THE LITTLE HOURS x CUT
Aubrey Plaza Smokes with the Weed Nuns

Guy who came up with and pushed the idea

When Gunpowder & Sky was bidding for “The Little Hours” at Sundance, a foul-mouthed comedy about nuns in 14th century Italy, we were at a major disadvantage: the company was only a few months old and competing for a star-studded project with the big hitters of indie film. At the NYC office, I got a call from our exec team in Utah: they needed stunt marketing ideas to win over the filmmakers, and needed them in about 45 minutes.

I knew that Gunpowder & Sky was a partial owner of YouTube mega-channel Cut, who ran a hit series called “Strange Buds” which featured odd-couple pairings (e.g. rabbi/priest/atheist, democrat/republican, etc.) smoking weed together. The idea: an episode pairing the film’s star (and producer) Aubrey Plaza with some nuns. The filmmakers ultimately cited G&S’s willingness to market outside the box as a key reason they brought the film to us.

To minimize impact on timing and budget, I timed the filming in Seattle (where Cut was based) with the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), who were eager to have an Aubrey Plaza appearance at their screening. I take no credit for the video itself: that was all Cut/Aubrey/the nuns.

The video racked up 15MM+ views on Youtube and Facebook within its first week, reached the front page of Reddit, and drove massive awareness of the film.