Welcome To
Storied Studios

From the storied past of an Emmy® -nominated filmmaker and award-winning creative director comes Storied Studios where original cinematic experiences change hearts and minds and lead to action.

STORIED STUDIOS

About

STORIED STUDIOS CREATES BESPOKE DOCUMENTARY, SCRIPTED, AND ANIMATED FILM CAMPAIGNS FOR NOT-FOR-PROFITS, BRANDS, AND TELEVISION AND STREAMING PLATFORMS. CONTACT US TO LEARN MORE.

After two decades in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles producing and directing documentary films for international public and cable television outlets, filmmaker Joanna Rudnick joined a life-sciences and healthcare agency in the Bay Area where she built and led a full-service creative team. The experience brought Joanna back to her training as a science, environmental, and health journalist and further opened up the worlds of 2D and 3D animated video, live-action animation hybrids, and 360 experiences.

The creative magic of all of these worlds coming together leads to Storied Studios, where Joanna combines her passion for documentary film and advocacy with her training and interest in humanizing healthcare stories and working with companies and not-for-profits to foment meaningful action.

STORIED

Services

We handle all aspects of casting, pre-production, production, and post-production and work in close collaboration with our partners. In order to maximize our reach, we create video toolkits that include a number of versions of the main film targeted and edited for different channels and targeted audiences.

Documentaries

CONSULTING

PRODUCTION

DIRECTION

Story Development
Proposal Development
Budgeting
Fundraising
Distribution
Directing
Story Producing
Line Producing

Branded Video

BRAND LAUNCH

BRAND AWARENESS

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Documentary Film
Animated Film
Scripted Film
Social Media Trailers
Town-Hall/Annual Meeting Video
Digital Video Ads
YouTube Pre-roll
Tradeshow Loop
360 Video

Not-for-profit

ADVOCACY

FUNDRAISING

ACTIONS

Documentary Film
Animated Film
PSA
Event Video
Outbound CTA Videos
Social Media Trailers

We have documentaries in development. Check the News section for updates.

OUR WORK

Documentaries

In the Family

In the Family is a documentary about predicting breast and ovarian cancer, the consequences of knowing, and the women who live with the risk. Beginning with her story of testing positive for the familial breast cancer mutation (BRCA), filmmaker Joanna Rudnick chronicles the lives of several women currently undergoing the process of genetic testing—following them from their decision to seek testing, through the testing process, and in the aftermath when they are coming to terms with the information they receive. These stories of the first generation of women to live with the knowledge that they are predisposed to a life-threatening disease teach us what it means to survive a diagnosis of high risk without being consumed or defined by it.

Role:Director. Producer. Writer
Production Company:Kartemquin Films
Broadcast:2008 POV | PBS
Distinction

On Beauty

On Beauty follows fashion photographer Rick Guidotti, who left the fashion world after he grew frustrated by the restrictive parameters of the industry’s standard of beauty. It was a chance encounter with a young woman at a bus stop with the genetic condition albinism that reframed Rick’s lens forever on people who are closed out of the beauty industry and too often relegated to the shadows. By doing so, he not only changes their self-perceptions, he challenges our perceptions of beauty.

Role:Director. Producer. Writer
Production Company:Kartemquin Films
Broadcast:2017 Shorts TV 2018 Reel Midwest |PBS
Distinction

Crossfire Hurricane

Legendary British rock band The Rolling Stones mark their 50th year together in this all-access archival masterpiece that gets at the essence of memory and the role of the band in society.

Role: Supervising Producer
Production Company:Milkwood Films and Tremolo Productions
Broadcast:2012 HBO 2012 BBC
Distinction

Bill T. Jones: A Good Man

A Good Man follows acclaimed and provocative director/choreographer Bill T. Jones as he and his company create their most ambitious work, an original dance-theater piece in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s Bicentennial.

Role: Producer
Production Company:Kartemquin Films
Broadcast:2011 AMERICAN MASTERS | PBS
Distinction

Hard Earned

Hard Earned tells the story of five ordinary American families as they face the reality of everyday life in a post-recession economy. With the majority of job recovery being low wage, a new class of workers dream of a better life while they struggle to survive.

Role:Director – Hilton and Diana’s Story
Production Company:Kartemquin Films
Broadcast:2015 Al Jazeera America
Distinction
In the Family
What would you do if you were high risk for developing breast and ovarian cancer? This Emmy-nominated film is the first to explore.
On Beauty
Fashion Photographer Rick Guidotti uses his camera to challenge how we see differences in this award-winning short film.
Crossfire Hurricane
50 years of the most iconic rock band to ever grace the stage told in intimate interviews and stunning archival footage.
Bill T. Jones: A Good Man
Legendary choreographer Bill T. Jones struggles with the legacy of Abraham Lincoln as he creates a dance piece to honor his bicentennial.
Hard Earned
This series brings audiences inside what it means to live at or below minimum-wage in America from Silicon Valley to the D.C. Area.
OUR WORK

Branded Video

Mila's Story

Mila was diagnosed in January 2017 with Batten disease; a rare disease caused by genetic mutations that leads fat to accumulate in nerves and brain cells. Her type of Batten’s is particularly rare and fatal with no therapy available. Her family is on a mission to turn her incredible story into a new treatment path for children across hundreds of devastating disease.

Agency:The Linus Group
Partner:Charles River Laboratories
Role:Director
Distinction

Evie’s Story

When Evie was born, she wasn’t expected to survive due to a rare metabolic bone disease which affected her ability to make bone, breathe, and to walk. As her parents worried for her future, a clinical trial opened up for a promising new enzyme therapy to treat her ultra-rare disease.

Agency:The Linus Group
Partner:Charles River Laboratories
Role:Director. Producer. Creative Director
Distinction

We Believe: Alesia's story

In 2019, Storied Studios commissioned world-renowned paper artist Yulia Brodskaya to create portraits of three women diagnosed with breast cancer, who all had a genomic test to determine their course of treatment. The bespoke and unrepeatable nature of each portrait represented the uniqueness of each woman’s story, disease, tumor and treatment. This is the epitome of precision medicine and precision oncology come to life on film.

Production Company: Storied Studios
Partner:Agendia
Role:Director. Producer. Creative Direction
Distinction

We Believe: Angie's Story

In 2019, Storied Studios commissioned world-renowned paper artist Yulia Brodskaya to create portraits of three women diagnosed with breast cancer, who all had a genomic test to determine their course of treatment. The bespoke and unrepeatable nature of each portrait represented the uniqueness of each woman’s story, disease, tumor and treatment. This is the epitome of precision medicine and precision oncology come to life on film.

Production Company:Storied Studios
Partner:Agendia
Role:Director. Producer. Creative Direction
Distinction

Trial of One

Agency:The Linus Group
Role:Director. Producer. Creative Director
Distinction

Ginger’s Story

Like most lung cancer patients, Ginger Tam’s symptoms began with a nagging cough that doctors initially tried to quell with antibiotics. Tam, a musical performer, who thought she was in good physical shape, was shocked to learn that her problem wasn’t an infection but Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer. Years of treatment took her voice away and with it, her livelihood. With a new clinical trial, she not only got to watch her daughter go to high school, she got her voice back.

Agency:The Linus Group
Partner:Charles River Laboratories
Role:Director. Producer. Creative Director
Distinction

The Unrelenting Pursuit

In 48 hours, two pediatricians, two engineers, and an industrial designer prototype an inventive and plausible solution to newborn breathing-related problems, which claim the lives of an estimated 1.8 million newborns every year.

Agency:The Linus Group
Partner:Elsevier
Role:Director. Producer. Creative Director
Distinction

Answering Biological Questions with Spacial Genomics

Resolve Biosciences has created a Molecular Cartography platform that helps scientists gain new insights into today’s most challenging biological questions through high-resolution imaging of single-cells to reveal spacial dynamics and sub-cellular communications. CEO Jason T. Gammack provides a beautiful 3 dimensional tour of the data and the search for new ground truths in biology. 

Production Company: Storied Studios
Partner: Resolve Biosciences
Role: Creative Direction; Video direction and production; 3D animation
Distinction

The Disruptors

Mark Kotter from bit.bio is taking a software-inspired approach to synthetic biology by reprograming stem cells to become every cell type in the body.

Production Company: Storied Studios
Partner: Charles River Laboratories
Role: Mark Kotter from bit.bio is taking a software-inspired approach to synthetic biology by reprograming stem cells to become every cell type in the body. 
Distinction
Mila's Story
In a race against time, a little girl's life hangs in the balance as researchers work to develop the first drug ever made for just one individual.
Evie’s Story
What if Evie could meet the people who created the life-saving therapy that saved her life?
We Believe: Alesia's story
In 2019, Storied Studios commissioned world-renowned paper artist Yulia Brodskaya to create portraits of three women diagnosed with breast cancer, who all had a genomic test to determine their course of treatment.
We Believe: Angie's Story
In 2019, Storied Studios commissioned world-renowned paper artist Yulia Brodskaya to create portraits of three women diagnosed with breast cancer, who all had a genomic test to determine their course of treatment.
Trial of One
A young video-gamer uses is own immune system To fight of his Stage IV Lymphoma in a clinical trial at the NIH.
Ginger’s Story
Ginger lost her performance voice to lung cancer until a new therapy brought it back for her to share with those who made it possible.
The Unrelenting Pursuit
In 48 hours, Two pediatricians, two engineers, and an industrial designer hack a solution to newborn breathing-related problems.
Answering Biological Questions with Spacial Genomics
Resolve Biosciences CEO Jason T. Gammack provides a beautiful three dimensional tour through the company's sub-cellular spacial data and the search for new ground truths in biology. 
The Disruptors
Mark Kotter from bit.bio takes a software-inspired approach to synthetic biology to reprogramming stem cells.
OUR WORK

Not-for-profit

RARE AS ONE

#RareAsOne: 7,000 Rare Diseases, 1 Fight
Dr. David Fajgenbaum, Dr. Maria Kefalas and her daughter Cal, Nasha Fitter and her daughter Amara, Onno Faber, Emily Kramer-Golinkoff, and Tracy Dixon-Salazar and her daughter Savannah all have one thing in common: rare disease. Their journeys may be different, but their fight to find a cure connects them.Meet these fearless rare disease patients and their families and learn more about their efforts to drive forward progress against rare disease.

Production Company:Storied Studios
Role:Director
Partner:Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Press

Free The Data

What happens when a scientist, a street artist, and breast cancer survivors and “previvors” come together to create a community mural? A compelling story of the injustice of one company owning our genetic information and keeping it locked up in a black box where it cannot be analyzed and shared. The people in this video—all with mutations in the BRCA genes—are calling upon all of us to join this grassroots movement to FREE THE DATA.

Production Company:Storied Studios
Role: Director.Creative Director
Partner:Free the Data Coalition and Invitae
Press

Emily's Entourage: No One Left Behind

Emily’s Entourage is a patient-led organization led by a young woman with Cystic Fibrosis fighting to save her life while changing the way and the pace at which drug development in rare disease is done.

Production Company: Storied Studios
Role: Production, Direction and Writing
Organization: Emily's Entourage
Press

The Magic Line

2 women. 1 fatal disease. Their stories were the same, until one day, they weren’t. A breakthrough drug gets approved for 90% of the Cystic Fibrosis community, and straight from a Hollywood film, one woman is part of the 90% that get a second lease on life, while the other falls in the 10% that do not. The Magic Line is a fine, seemingly random line that dictates everything—even life and death. But the thing about lines is that they aren’t permanent.

Production Company: Storied Studios
Partner: Emily's Entourage
Role: Creative Direction, Director and Producer
Press
RARE AS ONE
#RareAsOne: 7,000 Rare Diseases, 1 Fight
Free The Data
What happens when a scientist, a street artist, and breast cancer survivors and “previvors” come together to create a community mural?
Emily's Entourage: No One Left Behind
Emily's Entourage is a patient-led organization led by Emily Kramer-Golinkoff, a young woman with Cystic Fibrosis fighting to save her life while building a foundation of the future, and changing the way and the pace at which drug development in rare disease is done.
The Magic Line
2 women. 1 fatal disease. Their stories were the same, until one day, they weren’t.