Content That Connects, Episode 8 – Unreasonable Studios Looks For “People Who Don’t Fit Cleanly Into Any Existing System”

​​Little Black Book (LBB) and AdFusion™ from Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) return with the eighth episode of ‘Content that Connects’. Gathering the brightest minds and voices in the industry, the production-focused series tackles topics such as purpose-marketing, in-housing strategies, and sustainability within the production landscape.

In this episode, we meet some of the team at Unreasonable Studios, the full-service creative production company in-house at Stagwell. Bringing together all of the production teams under the Stagwell umbrella, the studio launched in June 2025 and has already worked with the likes of Nike, Louis Vuitton, Marriott, Starbucks and more. 

With over 200 full-time employees in more than 60 countries around the world, Unreasonable Studios’ work spans traditional ad production and post production, as well as a particular interest in branded and original entertainment. 

To find out more about the studio, LBB’s Americas reporter Ben Conway spoke with CEO and executive producer, Justin Barocas; executive director, original entertainment, Evan Hayes; managing director client and entertainment services, Analise Sililiano; and executive producer and managing director for Toronto, Annya Williams. 

Reflecting on the studio’s origins, Justin shares that Unreasonable Studios grew out of Anomaly’s Content & Entertainment (ACE) arm, which he founded to bridge the gap between the entertainment and brand worlds. 

As its focus shifted to include the entire production workflow, from creative development, to packaging, overseeing and execution, the studio required its own infrastructure to bring production in-house. Unreasonable Studios came from combining the “physical production” of the ACE studio business with “creative production”, says Justin, resulting in a “one plus one equals three” scenario.

“That gave us a superpower that allowed us to essentially not only deliver original film, TV and branded entertainment at the highest level, but actually make a lot of that ourselves, whether it was domestic or internationally. 

“So that is one of the key attributes of Unreasonable. There's plenty of production companies who do branded entertainment, there's plenty of agencies that do – or attempt to do – original, but having strength on both sides of the equation, if you will, gives us something really significant that I think is differentiated in the market.” 

Built to service the agencies within the Stagwell network, which include the likes of Anomaly, 72andSunny and Code and Theory, Justin shares that Unreasonable has always sought to “deliver output at the highest level”.

“We have to be able to produce at the standard of all of the agencies within our network, which are amongst the best agencies in the world,” he continues. “We have to be able to deliver at that standard. So we're happy to earn the business based on creative reputation, as opposed to structural mandates or anything along those lines.”

Evan affirms that high quality production is “baked into the DNA of the company”, adding that a focus on the core principles of longform storytelling elevates the work, as well as the high-calibre of talent at the studio that sits at every level of the funnel. 

Annya says that Unreasonable Studios is disrupting the expectations of an in-house production company, which are typically associated with mid-funnel or lower level work at high velocity. Instead, she says, “We’re doing the full scale of it.” Using technology at tools such as AI “to accelerate the creative impact,” she says that the studio is “using the tools that are available now to not just scale work, but to elevate the work.”

Analise agrees, adding, “What we’ve done is built the right system that has the right talent.

“We like to say a lot of the people that we hire here are hybrid talents that can do the high value, and also the high volume, and understand the value each part of those brings to producing great work for our clients that hits on all parts of the funnel. We have an infrastructure in place that ensures that creative rigour is a part of it, regardless of where you are on the high-value or high-volume scale.”

The team, Justin adds, is inspired by the ethos of Anomaly. “We look for anomalies,” he continues. “We look for people who don't fit cleanly into any existing system. I liken ourselves to the ‘77 Raiders at times. It's the misfits, it's the outcasts who are really, really good and they have a role and a responsibility. But most of the magic happens in the gaps between those silos and disciplines. 

“Everybody who comes here has a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit, an ambition to do something just a little bit differently or a little bit better than the next person. And that's the environment and the culture that we tend to cultivate and foster. You have to show up and you have to be responsible for something, but if you're just limited by that title or that role or responsibility, then you're not actually achieving the full potential of what you're capable of creatively.” 

As the episode continues, the team dives into some recent work from the studio, and what they anticipate for the year to come. 

Take a look at previous episodes of Content that Connects here.