The Essential List: Ryan Staake
We last interviewed Ryan Staake two years ago after the launch of his Young Thug video that could have quite easily been one giant disaster. Thanks to some very resourceful genius from Ryan, it turned out to be one of 2017’s best music videos. Ryan is also the owner and head of New York creative studio Pomp&Clout and has recently been lauded for his work with Charli XCX. For her '1999' promo, Ryan used deepfake AI technology - which experts have warned could exacerbate issues with fake news - as a nifty special effects tool, placing the artist into scenes with the Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys.
Anyway, we digress! We wanted to get to know Ryan better. And so we hit him up for his Essential List. And it's a goodie.
Lifestyle
o Place of birth: Los Angeles, CA
o Hometown: St. Louis, MO
o Staycation: Bushwick, NY
o Vacation: Anywhere in Vermont
o Pet: Ziggy - Jack Russell/Chihuahua
o Place of work: Pomp&Clout world headquarters, Bushwick
o Place of workout: Running through whatever city I’m in
o Side project: A feature film about fake video eroding trust in visual media.
o Mode of transport: Heel-toe-express
o Bonus Travel Essential: CBD oil
Bonus spinning Ryan head gif
Culture
o Artist: James Turrell. I saw a woman pass out while experiencing his piece at MASS MoCA… that’s art.
o Musician: Oppenheimer Analysis
o Commercials / music video director: Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry & Oscar Hudson
o Film director: Panos Cosmatos (Mandy was incredible)
o Photographer: Whoever’s trending on IG.
o Film: Recently been on a ‘genre film’ kick… very into Hereditary (and Mandy)
o Series: Peep Show, High Maintenance & Check it Out With Steve Brule. Also into trashy mindless reality TV like Hoarders & Doomsday Preppers.
o Commercial: Tide Ad (dir. Traktor). So subversive and fun. Can’t really say anything new about it… it’s all been said.
o Music Video: LCD Soundsystem - Oh Baby (dir. Rian Johnson). I pitched on it and it’s so much better than my idea ever could’ve been.
o Video Game: The Long Dark, Limbo, Inside, Red Dead Redemption 2, PUBG, Civilization V (VI sucks) & Astroneer
o Board Game: Monopoly
o Book: Blood Meridian
o Graphic Novel: Days of Hate
o Podcast: Beats in Space
o Newspaper (off or online): New York Times for all my dystopian hell-news.
o Magazine: Twitter
o Bonus Culture Essential: Elsewhere at 3am
Food and Drink
o Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese, lox, onions & capers + red eye
o Restaurant: Roberta’s Pizza
o Cheap bite: Bodega sandwich
o Working lunch: 983 Cafe
o Favourite Dish: Crème brûlée
o Signature Dish: Roasted Chicken & veggies.
o Snack: Almonds
o Guilty Pleasure: ASMR while writing
o Bar: Raising it… all day everyday
o Booze: Beer
o Not Booze: Too much coffee
o Bonus Food: Pickles
o Bonus Beverage: Our new Soda Stream
Kit
o Phone: iPhone X
o Computer: Mac Pro & MBP, but I also rock this analog video-based Mac mini setup.
o TV: Sony 65” wall mounted monstrosity
o Headphones: Finally an AirPods guy.
o Camera: iPhone mainly.
o Soundsystem: Sony surround sound system
o Pen / pencil: Prismacolor 70% flat gray
o Where you document an idea: Dropbox Paper
o Casual Clothing: T shirt.
o Smart Clothing: T shirt and pants.
o Footwear: Whatever footwear company I’ve shot for most recently.
o Watch: Time is a construct, man
o Collection: Airtable, Google Keep, Google Tasks
o App: Amazon Prime Now is pretty insane.
o Website: Reddit
o Blog: Little Black Book whatttup!
o Work program: Slack
o Digital work tool: Photoshop
o Analogue work tool: Sticky notes
o Morning grooming / makeup essential: Hand through hair
o Bonus Kit Essential: I keep telling myself I want to buy a laser pointer to gesture with on set, but I’d probably be too ashamed of having one to actually use it.
