Today, we continue our ongoing feature — Agency Insider. We all know agencies have amazing physical spaces. But unless you work at a specific shop, you might never get a chance to see how cool they truly are. Until now.
Form followed function for the interior design of 959 Cole Ave., the new office that Kids at Play settled into late last year. Just south of Santa Monica Boulevard and one block west of Cahuenga, the 2000-square-foot space serves as a playground and a high-tech soundstage with a pull-down green screen and six editing bays.
The production company had outgrown its old pad in West Hollywood. While there, acquiring a piece of equipment meant a major reorganization. In its new digs, the team of about 15 “Kids” has space to shoot on site and cut footage.
The mandatory move also gave Founder/Executive Producer Jason Berger an excuse to move the busy crew to central Hollywood’s Media District, an area bustling with soundstages, equipment rentals and production shops.
Kids at Play creates content for film, TV and digital media. Purina, Smirnoff, Intel and Toshiba are clients, and the shop has shot several branded webisodes in conjunction with Principato Young Entertainment and Electus, Ben Silverman’s “next generation studio,” for the Yahoo! entertainment site SketchY. KAP won more than a dozen awards this year at film festivals for a documentary short, “Good Karma, $1.”
As one might guess by the moniker, this is a company that values the role fun plays in fostering everything from entertainment value to business solutions. Naturally, this element was crucial to convey in office design and decor, so the space was remade as a stimulating environment with a smooth workflow as well as a creative Playpen with the latest creature comforts. (Not to mention creatures: Emma, Founder and Executive Producer Jason Berger’s boxer, plays the “Chief Creative Officer” role.)
Finding a decent architect for the new space was “relatively” easy: Jason Berger’s father, A.I.A. and principal of the firm Paul Berger & Associates, Chicago, did the honors.
“My dad helped us build the space,” Berger said. “We gutted it and completely opened it up. Everyone still has a private space, but it feels like you’re part of something bigger; everyone knows what’s going on.”
