Meet Ana de Diego of Spark & Riot in West Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ana de Diego.

Ana, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It was my love and respect for documentaries, which began at an early age watching The History Channel, that inspired me to weave social action with entertainment. That inspiration was further enhanced at the USC film school, where I directed and produced several documentaries. My goal has since been to provide actionable socially conscious content for all distribution outlets.

I began my career as a line producer when I was 21 and had the privilege of working alongside some of the best commercial and music video directors. Beyond commercials, branded content and music videos, I also had the great opportunity to produce feature-length documentaries, feature films, and digital content. My latest scripted feature film, Airplane Mode will be released in 2019.

I am also in pre-production on a few projects. My next feature film, My Father‘s Leg written by Daniel Wallace (Big Fish) and being directed by Scott Weintrob.

Throughout her years producing a diverse portfolio of projects, I fed my passion for telling real stories with real people, producing documentaries along the way. Superlungs, a documentary about the life and career of musician Terry Reid, will premiere in 2020 as well as a Lukas Nelson project, which is production now and a docu-series being packaged with E1 at the moment.

I always love crediting the companies I admire most. When I formed S&R, I would tell people, “I want to build an Anonymous Content studio with the creative taste of Annapurna and the ethos of Participant Media”.

Has it been a smooth road?
The advertising industry can be rough. Sometimes, even though you know your director would be the best person for the job, you have to bite your tongue and keep it moving when you don’t get one… or two… or three. It’s difficult for directors too. I think many people don’t realize how difficult it is to put your creative passion out there in the most vulnerable way and not be “chosen”. I think a big part of my job is to keep encouraging them to grow and continue to pursue their careers with as much creative integrity as possible. Those interactions are something I still work on improving every day.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Spark & Riot – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Spark & Riot is a female-powered production and management company with a creative European twist. Our company combines American production practices with an international roster of directors and an international outlook on physical production.

We have that ability to bid and film anywhere in the world.

At its core, our company was founded with a set of values and principles that encompass a vision for the world at large and place S&R at the forefront of impactful action around the world.

Our company was founded with a strong ethos for supporting socially conscious initiatives and actions. That is why with ever job Spark & Riot takes on, we partner with a local non-profit organization and tackle a different UN Sustainable Development Goal.

We service a client and agency with a perfectly run production and we also utilize the opportunity of coming together to set an intention for the production as we incorporate a social cause and motivate action from our crew to create impact. All at no extra cost to the client or agency.

The result is a win for the agency and client who are able to associate their brand with a conscious objective and a win for our company, as we fulfill our desire to impact the world one production at a time.

Our mission is to create high quality branded content and weave social impact into it wherever we can.

I started my first production company in Los Angeles at the age of 21. Back then it was a service company and I executed on other people’s projects. When I started Spark & Riot, I wanted to build a close relationship with my directors and support their careers in a more managerial capacity. Weaving social consciousness was something that felt natural for our company. I have a strong passion for documentary films and unbelievable stories and so do a lot of my directors, so why not do good in the process?

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I’m an outdoorsy person, and there’s no better cosmopolitan city to experience nature than the LA area. I love hiking and rock climbing and this city let me do that. I also love love love the food.

I do have a love-hate relationship with LA. I think it’s a city I appreciate more when I have the opportunity to leave it for a little while. It’s a difficult city to focus. There are a lot of distractions and I find myself needing to leave it so I can recalibrate… I say that as I sit on a plane back from Europe, and realize I’m missing my home a bit.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sparkandriot.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @sparkandriot
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/sparkandriot

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