From Campaign Ads to Highlight Reels: Why Story Drives Every Edit

I’ve produced political campaign ads, event highlight reels, dance performances, live sports, and social content short enough to thumb past in a second. On the surface they have nothing in common. Underneath, they’re all the same problem: what story are we telling, and what’s the one feeling we want at the end?

Every project is a story problem first

Before a single clip gets cut, I want to know the outcome. A campaign ad has to build trust and move a voter. A highlight reel has to make someone relive the best night of their year. The gear and the edit serve that goal — never the other way around.

The campaign ad

Work like Delmer for D10 and Cabello for District 6 taught me that political video lives or dies on clarity and conviction in the first five seconds. No wasted frames. Every cut earns its place or it’s gone.

The highlight reel

An event reel is the opposite discipline — it’s emotional, not persuasive. Music, pacing, and the order of moments do the work. I’m building a wave: a quiet open, a rising middle, a payoff that lands on the moment everyone will remember.

Scripted vs. documentary

Some projects need a script and a storyboard. Others need me to disappear and let the day unfold — a workshop, a performance, a live broadcast on Facebook or Instagram. Knowing which mode a project wants is half the job.

Going live

Live broadcasting is its own animal: no second takes, no editing safety net. It’s the purest test of reading a room in real time — and when it works, it’s electric.

Got something that needs to move people — literally and emotionally? Watch recent work or let’s talk.