Forgotten Harvest x Flow Video
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“Chop Down Hunger was Forgotten Harvest's highest-grossing fall event… that's a testament to the quality of the event and everyone involved.”
–Erica Marra, Events Manager, Forgotten Harvest
Project Overview
When COVID-19 hit, nonprofits around the world struggled with how to fundraise effectively with events: without the ability to "wine and dine" major donors and supporters at in-person events safely, how could they pull off major galas and fundraisers?
In the Spring of 2020, I gathered my leadership team at Flow Video to address this exact pain point: how could we use interactive live-streaming technology to create hybrid and virtual events that allowed organizations to connect meaningful with eachother and major stakeholders during the pandemic?
When Forgotten Harvest approached us, they knew they wanted to produce a "show" – something much more polished and lively than a typical Zoom event. We immediately focused in on the cooking show concept, and they secured Food Network's Amanda Freitag as their star host and judge.
Together, we developed and storyboarded a complete cooking show alongside "commercial break" content that advertised and promoted the various initiatives – like Forgotten Harvest Farms – that the fundraiser would ultimately benefit. After an intense full-day film shoot and edit, the hour-long event premiered online in October of 2021 to critical acclaim, and the highest-grossing fall fundraise in the history of their organization.
Execution
The planning of our single film day – which took place at a local culinary arts demo kitchen we rented – was meticulous. According to Flow Video Creative Director Steven Pankotai: "To pull this off. We had to do it in one day. We knew we needed to schedule everything as diligently as possible. It required months of setup and planning, budget factors, crew, all these different layers that go into a production like this."
The show featured four local celebrity chefs, which we prepped individually and collectively for the show:
- Genevieve Vang, Bangkok 96
- Manal Hussein, For the Love of Sugar
- Shanel DeWalt, Kellogg Company
- Allie Lyttle, LaLa’s Ann Arbor
Chopped champion Crystal Smith and Detroit Free Press food & dining reporter Sue Selasky served on the judge’s panel alongside Amanda Freitag.
Together, the cast crew of nearly 25 people pulled off a tremendous film day, a stellar edit, and a top-notch event.
Results
The gala's fundraising efforts speak for themselves, but most importantly both client and talent (the amazing chefs, host, and judges) all remarked on the incredible tact and empathy of our production team. Here's Forgotten Harvest's Erica Marra again: