Giving Season Lasts All Year Long for Production Company Spark & Riot

The end of the year is a time of giving, as people and companies open their wallets during the holidays and charities capture the bulk of their donations for the year.

One company makes sure its giving spirit is strong all year long by building community support into its operating model.

LA-based production company Spark & Riot reinvests the profits it makes on all shoots back into the communities it works in by partnering with local nonprofits. In the last year, the company helped with wildfire cleanup in Maui, empowered women in Mexico to start small businesses, and supported foster youth in Los Angeles, among other efforts.

In 2023, Spark & Riot invited its agency partners to join in its giving efforts by using a percentage of their profits to help fund the Maui wildfire clean-up effort. Agencies including Gotham, Terri & Sandy, Saatchi & Saatchi, Y&R, Taxi, and Digitas participated.

Spark & Riot also helps brands give back to local causes, enlisting Adobe to help bring clean water to Chiapas, Mexico, and working with Clorox and FCB Chicago to help Venezuelan refugees in Colombia.

“We tie [all of our events] to our nonprofit cause, and we invite agencies, clients, and all of our crews to become involved with a nonprofit if they choose to,” Spark & Riot founder Ana de Diego told ADWEEK.

Inspired to give back

De Diego started Spark & Riot in 2018 to service branded content work. She then pivoted into features and long form films, including producing and co-creating “Impact,” with Gal Gadot, a documentary series that followed the stories of six women who made an impact on their communities.

That project gave de Diego, who had always wanted her company to represent diverse and international talent, the idea to give back with each project.

Rather than just write checks to certain causes, Spark & Riot helps clients identify nonprofits that align with their social responsibility mandates. Following the production, the client then works with the nonprofit and their own staff to complete the project, documenting the process along the way.

After working with Adobe on a shoot in Mexico, for instance, the software giant partnered with nonprofit IXIM to help provide clean water systems to indigenous populations in the Chiapas region.

“We installed all these water filtration systems in these remote, rural, dirt road neighborhoods and in schools. And we also drilled wells to make sure that we were active in providing clean water. Because without clean water, you can’t really fix any other problems,” said de Diego.

Amanda Claire, creative producer at Adobe, said advertisers have skills that can make the world better, but not many opportunities to engage in the community in personal ways.

“Spark & Riot not only excels at what they do in the advertising space, but also in these communities and organizations that they help lift up,” Claire told ADWEEK. “Their mission of doing good and having purpose definitely gives them an advantage when I am considering who to partner with.”

Closer to home, Spark & Riot works with Hope in a Suitcase to outfit Los Angeles foster children. This year, they are hosting a holiday gift wrapping event to ensure the kids experience the warmth and joy of a thoughtfully wrapped gift.

“Ana and her team consistently show up with a joyful can-do spirit that uplifts our events. We’re grateful to the Spark & Riot crew for showing youth who have not experienced much kindness that there are people who sincerely care about their wellbeing,” said Marsha Todd Austin, director of Hope in a Suitcase.

Bringing in agencies

Spark & Riot is expanding its mission to help agencies get involved with causes they care about.

The production company worked with Terri & Sandy on a shoot for My/Mochi, which resulted in a partnership with nonprofit Fundación Origen to empower women entrepreneurs in Mexico. Profits from the project allowed the organization to build crop gardens for women-owned food growing businesses.

“Because they have such wonderful directors and talent, this program and initiative is a nice added bonus,” said Daniel Maughan, a producer with Terri & Sandy, of Spark & Riot.

To inspire action, Spark & Riot often brings staff from local nonprofits on set to talk about their work. In August, the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center for Orphans had client and agency staffers write notes inside of books it bought for children.

“They found it really impactful and meaningful,” said de Diego.

Despite the enthusiastic industry response to Spark & Riot’s model, de Diego wants to see more investment from clients and agencies in local causes. But with fewer AOR accounts, she sees that being a more difficult ask, “so we’re finding ways of making it easier for clients to be involved without asking them for money,” she said.

“We’ve become a bit big facilitator in creating a system of organization…and then rallying people to go do that,” said de Diego.