We had the good fortune of connecting with Marni Wagner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marni, why did you pursue a creative career?
As a child, I was a voracious reader and I loved creating stories of my own. As I got older and started making college decisions, I never really thought about pursuing a creative career, in fact I didn’t really think it was an option. When I got to school and faced the prospect of finding a major I realized that I could turn my love for storytelling into a career. I specifically loved the idea of television as a medium because of the variety of different opportunities in the field.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I began my career in Los Angeles working freelance jobs on commercials and music videos (yes those existed when I started) in order to “break in” to the business. From there I worked on tv dramas and then eventually moved to New York to continue my career. Later, I moved down to Miami in order to be closer to family but found myself at a crossroads; I wanted to continue my career but LA and NY were the main places to do that at that time. Eventually, I found a job working for a company in their long-form programming arm when my boss mentioned that he thought I should try my hand at creating promos and trailers. I had no idea if it would be something I liked or was even good at for that matter, but once I started, I realized that it was. It definitely was not easy, getting here but it was worth it.

Our company sets itself apart from others in the business because as business owners and creatives, we make sure that we are a part of every team and every project, we don’t pitch our best selves and then leave it up to someone else to fulfill our promise. Our clients like knowing that we serve both roles and that they are always getting “The A Team”. We have cultivated an amazing group of talented people that can scale up or down depending on project size. We value our team and reinforce that takes all of our talents together to craft each project.

I am most excited about the work that we’ve been doing since we opened our doors in 2020. I have found that we have each grown artistically in so many ways. I love being my own “boss” because I think it has really made me more confident in going after projects, knowing what I bring to the table. Every client we’ve had has brought us repeat business which I think is a testament to the type of environment, workflow and creativity that we have cultivated.

The biggest challenge, as I guess in any entrepreneur’s life, is getting in the door. We started with a list of contacts but still had to “prove ourselves” since we went out on our own. It is still difficult, all these years later, to get someone to answer your cold call email or to convince someone you’ve never worked with to give you a try, especially when there’s a lot of money and time on the line, but we have persevered by consistently doing great work and use our creativity to open doors.

One of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned in this business is that as important as the work is, the client experience is just as important. There is a lot of great work out there in our field, but so many of our clients have stressed that they are looking for good partners; companies that are willing to collaborate and make the entire process easy. We all have so much on our plates, it’s important to know that the team you’ve chosen to work with doesn’t add to it but rather to help you manage it all.

The A Team is an amazing group of creatives that puts 100% into every project. We create promos and trailers for broadcast television, cable networks, streamers, and brands. We love telling compelling visual stories through true collaboration. We seek to exceed our clients expectations every time, with every story told.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I definitely was a little more exciting when I lived on South Beach and Brickell but I love when people come to visit because I get to revert back into my former self and find fun things to do and see. I would definitely take them to Wynwood to enjoy the restaurants and incredible art. The Design District would also be on my list-I love to walk around there, grab a bite and just take in all the people watching. I would also try to find some of the cool pop-up events around town-from street fairs to flea markets, it’s fun to do something that you wouldn’t normally do.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d love to give credit to my partners, Nikki Blaszyk, Ben Frank and Luis Martinez, as without the creativity that each of us brings to the table there would be no “A Team”.

Website: https://www.notthebteam.com

Instagram: notthebteam

Linkedin: The A Team

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