PRODUCTION DIARY #03

Building the Crew for the Journey Ahead

When Old Salt, Dean and Silas returned home to Vienna, they brought back far more than location photographs and scouting notes.

They had found the first places where the story of AYE MATIES could begin. They had chosen the shore on which Old Salt might arrive and the streets through which he would take his first steps into the modern world.

But once back in Vienna, another question began to occupy the Captain’s mind.

Creating a cinematic adventure for television and streaming audiences was one thing. But how could they also reach the next generation? How could AYE MATIES become more than something people simply watched? How could it become a world they discovered, followed, shared and wanted to be part of from the very beginning?

Old Salt put the question directly to Dean:

“How do we reach not only television and streaming audiences, but the next generation as well?”

For Dean, the answer was clear.

Social media.

More Than Social Media

But AYE MATIES did not simply need someone to publish a few photographs, create occasional posts or upload a trailer once the production was finished.

This project needed someone who understood how stories live in the digital world. Someone who knew how curiosity is created, how communities grow and why people stop scrolling and begin to care.

They needed someone who understood the psychology behind social media.

And, ideally, someone who belonged to the very generation they wanted to reach.

Dean smiled.

“I may know exactly the right person.”

He told Old Salt about a young woman named Pia.

Pia had studied business psychology and neuromarketing – a combination that seemed almost made for the task ahead. She understood audiences, behaviour, attention and emotion. She knew that a project like AYE MATIES could not wait until its launch to begin building a relationship with its audience.

At the time, however, she was working for three hotels in Vienna – overworked and, in Dean’s opinion, far too undervalued for the potential she carried.

Old Salt listened carefully.

The more Dean explained, the clearer it became that Pia might be much more than someone who could take care of social media. She could help shape the way the world would first encounter AYE MATIES.

The Captain smiled and, borrowing the famous words of Don Corleone, declared:

“Then we shall make her an offer she can’t refuse.”

Dean immediately reached for his phone and asked Pia to meet.

A Meeting in Dean’s Apartment

The meeting took place in Dean’s apartment in Vienna.

What began as a conversation about a possible role in social media quickly grew into something much larger.

Pia did not arrive simply to listen to Dean and Old Salt describe their project. She arrived with ideas of her own.

She brought thoughts on strategy, audience development and how a project like AYE MATIES should begin communicating long before its first official release. She immediately understood that the journey itself was already part of the story.

The first message from Old Salt.The birth of the soundtrack.The mystery surrounding the Captain.The search for locations.The formation of the crew.The moments behind the scenes.

All of it could invite an audience to follow the adventure from the very beginning.

As the conversation continued, Dean and Old Salt realised that their original idea had been too small.

They had thought they needed someone for social media.

What they really needed was someone capable of building an entire social media world around AYE MATIES.

Someone who could develop the strategy, define the digital voice of the project and, in time, gather a team of creative minds around her to turn that strategy into content.

By the end of the meeting, the decision had been made:

Pia became Head of the Social Media Department.

She would not simply support the project online. She would help build the bridge between the cinematic world of Old Salt and a new generation of viewers waiting to discover it.

Familiar Faces for a New Adventure

For Pia and Dean, working together was nothing new.

She knew Dean’s way of approaching a production. She knew how important trust, experience and a strong core team were to him. And she knew that AYE MATIES would need more than individual specialists brought in one at a time.

It needed people who already understood one another.

During the meeting, Pia looked at Dean and asked:

“What about the rest of your core crew? What about Michael Schumpelt and Michael Lehner?”

Dean grinned.

She was absolutely right.

“We’ll bring them on board too.”

There was no reason to wait.

That very evening, Dean picked up his phone again.

Two More Crew Members Answer the Call

The first call went to Michael Schumpelt, known to the team as Schumpi.

With his experience behind the camera and his understanding of modern creative technology, he was a natural fit for a project that would demand flexibility, imagination and a strong visual instinct. Together with Silas, he would strengthen the camera department and help capture the world of Old Salt from more than one cinematic perspective.

The next call went to Michael Lehner.

As a photographer, Michael would be responsible for capturing the journey behind the production: the crew, the locations, the atmosphere and those small, authentic moments that show how a project begins to take shape long before an audience sees the final images on screen.

Dean told them about Old Salt.About the Captain’s extraordinary vision.About the trailer soundtrack that had already grown into the idea for an entire album.About the journey along the Adriatic coast.About the chosen locations in Novigrad and Izola.And about Pia joining the project to build its social media department.

Both Michael Schumpelt and Michael Lehner were immediately enthusiastic.

They understood that this would not be an ordinary production.

It was the beginning of a new world: a project built from cinema, music, adventure, real locations, mystery and the promise of a story that was only beginning to reveal itself.

By the end of that evening, both had joined the crew.

Michael Schumpelt came on board as second cameraman. Michael Lehner came on board as photographer.

The Crew Begins to Take Shape

In only a short time, AYE MATIES had evolved far beyond its first conversation.

What had begun as an idea shared by Old Salt in a WhatsApp message was now becoming a real production with a growing creative structure.

Old Salt carried the original vision. Dean was shaping the story as director and co-producer. Silas Pross had joined as Director of Photography, bringing the cinematic eye the project required. Pia had taken responsibility for building the Social Media Department and connecting the project with a new generation. Michael Schumpelt had joined as second cameraman.Michael Lehner had joined as photographer, ready to document the adventure from its earliest days.

The crew was not being assembled at random.

It was growing from trust, shared experience and the belief that this strange, ambitious pirate adventure could become something truly special.

The locations had been found.The first departments were beginning to form.The story was growing.The ship was filling with crew.

And with every new person who answered the call, AYE MATIES moved one step closer to setting sail.