Coast to Coast Meeting in the Midwest. Chicago's next great production house.
This prospectus and all accompanying materials are the confidential and proprietary information of Volunteers in Service to Art (“Vista”).
CORE MISSION STATEMENT
THEY SAY TIME AND TIDE WAIT FOR NO ONE
BUT WHEN WE BECOME THE TIDE
TIME IS JUST THE WIND
VISTA is a media production house crafted with love and care in Chicago. We strengthen our creativity through disruption and radical collaboration. Our goal is to promote innovation in visual media through self-reflection and to inspire people from all communities to create art, while cementing ourselves as the greatest storytellers of the next era.
WHO WE ARE
Hello! Welcome to the Volunteers.In.Service.To.Art. When we started, we were a group of ambitious naive college kids who connected through working at and renting from our university's Digital Media Lab. The conversations that bonded us together were filled with exchanges of our favorite films, shows, songs, and youtube videos. Soon we were sneaking films during dead shifts and analyzing them, attempting to mimic our favorites with the equipment we thought was right and whatever was available to us.
Through lots of trial and error, we shed the naivete by learning from numerous failures and disappointments out of our control. Now, the only thing comparable to our dedication is our ambition. Our collective inspirations and experience has showed us that the only things that live forever, are dreams. Especially, the dreams of those who dedicate everything to the pursuit of their dreams.
We've dedicated ourselves to the dream of becoming the media phenomenon of the rest of the 2020s and onwards. At the beginning of 2026 we find ourselves at the inception of a new era, a tide that moves when we volunteer our lives in service to the dreams we share. We've cultivated a recognizable brand consisting of Apparel, Music, and Media Production from equipment and capital acquired strictly through freelance work and collaboration.
As true volunteers in service to our art, our only option now is to scale up. We're seeking partners to help scale our inception period of a 16 month plan that guarantees: 4 scripted short form social media shows, 3 narrative short films, and a growing pipeline of feature film and television concepts in development; while maintaining a steady base of local and commercial work and an eagerness to collaborate with fellow volunteers in service to real, intentional, art.
THE TEAM
PRODUCTION TEAM
OMARI SALISBURY
Chief Operations Officer
Writer, Director, Producer, Post Production Team.
WORK & COLLABORATIONS
REEL
ESTABLISHED CONNECTIONS
AREAS OF FOCUS
NARRATIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION
COMMERCIAL MEDIA PRODUCTION
MUSIC PRODUCTION
PHOTOGRAPHY
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMING
APPAREL
Production Team Breakdown
Egi Canie - Head of Client Relations, Director, Writer, Cinematographer.
Omi Salisbury - Talent Management, Director, Writer, Cinematographer, Post Production Team.
Victor Grisson - Head of Post Production, Director, Cinematographer.
Micah Payne - Head of Narrative Development, Writer, Director, Cinematographer, Post Production Team.
TECH INFRASTRUCTURE
Server Infrastructure
Centralized 98TB remote access server containing 88TB for Media Storage with 10TB high speed for post production.
DaVinci Resolve Server
Self-hosted multi-user collaborative color grading and editing workflow.
Fusion/After Effects
VFX/Motion Graphics production pipeline.
Notion Workspace
Project management, scheduling, and documentation system.
INVENTORY
Camera Systems
- •Panasonic Lumix gh5 x2
- •Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera: 4K and 6K models
- •Red Raven 4.5K
- •Blackmagic Ursa Mini 4.6K
- •Nikon Z50
- •Nikon Z6
- •Fujifilm XT2
Lighting and Grip
- •Amaran 100d x2
- •GVM LED Light Panel 80d x2
- •60W GVM Light Panel
- •120W GVM Light Panel
- •Quasar 125W Tube Light x2
- •ARRI 150W Fresnel
- •ARRI 300W Fresnel
- •2 Combo Stands
- •4 C stands
- •Assorted Clamps
- •Gaffing tape
- •Misc. Lighting Accessories
Audio Equipment
- Rode NTG 4•
- Zoom H6•
- DJI Mic 3 Lavaliers•
- Boom Pole•
- Rockville RCM02•
Storage and Computing
- 88TB for Archival Storage•
- 10TB High Speed Server for Post-Production•
- M1 Max Mac Studio 32GB RAM•
- M4 Mac Mini Ultra 24GB Ram•
- M4 Mac Mini Ultra 16GB Ram•
- M2 Macbook Pro 32 GB Ram•
- Assorted Solid State Drives and Harddrives•
INITIAL SLATE
Our initial 16-month slate consists of four social media shows and three narrative short films. Each of the projects you see here have at least a full treatment, besides Hope Dealer/Plugged In and Instant Atrophy which have full scripts. We intend to begin with Plugged In which will transition into the release of the Hope Dealer short film.
SURREALIST COMEDY
A kindly naive student from Connecticut finds himself selling drugs at his Chicago University where he finds that the world of drug dealing is both just as serious yet much more ridiculous than he expected.
SURREALIST COMEDY
An aspiring filmmaker takes a job at a local fried chicken spot in order to fund his debut film. Soon, he finds out that it isn't just the good flavors bringing people back; but a secret that makes the place too profitable, and too dangerous, to leave without proof.
PHILOSOPHICAL DRAMA
A young unassuming marketing director makes the wrong step into a busy street. She awakens in the last place she expected, the cafe on her street corner, where she's tasked with helping a stranger, or staying trapped there forever.
ACTION THRILLER
A couple starting the honeymoon phase of their relationship find themselves tangled in the wicked web of a gangster holding a fighting tournament with an unexpected element.
SCI-FI THRILLER
A college dropout suffering from serious burnout makes an idiotic deal placing him in the debt of an inter-dimensional artificial intelligence.
SURREALIST HORROR COMEDY
A group of friends get trapped in a cruel survival game, their arena? A commercial advertising break.
IP IN DEVELOPMENT
Though we're currently focusing our production efforts on adapting to social media and short films, our 16-month inception isn't just a testing ground for audience reception and retention—it's a way to discipline ourselves for the scale of larger productions. We have numerous feature and television projects in development prepared for when that day comes, which is why each of these individual projects already has at least a treatment; most of them already have script drafts. The tide doesn't wait, so we have to be ready.
*Any pitch cover using a still from an existing property is done so purely to invoke a similar visual language.
TRACTION & AUDIENCE
CHASE USA
Chase speaks for himself as an artist and creative. Click his name to visit his website, also designed by VISTA, where you can explore his art and music. Since our inception, Chase and VISTA have collaborated closely on nearly every project—big or small. Together, our work has been featured in major publications and continues to garner nationwide attention in the music industry.
In a month he singlehandedly gained 96k followers and 12.9 million views through Instagram and 18k YouTube subscribers. For reference, at the beginning of December his follower counts for both accounts was hovering around 1,200. On TikTok, his followers since November have gone up by 71k, and new viewers up by 2.6 million with his video content being produced by VISTA.
Current Metrics
Demographics & Intended Audience
Social media usage breakdown for 18-29 year olds in the U.S.
Theater Attendance Trends
Growth & Retention Factors
From experience, we can say that the average Gen Z social media user enjoys both social media and the theater. However we're the first generation where the novelty and movie magic of the industry are no longer well guarded secrets. One of our first collective media memories is the sale of Marvel and Star Wars to Disney. Gen Z writers, producers and directors are becoming a lost trade and the novelty and variety of the craft that gave way to the industry boom in the 30s and found new shape in each generation after, has faded with ours.
We've been saddled with the era of the remake, the reboot, the sequel, or the adaptation. The few original IP we are blessed with are either drowned out by the noise or corrupted by trying to expand past its limits. Most try to mimic artistic voices of the past decades before ever finding their own and understanding what made the stories from those voices so special.
The experience of watching something new, artistic, and intentional can be captured with a 30 second video and a swipe. We believe that if the intention of this content is to get people back in the theaters and engaging with television, then we can keep our audience coming back and constantly expand to new ones.
We can revitalize the industry by returning to making great business decisions informed by good stories instead of compromising good stories to optimize mediocre business decisions.
MILESTONES AND
ROADMAP
PHASE 0
- •Itemized budget and infrastructure plan drafted.
- •Community/talent network in place.
- •Decks, bibles, and pitch materials in progress.
- •Seek investments and revenue for 16 month slate.
Studio Progress
Before
After
Behind The Scenes
The Road Ahead
PHASE 1
- •Acquire core gear and storage.
- •Lock studio + second location for 15 months.
- •Launch first cour of flagship social show (e.g., Plugged In).
- •Begin writers' rooms for additional series.
PHASE 2
- •Expand to 2–3 active social shows (Purgatory Cafe + new format).
- •Complete first short film(s) and enter festivals.
- •Hit or approach monetization thresholds.
PHASE 3
- •Complete 4-show 3-short film slate.
- •Deliver 8 feature scripts + 4 TV concepts with bibles and pilots.
- •Aggregate performance data (views, retention, event revenue, apparel sales, platform revenue).
- •Present results and expansion proposal (e.g., push from 500k to 650k+ tier).
PARTNERSHIP MODELS
BRAND/CAMPAIGN PARTNER
Underwrite specific shows, seasons, or events.
Receive integrations, co‑branded content, and event activations.
COMMISSIONED PRODUCTIONS
Music videos, branded shorts, mini‑docs, Jubilee‑style social formats.
Vista supplies full production/post pipeline, equipment, and crews.
INVESTMENT & SUSTAINABILITY
USE OF FUNDS
INVESTMENT TIERS
We've budgeted out three different sustainable operating budgets.
Base
Core infrastructure, lean delivery
- ✓Covers entire package laid out above
- ✓Including Core Team
- ✓Delivers 4 Social Shows
- ✓3 Short Films
- ✓Production and Post Production Pipeline
Growth
Additional funds allocated to:
- ✓Lenses
- ✓Storage
- ✓Staffing
- ✓Second Studio
- ✓Locations
- ✓Lighting
- ✓Operations
Expansion
Maximum scale, parallel productions
- ✓Budget Upscale
- ✓Feature/Television Development
CHICAGO BASED
BENEFITS OF A CHICAGO STUDIO PRESENCE
In addition to the growing tax incentives in Illinois, Chicago is a location with growing recognition in popular media comparable to that of New York and Los Angeles.
Over the years, we've built a growing network of amazing people with experience and ambition to learn and grow in positions above and below the production line. Our core team consists of a small group of a new generation of directors, writers, cinematographers, and producers who have learned to adapt to multiple roles in order to organize this network into plans to become a new and effective studio in a premiere location.
ILLINOIS TAX CREDIT BENEFITS
Qualified IL Production Spending
Credit on IL Resident Salaries
Non-Resident Labor
Economically Disadvantaged Areas Bonus
● 5-Year Carry-Forward Period
● Legislative Renewal: 2039
“INHERITED WILL, THE DESTINY OF THE AGE, AND THE DREAMS OF THE PEOPLE. AS LONG AS PEOPLE CONTINUE TO PURSUE THE MEANING OF FREEDOM, THESE THINGS WILL NEVER CEASE TO BE!”
-EIICHIRO ODA, ONE OF THE GREATEST STORYTELLERS OF THE MODERN ERA
We truly believe in our dream, and chasing it is the only way we know how to live. We've spent a lot of time cultivating it and now, it's finally ready to share with the world. There's nothing scarier than the chance that the world might crush that dream, but these are the kinds of risks those who wish to be known as legends have to accept.
We appreciate taking the time from your schedule to review our prospectus and hope to speak with you soon!
Finally, we'd like to leave you with one last thing. A promise.
Whether we find ourselves in collaboration or not, you can bet on the fact that you'll see us someday soon. We'll be sporting calloused hands, smiling faces, and dream-filled hearts.
It's not too late to be early.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST!
CONTACT INFO
© 2026 VISTA Productions. All rights reserved.
Volunteers In Service To Art • EST 2021 • Chicago, IL