Video, music, brand, story. Different mediums, one approach.
A song, a short film, a campaign, a live moment, a social strategy — they all start with the same question. What's the real feeling here, and how do we make an audience feel it?
What connects the work is a way of looking: finding that emotional thread and shaping it until it lands. Sometimes that means writing the line. Sometimes it means finding the frame, crafting the edit, building the world around a release, or catching a real moment before it's gone.
Most recently on staff, producing branded content end to end: concept, script, direction, and post. Leading shoots, directing talent, and managing the freelance crews who brought each project to life.
Independently, I've made editorial and fashion films, music videos, branded content, and live films.
A song is the strictest writing there is: a few lines that have to make a stranger feel something and come back for more. My songs have crossed 45 million streams, earned a place on Taylor Swift's personal Spotify playlist, and — the part I don't take for granted, and have a hard time believing myself — ended up tattooed on people's skin.
That instinct — making a few words land and stay — is exactly what a brand needs: define a voice, build a world in a few words, and keep that voice consistent everywhere it shows up. At VaynerX I wrote the scripts and on-screen copy for brands like Bose, HSN, Benjamin Moore, and John Frieda, and for influencer content — everything from dialogue to the product line that had to land in a few seconds, in the right voice.
It's all the same craft: the lyric, the script, the brand voice, the line that defines a campaign. Something concise and memorable that makes people care.
As a songwriter and producer in the band Eighty Ninety, my music has been licensed by Netflix and MTV, featured in the Scorsese-produced feature Tomorrow, and played in Starbucks, Zara, H&M, and Calvin Klein around the world — made alongside Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum producers including Gian Stone (Justin Bieber), Jason Evigan (Maroon 5), and Jackson Foote (Demi Lovato).
The project has crossed 45 million streams, built from nothing, which is where I learned what makes people stop, feel something, and stay. It's the same instinct behind every frame, line, and edit I've made since.
If you need original music or sound for a project, film, or podcast, or a collaborator on your own songs, that's exactly my world. And if you're an artist building something of your own, I'd love to help bring it to life, from rollout and content to strategy and the music itself.
Alongside the making, I help brands and artists figure out what to say and how to grow: social campaigns, content, and rollout strategy across categories, from healthcare to music.
I like being brought in on the thinking, not only the making. Spotify brought me in to beta-test features for Spotify for Artists and featured me in their marketing materials; Meta invited me to speak, with TuneCore, on branding for independent artists.
And if you're just looking for another mind to iterate with, reach out — I love talking about this stuff.
An NYC back-pain specialist. I grew his social presence from the ground up across TikTok and Instagram, by finding his story, defining his core audience and content pillars, then iterating on what the data showed.
A lifestyle brand creating limited editions in collaboration with world-class brands, with real edge and attitude. Instead of shooting the product, we shot the process, the craft behind the collection and the world around it, letting the audience imagine it into their own lives. I directed that approach and produced, shot, and edited all the video.
For my own band, I conceived and executed a release rollout with zero marketing spend. It was strategy, not budget: targeting high-profile tastemakers we believed would connect with the music, and direct personal outreach to fans and independent bloggers. The content itself was intentionally intimate and low-fi, made to feel human at a moment when everything online had gotten polished and impersonal.
I'm also finishing an executive MBA in Creative Leadership at the Berlin School.
I started at USC's film school, then followed the pull toward writing and music at NYU. A decade in New York making things, for brands and for myself, with a few years in Spain along the way. Now I'm back in Portland, Maine, where I grew up, and where I'm making things again.
Bring me in as a producer, a writer, a strategist, or all three — on a single film, a launch, a brand's voice, or an ongoing partnership. However you build your projects or your team, if there's something to make, I'd love to hear about it.
abnerqjames@gmail.com