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Meet Anyhow

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anyhow.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
We (Mason Thorne and Benton Africano) met at film school in Chicago. Benton was studying editing and I (Mason) was studying writing and directing. After college, we kept our team going, producing music videos, art installation, commercials – really anything and everything was worth trying. So, initially Anyhow was created simply as a vessel to run all of our projects and financing through. But as the years went on, it became more of a brand and a moniker for our duo’s creative flavor. Now, more than ten years later and the inevitable move to LA, Anyhow has grown and evolved many times over as we both improve in our disciplines and I’m sure it will continue to do so as the landscape shifts.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think we share the same challenges as a lot of folks our age within our industry. We saw the phasing out and then phasing back in of film. The digital landscape blossomed. The economy flopped back and forth. The pandemic… blah blah blah.

One of the persistent challenges has been to really get a sense of what’s out there. The task of finding where you’d like to land or at the very least where we’d like to focus our efforts can be difficult. Luckily, we were both able to tackle different areas of the industry. Benton worked for post houses and editorial companies. I worked in marketing, writing, and feature development at a few different production companies. A broad understanding of how each leg of the industry operates has been so important in what may be the greatest challenge; having confidence in your work, especially when your creative choices are being challenged.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Anyhow is a creative duo that specializes in visual storytelling. We work as a nimble creative partner to develop and produce ideas for artists and brands. We also create a lot of work in-house. For example, we’re just wrapping up a festival run for our short film “Away From It All” starring Stephanie Barkley and Willow Hale – releasing digitally through Film Shortage on February 4th.

I think over the years, we’ve developed our voice. It’s exciting to try and run that voice through different types of projects – collaborating with musicians and clients to fill an idea out.

After a surprisingly busy 2021 and our new director of the year nomination from the Shots Awards, we’re excited to push that momentum into 2022 – developing relationships with production companies and seeking representation for music videos and commercial work. With the recent addition of our studio space, we’re more equipped than ever to experiment and develop new ideas. We’re excited for what lies ahead.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Mason Thorne, Allison Anderson, Brian Michael Henderson, Jordan Holtane, Brandon Densley, Austin Film Festival

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