Francesca Mirabella
Sports - Intro
We love fans. We love committed passion of any kind. We love seeing people going the distance. Caring THAT much. It’s inspiring. It’s infectious. Sometimes, obsession is just cool. And when a whole state shares a singular obsession, well, that is pretty impressive. It means that “Green to the core” doesn’t just manifest one way. It doesn’t look, sound, or behave unilaterally. It has different gestures, flavors, and behaviors.
At a time of such divide, it's kind of wonderful to dig into something that has, at its core, peak togetherness. And it’s for nothing else other than the love of a team and the love of a game. It’s kind of wholesome in the absolute best of ways.
Everything we are about to propose, while stated as dogma (it’s just how we write), is ALWAYS up for discussion and change. We are collaborators by nature. When there are two of us, it’s kind of a prerequisite.
Comedy- Approach
The bottom line—this is a Super Bowl spot. I don’t need to spend paragraphs telling you what we already know—it needs to SLAP. It needs to be FUNNY & BOLD AF. We grab the audience from the jump. In a sea of other ads, this one will shine in all its glory.
The perfect recipe for an iconic Super Bowl spot is:
Unexpected Celeb Cameos.
Let’s go big. LUDA reading emails. MIGOS doing bedtime stories. LANCE BASS bass fishing. TONI BRAXTON singing live narration. You get it—hilarious, absurdly fitting celeb moments. We’ve already got Ty, so if all the cameos disappeared, we’d still be golden.
Story Structure.
Hook people immediately. Instead of Ty walking and talking, what if he’s driving a lambo monster truck? Establishing his terrible (but visually thrilling) financial decisions right away is key. Time is tight—we need to get to the funny as fast as possible, with minimal setup. Also, what if the last vignette ends with his card getting declined? A quiet way to say: No, he does not have infinite money.
A Great Idea!
We’ve got one! Now let’s stick the landing. Once we explain how Greenlight works, we need to wrap it up fast. The ending should hit, not linger. Best move? A callback to an earlier joke. The kid calling Ty out? Perfect.
Food & Beverage - Camera
The camera in these spots is vital and energetic. We see the camera as constantly in motion—fluid and alive. It is an intuitive camera, inspired by the movement of our subjects, feeling the moment and going with it. There is a continuous feeling of unfolding, as light distortions give way to clearer images, as one shot transitions to the next. We see a great opportunity in the :30 to weave the spot together with the illusion of it all being a single shot. We love the cinematic dynamism this will give us. Finally, we are also going to be using a lot of in-camera match cutting as a means of transition, in addition to the motion blur effect.
Our lensing will be dictated by the movement and the moment at hand. That said, we do know that we want to use ultra-macros to shoot the Essentia bottle in specific moments.
Kids and Family – Product
Huggies are an essential part of the fabric of this story because they are an indispensable part of the story of having a baby. I know—I’ve had three of them, and we used a whole lot of Huggies. They were there through all of it: the sleepless nights, the food-covered bibs, the first laughs. Huggies doesn’t just understand babies and parenting; they are almost synonymous with it. They are ingrained in the experience.
I want to see as many babies in just Huggies as we can. Let’s take away all of that extra clothing—whatever stuff we don’t need. Whenever possible, let’s keep the wardrobe to the essential piece: the Huggies. We don’t need much more—plus, baby skin is just so adorable.
Where there are other Huggies products, let them be seamlessly and naturally integrated into the set. This will be easy to do. Diapers and wipes are everywhere when you have a small child. They become a natural part of home decor. It’s how I work with products in the films I make for Apple—they are there, an extension of who we are, ingrained into our everyday lives.
Pharma - Approach
If we have learned anything over the last five years, it’s just how drastically your health—or the temporary lack thereof—can affect your quality of life. Being well or unwell is not just a physical encounter; it’s also an emotional one. It’s a reminder that all those seemingly mundane moments or subtle interactions—a look, a hug, a smile—really make life what it is. They are what make life truly stunning.
We want a film that speaks to this essence. An emotionally rich film. One with moments of real authenticity and intimacy. Let’s savor all of those beautiful little moments that make up our lives. Find humor and levity where we can. Say something true about the people we see on screen. There is real chemistry between the couples, authentic performances, and tender, funny, quirky real-life moments. It’s about attention to detail, subtlety, and depth.
All of this is in service of showing what makes this medication so life-changing—that it ensures you won’t miss a single moment, large or small, due to pneumococcal pneumonia.
Fashion - Lighting
I want to conceive of the lighting as a character unto itself. It’s the metaphorical manifestation of Rooney’s journey, her internal state—it gives us a window into her emotional reality. It has a narrative tension, evolving with the film as Rooney evolves, guiding the story. The light represents the very transformation that the film is about. We sculpt locations and images of Rooney with angular lighting and shadows.
We take inspiration from chiaroscuro and German Expressionist lighting but use these techniques with modern, graphic finesse—turning them into something very current. We create frames that use negative space in a new way. The images are arresting and highly photographic. Every frame will be like a graphic painting or photograph.
Docu-Style - Approach
The secret to documentary filmmaking is getting someone on board the train within the first 30 seconds of the film. We do this by creating empathy and an emotional connection between the audience and the people we see on screen.
Presenting a conflict—something that must be overcome—does this almost immediately. The script I’m proposing leans into this idea, bringing the challenges faced by these architects—both within this project itself and in their own careers—to the forefront. We open with this, and our ending now becomes a moment of triumph.
We are heavily influenced by the Chef’s Table trailer—by the way it teases you, builds drama, and then releases. From the beginning, it creates a sense of curiosity and wonder. We want to learn more; we want to know more about these mysterious, almost mythological chefs. Then we start to see bits and pieces of their restaurants, their dishes. The music swells and crescendos as we see the names of those icons we will be learning about throughout this season. It finally lands us back in a place of needing to know, presenting some unanswered conflict—a kind of “and we did the impossible”—leaving us wanting more.
Automotive - Cinematography
The cars are premium, luxurious, and stunning. We show them in the best light—literally. They glint, shine, and stand out. The outside has that perfect shine—the clouds reflected in their glass-like surface. The interiors are perfectly lit, the ambient lighting inviting and opulent. We shoot the car as sensually and dreamlike as the world they are living in. We savor the details—the stitching, the eyebrow light, the grille. The cars should feel alive, with a pulse, an energy, almost a personality.
About Francesca
Francesca Mirabella is a writer, director, and painter living and working between Los Angeles and New York. A graduate of the NYU Tisch Graduate Film Program, she has directed numerous short films and written a novel of her own. She loves telling stories—and finding just the right words to tell them. Her muses include: Todd Hido, Lynn Ramsey, and Eve Babitz.