KISS FILMS 💋

Our shoots? Smoother than a fresh jar of Skipp 🥜✨. That’s ‘cause we roll with a fire crew, prep tight, and leave zero room for last-minute drama. Big love to our EP, in-house squad, and the best crew in the game—y’all the real MVPs 🙌🎬. But let’s keep it 💯—shoots be wild sometimes 😵💫. Things can go sideways. The trick? We don’t let the chaos spill over. While the top dogs are out here putting out fires, the rest of the team is just vibing—sippin’ coffee, crackin’ jokes or playing cricket, actin’ like it’s a Sunday brunch ☕😎. One time, a big-shot CCO looked around at our suspiciously chill set and straight-up asked if we even cared—‘cause while everybody was maxin’ and relaxin’, we were technically missing a whole-ass location permit 👀😂. (Spoiler: we got it. No panic, no stress, no cortisol spikes. Just cold-blooded execution 💅). That’s how production should be—smooth on the outside, absolute WWE cage match on the inside. 💥🎥🔥

David Ogilvy said, "Hire giants to be a giant company," but if you wanna stay lit and fresh, let the young creatives run wild 🔥💥🙌

Producers stop Bragging. Word on the street is this production house, best known for their ₹15-20 lakh jugaadu specials, landed a ₹6 crore project. 😲 Except, here’s the kicker: a real big-budget producer—who knows how to handle numbers that high—bid for less than half the price and still lost. 99% of this low budget production house’s work comes from this same agency. So the buzz is expected. But Producers love to BRAG—it’s in their DNA. 💅 Imagine going from being the “budget dude” to suddenly bragging, “Yeah, I handled the biggest film of the decade.” 👑 Clap, clap, bravo! No Excel sheet in the world can justify ₹6 crore for what’s on screen. Where’s that extra ₹3 crore chilling? In “art”? 😂 Oh sure, because obviously the sets came with free MF Hussain originals. 🎨✨ Think about it. Why would the agency and client sign off on this? They know this film doesn’t cost that much. Either someone’s playing dumb or there’s a juicier backstory we’re missing. 🤔 Or maybe—and I’m just spitballing here—the client only had ₹2 crore, and all the real producers were like, “Nah, bro, not worth it.” So they called their budget-savvy BFF to pull some jugaad magic. 🧙♂️ Remember that cola film drama a few years ago? Another low-budget production house got a multi-crore gig, and apparently everybody involved made it rain—except the producer, who had to shut shop. 💀 History repeating itself? Let's hope not. Now if you excuse us, we have 10 PPMs lined up today 😂

At every shoot, the brand managers be looking younger and younger 🤔👶. It’s not like I’m getting older tho 😌✋. I’m still dripped out in baggy pants and Dunks 💧👖👟✨. For Manifest

We’re drowning in emails and DMs from directors, DoPs, and interns who wanna work with us. 📨💦 While we’d love to reply to everyone, it's not always feasible. Not getting a reply doesn’t mean we’re not vibing with you—it just means we’re swamped. Sometimes, we’ve already scoped out your work 👀, but the perfect project hasn’t landed yet. Now, let’s talk reels. 🎞️ We can’t just fling any random reel at an agency and hope they vibe with it. Nope. Our recommendations are basically our report card. So yeah, we’re picky—very picky. Agencies trust us to deliver the good stuff, not just any stuff. That’s why we spend hours curating reels. Also, please, PLEASE know what kind of work we do before reaching out to us. 🖊️📩 We once had a writer call us asking if we were hiring for long-format gigs. Long format? Us? Did you even look at our portfolio? Let’s not waste everyone’s time, yeah? 🕒🚫 Here’s the secret to getting noticed: do amazing work. 🔥 If your work is lit, trust us, someone’s gonna notice. Your reel will magically slide into our inbox one day—maybe from a producer, a creative, or some rando hyping you up. That’s just how it works. So go crush it, and let the universe (and your talent) do the rest. 🚀💪✨

Director Saying NO to 4 Lakh Fee for a day’s shoot? 💸🤨 I mean, we get it—everyone wants to level up and bag the big bucks. 💸 Some A-list directors out here even ghosting 10L offers, so we respect the grind. 🙌 If you’re thriving and people are lining up to match your vibe, then sure, shoot for the stars. 🚀 But if you’re barely making 4-5L on your own projects—maybe don’t slam the door on that 4L gig. Here’s why: At 7L Director fee, the game changes. 🏆 Directors at that level are built diff. Like, top-tier unlocked. Your reel? Even at 4 L it’s giving ‘low ROI’ vibes, maybe 10% success max 💔 Agencies out here are spoilt for choice. Fast forward 3-4 years, you’re back with a “discount,” but now the agency’s all, ‘Hmm, isn’t he kinda old-school?’ It’s a harsh reality, but that’s how this industry moves. No shade, just facts—everyone wants to climb higher, but we’ve seen this play out before. And trust us, the road? It gets mad bumpy for directors who try to overreach too soon. 🛑 Play it smart, Stay in the Game Longer 💼✨

"Starting a new company? 🤔 The name you pick is a BIG deal—it’s your first impression, your vibe, your brand’s swagger! 💥 Here’s how we nailed it: Kiss Films came to us like a lightbulb moment 💡—short, snappy, and unforgettable. 💋 (Extra Bonus. Old pix of -Russell Barrett Sana Ahmad Joachim Nielsen Pallavi Sharda Kritika Shekhar)

The Pitfall of Creatives Sticking to One Production House. A big-shot agency’s ad got called out for being a copycat. 😱 And yeah, plagiarism happens in the ad world — but THIS one wasn’t copied. Not ‘cause people don’t copy, but like, c’mon, no self-respecting team’s gonna rip off an ad that just dropped and think they won’t get roasted. 🤦♂️ What’s wild, though? Folks jumped on that "copy-paste" bandwagon hella fast, like they were just waiting to yell, “Gotcha!” 🕵️♀️ But here’s the kicker nobody’s talking about: The problem isn’t whether it was copied. The real issue? Nobody—client, agency, or prod house—bothered to watch the OG ad. 🤷♂️ And why not? ‘Cause the director who made it ain’t in their creative solar system. ☀️ These guys stick to the same director for every project, and that’s where the trouble starts. By staying loyal to their one guy, they don’t even peep what other folks are doing. 👀 If they did, not only would they be giving fresh talent a shot, but someone could’ve flagged this whole “been there, done that” vibe before it became a thing. 🚩 Now, no shade to their director—dude’s killing it. 🔥👏 But sticking with the same person every time? That’s how you end up in a creative echo chamber. No fresh inspo, no new ideas, no one to say, “Yo, this feels like a rerun.” 🤔 But hey, who are we to judge? We’re out here working with the same line producer on 99% of our gigs. 😂

A 50 year old creative telling me that a 38 year old director was too old and we need to see fresh directors. Clint Eastwood was 74 years old when he directed Million Dollar Baby. 🥊👴🔥 My comic 'Producer's Diary' every friday on Manifest

If you're the creative’s fav 🏆, don’t get all comfy-cozy just cuz the agency swears the film is yours. Stay tight with the creative, —make sure they ain’t briefing some other director on the low. 😏 Plus, you don’t want ‘em thinkin’ you're disinterested. 🌟 Coz trust me, there’s always a sneaky sabotager lurking 🤥, whisperin’ to the creative, “Oh, they’re busy, not interested,” while sliding their buddy into your spot. 😤 Here’s a wild one: We thought we had this film in the bag —asked the suit straight-up if anyone else was in the mix, n they were like, “No, only you.” 🙄 Turns out, they locked another prod house 2 days ago. 😤 Suit could have just been honest, but nope. And Suit didn’t even bother callin’ back. 🤦♂️ Moral of the story? If I’d stayed plugged in with the creative, I’d’ve known the vibes and been ready to move. Lesson learned—don’t snooze, be tight with creative.