Telling Stories From Within: Q&A with PG&E

Jordan P. Kelley, Director of Content, BrandStorytelling

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For brands looking to create authentic, emotionally resonant content, the most compelling stories might be closer than they think. Tapping into employee networks, community partners, and brand-adjacent advocates offers a rich vein of real, human stories that have the capacity to not only reflect brand values but also inspire audiences to care.

'The Janitor', a docu-short from Pacific Gas & Electric, does just that. In under 10 minutes, viewers learn about Rob Sharette, a career employee who spent over 40 years as a janitor at Helms Pumped Storage Plant. A story told thoughtfully and carefully, it reflects the way that pride in one's work, the satisfaction of a job well done, and the quality of character and integrity that go hand-in-hand with the former are qualities we admire in others and strive to achieve ourselves. 'The Janitor' demonstrates a brand's ability to find and illuminate the humanity of the people we work alongside in a way that's resourceful, practical, thoughtful, and impactful.

BrandStorytelling caught up with Joshua Reiman (Creative Producer, Social Impact, PG&E) and Brady Anderson (Creative Producer, PG&E) to discuss the work they've done at one of the largest combined natural gas and electric energy companies in the U.S. to build community trust, connection, and long-term affinity through storytelling that feels personal, not performative.

How did the concept for the story of 'The Janitor' come together?

Brady Anderson: Our team was initially approached to tell the story of Helms, one of PG&E’s most unique hydro powerplants which sits a mile underground in the Sierra Nevada mountains, 50 miles east of Fresno. The plant was celebrating its 40-year “Ruby” anniversary and our Power Generation group wanted to recognize Helms’ history of powering California communities and the present-day function it serves in our clean energy portfolio. During production of that piece, I met Rob Sharette (The Janitor) while filming on site and I couldn’t shake him from my mind. As a storyteller, I am most myself and lit up creatively when I am fully invested in a human story and the thought of returning to the plant to highlight someone who had not only been there since the plant was commissioned, but who also served in the same maintenance role his whole career was really intriguing. All that to say, Rob’s story was a happy accident that came out of a chance relationship made “on set” and enhanced by my curiosity to go deeper with someone who had lived a wildly different life than my own.

How does 'The Janitor' fit within the larger story and film portfolio you have developed at PG&E in recent years?

BA: Regardless of the topic, our approach has always been to tell PG&E’s story through the perspectives of the people closest to the work. We have an endless supply of interesting coworkers here to mine for stories, all with vastly different job descriptions and personal backgrounds. We employ meteorologists, nuclear engineers, biologists, lineworkers, and the list goes on. You could spend a whole career uncovering the remarkable people behind the scenes who are committed to excellence in their respective roles. The Janitor was just the latest example of us spotlighting one of these coworkers. Broadly speaking, we want to be a brand that is wholly invested in people, their experiences, and how the energy and services we provide plays a part in shaping those experiences.

Joshua Reiman: The short films we have produced, and frankly, most of the multimedia content we now create, aims to do something that Brady hit out of the park with “The Janitor”. That goal is to humanize the people who work at PG&E and all those the company serves. We try to center our storytelling not around what PG&E does, but why PG&E is doing it in the first place – stories connected to our mission and values. We try to build those stories around the voices of people our customers will relate to. Sometimes that is a PG&E coworker. Other times it may be a small business owner, or a local nonprofit that received a PG&E charitable grant. We believe that the more we can capture these kinds of people in their own element, sharing their lives with us in their own words – their joys, fears, and challenges – those lived experiences will resonate with coworkers, customers, and other PG&E stakeholders, and help communicate what we care about. And that’s them.

What was the content capture process for “The Janitor” from development through production? Who was involved at each step of the process?

BA: After meeting Rob on site during production of our Helms powerplant anniversary story, I ended up returning a few months later for two solo production days with Rob. One day dedicated just to following Rob at work for a day-in-the-life perspective, and the second day to connect with him at home up on the mountain where he lived and loved to hang. It was also helpful to have already filmed many scene-setting aerials and other detail shots during production of our powerplant story, which allowed me to prioritize capturing unscripted moments with Rob to hopefully reveal something new about his character or personality. Overall, I am a run-and-gun style filmmaker, preferring to almost always roll with a hand-held camera. Keeping things light helps me be efficient in coverage, too, so that I can react much quicker when story-critical moments present themselves.

What anecdotes can you share about filming this story?

BA: I learned a lot about my own documentary storytelling process while filming The Janitor. I used to describe my approach as a “fly on the wall,” but I realized this is a bit misleading, not to mention physically impossible! I sat with Rob in his home, hiked his favorite trails and stood with him shoulder to shoulder a mile underground in the plant to be an emotionally present witness to real-life events unfolding in real time. It was up to me to be sensitive to the ways in which I may be affecting the environments I found myself in and do my best to not interfere with or direct the action in any way. I will never be truly invisible when filming, but I can establish a relationship with my subject so that I am welcomed into their inner circle of trust and permitted to bear witness to true life events.

Rob and Brady

What impact has 'The Janitor' had as a piece of storytelling, either internally or externally, at PG&E?

JR: With each story we produce, we make every effort to identify upfront who our target audience is and what our strategy will be to engage those people with the story. The Janitor is very early in its life, but so far, it has been a great story to share internally with coworkers, who really are its foremost audience. It also really resonates with PG&E retirees and people who work out at these remote locations like Helms Powerhouse, who don’t always feel as seen as others, but hold critical roles within the company.

More broadly, we try to be hyper specific as to what we are trying to accomplish with the stories we put out into the world. With our From Kitchen to Community series, we want to shine a light on the incredible hardship experienced by small business owners during the pandemic, but also their resilience and the truly special role local, family-owned restaurants play in our communities. With Change the System: Building Black Wealth, our goal was to share the experience of young people transitioning from high school in their hometown to the next chapter of their life in college. We did this through the story of a young man in Oakland who was working to build a foundation of prosperity, all the while highlighting the injustice of the wealth gap that exists for many young Americans. In the case of Project 212: Engineering the Future, we want to celebrate the young and diverse people who live in California and will be the next generation of scientists and engineers. PG&E’s values, as well as the people we serve, are reflected in each of these stories.

BA: I believe the average work tenure for coworkers at PG&E is well over 10 years, with many people staying decades longer. There is a rich culture of service here and a deep respect for the dedication of the men and women who help keep the lights on and gas flowing across our system no matter their individual supporting role. Telling stories that recognize these sacrifices; while also highlighting the joy coworkers experience in their jobs is what made The Janitor connect so well internally. I knew that Rob’s physical journey and role at the power plant was going to resonate with our built-in “niche” utility audience, but that his emotional journey—wrestling with the decision to retire and a navigating a big chapter turn in his life—would also connect broadly outside our walls.

What are the long-term goals of storytelling at PG&E?

BA: Personally, I hope our team can continue to help shape the kinds of projects we get pitched so that the ideating process can begin with character driven narratives at their core. We want to showcase the practical impacts and experiences of topics such as climate change, innovation and affordability and the tangible stakes our characters face on a human level. Good documentaries and brand stories are focused on people, their personal goals and how they accomplish them in the context of their own communities. If PG&E is the hero of all these stories, then we are doing something wrong on the brand storytelling front!

JR: On the content side of things, I am excited for us to start to tell stories across a larger canvas. PG&E is a leader in the energy industry in terms of innovation and its embrace of green technology, as are PG&E customers, who lead the country in their adoption of sustainable practices, such as energy use and buying EVs. There is a lot for us to explore there that will showcase how green energy practices impact people’ lives and the Earth.

I would also like to see more energy companies invest in storytelling, and I want PG&E’s experience building out our storytelling operation to be an example that helps them do that. Energy is going to be a major part of our lives in the future – we are going to require more of it, and we need to produce and deliver it in cleaner and greener ways - so we need energy companies to help tell those stories.

What's one takeaway you might share with fellow brand storytellers or filmmakers that you learned through your storytelling experience at PG&E?

BA: How about three!

1. Trust your instincts and follow your gut to the things that light you up creatively and prompt you to go deep in a story. The pure love for pursuing the story needs to be there or else it won’t be nearly as impactful as you dreamt it would be. If deep down you don’t truly care about your subject, then you can’t expect your audience to either.

2. Everyone’s process during production and in post will look different. My process often seems low budget and amateur, but I started making films solo and so the smaller the set, the crew or the DIY setup the better. I bring an intimacy to the space and in turn that’s what I’m able to bring out in my subjects. I’ve learned that embracing my unique process is ultimately going to benefit the art. Your process is your secret sauce, and it becomes a big part of the art itself if you fully lean into it.

3. If you are part of an in-house creative team like we are, tell the stories that you and only you have access to. Embrace the fact that you already have a leg up on any external agency when it comes to getting the physical and emotional access you need to tell memorable stories of your brand or company.

JR: Too often, companies believe that they can only tell high quality stories by either hiring a creative agency or outside production company. Both routes can certainly help you produce great content, but are also often cost prohibitive, and keep you from building your own storytelling muscle that can be a long-term asset for your company. We have produced all of our stories in-house thus far. Look around you. I bet there is someone doing social media or communications for you that would love to try their hand at a deeper form of storytelling. Also, be resourceful. You can accomplish a lot with an iPhone, mics, a gimbal and a tripod. Lastly, remember that your budget doesn’t determine the quality of your story. All great stories are built around compelling human narratives, and those exist everywhere, no matter your business or trade.

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About Jordan P. Kelley

Jordan P. Kelley is a branded content trend watcher and thought leader, serving as BrandStorytelling's Content Director and curating the festival portion of BrandStorytelling: a Sanctioned Event of Sundance Film Festival. A Forbes contributor, Kelley co-produces The BrandStorytelling Podcast 'Content That Moves' as well as various video series for the BrandStorytelling YouTube Channel.