Institute’s Courtney Brookes Shows ‘The Sims’ in a New Light

Institute’s Courtney Brookes recently teamed with Amazon and EA to direct a three-episode branded content series around the beloved game The Sims, titled “The Sims: Not Creative.” Each episode runs about four minutes, and stars content creator and aspiring filmmaker Amanda Gordon as she learns from others how The Sims can be a portal to unlocking new modes of creativity. View all episodes here. 

The first episode, “Find Your Perspective,” connects Gordon with interior designer Francesca Grace, who builds virtual worlds in The Sims to explore new ideas and have fun with off-the-wall thinking. In the second episode, “Express Yourself,” multidisciplinary artist and fashion designer Brielle Jenkins walks Gordon through an exercise in self-expression, both in The Sims and IRL. The third and final episode, “Embrace the Chaos,” shows Gordon collaborating with musician Cale Tyson to discover hidden talents and embrace imperfection via the world of The Sims. Each episode authentically captures different ways that The Sims can be a canvas for professional and personal creativity.

The series marks a new direction for the brand in its organic, documentary-style storytelling, and Courtney collaborated closely with the creative team to flesh out the brief into something tangible. During the pitching process, Courtney, who had played The Sims growing up, took a deep dive into revisiting the game, its lore, and what the player community looks like today.

“The Sims is so ubiquitous – everyone has had an experience with The Sims at some point in their lives,” shared Courtney. “The client knew that they wanted to connect with gen Z in a meaningful and authentic way, and the brief was fairly open about how exactly that would look. I wrote out a thorough script based on creatives and professionals that I know in my life, including the effects and visual elements that would enrich the story. I think EA really appreciated the clear vision and detail that I brought to the treatment, and the whole Sims team was incredibly collaborative in bringing this to life.”

Courtney and the team then embarked on the casting process, an atypical process because of the nature of the brief – have experience with The Sims, and have an interesting job. They landed on Gordon as the star because of her curiosity, willingness to try new things, and openness about feeling stuck in her professional path. One of Courtney’s personal friends who inspired the treatment, Brielle Jenkins, ended up actually making the cut for casting as the guest mentor of the second episode.

“I wrote out a list of key questions for everyone we saw during casting in order to quickly dig into their stories and experiences,” explained Courtney. “It was a very different process for this project compared to when you’re going for a specific role or performance. We got to ask people about the weirdest things they’ve ever done in The Sims, and incorporate their actual experiences into their episodes.”

The full series was shot over just three days. The project was an evolution from most of Courtney’s previous work – being unscripted, and incorporating more visual effects elements – and she prepped accordingly, working closely with her DP Melisse Riahi, production designer Olivia McManus, post house Echobend, and The Sims developers.

“I learned so much on this job, and was given such an incredible amount of creative freedom, which is so rare – it’s like I was creating my own Sims universe on the shoot and got to invite a chicken to set and have Amanda be abducted by aliens” said Courtney. “On top of that, these were authentic conversations unfolding in real time, and they were creating things live in the game as well, so we made sure to have multiple cameras capturing everything so that nothing would get missed. I got to work a lot with The Sims’ in-house trailer team to write in the animated gameplay sequences, and the clips they delivered were even better than I imagined. The entire process, from prep, through the shoot, through the edit, was so fun and creative in true Sims fashion - definitely one of the most memorable projects I’ve done so far!"

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