Today we’d like to introduce you to Adrienne Hall.

Hi Adrienne, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started my career working in independent film acquisition, distribution and marketing working while in college at Florida State University. During my time at FSU I was able to be a teaching assistant for the College of Motion Picture Arts — through these two opportunities I would meet Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, The Underground Railroad) and Louie Psihoyos (The Cove, The Gamechangers) which defined the early chapters of my career.

In 2009, I went to work for Louie Psihoyos as he was releasing and doing the impact campaign for The Cove. Our success on this film led to a follow-up film called Racing Extinction about the global mass species extinction. I became part of the producing team on that film. In 2013, I began working for Barry Jenkins and at that time his commercial outfit, Strike Anywhere out of the San Francisco Bay area. At that time, Barry and his colleagues were creating content for a lot of A-Class brands to be able to earn a living while they were developing projects like Moonlight. I learned a lot from this time and my collaborators there. While working with Louie Psihoyos, I had also worked with and became great friends with Annie Costner, who in 2014 I founded our company Sound Off Films. Sound Off Films was started with a passion to create projects from our female POVs, or from a person best suited for the project we were telling, while trying to create projects with conscience, that may be able to connect with audiences and develop campaigns associated with those films to move the needle on social and environmental issues. I remember in 2011 having conversations with our director that we needed to include more women because at that time, women on-camera was even an area we needed to correct for.

We leaned heavily into our love of cause-based filmmaking while also relying on the brand work to keep our company afloat and now in our ninth year can look back and celebrate what we have accomplished, what we have learned and what we still aim to do. We support both brands, non-profit organizations and entertainment with documentaries and music videos. Our culture’s collective consciousness around social and environmental issues is constantly evolving, and we are now finding that more agencies and brands are excited to talk about impact and learn about how to shape campaigns with impact in mind in addition to the standard goals brands may have. There is still a long way to go but we are excited about the way the industry is headed and hope that the energy remains consistent in these areas.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We have been shaping our own production company for nine years now. Some of the most challenging periods were those of rapid growth. Nothing can really prepare you for that or instruct you on how to handle that until you go through it. It is exciting but rough and you have to be confident in the decisions you make and realize you can always make other decisions as you continue to learn and re-learn what you and your company needs to perform most optimally together as a team.

The production process always sees challenges, logistically, but a major component to making sure such crucial cause-based messages are heard is funding–for shoots, distribution, film festival submissions, etc. Fortunately, I have been lucky to work with generous brands and film and TV studios to make sure our work, much of which is aligned with nonprofit organizations, goes recognized with the scale and audience it deserves.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are finalizing our latest upcoming documentary feature SheChange: an intimate journey with four of the best female big wave surfers in the world as they fight for equal access and equal pay in one of the most dangerous sports on earth. Their surprising, history-making victory is only the beginning of what becomes their ultimate mission: equity for women in the world of professional sports and beyond.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Attaching your name to a cause, any cause, is an inherent risk. There may be people who disagree with you or others who fail to understand the imperative of your mission. Make sure your projects align with your ethos as both a company and an individual; only then can the connection between your work and the right audience hold firm against any naysayers. Nowadays, companies can’t get away with not taking a stance on certain issues, as silence is its own message in the eyes of many. That’s why Sound Off Films decided long ago to donate 2% of our annual production fees to organizations that address environmental and social missions. We collaborate with clients and directors to identify the recipient nonprofit for each project we complete. Life is too short to not be brave and to stand up for what you believe in. SOUND OFF!

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