Owsley Brown Presents (OBP) is an independent motion picture production company that produces original contemporary media works. Music Makes a City chronicles one of the most ambitious artistic undertakings by an American orchestra in history. The documentary aired nationally on PBS in 2014.

Our Challenge

Inspired by the full length film, OBP approached KERTIS to develop an original web series following 27-year-old musical visionary Teddy Abrams in his first season as leader of the Louisville Orchestra and the youngest Music Director of a major American orchestra.

 The Approach

From the beginning, we recognized that developing this series would call for continually augmented production goals. Each piece that we developed informed the following episode in theme, feel, and character development. We immersed ourselves within Teddy’s world, allowing him to become comfortable with production, as well as a contributor to the creative process.

“Our storytelling process is about capturing the story that’s out there. That works because we work with good people, doing good work in their community. All we have to do is tell their story honestly. Teddy is a character and constantly had a bunch of wheels in motion. How comfortable he was having us in his space had everything to do with the success of the project. The fact that he could trust us to be in his home without interrupting his process was key.”

- Josh Mauser, Senior Photographer & MMAC videographer

 Results

The outcome is a 12 episode series that feels more like a cinematic film, yet distributed online in sections. The Music Makes A City: Now episodes air nationally on PBS.