As the world’s #1 freelance marketplace, Upwork knows that taking a leap can be intimidating. For 180 seconds, viewers are brought on a thrilling quest to imagine themselves going outside of their comfort zones into new horizons. This poignant film offers an inspiring take on a new way of working, telling a story about freelance talent and companies that take a leap to create better businesses, better careers and better lives. Making a longer film allowed us to develop multiple characters, all with different motivations, building to a final moment, where they come together through the future of work.

Upwork—which posts 8,000 jobs a day, serving five million employers and 18 million freelancers—is a work marketplace that brings together people from around the world to make the impossible possible. After a global pandemic fundamentally shifted the way we work, Upwork’s championing of remote freelance talent was never more relevant.

Our film showcased a sweeping cinematic take on a new way of working—and how Upwork connects talented companies with talented people from all worlds of thought, lifting the old constraints of time and place and enabling a collective leap forward. Working together, there’s only one way to go—up.

The world of work is undergoing a complete transformation, as people and companies all around the globe are able to prioritize themselves, their goals and their dreams. But for many, that’s easier said than done. In this film, we wanted to offer an inspiring take on a new way of working, and tell a story about freelance talent and companies that take a leap to create better businesses, better careers and better lives. For 180 seconds, viewers are brought on a thrilling quest to imagine themselves going outside of their own comfort zones and into new horizons.

Upwork and freelance talent were once seen as gap-filling solutions. But after a global pandemic fundamentally shifted the way we work, Upwork’s championing of remote freelance talent was never more relevant. We wanted to give an inspiring view on what it means to take a leap into an optimistic and dynamic future of work—where talented companies connect with talented people from all worlds of thought, lifting the old constraints of time and place and enabling a collective leap forward. Working together, there’s only one way to go—up.

The film launched May 4, 2021, and was placed within digital video, YouTube, website and industry settings. The entire execution took six months of development time, from start to posting.

Our film reached an audience of 2.6 million, with an engagement rate of .85.