Blending Creativity and Commerce: Q&A with Voyager

Jordan P. Kelley, Content Director, Brand Storytelling

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How can studios effectively leverage their film and commercial expertise to build a thriving brand storytelling practice? For Andrew Hutcheson and Charles Frank of Voyager, the answer lies in blending the creative freedom of independent filmmaking with the strategic opportunities of branded content. Voyager was born from their shared childhood passion for storytelling and a vision to create a sustainable network for like-minded filmmakers. By practicing the art of producing commercials and branded projects, they’ve built a platform that supports emerging voices while enabling original narratives to flourish. This dual focus not only hones their craft but also provides the resources to explore passion projects, making Voyager a hub for meaningful, impactful storytelling.

BrandStorytelling caught up with Hutcheson and Frank to learn more about Voyager, their experience working with brands and publishers, and what it means to adapt to a changing content landscape:

Tell us about the inception of Voyager - What inspired you to start your own production company?

We both grew up making films with friends in our backyards, and we hold that type of child-like curiosity and exploration dearly. Voyager was our vehicle to continue making movies like we did when we were kids but in a way that could sustain a whole network of people we believe in and care about deeply. Making commercials and branded content was and continues to be central to this goal; those projects are an incredible platform for meeting filmmakers, sharpening our craft, and uplifting new voices. That work has also afforded us the freedom to create original narrative and documentary projects that might have otherwise not gotten off the ground, and has given us the infrastructure and resources to support those films and series in a meaningful way.

How did Voyager's collaborations with The New York Times and The New Yorker come about, and what has your experience been like working with these publications?

Making a good film is only half of the equation. Getting it seen in a meaningful way, outside of just your own circle of influence or online following, is often the hardest part. This is one of the many ways that having a publishing partner can be so helpful. The teams at the New York Times and the New Yorker have strong reputations as curators of great stories. In addition to all the great editorial feedback and press support they provide, the stamp of approval that comes from being released on their platforms can do wonders for visibility on a project. It’s a lesson we learned early in our careers on Vimeo with the great reception their Staff Picks would get.

We’ve been fortunate to release two projects with each platform, and with each collaboration it’s always about starting with strong pitch materials. These are publishers that see countless proposals from talented storytellers with great bodies of work, so at the very least, you want to come to the table with a rough cut or a sizzle with a deck explaining the characters and story beats. If they’re interested, more often than not they’re going to have notes. We have yet to encounter a film that wasn’t made better for going through that process.

How do you choose which projects to take on, and how does that align your approach to supporting emerging directors?

There’s really no formula for this. If you have a strong vision, a good story, and past work that can speak to your ambitions as a filmmaker, we will always take a look. We place most of our effort and attention on developing work with our roster of directors and helping them be strategic about where they invest their energy. We’ve always been a company that’s slow to sign new talent, largely because we want to be sure the relationship is mutually beneficial before we make long-term commitments to each other. We want to know what someone’s creative North Star is, what type of projects they want to be making both for brands and for themselves, what they’re passionate about, how they like to work, and how they treat everyone they work with. However, even the directors who have been with us for years were strangers at once, so passion projects can often be a great way for us to get to know each other and see if signing could make sense down the line.

Can you share your creative process and how that relates to ensuring Voyager films resonate with viewers on an emotional level?

All of our directors approach filmmaking with their own unique style and genres, but we all share a core interest in meaningful, humanistic stories. Whether it be a dark comedy or a sports doc, I think there’s a real sense of caring and empathy that’s at the root of most everything we do. In our non-fiction work, it’s important that the trust our subjects place in us as filmmakers is reflected in how we portray them in the finished piece. It takes a radical amount of vulnerability to agree to let someone film you and your life, and we’re always trying to be worthy of that.

How do you approach brand storytelling, and what are some key differences between creating content for brands versus publishers?

When creating for a publisher or platform, it’s more about the editorial process—working with them to refine the story and tailor it to resonate with their audience. We’re usually coming to them with a project that’s underway or already in the can, so it’s a different type of collaboration in that respect. On the brand side, you’re usually slotting into an existing RFP or mandate for the types of projects they’re looking to commission. We’ve done such a wide spectrum of storytelling for brands, and truthfully, we love it all. Each collaboration is different, but generally speaking, it’s important to establish the type of working relationship the brand is looking for and what their goals are for the project from the very beginning. From there, we typically recommend the process we think will best set the project up for success while prioritizing transparency and communication at every stage. It’s also important to discuss distribution strategy when working with brands, as we’ve seen too many wonderful projects launch into relative obscurity on social media pages or YouTube accounts without the impact they could have had.

A dream scenario would be what happened with “Through the Storm,” a recent short documentary that Nike sponsored (and an Official Selection at BrandStorytelling 2025) which we produced with Lindsey Hagen and our pals at Gnarly Bay. Nike was extremely open and gracious with the amount of creative freedom they allowed us in telling that story. They supported us in having a great festival run for the film, which led to a broadcast premiere on NFL Network and an online premiere with GQ Sports. We’ve done brand work that had much tighter restrictions around how the brand is presented in the piece and we enjoy that challenge as well. It all comes down to asking ourselves ‘How can we deliver the message the brand is after while telling a meaningful and impactful story?’

In recent years, the landscape of film production and distribution has changed significantly, impacting the goals and needs of brands looking to tell great stories. How has Voyager adapted to these changes, and what strategies have you employed that reflect those adaptations?

We’ve long believed that brands would have an increasingly large role to play in the future of film funding. Having a firm foot in both the commercial and independent film worlds, we’ve been well-positioned to explore this middle ground where the two come together. It’s important to be transparent about where funding is coming from and why, but that by no means negates the fact that meaningful, engaging work is often being made within brand parameters. Beyond the commissioned work, there’s exciting potential for embracing working with brands as part of a project’s funding and distribution strategy, which only better equip you to navigate the uncharted waters of whatever comes next. We think there’s so much good work being made in this space and it will only continue to get better as audiences crave more transparent, authentic, human-centric work.

What upcoming projects or collaborations are you most excited about, and what can we expect to see from Voyager in the near future?

Voyager turns 10 later this year, and fittingly we’re starting off with a number of projects we’re excited about. We’re thrilled to have “Through The Storm,” the short doc we made in collaboration with Nike with Gnarly Bay, as an official selection at BrandStorytelling 2025, and now available online via GQ Sports. Up next is “Shanti Rides Shotgun,”an adrenaline-fueled profile of New York's most iconic driving school instructor, which will have its World Premiere at a top-tier festival this spring and is currently being developed as a series. Additionally, we have a feature documentary that grew out of our NYT Op-Doc “An Act of Service,” which is currently finishing post. Those are all the projects we can talk about at this stage, but there are a handful more that we’re excited to be able to announce later in the year.

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Visit Voyager's website

About Andrew Hutcheson:

Andrew Hutcheson is an executive producer and co-founder of Voyager, where he’s produced dozens of independent and commissioned films with a focus on developing and supporting emerging directors. Recent producing credits include “God's Time” (IFC Films - Tribeca Film Festival Official Selection), “The Diamond” (2021 Camden International Film Festival, Staff Pick Award), “Somewhere With No Bridges” (First Run Features), and “Shithouse” (IFC Films - SXSW Grand Jury Winner). He's also EP’d award-winning commercial campaigns for clients like Champion, McDonald’s, and Kia. A graduate of Emerson College with a BA in Visual Media Arts, Andrew now lives in Brooklyn, NY, with his partner, two cats, and entirely too many books.

About Charles Frank:

Charles Frank is a director and founding partner of Voyager, a Brooklyn-based production company. With his viral short documentary, Junk Mail, and the films that followed it, Charles set out to prove that small, intimate, empathetic documentaries could change people’s minds, one viewer at a time.

His work has reached millions of people online, been featured in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Huffington Post, and Short of the Week, and received numerous Vimeo Staff Picks. His most recent short film released by The New Yorker, "Lost In My Mind," offers an unfiltered glimpse into the daily struggles of living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (O.C.D.). The connective tissue between all of his work is his very real desire to connect audiences to the subjects onscreen, but also to one another.