Storyteller Studios

11/10/2025

When two teams share the same commitment to collaboration, magic happens.

Watch our multi-format brand film produced with Blackburn Architects, a firm that's spent 40 years revolutionizing equestrian facility design. This is the 2-minute version.

"When we first saw it, we were amazed at how seamlessly your team wove our story together in such an impactful way. Everyone who's seen it has been genuinely impressed, not only by the quality of the film but by how clearly it communicates the essence of our brand." - Montie Blackburn, Chief of Staff, Blackburn Architects, P.C.

Read the full case study: https://storytellerstudios.com/field-notes/blackburn-architects-brand-film

11/09/2025

at the helm.

11/05/2025

We can't wait for the premiere of "From Courtroom To Capital: Lincoln's Path to the Presidency," by Looking For Lincoln tomorrow night at Hoogland Center for the Arts, 7pm! Thank you to all of our partners for trusting us with this important work.

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds." – Abraham Lincoln, 1865

10/27/2025

We did it! Saturday night, Storyteller Studios won a Regional Emmy Award for The Legacy of Julius Rosenwald!

Huge congratulations to Kevin Christensen, Eli Ommen, and Lydia Stuemke for their outstanding work on this project. This documentary tells the remarkable story of Julius Rosenwald, whose philanthropy built more than 5,000 schools for African-American children across the South in the early 20th century.

Thank you to Looking For Lincoln and Lincoln Presidential Foundation for trusting us with this important story.

The film features:

Cliff Mirabella portraying Julius Rosenwald
Peter Ascoli, Julius Rosenwald’s Grandson and biographer of "Julius Rosenwald: The Man Who Built Sears, Roebuck and Advanced the Cause of Black Education in the American South,"
Carolyn Blackwell, Alumna, Rosenwald School, Providence, KY
Nathan Grant, Ph.D, Editor-in-Chief, African American Review Associate Professor, English, Saint Louis University
Steven Nasatir, Ph.D, Executive Vice Chairman, Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Chicago
Nancy Sage, former Executive Director of Jewish Federation of Springfield, Illinois

Special thanks also to the following film locations:

Lincoln Home National Historic Site
Jewish Federation of Chicago
Temple B’rith Sholom

This film was created to be used in the Julius Rosenwald Exhibit Project led by Lincoln Presidential Foundation.

10/22/2025

Thank you, Illinois Local!

10/02/2025

We were honored to spend a few days in September chasing light with Blackburn Architects in Virginia and DC. John Blackburn and his team have spent forty years perfecting equine architecture. His team designs stunningly gorgeous facilities where form follows the animal's needs, natural ventilation through the Bernoulli principle, strategic light placement, every detail considered. We learned so much! Watching them work was humbling. Telling their story is an honor. More soon...

09/18/2025

Cinematography and Dance are a beautiful combo! "Kind, Brave, Strong: SYPG" has earned a 2025 Mid-America Emmy® nomination for Photography.

The Springfield Youth Performance Group isn't just teaching dance. Director Taryn Grant and her team nurture the whole child. Springfield Youth Performance Group dancers are National Honor Society members and high honor roll students who dream of being ballerinas, doctors, lawyers, and veterinarians. Their artistic director Elizabeth Cheney doubles as an orthopedic nurse practitioner, ensuring physical and mental safety.

But the real magic happens in their Mighty Movers program, where company dancers volunteer to bring arts education to underserved schools and the Boys and Girls Club. Teaching kids that giving back is part of who you are.

We're grateful to SYPG for trusting us with their story. When organizations open their hearts like this, recognition follows.

Watch the film: https://youtu.be/qBd1DrKgZhs

09/17/2025

We're proud to announce that "The Legacy of Julius Rosenwald" has earned a 2025 Mid-America Emmy® nomination in the Informational/Instructional (Long-Form) content category.

Julius Rosenwald transformed Sears into the Amazon of his era, then used that success to change lives. This Springfield-born businessman and philanthropist built over 5,500 schools for African American children across 15 Southern states between 1913-1932. His vision: communities had to contribute too. Government provides a third, Rosenwald provides a third, families provide sweat equity and local support.

The strategy worked. These schools educated future leaders like Rosa Parks and Julian Bond during an era when educational opportunities were anything but equal.

Thank you so much to our partners at Looking For Lincoln who have trusted us to tell this forgotten story of a man who grew up across the street from Lincoln's home and carried forward his values through groundbreaking philanthropy.

Watch the film: https://youtu.be/wyUKQKttDkc

09/16/2025

We're honored to announce that "Out The Mud: Brian Beals & The Mud Theatre Project" has earned a 2025 Mid-America Emmy® nomination for Branded Content (Short Form).

Brian spent 35 years wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, but he never stopped being who he was. He found community through books and theater, coaching others and staying true to his values. Now he's building something beautiful on the outside.

We're incredibly grateful to the Illinois Innocence Project for introducing us to Brian and for trusting us with his story. Watch the film: https://youtu.be/RMnmR_j-mOs

07/10/2025

We're proud to stand with Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Illinois. Join us!

06/19/2025

✊

Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas were finally told they were free—over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
It’s a day to reflect, educate, and recommit to justice and equality.
Freedom wasn’t given—it was delayed, and it was fought for.
Let’s never stop learning and honoring that truth.

06/18/2025

Our friends at E.L. Pruitt Mechanical Contractors just opened a brand-new 55,000 sq. ft fabrication facility fully equipped with robotic welding, advanced profiling software, and the people who make it all matter.

Welding. Laser cutting. Sparks flying. The kind of stuff that makes cinematographers cancel their weekend plans.

Watch what they’ve built.