Creator & Executive Producer — Pandemic-Era Video Series
March 2020. The world shut down. Every pharma company went silent or scrambled to look relevant. I saw something different—an opportunity. Not to market. To teach.
AstraZeneca had some of the most brilliant scientists on the planet. People who could explain circulating tumor DNA, antibody drug conjugates, and oncolytic viruses in ways that would make a six-year-old lean forward. The problem was no one had ever asked them to.
I conceived Ask a Scientist within weeks of the pandemic onset. No crew. No studio. No budget approval process. Just a laptop, Zoom, and the right questions.
The format was deliberately simple. But the simplicity was the strategy. PhD-level researchers don't need production value to be compelling. They need permission to be human.
My role was to coach each scientist to find the moment where their expertise met genuine curiosity—where the jargon fell away and the wonder showed through.
I built a repeatable system: identify the scientist, identify their most fascinating research area, then find the question a smart twelve-year-old would ask about it. The answer became the episode.
The aesthetic was intentional: warm, direct, intimate. Scientists filmed from their home offices, their labs, their kitchen tables. The rawness carried authenticity that no amount of production value could replicate. I directed each session remotely, coaching researchers with no media training through concepts that would typically take an hour-long lecture—condensed into three-to-five-minute segments that held attention and built understanding.
“The most powerful content doesn't come from bigger budgets or better cameras. It comes from finding the right person, asking the right question, and getting out of the way.”
Ask a Scientist proved something I'd always believed: the most powerful content doesn't come from bigger budgets or better cameras. It comes from finding the right person, asking the right question, and getting out of the way.
The series became a blueprint for how I approach every production since. Start with the human. Build the story around their expertise. Trust the audience to follow.
In a year when most corporate video felt hollow, this series proved that authenticity—real people, real expertise, real passion—is what audiences crave. It reached children, students, healthcare professionals, and curious minds. Four years later, it's still the most-viewed series the company has ever produced.
This is the kind of story I produce. Let's talk about yours.
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