GS&P Introduces Inclusive Residence Program in Partnership with Free the Work and Brand Storytelling
GS&P + Jordan P. Kelley, Content Director, Brand Storytelling

This week Goodby Silverstein & Partners announced the launch of RESIDENCE, an artist-in-residence program established to further the agency’s commitment to content innovation while creating opportunities for historically underrepresented voices. This next-generation artist set will foster unprecedented collaboration and rewrite the playbook for how brands, agencies and storytellers collaborate with one another in a rapidly evolving content ecosystem.
Each RESIDENCE cohort will include 12 directors in three rotations per year. The inaugural class launches on June 13 in partnership with FREE THE WORK, a curated talent-discovery platform for underrepresented creators. It includes filmmakers such as Shaandiin Tome, winner of the best short documentary for Long Line of Ladies at the 2022 SXSW; Kadri Koop, cinematographer for On the Line: The Richard Williams Story, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival; and Shadae Lamar Smith, will.i.am’s former creative director.
“GS&P has always had a strong maker culture, and this is an industry-first program that also happens to be a recipe for killer new work,” said Margaret Johnson, chief creative officer and partner at GS&P. “Filmmaking for today’s audiences requires a different kind of storytelling. It’s time to go beyond our own perspectives to amplify fresh voices to reflect the increasingly changing world we live in and to get to an even deeper level of authenticity in our storytelling.”
The program will help break down long-standing barriers between new and emerging talent and major brands. The directors will participate in workshops, roundtables and creative conversations with leaders in the production community who share the program’s mission to promote inclusive storytelling.
A requisite component of the comprehensive program is director completion of the Brand Storytelling Certification in Brand-Funded Film. The flagship course from Brand Storytelling is the first of its kind, taking a deep dive into the core aspects of brand-funded entertainment.
“The success of the RESIDENCE program relies on partnerships with the production and maker community. By having Directors participate in the Brand Storytelling Certification Course, they are getting a head start coming into the program and it is opening their minds up to new ways of communicating brand messaging and weaving that into meaningful stories that impact,” said JP Patterson, director of film content and partnerships at GS&P and creator of RESIDENCE. “As a diversity initiative we know the importance of authenticity in storytelling and the RESIDENCE program and the certification course expose filmmakers to the world of brand-funded content and provide an educational component that sets them up for success which only benefits brands looking to tell authentic stories for today’s audience. ”
The program is taught by some of today's most influential names in brand storytelling and creates a community of learners in the brand-funded entertainment space. Its brand-sponsored RFP delivers experiential learning that's unique in the certificate space, and its brand sponsors support diversity focused scholarship opportunities and the development of diverse storytellers.
“We are thrilled to support this innovation and commitment to diversity with our Brand Film Certification," said Stephen Marshall, Ph.D, Co-Founder and Director of the Brand Storytelling Certification. "Our organization and brand sponsors are committed to making a difference and being a part of the RESIDENCE programming is awesome.”

Take a closer look at the Residence program - visit residence.goodbysilverstein.com
About Goodby Silverstein & Partners

Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GS&P) is an internationally awarded creative agency whose mission, “Mass Intimacy,” is to create experiences that reach millions and even billions but seem to speak to all of us individually. In recent years GS&P has been named Fast Company’s Most Innovative Advertising Agency and Campaign’s Agency of the Year. GS&P has created commercials and digital experiences for BMW, HP, Pepsi, Sam Adams, Truly, Frito-Lay and Comcast/Xfinity, and created the famous campaign “got milk?” The agency is also well-known for innovative uses of media, such as Cheetle iD, which used Cheetos dust to unlock merchandise; the Dalí Museum’s Dalí Lives, which brought artist Salvador Dalí back to life via deepfake technology; the Cheetos Vision app, which debuted at SXSW and used augmented reality to turn “your world” into Cheetos; and Lessons in Herstory, an app that harnesses artificial intelligence to add women to school history books. The agency has also leaned in to taking on provocative societal issues, such as police bias and brutality against Black people with the “Not a Gun” campaign for Courageous Conversation Global Foundation and racism against the Asian community with “Respond2Racism,” an initiative that employed Twitter bots to respond to anti-Asian remarks on the social media app.
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