The brief
Netflix asked agencies for a location‑based experience for Bird Box, its film released in December 2018, and MC2 Experience won the pitch. Melissa ran the pitch intake with Netflix. She and Richard Sears, the Executive Creative Director, read the script and the novel and developed the concept together: a double‑decker bus outside and the film’s safe house inside, entered blindfolded, with scare content triggered around each guest.
Her role
Senior Creative Producer and sole producer. She wrote the project brief, set the schedule and forecast with the fabrication leads, and ran the bus build. She managed the fabrication, AV, XR, show control, content and event teams through installation and the run, and was the production link to the marketing agency, the bus tour operator and the influencer partners.
The content
She owned the footage and audio request list with Netflix post. She flagged the risk in using dialogue cut from the film and got a fictional news channel approved in its place, and she found an artist to recreate a drawing from the film. Evolution produced the news broadcasts, security feeds and scare content.
The money
She saved $67,000 by running each bus with three brand ambassadors instead of five, and corrected a $20,000 input error in the September bid. She re‑bid the job for two buses over a longer run, from 10 December 2018 to 6 January 2019. After the run she billed the bus operator, through the agency, for MC2’s extra work on the bus, including a rush redo of the interior ceiling before Netflix’s November visit. She brought MC2’s own labour down first, to an itemized $13,477.64.
Where it ran
Six Los Angeles locations, then Austin, where she worked through the permit and sidewalk rules on signage, stanchions and how long the bus could stop. About 2,400 guests came through in 26 operating days, each with a signed waiver, and 1,213 of them in the last three days in Austin. She also staffed the press junket and a Twitch live stream at the Hollywood Palladium. She was on site for the stops in downtown Los Angeles and Venice, and flew to Austin for the activation there.
The result
The activation won the 2019 award for Best Vehicle‑Based Campaign. The daily reports tracked guests, waivers and survival kits, and each day’s lessons were applied the next morning.