The Manny Kess
Campaign Films

The thesis.

If a director reads this brief and thinks "this is a campaign ad," we have failed the writing. If they read it and think "this is a portrait of a working man and the place he refuses to leave," we have done the work.

Everything that follows is downstream of that single argument. Where two creative choices conflict, the more film-grade choice wins.

The mandate.

We are not making "political ads." We are making seven short films.

The films will live on mannykess.com, in paid social, in earned press cuts, and on the homepage of every endorsement landing page through November 2026. They will be cut from one production block. They share a visual language, a tonal register, and a single performance voice.

The candidate is a builder, not a politician. He is forty-something, USNA-educated, built and currently operates a hospitality group in Las Vegas, raised his family in Clark County, and is running for a county commission seat against more conventionally-funded opponents. He has a real phone number on every public asset. He answers it.

The films must accomplish three things

1. Make him impossible to confuse with a typical candidate. Republican primary voters age 65+ have seen every politician on earth. They have a filter. The films have to clear that filter in the first five seconds.
2. Build trust without claiming credentials he does not have. No fake combat service. No invented endorsements. No staged "town hall" footage with paid extras. Only what is real.
3. Be cut-down friendly. Every long-form piece must yield 60s, 30s, 15s, 6s assets without losing meaning. The campaign needs a year of paid social inventory from one shoot.

What success looks like

The hero film (Film 01) plays at the campaign-night party. It also survives as a Vegas portrait piece three years after Manny serves out his term, win or lose. If you cannot picture both audiences watching the same cut and being moved, the cut isn't done.

Why this race.

A Clark County Commissioner controls more of a citizen's actual daily life than most members of Congress. The seven-person Commission governs an unincorporated population larger than fourteen US states. They sign off on water rights, land-use, traffic, permits, public safety budgets, hospital funding, airport policy, and the regulatory environment for every small business in the Las Vegas Valley.

None of this is sexy. None of it makes national news. None of it is in the curriculum of the donor-class candidates who normally run for these seats.

That is the opening.

A builder who has actually navigated this county's permit-and-license maze for fourteen years has technical knowledge no career politician can fake. The films must show that this knowledge is the credential. Not law school. Not staff time on the Hill. Not a podcast.

Why now

The 2026 cycle is the first since 2008 with significant Republican primary turnout in Clark County. The 8,371-voter universe identified for this race is the most engaged Republican slice of District E ever measured. They have been waiting for a candidate they do not have to apologize for. The film package exists to introduce that candidate.

Why you.

We are not looking for a political ad shop. We are looking for a director who has spent their career making people feel things about ordinary life.

The reason this brief is on your desk is that your work, specifically, demonstrates three capacities the campaign needs:

1. You can hold silence on a face longer than is comfortable. Most political directors cut on the punchline. We need cuts on the breath after the punchline. Your work proves you understand the difference.
2. You let real people sound like real people. The candidate is not a trained performer. Your previous work with non-actor talent is the reason we trust you with him.
3. You understand place as character. Las Vegas and Henderson are not backdrops. They are the second protagonist of every film in this package. You have shown an ability to make geography feel like a person.

The campaign will give you authority over tonal final cut in collaboration with the candidate. That is non-trivial. Political campaigns do not normally do this.

What we ask in return is that you treat the work as if your name is on it forever. Because it will be.

The candidate.

His actual political positioning (do not stray from this lane)

Pro-small-business. Pro-permit-reform (he has fought the boards firsthand). Pro-local-hiring. Pro-water-rights-for-residents-not-just-resorts. Pro-public-safety with operational realism about funding. Skeptical of consolidated development that hollows out neighborhood character. Hospitality industry advocate. Not interested in performative culture-war material that isn't connected to county-level governance.

What he is not: A national-issues candidate. A grievance candidate. A culture-war operative. A think-tank product. A veteran of combat. A career politician. Do not write him as any of those.

What makes him hard to fake

He posts his cell phone on the internet. He responds to direct messages personally. He has actually run a payroll. He has actually fought a permit board. He has fired people. He has hired people. He knows the cost of a permit, the margin on a plate, the line between a viable district and a dead one.

Bio moments worth dramatizing in vérité or anthem

• The 2008–2010 Recession years. Twenty-something. Watching the bottom fall out of an industry. Deciding what is next.
• 2011. The move to Las Vegas. The first apartment. The first month with no business and no contacts.
• 2012. Opening the first restaurant. The first staff. The first night service. The first review.
• The 6 AM mornings in the Clark County permit office. The fluorescent overheads. The line that never moves.
• The first time he had to fire someone who was a good person but the wrong fit.
• The conversation with his wife when he decided to run.
• The first voter who picked up the phone when he posted his number publicly.

Manny in his own words (use these to calibrate writers' voice)

The audience.

The first ~8,400 voters this campaign is moving against are not a generic Nevada audience. They are a surgical universe:

Three voter personas (composite, drawn from the universe data)

Secondary audiences (the films also have to clear)

• Donors. They watch Film 01 before they write the check. The film is the pitch deck.
• Press. Las Vegas Review-Journal, Vegas Sun, KLAS. They will quote from the films if the films give them something to quote.
• The opposing campaign. They are watching. The films should give them nothing to attack and one thing to dread.
• The candidate's own team. Volunteers need a reason to door-knock at 9 AM on a Saturday. The films are that reason.

General election (November 2026) audience contrast

The universe expands roughly 10× for the general. Younger, more diverse, less Republican-coded. Films designed for the primary universe still hold, but specific cuts (Film 06 Spanish-language variant, Film 04 with broader-appeal hooks) will be commissioned post-primary.

What this audience ignores

• Slick agency aesthetics
• Stock music swells
• Drone shots of waving wheat fields
• Voiceover from someone who is not the candidate
• The word "fight"
• The word "values" used without specifics

What this audience does not ignore

• A real person speaking plainly
• A specific number (cost, count, time)
• A specific place name they recognize
• A signature ("MK") that looks like a person, not a brand
• Phone numbers
• Promises that are small enough to keep

The team.

Authority structure

Single point of contact for the director

One campaign person owns the relationship. The director gets one phone number and one email for the entire production. That person has authority to escalate to the candidate within an hour.

The candidate himself

The director may reach Manny directly at 702.277.1072 for any creative clarification at any time. He answers. This is not a courtesy; it is a working condition.

The positioning.

Not a career politician. Not for sale. Answers his own phone.

This is the line. It is engraved on every other line. The films do not say it explicitly more than once across the whole package, but every cut should be defensible as supporting it.

What we are saying

• I built businesses here.
• I raised my family here.
• I owe you, not them.
• Try me.

What we are not saying

• I will fight for you.
• I have a vision for a better tomorrow.
• I'm running because I love this community.
• Anything that ends with an exclamation point.

The contrast we are drawing (without naming opponents)

The typical candidate for a county commission seat is a lawyer who has never made a payroll, a staffer who has never hired a line cook, or a careerist whose donor list is in the public record. Every film draws contrast to that archetype without ever naming a specific opponent. The contrast is the architecture; the names are not.

Primary ask, per film

The voice.

Plainspoken-American. Closer to Chris Pratt's interview cadence than to Aaron Sorkin's screenplay rhythm. Closer to Anthony Bourdain's voiceover than to a campaign speech. Closer to John Mellencamp lyrics than to State of the Union prose.

The rules

• Short declarative sentences. No Manny sentence on camera exceeds 14 words.
• Specifics over abstractions. A number beats an adjective every time.
• Em dashes are forbidden in every script and every on-screen caption.
• Adverbs are suspect. The word "very" never appears.
• The words "fight," "values," and "community" do not appear unless followed by a specific.
• "I" is fine. "We" is the campaign, and the campaign is not the candidate.

Sample lines in his actual voice

"I do not owe favors. I owe people."

"Try me. Seven oh two, two seven seven, one oh seven two."

"I built businesses here. I raised my family here. I am not a career politician, and I am not for sale."

"Different background. Different commission."

"Read the names out loud, if you can."

Bad-line, good-line

Director's performance note

When Manny finishes a sentence, do not let him rush to the next one. Silence is part of the voice. A two-beat hold after a punchline is worth more than the punchline itself.

The visual language.

The candidate's face (how to shoot it)

• Good side: camera-left (his right). His smile pulls slightly higher on that side.
• Beard: close-trimmed dark. Catches light well; needs a soft fill to avoid losing definition under chin shadow.
• Eyes: he pinches them when he smiles. Capture a wide-open neutral as your safety. Save the squint for the punchline.
• Hands: active. He talks with them. Frame with that in mind.
• Resting face: reads more serious than he feels. Direct him to breathe out before action calls.

Reference frame descriptions (the look we want)

• Manny medium-close in the style of Joaquin Phoenix in The Master. Single hard window key from camera-left. Deep shadow on the off side. Black background. He looks past the lens, not at it, until the last line.
• Walk-and-talk like Lance Acord's Cadillac sidewalk frames. 35mm. Cameraperson backing up at walking pace. Subject head and shoulders, mid-frame, breathing room above and below.
• Vérité interior like Errol Morris's Interrotron kitchens. Static, locked-off, observational, no zoom. Light source is whatever is actually in the room.
• District exterior like the opening of Hell or High Water. Telephoto compression. Heat shimmer. The town as character.
• Family-dinner moment like Apple's "Misunderstood" Christmas spot. Long lens. Subject unaware. Wide enough to show the room, tight enough to feel intimate.
• Hand-held insert like Casey Neistat's restaurant kitchen cuts. Quick, real, no apologies for handheld motion.

Reference library.

The following are on the director's nightstand before pre-pro begins. Not for replication. For calibration.

Films

Commercial & political work

Photo references

• Joel Sternfeld, American Prospects. For Las Vegas exterior framing.
• Stephen Shore, Uncommon Places. For ordinary American dignity.
• William Eggleston's portraits. For the way an unposed subject holds a frame.

What we are emphatically NOT referencing

• Any political ad reel from the last twenty years
• Any work directed by an agency creative who has never shot 35mm film
• Anything that uses a Hans Zimmer "BWAH" sound design cue

Color & finishing.

Brand palette (inline hex)

Gold gradient spec (for title cards)

linear-gradient(180deg, #FFF7CD 0%, #FDE58C 12%, #F0C85F 33%, #C89637 47%, #AF7A26 50%, #D2A03E 54%, #F2CA64 68%, #D2A03C 84%, #9E6E26 96%, #76501C 100%)

Music & sound design.

Approach

Original score, single composer. Sparse. Cello-led. Single sustained-note motif that re-arranges across all seven films.

Composer recommendations (any of the three, ranked)

1. Hauschka (Volker Bertelmann). Prepared piano. Lion. Patrick Melrose. Sparse, melancholy, never sentimental. First call.
2. Daniel Hart. A Ghost Story, The Old Man & the Gun. Acoustic, restrained, American.
3. Mica Levi. Under the Skin, Jackie. If we want the score to do tonal work no other composer would attempt.

Reference tracks (mood, not for license)

• Hans Zimmer . "Time" (Inception) . for slow builds under voice-over
• Nick Cave & Warren Ellis . anything from Hell or High Water . for working-class American dignity
• Jóhann Jóhannsson . "The Beast" (Sicario) . for tension without aggression
• Bonobo . "Cirrus" . for ambient walk-and-talk
• Olafur Arnalds . "Near Light" . for emotional vérité moments

What to avoid (non-negotiable)

• Patriotic strings (eagle-screech country)
• Electronic beats meant to sound "current"
• Singer-songwriter acoustic guitar Americana (the political-ad cliché)
• Anything with a discernible hook
• Any cue that builds to a moment of "now feel something"

Stems delivery (required for cut-down flexibility)

Composer delivers the following stems for every cue, separately:

• Strings stem
• Piano stem
• Sub / low-end stem
• Ambient bed stem
• Final mix (reference)

Vertical-cut music spec

9:16 cuts need a punchier 3-second opening (the algorithmic cutoff is real). Composer commissioned to deliver a "vertical alt" intro for each cue, ramping in faster than the master.

Sound design priorities

• Room tone is sacred. Capture 30 seconds at every location.
• The payroll-machine sound in Film 01 must be a real machine, captured close.
• The kitchen sounds in Film 03 must be the real kitchen, not foley.
• The phone-call sound in Film 03, if captured, must be cleared and consented in advance.

Mix targets

• Voice dialogue: -10 dB headroom, no compression beyond 2:1.
• Music bed: -18 dB beneath dialogue, never crests above -12 dB.
• Final mix: -16 LUFS for web, -24 LUFS for broadcast.

The films.

Seven films. One shoot week, excluding vérité and Film 07. All shot in or within driving distance of Clark County, Nevada.

Film 01 . Anthem . 2:00 hero pieceThe Manifesto

Purpose

The campaign's defining film. Lives on the homepage of mannykess.com. Plays at every fundraiser. Cuts into every TV buy. The single most-used asset of the entire cycle.

Treatment

Two minutes. Voice over a slow-build sequence of real Clark County images. Final third resolves to Manny himself, late afternoon golden hour, on a Vegas sidewalk. The big line is delivered to camera, in sync sound, in silence.

Script (revised: big line moves to sync sound)

Why the change from V1

The strongest line in the package was buried in voiceover. Moved to sync sound, in silence, direct to camera, as the close. The phone number is NOT in this film. It does not need to be. The phone number is in Films 02, 04, 05, 06. This film earns the right to be the one that does not ask for anything.

Shot list highlights

• Payroll machine printing . extreme close, mechanical
• Kitchen line at 6 AM . 50mm, wide enough to read the crew
• Permit-office line . wide static, fluorescent practicals only
• Empty commission chamber at dusk . wide, no people, ambient air handler
• Contractor + crew laughing . handheld at distance, observational
• Henderson dawn aerial . orients viewer to the residential reality (not the Strip)
• Strip aerial → ground-level cut . paired cuts, deliberate match-of-scale
• "Looking someone in the eye and told them no" b-roll . close on a handshake that ENDS, not begins. Two hands separating. No faces.
• Manny sidewalk turn-to-camera . 75mm, golden hour, single take

Edit notes

• 2:00 master. No quicker.
• First 20 seconds = ambient + V.O. only. No music.
• Music enters at 0:21, builds quietly through 1:35, EXITS AT 1:40 leaving silence for the sync line.
• Manny's sync-sound delivery plays in total silence.
• Hold his face for 2 full beats after the line.
• Final card holds 1.5 seconds. Cut to black.

Cut-downs

• 60s . drop kitchen and permit office, keep aerials + sidewalk close.
• 30s . drop aerials, keep contractor + sidewalk close.
• 15s . Manny sidewalk close only with the sync line.

Film 02 . Foundational . :60 introductionFive Stops

Purpose

The everywhere-asset. Cuts to 60/30/15/6. The candidate's elevator pitch in moving image.

Treatment

Five named life chapters delivered to camera, each underscored by a single archival or photographic image.

Script

Pre-production research checklist (campaign delivers to director)

• USNA gates photograph . confirmed era + clearance
• 2009 financial-crisis headline . specific publication, specific date, cleared for use
• Las Vegas 2011-era aerial . cleared for use
• Kess Group dining room interior . shot fresh, no archival
• Verify USNA grad year and class details so on-screen attribution is bulletproof

Edit notes

• First 35 seconds carry zero music.
• A single sustained cello note enters at 0:35.
• Cello note exits at 0:53, leaving the final phone-number read in silence.
• Phone number is read digit-by-digit on screen as Manny speaks each digit.

Film 03 . Vérité . 5:00 longformA Day with Manny

Purpose

The unscripted document. Cut into 30-second moments for paid social over six months. The campaign's stockpile of real, repeatable, unfakable footage.

Treatment

One full weekday. Cameraperson with the candidate from 5:30 AM until 9 PM. No interviews. No questions. No staged moments. The crew is present, not directing. Document what happens.

Editorial sensibility (who cuts this and what they cut for)

The vérité cut must be edited by someone who has cut a non-political documentary feature before. Their job: find the moments where Manny is most himself. Not the most flattering moments. The truest. If a take ends with him laughing at himself, that is the take. If a moment ends with him losing patience and recovering, that is the moment. The cut argues that the candidate has nothing to hide.

What to capture (priority order)

1. The morning . first thing Manny does (coffee, kid school drop-off, gym). No retake. If it goes wrong, that is the moment.
2. A walk-through of one of his restaurants during morning prep. Crew silent. Cameraperson tracks Manny only.
3. A real meeting (vendor, contractor, partner). Audio licensed in advance, no script.
4. (OPPORTUNISTIC . NOT REQUIRED) A phone call he takes from a voter who dialed 702.277.1072. If it happens, we have it. If not, no force. Do not stage.
5. A drive between two locations. Manny alone in his car. Cameraperson rides shotgun, no questions.
6. Lunch . wherever he actually eats lunch, with whomever he actually eats it with.
7. An hour somewhere in District E that is not glamorous (permit office waiting room, stripmall parking lot at 4 PM, Henderson rec-league baseball field).
8. Family dinner. Crew leaves after the first ten minutes. Document what dinner looks like before they leave.

Audio capture strategy

• Manny on hidden lavalier all day.
• Second cameraperson carries a handheld shotgun for ambient pickup.
• Room tone captured at every location entry, 30 seconds, before any other audio.
• Phone-call audio (if captured) requires real-time consent from both parties before recording continues.

No script. No questions to camera. The footage IS the asset.

Director's note

This is the hardest film to make and the most valuable. The temptation is to ask Manny to "do that again." Resist it. If we lose the moment, we lose it.

Film 04 . Hot take . :15 verticalI Don't Owe Favors

Purpose

Algorithmic punch. Built for IG Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts. The post that gets screenshotted.

Treatment

Tight chest-up framing on Manny, 35mm, slight handheld. Black backdrop. Single hard key with a touch of practical bounce.

Script

Kinetic typography reference

Saul Bass titling rhythm. Kyle Cooper edge. Each "Nope" snaps in as a full-frame gold-cap card the moment Manny says it. The line "I do not owe favors. I owe people." takes the full frame on Manny's last spoken word.

Variant cuts for retargeting

• Variant A: "He owes someone" / "He has a list" / "He is in this for himself"
• Variant B: "He'll forget you exist" / "He'll change his number" / "He'll be in DC by year three"
• Variant C: "He's the lawyer's pick" / "He's the developer's pick" / "He's the lobby's pick"

Same setup, three takes, three deliverables. A/B test in first 72 hours; winner gets the paid budget.

Music

A low bass pulse only. No melody.

Film 05 . Accessibility . :15 verticalTry Me

Purpose

The single most ownable differentiator. Manny is the only candidate in Clark County who posts his cell phone. The film makes that the entire message.

Treatment

Manny holds his actual phone up to the camera. The contact card on the screen is his real one. Camera tracks his hand and the phone, then pushes in slowly until the screen fills the frame. Manny speaks off-camera.

Script

If the phone actually rings during the take

Embrace it. That is the take that makes the asset famous. Manny answers the call in frame. The conversation, if it happens with consent, is the gift. The cut that opens with an unexpected ring beats the cut that doesn't, every time. Plan for this. Do not put his phone in airplane mode.

On-screen

Phone-number lower third as Manny speaks each digit. Closing card: "MANNYKESS.COM" small, bottom-aligned, gold on black.

Music

None. Ambient only. The number is the message.

Film 06 . District authenticity . :60Walk District E

Purpose

Anchors Manny to a specific recognizable place in District E. Cuts to 30 and 15.

Treatment

Walk-and-talk. Cameraperson moves backward in front of the candidate, gimbal stabilization, 35mm. Recognizable Henderson exterior in the deep background. A place a District E voter recognizes without being told.

Takes

Plan for 8 to 15 takes. A clean single-take walk-and-talk is the goal but rarely the result. The cut should appear to be one take. The director should not feel pressured to commit to literal one-take coverage.

Script (Manny improvises around the beats)

Three closer variants

• Event-specific: "See you Wednesday." (Use only for event-driven cuts.)
• Evergreen: "I'll see you out here." (Default.)
• Endorsement-leaning: "I'm asking for your vote." (Use late-cycle.)

B-roll capture during the walk

• Two-camera coverage. Camera A holds the walk-and-talk; Camera B captures b-roll inserts the editor can use for cut-downs (storefront signage, longtime local at a counter, a Vegas-skyline reveal as Manny rounds a corner).

Edit notes

• Cut should appear seamless. Match-frame within the walk.
• Audio on lavalier hidden inside shirt placket. Avoid wind. Avoid traffic-frequency rumble.
• Music enters at 0:20, exits at 0:55. The closing sync line plays in silence.

Film 07 . Urgency . :30 phone-shotTwo Days

Purpose

Drives RSVP volume in the 48 hours before an event. Released the morning before the event itself.

Treatment

Selfie. iPhone. Vertical. No crew. No production. Manny holds his own phone. Recorded in whatever room he is in when he records it.

Why it is in this package

The phone-shot moment cannot be replicated by a crew. The aesthetic is itself the message: this man does not need a production team to talk to voters. He talks to them on a phone like everyone else.

Three template variants

Variant A . Event invite

Variant B . News reaction (rapid response)

Variant C . Holiday or moment

Direction

• Do not coach.
• Do not retake more than twice.
• The first take is usually the right one.

When to retake (criteria, brief)

• Audio is unintelligible
• Background distraction undermines the message
• Manny clearly wants a different take

That is the entire list. Hair-out-of-place is not a reason. A pause that runs long is not a reason. The aesthetic is real, not perfect.

Wardrobe & grooming.

Manny's wardrobe must read as a consistent character across all films cut from the same shoot week. Two looks total.

Watch (this matters more than it should)

Not a Rolex even if he owns one. A Timex Weekender, vintage Seiko 5, or his actual working watch. The wrist should match the message. Expensive watch undercuts every other choice.

Shirt fit

Tailored but not slim-fit. He should look like a man, not a model. Shirts that lay flat at the collar without stress lines across the chest.

Wardrobe duplicates

3 of each shirt minimum. Hot day reshoots, coffee spills, sweat through the lavalier, all expected.

Forbidden

• Suits with ties
• Anything with a logo
• Anything that looks "tactical"
• Anything that looks newly purchased
• Watches over $400 retail

Hands

Watch on right wrist, wedding ring on left, no other jewelry.

Locations.

Specific Kess Group property

To be confirmed with candidate. Recommend the property with: (a) warmest interior lighting at golden hour, (b) latest closing time on a weeknight, (c) most photogenic kitchen prep area.

Talent direction.

He is not an actor. Do not coach line-readings. Coach the energy and the silence.

• Before every take: ask him about something real that happened that morning. Whatever it is. This breaks the camera-face.
• After every take: tell him whether to hold the next end-of-line beat longer or shorter. That is the only line-level direction he needs.
• He has a tendency, when nervous, to add filler words ("you know," "obviously"). Cut those in post or ask for one cleaner take.
• He is at his best in the third take, not the first or the seventh.
• He gets hoarse if he over-talks the script during rehearsal. Limit script run-throughs to one before camera rolls.

His own line, repeated to him before every Manifesto take

"Different background. Different commission."

That is the spine of his voice.

Candidate prep checklist (campaign owns, director should know)

• 7+ hours sleep night-before
• Water on set, always
• No caffeine in the 2 hours before shoot
• No dairy day-of
• Vocal warmup with a coach the morning of (if budget allows)
• Light meal 90 min before call; no heavy meal day-of
• Phone in pocket, ringer on . see Film 05 note

Director's pre-flight call

20-minute call the night before each shoot day. Director + candidate align on the day's shot list, confirm wardrobe look, agree on the one creative risk we'll attempt that day.

Crew composition.

Recommended team size and key roles. Director may scope differently.

Studio days (Films 01, 02, 04, 05) . target 8-10 person crew

• Director
• 1st AC / Camera operator
• 2nd AC
• DP (if separate from director)
• Gaffer
• Sound mixer + boom op
• Production designer / set dresser (1 day for studio setup)
• Hair & makeup (1 person, light touch only)
• Production coordinator
• BTS shooter (see §23)

Exterior days (Films 01 b-roll, 06) . target 6-8 person crew

• Director
• DP + 1st AC
• Gimbal op (for walk-and-talk)
• Second camera op (b-roll capture)
• Sound mixer
• Location PA
• BTS shooter

Vérité day (Film 03) . minimum crew, 3-4 max

• Director (must shadow only, never direct)
• Single cameraperson (DP-grade, can handle handheld + locked-off)
• Sound mixer (always-on lavalier + ambient shotgun)
• BTS shooter (optional, only if it does not break the room)

Vegas-local hires

At least 30% of below-the-line crew should be Las Vegas locals. The campaign's positioning is "I hire local"; the production should match.

What we deliver to you.

Before shoot day, the campaign delivers the following to the director's team:

• Research packet: Verified bio facts (dates, places, names), USNA archival research, recession-era headline source(s), early Vegas references, all cleared for use.
• Photo & archival assets: All five Film 02 inserts, pre-cleared, delivered as ProRes or high-res TIFFs.
• Location contacts: Property owners, permit office liaisons, county PIO, all with confirmed cooperation.
• Talent & third-party releases: Pre-signed for known participants. Blank pads for vérité day pickups.
• Brand assets: Logo files, gold gradient spec, font files (Cormorant Garamond + Inter + JetBrains Mono).
• Show LUT: Campaign-provided reference LUT for colorist.
• Voter universe summary: The audience data in §06, abbreviated for production team reference.
• Single point of contact: Name, cell, email. On call throughout production.
• Candidate direct line: 702.277.1072 (for any creative clarification at any hour).

Lead time

All of the above delivered to director's team minimum 14 days before shoot start. Vérité day requires only 7 days lead time since it is the candidate's actual day.

What you deliver to us.

The director's deliverables to the campaign:

Per film

• ProRes 4444 master at native resolution
• 4K UHD master (Films 01, 02, 06)
• H.264 social cuts in 16:9, 9:16, 1:1 (per the deliverables matrix in §28)
• Defined cut-downs (60s, 30s, 15s, 6s per Film 01 / 02)
• Closed caption SRT files for every video over 10 seconds
• Spanish-language subtitle SRTs for Films 01 and 06 (general-election prep)
• Audio stems (per §13)
• Final mix at -16 LUFS web + -24 LUFS broadcast

Raw + project files

• All raw camera files (ARRIRAW, R3D, or ProRes 4444)
• Production audio (BWF, multitrack, with timecode)
• Editorial project files (Premiere or Resolve, organized)
• VFX project files (After Effects, with linked assets)
• Color project files (Resolve, with LUTs and node graphs)

BTS

• BTS edited reel (3-5 min for campaign internal use)
• BTS still photography selects (50-100 images)
• BTS raw footage (for future campaign use)

Delivery method

Encrypted drive or campaign-owned cloud bucket. Not WeTransfer. Not Dropbox personal accounts.

Approval workflow.

Every film follows the same approval path. Director-led creative is preserved; campaign retains factual and legal authority.

Disagreement resolution

Tonal disagreements between director and candidate are resolved in real-time conversation, not memo. If the conversation does not resolve, the director keeps tonal final cut. The candidate keeps factual final cut. The two domains do not overlap if both parties are doing their jobs.

Captions & typography.

The rules

• All phone numbers appear spoken AND on-screen. Senior viewers need both signals.
• All URLs lowercase, sans-serif, gold (#c8a13d), bottom-aligned, never larger than 5% of frame height.
• Lower-thirds for the candidate use CORMORANT GARAMOND caps for "MANNY KESS" and Inter Medium small-caps for the title line.
• No exclamation points. No emoji. Ever.

Closed captions (CC) delivery

• Every video over 10 seconds ships with an SRT.
• YouTube + web players use the SRT (soft captions, viewer-toggleable).
• Instagram + TikTok + Reels use burnt-in captions (no toggle available, audiences watch with sound off).
• Burnt-in spec: white type, black drop shadow (no box), Inter Semibold 32px at 1080p, 2 lines max.

Spanish-language strategy

Primary universe is English-dominant but District E is 14% Hispanic, scaling to ~25% in general election. Spanish-language deliverables:

• Film 01: Dub. Manny in English, professional voice-over Spanish translation. Candidate may record his own Spanish if he speaks it; do not fake it if he does not.
• Film 06: Subtitle. Keep Manny's original voice; subtitle in Spanish.
• Films 02, 04, 05: Subtitle variants for paid Spanish-language placements; original-language masters for primary universe.
• Film 07: Manny may record native Spanish takes if he is comfortable. Otherwise: no Spanish variant.

Type pairing

• Display: Cormorant Garamond, italic preferred for proper nouns
• Body / lower-thirds: Inter (300, 400, 500, 600, 700)
• Numbers / time codes: JetBrains Mono

BTS capture.

Behind-the-scenes content is its own deliverable, not an afterthought. The campaign uses BTS for:

• Email blasts to donors ("here's a peek at what we're making")
• Instagram Stories during pre-launch tease week
• Press packages
• End-of-campaign retrospectives

Crew

Dedicated BTS shooter on every shoot day except vérité. Vérité day: BTS only if it does not break the room.

What to capture

• Director and candidate prepping a take together
• The crew setting up
• Camera-side angles of Manny mid-take
• Wide of the whole set during a take
• Honest moments between setups (Manny laughing, the cameraperson adjusting framing, the DP checking the monitor)

What to avoid

• Posed grip-and-grin "crew with the candidate" photos
• BTS that breaks the fourth wall of the actual films
• Any BTS that reveals creative choices we do not want the opposition to anticipate

Archive & storage.

Raw footage

Backed up in three places before the production company breaks the set:

1. On-set primary drive (RAID 5, in the DIT cart)
2. On-set backup drive (separate physical drive, NOT same RAID)
3. End-of-day upload to campaign-owned encrypted cloud bucket

Long-term archive

• All raw camera, audio, project files delivered to campaign on two encrypted physical drives within 30 days of wrap.
• Cloud archive maintained by campaign through November 2026 minimum.
• Director / production company may retain a personal copy for reel use, with prior written approval.

Not acceptable

Footage living solely on a producer's hard drive in their closet. The campaign owns the work; the campaign maintains custody.

Insurance & engagement.

Production company structure

Director engages through their existing production company LLC. Campaign engages the LLC, not the director personally. Standard.

Required insurance

• Errors & Omissions (E&O): $3M per claim / $5M aggregate minimum. Campaign added as additional insured.
• General Liability: $2M minimum.
• Equipment / Inland Marine: Per production company's standard.
• Workers' Comp: Per Nevada state requirements.
• Auto: For all production vehicles.

Certificates of insurance delivered to campaign 14 days before shoot day one.

Work-for-hire

All work product owned by Manny for Nevada in perpetuity. All raw + finished assets. All project files. All composer / original score (work-for-hire to the campaign). Standard work-for-hire language in the production contract.

Payment terms

• 40% on contract execution
• 40% on wrap of principal photography
• 20% on final delivery

Campaign disclosures

All vendors paid by Manny for Nevada are disclosed publicly in FEC filings. Production company will appear by legal name in the campaign finance record. This is normal and expected.

Legal & clearances.

• Music sync rights: Original score only, work-for-hire to campaign. If a licensed reference is used as placeholder, all final masters are scored before any public release.
• Location permits: Required for any City of Henderson or City of Las Vegas exterior beyond a 50-foot sidewalk shot.
• Talent releases: Required for any third party visible on camera with audio. Standard SAG release acceptable.
• FEC disclosure: All paid placements require the "Paid for by Manny for Nevada . Reported per Nevada election law" disclaimer. Disclaimer card must appear for minimum 4 seconds in any video over 10 seconds in length.
• Address on file: Manny for Nevada . [STREET ADDRESS TBD] . Las Vegas, NV [ZIP TBD]
• Music & sound clearance: All restaurant audio in Film 03 must be cleared by Kess Group corporate before shoot day.
• Archival clearance: All five Film 02 inserts cleared by campaign before shoot. Director's team confirms clearance before cutting.
• Phone number on screen: 702.277.1072 is publicly disclosed. Cleared for on-screen use.
• IP ownership: Campaign owns all work product. Director / production company may use for reel with prior written approval.

Rollout sequence.

Pre-launch tease (7 days before Film 01)

Release a 6-second "Coming Friday" cut to seed algorithm and create donor buzz. Single visual: black screen, gold text fade-in / fade-out, the words "Coming Friday." No name, no logo, no explanation. The mystery is the message.

Press embargo (48 hours before Film 01)

Embargoed preview links sent to:

• Las Vegas Review-Journal . political desk
• Vegas Sun . politics
• KLAS Channel 8 . political reporter
• KSNV News 3 . political reporter
• Nevada Independent . statewide political

Embargo exchange: preview access for 48 hours before public drop in return for premiere coverage at the moment of public release.

Public release schedule

Organic vs paid balance

• Week 1 . premiere: 70% paid amplification, 30% organic
• Week 2 . maturation: 50/50
• Week 3 forward . long tail: 30% paid, 70% organic

Deliverables matrix.

Encoding specs

• H.264 1080p: 12 Mbps target
• H.264 9:16: 6 Mbps target
• 4K UHD: H.265, 35 Mbps target
• WebM fallback: VP9, 8 Mbps target (for older clients)
• GIF: 720p max width, 8-second loop, <5MB

SRT files

Every video over 10 seconds ships with English SRT. Films 01 and 06 also ship with Spanish SRT (general-election prep, per §22).

Performance benchmarks.

Set by the campaign. Included for director awareness.

Baseline measurement

Pre-launch awareness survey of the 8,371-voter universe (~$2K through a Nevada-based pollster) so the campaign measures LIFT, not just absolute numbers. Without baseline, the benchmarks are guessing.

A/B test framework

Every paid creative gets 2-3 caption variants tested against each other in the first 24 hours. Winner gets the budget. Loser cuts get reformatted for organic only.

Review cadence

• Daily . first 14 days post-launch
• Weekly . day 15 through 90
• Monthly . day 91 through general election