Afterhrs. Opens For Creative Collaborations: New Content Studio Takes Storytelling To New Levels

May. 18, 2022

Afterhrs., a new content studio founded by Thelonious Brooks and Kai Regan, has launched to tell stories that connect with audiences through emotion, artfulness, inclusion, and craft. Afterhrs. is purpose-built to bring compelling, diverse, and original talent to brand engagement and long form entertainment, backed by experience across all mediums. As the name implies, Afterhrs. is the time and place where imagination is the cultural currency.

Longtime friends, collaborators, and now partners, Thelonious Brooks and Kai Regan – Producer and Director respectively – came of age with the street scene in New York, the ingenuity and artfulness of which permeated and informed their work in various genres: branded content, music videos, films, and multimedia experiences. Among them, the award-winning features "We Are Not Cats" directed by Xander Robin and Director Jim Hosking's "The Greasy Strangler." Last year, their pilot These Days, produced with Peter Saraf and Big Beach, was featured in the Indie series section of Sundance. Brooks also produced the pilot presentation for Starz' widely celebrated “Vida” also for Big Beach.

Over the years, the duo also found a calling in the curation of artist development; inclusive and diverse talent whose storytelling was genuine, lush, culturally astute, and strikingly beautiful. Taking stories to the fore, whether for pure entertainment or with a lightly branded touch, was a through-line for their careers. The discovery process helped drive a desire to add a unique value proposition to business as usual with a new vantage point on production: one that provided opportunities for storytellers and, in so doing, delivers content that audiences crave. Streamlined, transparent, deliberate - with a healthy dose of the joy that comes with making and sharing something they believe in.

Co-founder Thelonious Brooks explained:

"We are at the end of an era where the paradigm has shifted and provided insight into how we move forward. It’s the moment to harness the entrepreneurial spirit and have the work serve the story - not be the story. There's an unstoppable force that is filmmaking - we create because we are compelled to do so. It’s a process that deserves to be humanized and celebrated."

 

Co-Founder Kai Regan agrees:

"Aftehrs. studio was founded by the necessity to align the "common wealths" perspective on the dialogue between creativity and commerce. We wanted to create a safe haven for artists that we believe in, to create a platform to serve their vision, and create opportunities to tell stories with authenticity and purpose. We are the apparatus to encourage and attract collaborators who feel the same. We wanted to build something for the new generation we wish we had access to."

 

Among the many artists with whom Afterhrs is collaborating are Dylan Park (68 Whiskey, All Rise) Maegan Houang (Counterpart, Three Busy Debras), writer/director Harry Israelson, Photographer, Curator and Filmmaker Manon Macasaet, Australian documentary and commercial Director Selina Miles and visionary Photographer Jason Al Taan.

The company launches with two national campaigns – Starbucks directed by Petra Collins in collaboration with the Scholar animation team, and Icyhot directed by Hans Emanuel and supported by UPP VFX.  They are in development on the feature debut of Nick Cammilieri, whose docu-series Lady and The Dale premiered on HBOMAX and was recently nominated for Independent Spirit and GLAAD awards. The film will go into production at the end of this year.

Afterhrs. is represented by Devine Reps for advertising and branded content projects on both coasts.