In Creative Bloq: ‘Communication is paramount in any creative partnership’: a day in the life of Joshua Blum and Han West

By Natalie Fear published 24 March 2025

Washington Square Films’ founder and EVP of Production discuss what it means to be a multi-genre production company.

(Image credit: Joshua Blum and Han West)

Washington Square Films (WSF) is a multi-genre production company immersed in the worlds of marketing, series and feature entertainment, and live theatre. Heading the company is founder Joshua Blum, a producer who made his mark on the entertainment and advertising industries by specializing in discovering first-time talent, leading him to work with global clients like Pepsi, Ford, Apple, and Coke.

Alongside him is WSF’s EVP of Production Han West who has built a career providing architecture for storytellers, working on feature films, commercials, and diverse content from virtual reality to the experiential. As part of our Day in the Life series, I caught up with Joshua and Han to discuss their collaborative roles at WSF and what lies in store for the future of the production industry.

Could you walk me through a typical day in your roles?

Joshua Blum: There isn’t a typical day, really, but I usually carve out personal time in the morning, as many of the people I work with are on West Coast time. Sometimes, I work from home until around 11 AM before heading to the office, and my office workday often extends until 7 or 8 PM.When I do come into the office, I start by figuring out my priorities. At this point, Han and the production team handle the day-to-day operations of our commercials effectively, which alleviates a lot of the burden on my end. But, I still like to have daily check-ins with Han to review jobs and bid. Every day Han or I also talk to our Head of Sales (and commercial division co-founder) Jonathan Schwartz regarding leads and big picture strategy. Beyond that, my focus is on our producing projects, which includes the musical The Harder They Come, a tv series we are working on with Lionsgate, and several feature films.

Midday, we have various internal staff meetings, which is a great opportunity to check in with the team and for everyone to align. If it’s a lighter week in terms of production, I focus on things I’ve been meaning to catch up on, such as reading scripts, watching film cuts, and reconnecting with people I haven’t spoken to in a while. If it’s a heavier week for production, I try to stay available to support producers with any challenges they might be facing.

What does it mean to be a multi-genre production company?

JB: Everybody assumes we make commercials just to fund our producing projects, but I really love commercials. We work with great people, we get to work with the latest technologies, and a lot of the content is fun and creative. I especially love how fast it all happens. A feature film can take you 10 years to develop. As a multi-genre company, we are also exercising different business muscles. When we make commercials, we never forget we are a service client working on behalf of a client. On the entertainment side, there are also critical commercial and financial considerations, but my priority has always been about protecting the artists and the work being made. That tends to pay off on the business side.

HW: You embrace more entropy but you also earn more perspective. Being multidisciplinary provides a unique understanding of the ecosystems that surround creative projects and gives you a wider range of choices to pull from in terms of people and approach for the projects you’re working on. There are many similar characteristics between producing feature films and producing commercials, but there are some very clear differences as well, especially with whose vision you’re serving and the venues and ways in which you vocalize and address your opinions and concerns as a producer.

If I’m being honest, I also think being prepared to give up one or the other makes you a bit bolder (for the positive) in each discipline: “If I mess up this commercial and am banished from the industry, I can always go back to making movies!” And vice versa. This balance also helps me avoid becoming too emotionally entangled in the process; when working with passionate creative people, a little stoicism can really help keep the train on the tracks. Our physical office reflects our multidisciplinary identity, conjuring what Josh calls the “clubhouse” effect at WSF, where our doors are always open to people from different walks of creative life to meet and work. And that makes it an exciting place to be and work.