DOUBLE FEATURE

Written By: Robert Cocuzzo | Photography By: Kit Noble

A quick chat with Laura Cunningham and Chris Wendzicki, the husband and wife team behind Yellow Productions.

N MAGAZINE: How did you end up pursuing this career?
LAURA: I got the opportunity in high school to take a transition year where students were allowed to take one year out from regular class and focus on what we wanted to be when we left school. I decided to explore being a television presenter. I produced my own TV show and soon became more attracted to being behind the scenes. I ended up working for my local radio station for almost seven years and created videos for them. After high school I went on to get my bachelor’s degree in TV, radio, and film with a minor in marketing and motion graphics. I did a lot of internships and worked for many companies. With each one I learned something new and took it with me.
CHRIS: I actually started in front of the camera. Growing up, I was in a lot of plays, acting competitions, and TV commercials. Then in college, I auditioned for a lead role in a TV drama that was going to be recorded around campus and got the part. Their crew was short staffed, so in any of the scenes that I wasn’t in, I’d help out moving lights, stands, monitors, and whatnot. I got friendly with the director, and after about a year, I switched my major from pharmacy to film and video with a minor in TV broadcasting. I started directing my own shows for the university’s student channel. A couple years went by, and in 2008, that same director gave me a call and asked me what I was doing for work that summer. I didn’t get more than two words out before he cut me off and offered me an internship with a TV station on Nantucket called Plum TV.

N MAGAZINE: And that’s where you two met, right? Plum TV?
LAURA: I applied for an internship with Plum TV/ The Nantucket Project. Chris was working for them at the time and took me on my very first shoot. We hit it off straight away and became great friends.
CHRIS: After that, Laura took me to hang out with her Irish gang, and when she moved back to Ireland to finish college, we kept in touch. Recently it’s come full circle for us, as we’ve just got our own office space where it all began. Being back in there with Kate Brosnan brings back a great feeling.

N MAGAZINE: What’s it like being a husband and wife team?
LAURA: Before we started dating, we were great friends, so we’ve had a good base to our relationship. We’ve always felt in sync with each other no matter what we were doing. So the business has really become an extension of our marriage and friendship. We are so in love with what we do; it’s cool that we get to do it together. We’ve grown closer because of it.
CHRIS: The only con would have to be that because we do so much together—work together, live together, hangout together, exercise, eat—we never really get to have the “how was your day” talk without joking around about it.

N MAGAZINE: Tell us about the kinds of projects you tackle?
CHRIS: We tackle a multitude of projects: events, commercials, mini documentaries, real estate videos, web series, how-to videos, weddings, nonprofits, and overview videos. What I like most about what we do is that we’re always trying to find a unique angle or story for every project. We try really hard to come up with new ways or new ideas so that the viewers stay engaged, not just throughout our client’s video, but so they want to see more of our products as well, so it’s not just rinse and repeat.
LAURA: We don’t tell people that we are a video production company. We tell them we are a digital marketing agency that specializes in video production, because a big part of what we do is teach them how to market their video once it’s done. We take the time to go through their goal and messaging, so when they finally launch their piece, they see results.

N MAGAZINE: What’s your dream project?
CHRIS: I’d love to do a full length documentary out here. There are so many incredible stories that just aren’t being told that would be great to shed some light on. It’s on the bucket list for sure.
LAURA: This island is full of interesting people with stories to tell. I’d love to create a day in the life of series that would highlight them.

N MAGAZINE: What do you hope for the future of Yellow Productions?
LAURA: I hope people will continue to trust in us to tell their stories. While we do have a lot of projects off-island, we choose to live here because we love it. Our dream is to continue living and working on Nantucket, and so far Yellow Productions has allowed us to do that.

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