Time is money, and every project is an opportunity to strengthen your production capabilities. Instead of starting from scratch each time, we help you build lasting relationships with directors who understand your brand, your process, and your vision. In less than 2 business days, we connect you with pre-vetted talent who become part of your extended team and elevate your creative.
Agencies and brands face a broad spectrum of production needs across motion and stills, each requiring a different creative approach and expertise. We provide hand-tailored recommendations with detailed context explaining why each director is the perfect match for your specific project and brand vision. We champion 'director-fit,' connecting you with directors who understand your diverse creative requirements and can elevate every type of work in your production portfolio.
Our data shows that over half of all production budgets in 2024 fell under $500k. It's no secret that budgets are tightening while timelines accelerate. We partner with you to maximize every dollar of your production spend, ensuring quality doesn't suffer when resources are limited.
Your creative needs shift from job to job, but your production company doesn't have to. Reduce the risk of introducing new bidders by consistently partnering with Departure. We are director-forward and genre agnostic. You've spent months carefully crafting the idea, and we're here to make it a reality.
You're short on time, and search windows keep getting shorter. You need to shop at scale quickly. That's why we deliver a curated shortlist of cleared and vetted talent in less than 2 business days. We pair you with directors who can take your creative to unexpected heights, not just meet your timeline.
Unlike roster-based companies, we never push a fixed lineup of talent. We provide hand-tailored reels with detailed context explaining why each director is the perfect match for your specific project. We champion 'director-fit,' prioritizing finding directors who understand and elevate your creative vision, not just those who can execute a production plan.
Our data shows that over half of all production budgets in 2024 fell under $500k. It's no secret that budgets are tightening while timelines accelerate. We partner with you to maximize every dollar of your production spend, ensuring quality doesn't suffer when resources are limited.
Your creative needs shift from job to job, but your production company doesn't have to. Reduce the risk of introducing new bidders by consistently partnering with Departure. We are director-forward and genre agnostic. You've spent months carefully crafting the idea, and we're here to make it a reality.
Not at all. We love working with sales representatives! We believe it's our duty to provide best-in-class director matching—whether that's to a sales rep, agency producer, or brand directly. When we win jobs through sales reps, we always pay full commission and respect established communication channels. Our goal is to create successful partnerships, not replace valuable industry relationships.
We’re not trading on the cachet of our affiliations. We make recommendations based on the creative at hand.
The truth is, most rosters aren't exclusive. Rosters are a holdover from a bygone era of production that was built on a limited supply of directors. Today, directing talent is abundant—so we believe the role of a production company is to provide value via talent-connection, rather than talent-possession. We focus on matching the right director to each unique project, drawing from a vast pool of independent talent rather than a limited exclusive roster.
We are a full-service production company.
Our director pool reflects the growing trend of top-level directors choosing independence. We've built strong relationships based on mutual respect, where directors maintain complete autonomy. Unlike traditional arrangements, our collaborations can be ended at any time with no strings attached. We never pressure directors to work with us—everyone in our network is there by choice. Our only requirement is that directors are legally free to collaborate with us, and if directors ever sign an exclusive deal elsewhere, they can seamlessly exit our pool without penalty or complication.
We’ve connected with everyone personally, building this network is a true labor of love.
No, this is not a roster. We offer a meticulously curated pool of directors that provides agency producers and creatives access to a broad spectrum of directing talent in a single, fast, and secure platform. Rather than limiting you to a fixed lineup, our approach allows you to efficiently explore diverse directing options across the marketplace.
No. We have no management or agent relationship with the talent in our network. We welcome talent that has agents, so long as they are fully independent. We find that working with agents and managers only strengthens our ability to match-make and curate.
No, this is not a directory. A directory would only create more work for you as a producer or creative. We are experts on the talent within our pool - we read the brief and tailor options for you. What sets us apart is the size of our pool. For the first time creatives and agency producers can cast a truly wide net for directors in a single, secure stop.
While most directors in our network are based in the US (our primary market), our reach extends internationally to Canada, Mexico, Australia, the UK, and the EU. This global perspective is intentional—visual language varies significantly across markets and cultures. Our international network allows us to deliver diverse aesthetics and cultural viewpoints, matching both stylistic preferences and authentic cultural nuances to each project. We aim to provide access to the full spectrum of global visual storytelling approaches.
We have an exceptional network of line producers. Similar to our approach with directors, we match line producers to projects based on their specific fit with the creative vision and production needs.
Our talent-matching methodology is built on a human approach. We do not use AI algorithms.
We’re genre agnostic. A perfect fit is a perfect fit.
Yes, we do offer post-production services, though we are currently selective about which projects we take on in this capacity. As with everything we do, we put a lot of care into matching the specific needs of the edit with the creative DNA of the editor.
We are headquartered in beautiful Austin, Texas, but we work globally.
The last thing we want to do is hawk faceless reels over email. This is a true passion and labor of love, and we go out of our way to understand the person behind the reel. We provide thoughtful pitch coaching, project debriefing, and welcome talent to lean on us as much as they want to. In this way, we work with our talent no differently than a traditional production company. We also host a weekly community call for freelance directors to trade tips and educate each other.