Life & Work with Mary Kate & Nico Van Den Berg of Burbank

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Kate & Nico Van Den Berg

Hi Mary Kate & Nico, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Individually, Nico and I have been working in the film industry for about fifteen years, I have been working as a producer and Nico a cinematographer. Together we created our production company half/half in 2020. Our initial goal was to have a company with the infrastructure for ourselves and friends to produce personal projects. We always wanted our company to provide a safe, fair and ethical set for all crew members. Our number one goal has been to take care of the crew first, so we have been selective about projects – never taking on anything we can’t personally financially back up. This has limited our speed of growth, but in a positive way – allowing us to shape and curate the type of projects we take on and represent ourselves as artists. It’s been amazing to see our growth over nearly five years since starting half/half, working with clients such as Vogue, Interscope Records, Sony, Sub Pop Records, Número, and Uber, as well as musical artists such as Suki Waterhouse, T-Pain, and PVRIS. We’ve also prioritized narrative projects – WILD CARD, a short film written and directed by Tipper Newton, played in 26 film festivals worldwide – including Fantasia International Film Festival, Fantastic Fest and Beyond Fest. And most recently, the short film, BITS, directed by Lilliya Scarlett Reid, premiered at SXSW (2024), won the Directorial Discovery Award at Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, and was featured in Berlin Critics’ Week 2025. For work on the horizon, we’re currently in development on two feature length films.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Yes and no. On a personal level, we’ve set the pace of our growth, so at times it feels like we’re not growing or evolving. But then at the same time, we’ve worked hard to build a family of creatives and clients that share our values. So we’re okay moving at a slower pace, and in no rush to grow purely for financial benefit. Our industry as a whole has faced several challenging years, and with the economic downturn and decreasing budgets, maintaining the production value at the level we want to see can sometimes be challenging. So we have found ourselves making financial sacrifices to prioritize creative integrity on our productions.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
half/half is a full-service production company focused on collaborating with creatives and specializing in projects with an emphasis on storytelling. Nico and I both have an extensive background in commercial production, so we started half/half with the goal to focus on music video and narrative work. We’re proud of the community of creatives we bring together on each project, and how our sets run calmly and smoothly, with respect for everyone involved. We love working with indie music artists, developing creative and adding production value to their videos. We hope our collaborations with artists and filmmakers lead to more work together on a larger scale, moving from narrative shorts into feature length films. Some of our favorite projects have been WILD CARD (Tipper Newton), THE UGLIEST (Victor Ridaura), LET GO (Justin Gaar), BLEED (Ilana Armida).

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Given the challenging past few years, it’s hard to see what’s on the horizon for the industry as a whole. For California specifically, we’d love to see a competitive film tax credit and production incentives, so the immensely talented local crew can get back to a consistent pace of work. It’s hard not to bring up AI when looking ahead. As it’s incorporated into projects, we’re hopeful it’s a limited tool to aid in the creative process, and not a means to replace authentic human storytelling. We’re also looking ahead for positive changes that make the industry sustainable for independent creatives. We hope to see a shift of investments into indie projects, allowing for more original stories and stability for filmmakers and crew members to support their families.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.halfhalf.tv/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/halfhalf.tv/

Image Credits
Nico van den Berg, Amina Zadeh, Anastasia Velicescu, Justin Gaar