In the fall of 2019, VW partnered with legendary driver Rhys Millen to build the Atlas Cross Sport R concept car. The idea was to build a vehicle inspired by the Atlas Cross Sport that could compete in the Baja 1000. Third Story Films was brought on to concept and produce a film that would reveal the car to the world at the 2019 LA Auto Show. There were a number of major obstacles in place - the timeline was incredibly tight (a matter of weeks), the spot had to be shot in one day - on a holiday weekend in Southern California - the car had yet to be built, and the editing timeline was going to be days rather than weeks. Oh, and there was a nationwide government shutdown - severely limiting our location options. As always, we embraced these challenges.

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Co-directors Marc Ryan and Mike Million immediately got to work with VW creatives and developed the idea into an action packed, fun story utilizing on-camera celebrity driver Tanner Foust and... his mom! Once the story was approved, we created storyboards and began pre- production. A significant challenge turned out to be finding a location. The original suggested locations were all unavailable due to the holiday weekend and government shut down, so we had to improvise. LA-based Producer Todd Harter drove all over Southern California in search of a suitable location - one that would allow us to build “whoops” and jumps for major driving stunts on their property. Eventually, we were able to find a private piece of land that worked creatively and visually, but we still didn’t have a car. Rhys Millen was working around the clock to build the concept vehicle - so we just had to trust that it would be there, and ready to drive, on our fast-approaching shoot day. 

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The car did ultimately show up, and the shoot was fantastic. A true collaboration between client, directors, drivers, crew, and of course Tanner’s mom. We were able to capture all the narrative elements in order to “tell the story” as well as several amazing stunts that really brought the film to life. When we wrapped shooting we had to drive the footage immediately to our editor in LA who edited the first cut in less than 24 hours. The LA Auto Show was only days away - so we had to move incredibly fast. We were able to get our cut approved, colored, and mixed in under 3 days to be ready for the auto show - an almost unprecedented feat of collaboration. The film was played for a huge crowd and media at the LA Auto Show and was warmly received by online audiences worldwide.

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