I Can't Stop Talking About This Global Helicopter Project

Links to watch:

• Search and Rescue Video (My favorite)

• Safety is Personal (series video from Brazil)

• Safety Vignette (SAR pilot in Louisiana)

See all videos here: https://www.bristowgroup.com/news-media/videos

My Role: Producer

Backstory: A multi-national helicopter operator's corporate communications team brought our firm on as a long-term video production partner across their global footprint. I helped to build the pitch and proposal for the client, then served as lead producer. As producer, I coordinated the planning and filming of interviews and b-roll at offshore flight and search-and-rescue locations in Louisiana, the United Kingdom and Brazil, plus c-suite interviews at their HQ in Texas. I also collaborated with their communications team on messaging, coordinated international travel, conducted interviews, wrote the scripts and managed post-production for every video in the series.

The large global footprint meant building relationships and communicating plans across four countries and multiple stakeholder groups. From Scotland's northern coasts near Aberdeen and the UK's Coast Guard operations in Inverness to coastal operations around Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Each location came with its own logistics, safety requirements, and local points of contact to manage for gear rentals, permits, flight plans and hiring local crew.

Challenges: Coordinating and capturing air-to-air shots of helicopters is inherently challenging from a safety and logistics standpoint. Planning it across multiple time zones just makes the project more complex, but the end-results are worth it.

Interviewing subjects who speak Portuguese and scripting from those interviews were also challenges. I had to communicate with an editor who didn't speak the language and then get stakeholder feedback, also in English. There are so many tools available now to speed up the translation process, that the language barrier merely slowed the post-production process down by a couple of hours per deliverable.

Successes: The series produced videos that went on to win awards, and the client was pleased enough with the initial results to re-engage our team for additional work that carried through 2025, a testament to the strength of the partnership and the consistency of the storytelling across every region.

I also still enjoy telling friends and family about the most amazing work trips ever.

Behind the scenes in Louisiana, Scotland and Brazil.