Trailers
PARAMOUNT+ | MTV Entertainment Studios | MTV Documentary Films | Theatrical & Streaming Releases
Some stories demand more than promotion. They demand reverence.
MTV DOCUMENTARY FILMS
From 2021 through 2025, Blue-Eyed Boy Creative partnered with MTV Documentary Films to shape the cinematic voice of some of the studio’s most acclaimed releases.
Under the creative leadership of Chris Williams, the work spanned theatrical, streaming, and awards campaigns, with trailers and promotional storytelling designed to distill each film’s emotional core into something immediate, powerful, and unforgettable.
This body of work included trailers, promos, key art, and creative assets supporting a slate of critically recognized films, including four Academy Award Nominees: St. Louis Superman, Black Box Diaries, I Am Ready, Warden, and The ABCs of Book Banning.
In close collaboration with filmmakers, alongside the legendary Sheila Nevins, and under the leadership of Co-Heads Liza Burnett-Fefferman and Nina L. Diaz, each piece was crafted to honor the truth of the story while elevating its emotional reach.
The result was more than campaign work. It was storytelling that helped these films break through, connect with audiences and critics, and extend their impact far beyond the screen.
Black Box Diaries
Black Box Diaries is a powerful and deeply personal investigative documentary that chronicles journalist Shiori Itō’s search for justice after surviving sexual assault in Japan, a country where speaking publicly about such crimes carries immense personal and cultural risk.
Through intimate video diaries, investigative reporting, and years of relentless advocacy, Itō documents her fight to hold a powerful perpetrator accountable while challenging systemic barriers that silence survivors. What unfolds is both a gripping personal journey and a broader examination of power, truth, and the courage required to confront institutions designed to protect themselves.
The film became one of the most acclaimed documentaries of the year, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature and sparking global conversation around accountability, press freedom, and survivor advocacy.
Creative Approach
The goal of the trailer was to capture the film’s emotional urgency while crafting a rhythmic build toward the film’s central reckoning, that unfolds like a modern day political thriller. The ultimate objective was to mirror the emotional experience and intensity of the documentary itself. The result was a piece of trailer storytelling that honored the gravity of the film’s subject while inviting audiences into a deeply human story about courage, truth, and the cost of demanding accountability.
2024 | Black Box Diaries | MTV Documentary Films | Paramount+ Directed By: Shiori Itō Executive Producers: Robina Riccitiello, Josh Peters, Nina L. Diaz, Liza Burnett Fefferman Agency Partner: Jump Cut NYC 2025 Academy Award Nominee: Best Documentary Feature
I AM READY, WARDEN
I Am Ready, Warden offers an unflinching look at the final chapter of death row inmate John Henry Ramirez’s life as he awaits execution for a murder committed decades earlier. As his execution date approaches, the film follows Ramirez, the victim’s son, and the prison chaplain who has walked beside him through years of spiritual reflection.
What emerges is a complex portrait of grief, accountability, and the difficult questions surrounding capital punishment. Through intimate access and deeply personal conversations, the documentary explores whether redemption is possible in the shadow of irreversible consequences and what justice truly means for those forced to live with loss.
Creative Approach
Our creative approach centered on restraint and emotional gravity. The story unfolds in the final hours before an execution, and the trailer was designed to honor that profound intimacy without sensationalizing the subject matter.
Through deliberate pacing, quiet moments of reflection, and carefully measured reveals, the trailer allowed the humanity of everyone involved to come forward. Family members, victims, and the condemned man himself are all given space within the narrative. The result was a piece of trailer storytelling that invited audiences into a deeply complex moral landscape while respecting the dignity and emotional weight carried by the film.
2024 | I Am Ready, Warden | MTV Documentary Films | Paramount+ Directed By: Smriti Mundhra Executive Producers: Sheila Nevins, Nina L. Diaz, Liza Burnett Fefferman Agency Partner: Jump Cut NYC 2025 Academy Award Nominee: Best Documentary Short Film
Pay or Die
Pay or Die investigates the human toll of the soaring cost of insulin in the United States, where millions of people with diabetes depend on a medication discovered more than a century ago, yet priced beyond reach for many who need it to survive.
The film follows patients and families navigating impossible choices as insulin prices continue to rise, chronicling their struggles to stay alive while confronting a healthcare system shaped by pharmaceutical pricing, insurance barriers, and corporate power. Alongside these deeply personal stories, the documentary traces the growing grassroots movement demanding accountability and reform.
Through intimate storytelling and urgent investigative reporting, the film reveals how a medication intended to save lives became the center of a national crisis, and how those most affected are fighting back to change the system.
Creative Approach
Our approach to Pay or Die, was to center the trailer on urgency and human stakes. Rather than framing the film purely as a policy debate, the trailer foregrounded the lived experiences of the families whose survival depends on affordable insulin access.
The storytelling balanced investigative tension with deeply personal moments, allowing viewers to feel the emotional reality behind the headlines. As the narrative builds, the trailer reveals the broader systemic forces driving the crisis while maintaining focus on the individuals fighting for their lives and for change.
2023 | “Pay Or Die” | MTV Documentary Films | Paramount+ Directed By: Scott Alexander Ruderman and Rachael Dyer Executive Producers: Sarah Silverman, Sheila Nevins, Trish Adlesic, Nina L. Diaz, Liza Burnett Fefferman Agency Partner: Jump Cut NYC 2024 The Telly Awards Gold Winner: Best Documentary Trailer
Children of October 7
The Children of October 7 follows a group of young survivors of the October 7 attacks as they recount the unimaginable violence that shattered their communities and forever changed their childhoods. Guided by performer and activist Montana Tucker, the children share their stories with remarkable courage, describing the chaos of the attacks, the loss of family members, and the lasting emotional impact of that day.
Through intimate conversations and deeply personal testimony, the film documents the experiences of children who witnessed the destruction of their homes, the deaths of loved ones, and in some cases their own kidnapping or captivity. By placing these young voices at the center of the narrative, the documentary bears witness to the human toll of the attacks while highlighting the resilience and strength of a generation forced to confront unimaginable trauma.
Premiering on Paramount+ and later airing on MTV, the film serves as both a record of survival and a call to remember the lives forever altered by that day.
Creative Approach
For The Children of October 7, the creative challenge was to distill the emotional gravity of the film into a :30 promotional piece designed primarily for digital and social platforms.
The approach centered on immediacy and emotional clarity, allowing the children’s voices and expressions to guide the narrative while carefully balancing sensitivity with urgency. Through restrained pacing and powerful visual moments, the promo was designed to stop viewers mid-scroll and invite audiences into a deeply human story about loss, survival, and the enduring resilience of children forced to grow up far too quickly.
2025 | “Children of October 7” | MTV Documentary Films | Paramount+ Directed By: Asaf Becker Executive Producers: Nina L. Diaz, Liza Burnett Fefferman Agency Partner: Stuck in Motion
Going to Pot: The High & Low of It
Going to Pot: The High and Low of It examines the sweeping transformation of cannabis policy and perception in the United States, where a substance once criminalized for decades is rapidly becoming a legal and multibillion-dollar industry.
Through a wide range of perspectives, including advocates, entrepreneurs, skeptics, and everyday Americans whose lives intersect with the issue, the film explores the complex cultural shift surrounding marijuana legalization. What emerges is a nuanced portrait of a country still grappling with the legacy of prohibition while navigating the economic opportunity and social consequences of a newly legal market.
By weaving together personal stories, political history, and contemporary debate, the documentary reveals how cannabis legalization is reshaping conversations around criminal justice, public health, and the evolving definition of personal freedom in America.
Creative Approach
For the promotional campaign supporting Going to Pot: The High and Low of It, the creative approach balanced the film’s humor and cultural curiosity with the deeper societal questions at its core.
The trailer leaned into the documentary’s mix of personalities and perspectives, using rhythm and contrast to capture the evolving national conversation around cannabis. The goal was to reflect the film’s open-minded spirit while inviting audiences into a story that is as much about American identity as it is about marijuana itself. It also premiered on 4/20.
2021 | “Going To Pot: The High & Low Of It” | MTV Documentary Films | Paramount+ Directed By: Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato Executive Producers: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, Sheila Nevins, Nina L. Diaz, Liza Burnett Fefferman Agency Partner: Jump Cut NYC
MOURNING IN LOD
Mourning in Lod follows three women, one Palestinian, one Jewish, and one Christian whose lives become tragically intertwined during the wave of violence that erupted in Lod during the 2021 conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Through deeply personal access, the film chronicles the grief experienced by these women and their families after the deaths of their loved ones, capturing how loss reverberates across communities already divided by politics, religion, and generations of mistrust. As each family struggles to process tragedy in its own way, the documentary reveals the shared humanity that can exist even in the most polarized environments.
Rather than offering simple answers, the film invites audiences into a quiet and deeply emotional examination of mourning, identity, and the possibility of empathy in a region defined by conflict.
Creative Approach
The trailer focuses primarily on balance and emotional restraint. The film presents multiple perspectives ultimately shaped by the same tragedy, and the trailer was designed to reflect that delicate narrative structure.
Through carefully juxtaposed moments from the women and their families, the piece allowed viewers to witness the shared weight of grief without reducing the story to political binaries. The goal was to create a trailer that honored the complexity of the film while drawing audiences into a deeply human story about loss, memory, and the fragile possibility of understanding.
2023 | “Mourning in Lod” | MTV Documentary Films | Paramount+ Directed By: Hilla Medalia Executive Producers: Sheila Nevins, Nina L. Diaz, Liza Burnett Fefferman Agency Partner: Jump Cut NYC
OMOIYARI: A SONGFILM BY KISHI BASHI
OMOIYARI: A Songfilm by Kishi Bashi is a hybrid documentary and musical journey that follows acclaimed violinist and songwriter Kishi Bashi as he travels across the United States investigating the history of Japanese American incarceration during World War II.
As Bashi reflects on his own identity as a Japanese American artist, the film weaves together historical research, conversations with survivors and descendants, and the creation of an album inspired by these stories. The result is both a deeply personal exploration and a broader meditation on memory, empathy, and the enduring consequences of injustice.
Through music, archival history, and cinematic imagery, the film asks audiences to consider how societies remember painful chapters of the past and why confronting those histories remains essential to understanding the present.
Creative Approach
This trailer leaned into the film’s unique fusion of music and history. By blending Kishi Bashi’s sweeping musical performance with moments of reflection and historical discovery, the trailer allows his music to guide the emotional rhythm of the piece.
The result is a trailer that reflects the film’s poetic tone while inviting audiences into a story that bridges art, memory, and historical reckoning.
2022 | “Omoiyari: A Song Film By Kishi Bashi” | MTV Documentary Films | Paramount+ Directed By: Justin Taylor Smith & Kishi Bashi Executive Producers: Sheila Nevins, Nina L. Diaz, Liza Burnett Fefferman Agency Partner: Jump Cut NYC
Across this body of work, the goal remained constant: to create trailer and promotional storytelling that reflects the integrity of the films themselves.
Working in close partnership with filmmakers and studio leadership, each campaign was crafted to introduce audiences to stories that carry real-world stakes and lasting impact. Because when stories matter this much, how they are introduced to the world matters too.
CREDITS
CEO Paramount Global: Chris McCarthy Head of MTV Documentary Films: Liza Burnett-Fefferman Head of MTV Documentary Films: Nina L. Diaz Executive Producer, MTV Documentary Films: Shelia Nevins Chief Marketing Officer: Amy Campbell SVP Brand Creative: Justin Russell SVP Brand Creative: Deva Newman VP Production: Marko Radosavljevic Executive Creative Director: Chris Williams Creative Director: Michelle Lee Creative Director: Cam Ly Creative Director: Rosa White Art Director: Peter Gatto Writer: Tracey Crooks
SVP Project Management: Francesca Batista Director Project Management: Jaime Clifford Executive Producer: Sean Linehan Project Manager: Kira McGann Producer: Anoosha Chari SVP On-Air Design: Timothy Livezey VP On-Air Design: Pam Brill Producer On-Air Design: Kelly McCrossin Agency Partner: Jump Cut NYC Creative Director (Jump Cut NYC): Gabrielle Wawro Agency Partner: Stuck In Motion PR & Communications: Michael Tuckman
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WHAT WE DO
Creative Direction
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CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENT
Entertainment & Brand Campaigns Social Impact Campaigns Cultural & Heritage Month Initiatives
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Social Video Campaigns Digital Shorts & Micro-Documentaries Talent & Series Driven Social Content
Trailers & PROMOS
Film & Series Promos Documentary & Feature Film Trailers Launch Trailers for Network & Streaming
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Award Show Honoree Films Tribute Films & Event Openers B2B, Board, & Upfront Presentation Films
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