Services:
– Production
– Direction
The Brief
With its compulsive ‘one more go’ loop, Balatro is the reason so little work gets done around here. Luckily, we managed to tear ourselves away for this killer collaboration. Indie publisher Playstack asked us to produce and direct live-action segments for their latest DLC trailer.
Their ask: bring Jimbo, the game’s creepy animated mascot, to life by transforming voice actor and meme machine Ben Starr into a gurning clown king. With only three weeks from brief to shoot, our producers had to play their cards right to nail the look and tone of the piece.
The Solution
Working with a costume designer and makeup artist we quickly prototyped and revised the look of Jimbo’s iconic jester hat and face paint. The client was so pleased with the final outfit that they revived it at the 2025 Bafta Game Awards, where Jimbo walked the red carpet and collected an award. Our little jesters hat achieved such big things!
As the shoot approached we consulted with Playstack on their storyboards, shaping shots to fulfil their needs in the time available. On the shoot we were flexible but clear-eyed, nailing the crucial technical elements, but also feeding Ben improvised lines that gave the final trailer its bizarre energy. This also left the client with plenty of bonus b-roll to spin into further assets.
Live-action Jimbo was endlessly reshared on social media, and Ben Starr’s terrifying grin now appears on thousands of Balatro features across the gaming press. Did we help create a monster? Perhaps. But we had fun doing it.
Behind the scenes
Key stats
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Weeks to prep
This shoot had to happen fast with just three weeks from brief to production. There was a marketing beat we needed to hit, and Ben Starr’s busy schedule to consider.
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m
Total views
This video travelled and has, at time of writing, accumulated over 6.3m views on owned channels alone.
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Bananas consumed
We think it’s impressive that we got so much mileage out of this few bananas. When you consider that Ben was eating them with the skin still attached – it’s a stat worth reading.
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