I had just opened our office in Brooklyn, wondering if NYC over LA would pay off for quickly building our experiential portfolio. It was 11:30pm when my phone lit up with a text from someone I met at SXSW while riding a petty-cab. Jennifer McBride, leading digital production at JWT,  was looking to build an AI acting judge for the Tribeca Film Festival. 

Yes, we built a fully functioning AI judge that gave people a rating on their acting skill (humble brag). What excited me most, was the choice to ditch the physical structure as a spectacle and allow the audience to become the spectacle. An experience driven by the people engaged with it. We added a surprising moment where after people acted their chosen scene, the audition played back revealing them in the scene.

What started as a 3-day activation became a 20+ location New York tour. The phrase “No one puts baby in a corner” reached its peak use the spring of 2017, and the TriBeca ReActor pulled in three Cannes Lions that June.