We Swapped Their Echo Chambers and 600k People Watched Us Do It.
On a new format and moving fast. The World According to Zandland - Issue #18
Hello again. Last week was a wild one. We missed a film release deadline, didn't win a BAFTA, and I built an entire app for the company in my spare time, because AI now means you can procrastinate productively, which is a dangerous thing to discover. But we also created a brand new quick-release format, shot it on Saturday, and it's already sitting at over 600k views before the film has even dropped. I'll take that. Here's what's been going on.
Part One: The Media
Something that comes up constantly in our work is how insanely entrenched people are in their views and how unwilling they are to have a simple conversation, never mind fully engage with the other side. We see it every day. The tribalism of politics right now is something else. People are viscerally angry and, a lot of the time, completely unable to actually talk to each other. They are also unable, regardless of what side they are on, to have much empathy at all for anyone who doesn’t think like them. And, call me a mad man, but that’s not great.
At Zandland we are firm believers that talking and trying to understand each other means something. It’s not the only solution to anything, but it’s definitely better than screaming in each other’s faces and taking your entire political education from whoever is angriest in your feed that morning.
The question we often come back to is: what actually happens when you force that conversation? Not in a studio, not on a panel, but for real. How do you make people literally step inside the other echo chamber and see what’s there? Could we actually blow some minds, change some worlds, and create global world peace? No, but maybe we could make something interesting that provided some actual value.
It turns out that absolutely intense, visceral protests are a pretty good place to find out.
Part Two: The Work
For the British readers amongst us, you likely know this but if you were living under a rock last weekend, let me explain. London played host to two major protests happening almost simultaneously. The Unite the Kingdom march, a right-wing rally that has been growing in size and profile over the last year, and a left-wing counter protest, the Nakba 78 rally, marking 78 years since the displacement of Palestinians. Two very different crowds, two very different worldviews, both absolutely convinced the other lot are completely wrong, all within a few meters of each other in central London. It was, to put it mildly, a lot.
We’d been wanting to cover both for a while, but not in the way that most outlets would. We’re not news, and we like making character-led documentaries. We also didn’t want to just turn up, point a camera at the most extreme person we could find, and tell them they were idiots. That felt too easy and frankly too boring. So we tried something different.
The concept is simple and as we’re yet to release the first ep, but the clips are already banging on social media. It’s basically an ideology swap, an Echo Chamber exchange. Take two prominent online political voices from opposite ends of the spectrum and drop them into the other one’s world for a day. A left-winger goes to the Unite the Kingdom march. A right-winger goes to the Nakba 78 counter protest. They accompany each other the whole time. Fully immersed, all day, completely surrounded by people who hold the opposite view to everything they believe. Exposure therapy, basically. A literal step into the other echo chamber, no safety net (except for a scouser called Ben Zand and a security guard).
We didn’t pick protests by accident. There is nowhere on earth where people are more certain, more passionate, more completely inside their own worldview than at a protest. Which makes it the perfect place to drop someone who disagrees with everything happening around them and see what actually happens.
Stylistically it’s more like a dating show than a documentary. The narrative is entirely about the relationship between the two political opponents, the tension, the growth or distance that develops throughout the day. Clear format points, sit-down interviews combined with complete immersion in the protests. A clear narrative arc around whether they’ll move closer or further apart. We didn’t want to just make protest fodder. Some of the clips definitely highlight the views and madness at the protests (and are fodder-esque), but what we really wanted was to try something new that could challenge the people watching it, not just the people in it. The world is a goddamn mess right now, so we thought we’d give a more empathetic approach a go.
It was shot on Saturday and it’ll be out by Friday. Five days from shoot to release, which is quicker than we normally operate. But our aim is to be THE preeminent zeitgeist gonzo documentary studio of this generation, and that sometimes means moving faster and being part of the conversation while it’s actually happening. We’re already releasing clips, collaborating with the subjects themselves on social, and so far it’s working, currently sitting at over 600k views in 2 days. We’ve also had hundreds of new followers before the film is even out, so the premise is working.
There is also a strategic reason we’re excited about this beyond just the one film. Zandland has always made work that asks hard questions and sits with complicated answers. But we’re also always looking for formats that are returnable. Things we can build on, do again across different topics, different fault lines, different people. This concept is exactly that. Every news cycle throws up new divisions, new flashpoints, new moments where two sides are absolutely convinced the other is insane. That’s not going anywhere. And for each one there’s a version of this format waiting to be made, building a library of films, a pipeline of clips, and a brand proposition that is recognisably and only Zandland.
And most importantly, it’s clear from the content what we’re not trying to be. We’re not trying to be political activists or culture warriors. Our films resonate most with audiences because we never arrive with a verdict already written. We always strive to show up with genuine curiosity, ask honest questions, and let the thing breathe. Brave enough to go to the places other people won’t, empathetic enough to actually listen when we get there. That’s the brand. This format, done well, is all of that. It has a clear shareable premise, it generates natural clip moments, it gives audiences something to argue about without us being the ones arguing, and it works across every platform we operate on.
It definitely won’t be all our vids, but we’ll do it again if this one works.
The ep is out on Friday. Subscribe to Zandland to watch!
Part Three: The Company
Zandland is a crazy place to work. We are always trying new things, a lot of which (most) completely and utterly fail. Last week we failed to release a film due to legal complications (it’ll be out in about a week and a half now), we tried a bunch of new formats, I spoke at a load of media events about how to make content work in this new ecosystem, we didn’t win a BAFTA (nominated again, choosing to see that as progress), and I personally built an entire app for internal use at the company as a side hobby. More on that another time. The way I’ve always seen it, and try to instil into the team, is that progress comes from trying new things, massively failing, feeling uncomfortable and then latching onto what works. It also comes from being nice and supporting other people, even if they think differently to you.
And even as we try new formats in complicated worlds, unsure what will work and what won’t, that’s just what you have to do. Our goal is to always take risks, and to always hold true to our values. We’re trying to be observers in a world gone mad. Truth seekers who challenge everyone, including ourselves, to think a bit differently.
A View From The Team
Freddie Newman and Ben Mulley on working on the latest show:
Last Tuesday we came up with an idea to get two people from opposite ends of the political spectrum out of their echo-chambers. We filmed it over the weekend and are going to release it on YouTube this Friday.
Turning things around at lightening speed is something I think we do really well here at Zandland, but even for us this feels slightly mad. It coincided with two other edits, and really messed with the production schedule.
As I’m writing this (late on Monday night in the Zandland edit suites), Ben Mulley is sat next to me editing. Between securing access, writing a shooting script and organising travel and security on one of the UK’s largest policing days in recent history, as well as about a million other things, it already feels like we’ve pulled off something big.
And that’s exactly what we’re trying to do: create thoughtful and nuanced observational docs in a digital landscape that rewards sensationalised narratives that reinforce what you already believe.
This film is probably the best articulation of that mission we’ve made (yet). In it we’re literally creating a space where two people with completely different views can spend time together, listen to each other and be understood as human beings instead of caricatures.
Our idea already feels like it’s working. We’ve had over 600k views just from the clips we posted of the shoot in the past two days.
Anyway, should probably get back to the edit.
See you on Friday.
Freddie and Ben
Part Four: The Recommendation
As a recommendation this week, and for a very different type of content that proves there isn’t just one way people consume things online, I give you Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching.
Two brothers from St. Louis, with almost no knowledge of birdwatching, buy a 2010 Kia Sedona for $4,500, turn it into a home on wheels, and spend a year driving around America trying to spot as many bird species as possible. It’s free on YouTube. It has around 4 million views. And, reportedly, Netflix, HBO and Amazon all came calling after it dropped.
One of the top comments, with thousands of likes, reads: “You didn’t start your day thinking you would watch a documentary about birdwatching. None of us did. It’s that good.”
It’s slow, it’s niche, it’s completely mad, and it’s proof that if you make something with genuine curiosity and care, people will find it. Which, when you think about it, is pretty close to the whole Zandland thesis.
PS. So many people over the last few weeks have told me, or told members of the team, how much they’re enjoying the Zandland content, the films, the clips, this newsletter. If that was you: thank you. It really does mean a lot.
Ben
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