer marketing is becoming tired. I think people are just looking for something else. Our simple answer is to make work that we believe in, and that we’d choose to watch. It takes passion and energy, but if you do that you can absolutely rise above the noise and be remembered”. 

Disengaged audiences and an over-saturated media landscape are ready excuses for marketers - but listening to Joel, one gets the sense that the word ‘excuse’ isn’t in his personal dictionary. 

“I’ve come from a very blue-collar family and landed in this traditionally prestigious and white-collar industry”, he reflects. “So my attitude is very much labour-forward, but what we pride ourselves on at Evolve is a blending of hard work with very skillful and competent craftsmanship. There’s an integrity in what we do, and I think that is suited pretty well to an industry that can’t afford to be wasteful right now”. 

As he goes on to explain, that fundamental commitment to quality sometimes means taking the hard road. But ‘quality’ is not a synonym for ‘expensive’. “Some of the best, most engaging stories that are being told in 2024 are being told by folks recording themselves with an iPhone and uploading to TikTok. I’m not scared of admitting that - it works and it engages people”, he says. “What I take from that is that you don’t need to spend millions of dollars to get an idea where people sit up and take notice. In those cases, there’s a pure and simple idea that cuts through. So it’s beholden on production and post to protect and elevate ideas in an efficient way - and that’s what we aim to do”. 

And Evolve is happy to pick up a variety of tools in order to make that happen. “We’ve been early adopters of AI and have embedded it into our processes”, he notes. “In no way are we using it to put people out of work or replace the human spirit in our work - it’s another tool for elevating ideas and we’re perfectly content to use it for that very effective purpose. AI isn’t something that scares or worries us, it’s a natural evolution in the way we work”. 

That fearlessness and confidence is something that, ultimately, imbues into Evolve’s work. It’s a studio that believes that what it’s doing matters - and is worthy of audiences’ time. 

“If you’re already saying ‘does this stuff matter?’, or ‘is anyone going to care?’, then you’re putting yourself inside a pretty limiting box”, he says. “I think that’s totally the wrong mindset. You have to believe in what you do. You have to show up in the morning and love the opportunity you have to say something to culture - on behalf of a brand, or on behalf of a story. 

“If you have that mindset, you’ll inevitably make stuff that’s worthy of being listened to. You will capture attention. You just have to care”.