In the beginning, there was a concept and a very loose script, and the ask was for us to help craft 4x :30 second TV commercials around this story, for Geico’s 2024 Super Bowl campaign - the idea being to tell the origin story of the Geico Gecko in 4 parts, which would air in chronological order. Once we got into development and production though, we realized we were creating an expansive world/universe and story that went well beyond 4x 30 second spots. So we approached the agency and client with our suggestion to push it further and keep going, and make an actual narrative film out of this ad, in the style of a serious documentary. Lucky for us, they loved the idea, and so we ended up building a layered world for them, so consumers feel more connected to the brand and know its ethos & origin stories.

David Shafei helmed this project, and it was a true labor of love for him. A veteran comedy director, he is a lifelong fan of the mockumentary - he finds humor in scripting totally ridiculous situations, and playing them completely straight. His process leans heavy on thorough and meticulous casting, and his relationships with pro comedy actors, so that on the shoot day, he can throw anything at them and allow them to improvise and react. He treats his key crew the same way - his production team are largely people he’s worked with for years and has complete shorthand with. The result is that David can focus on getting the best comedic timing out of every performance. In this project, he himself ultimately acted as the faceless documentarian, interviewing the subjects/characters in a completely doc filmmaker style while asking them ridiculous questions about a lizard.