BEST IN CLASS POWERED BY XFINITY: VERTICAL BRANDED CONTENT PRODUCTION

Best in Class Powered by Xfinity is a seven-episode, social-first vertical reality competition series produced by Rock Studios at NBCUniversal in partnership with Xfinity Creative Production and based on a concept by Carmichael Lynch. Hosted by creator and sports media personality Katie Feeney, the series followed six rising college creators competing in timed content challenges for a $100,000 Xfinity brand partnership.

ZANE Productions, an award-winning, director-led, full-service video production company with teams in Los Angeles and New York City, led the physical production. Director Zane directed the series and worked with ZANE Productions' New York City team, key creatives from Los Angeles, and production partners to translate the concept into an executable four-day shoot.

The production combined the unpredictability of unscripted television, the visual standards of commercial filmmaking, and the framing and pacing of native vertical content. ZANE Productions transformed a roughly 4,500-square-foot house into multiple competition environments, operated simultaneous multi-camera units, deployed up to nine cameras for key sequences, coordinated more than 60 production crew, and managed more than 100 people on location at peak.

Once the final shoot dates were confirmed, ZANE Productions had approximately 11 days to finalize the physical production plan. By the end of four shoot days, the team had captured the required material for six challenge episodes, a finale, and a series teaser, then delivered the organized assets to NBCUniversal's Manhattan-based post-production team.

Click to watch the Teaser on Xfinity's IG.

50M+ VIEWS ACROSS INSTAGRAM & TIKTOK IN THE FIRST 30 DAYS

PROJECT SNAPSHOT

Brand: Xfinity

Series: Best in Class Powered by Xfinity

Produced By: Rock Studios at NBCUniversal in partnership with Xfinity Creative Production

Concept By: Carmichael Lynch

Physical Production: ZANE Productions

Director: Director Zane

Host: Katie Feeney

Overall Project Budget: $1M+

Format: Brand-Powered Social-First Vertical Reality Competition Series

Deliverables: Six Challenge Episodes + Finale + Series Teaser

Contestants: Six Rising College Creators

Grand Prize: $100,000 Xfinity Brand Partnership

Platforms: Instagram + TikTok

Results: 50M+ cumulative views across Instagram & TikTok in the first 30 days

Production Location: Montclair, New Jersey / Greater New York City Production Market

Production Model: ZANE Productions' New York City Team + Key Creatives From Los Angeles

Shoot: Four Production Days

Final Prep Window: Approximately 11 Days

Production Crew: 60+

On-Location Footprint: 100+ People at Peak

Primary Location: Approximately 4,500-Square-Foot Residence Transformed Into Multiple Competition Environments

Primary Services: Branded Content Production • Vertical Video Production • Commercial Production • Reality and Unscripted Production • Multi-Camera Production • Production Design • Production Management

ZANE Productions managed the physical production within its allocated production budget, including the contestant-related expenses.

PRODUCTION OUTCOME: BRANDED EPISODIC CONTENT COMPOUNDs ATTENTION

The production completed the physical-production material required for all seven episodes and the teaser within four shoot days.

That material included six creator competitions, episode intros and outros, Katie Feeney pickups, curveball segments, contestant reactions, competition outcomes, three-camera challenge coverage, nine-camera common-room coverage, behind-the-scenes footage, and supporting content for the editorial team.

ZANE Productions organized and delivered the assets to NBCUniversal's post-production team in Manhattan. The finished series was created for Xfinity's Instagram and TikTok audiences, and Xfinity introduced the project through its official Best in Class announcement.

The outcome was not one isolated video. One production generated a seven-episode entertainment format, a teaser, and additional supporting material designed to work as a connected campaign ecosystem.

WHY THE FORMAT REQUIRED MULTIPLE PRODUCTION DISCIPLINES

Best in Class brought several production disciplines into one format. The challenge sequences needed the spontaneity and authentic reactions of unscripted television. The host material required the controlled lighting, composition, performance direction, and visual finish of commercial production. The complete series had to work inside the pacing, framing, and viewing behavior of vertical social platforms.

The brand also needed a meaningful role in the entertainment. Xfinity could not feel like an advertisement placed around an unrelated show. Connectivity had to affect what the creators did, how the challenges worked, and what was at stake.

These requirements shaped the directing approach, production design, camera coverage, schedule, technical workflow, and editorial plan from the beginning.

FROM CREATIVE CONCEPT TO EXECUTABLE PRODUCTION

Rock Studios and the NBCUniversal team developed the project in collaboration with Xfinity Creative Production. Carmichael Lynch originated the concept and was involved with talent and creative coordination.

ZANE Productions and Director Zane entered from the production side. The team developed a director's treatment, helped establish the visual and production direction, evaluated how the format could be filmed, and built the physical-production model.

The central production questions were practical and creative at the same time. Six creators had to rotate through six challenges without repeating a room. Multiple competitions needed to run simultaneously while preserving genuine reactions. More than 30 client, network, and agency stakeholders needed visibility into active sets without affecting production sound. Sets had to be built, filmed, redressed, and restored while production continued elsewhere.

The production plan had to solve those requirements without adding shoot days or losing the qualities that made the series entertaining.

A PRODUCTION SYSTEM BUILT FOR FOUR SHOOT DAYS

ZANE Productions treated the schedule as part of the creative execution. Every contestant rotation, camera position, wardrobe change, set reset, client-monitoring feed, transportation move, and shoot block had to connect to the next.

While one environment was filming, another could be prepared. Once a set had completed all of its scenes, restoration could begin while cameras continued elsewhere. Contestants could change wardrobe while host material was captured. After the unscripted challenge portions were complete, the production could shift into controlled host segments, pickups, intros, outros, and finale material. This production architecture allowed departments to work concurrently and gave the editorial team the coverage needed to build seven episodes from four days of principal photography.

TURNING ONE HOUSE INTO MULTIPLE COMPETITION WORLDS

A roughly 4,500-square-foot residence in Montclair became the physical world of Best in Class. ZANE Productions and the production design department used the bedroom, attic, kitchen, gym environment, sunroom, study, dining room, basement, and other areas for competition sets, contestant holding, client monitoring, talent spaces, crew operations, and production support.

The dining room became the common room where Katie Feeney met with contestants and where important setups, outcomes, and group reactions were captured. Other rooms were painted, dressed, rearranged, and transformed so that each competition had a distinct visual identity.

Some spaces served more than one episode. The sunroom was filmed as one competition environment, wrapped, and then rebuilt as a different world for another challenge. As rooms completed their work, the art department began restoring them while filming continued in active areas of the house.

Wardrobe supported the same system. Contestants received distinct looks for different episodes, helping viewers and editors separate one competition from another. The wardrobe department studied each creator's public style, sourced multiple options, and gave the contestants choices that still felt authentic to them.

Production design and wardrobe therefore served both the audience experience and the schedule. Visual decisions helped organize the episodic story while protecting the four-day production plan.

THREE SIMULTANEOUS REALITY COMPETITIONS

Sequentially filming all six competitions would not have fit the schedule. ZANE Productions divided the six contestants into three pairs and designed the early shoot days so three challenge rooms could operate at the same time.

Each active environment had its own camera coverage and production support. Three-camera setups inside the challenge rooms captured contestant interactions, spontaneous reactions, activity, and the material NBCUniversal's editorial team would need to construct each episode.

After each block, contestants changed wardrobe, rotated partners, and entered different competition environments. The system captured several episodes' worth of reality material in the same day without asking contestants to recreate first reactions.

NINE CAMERAS FOR AUTHENTIC REACTIONS

The common room presented a different editorial risk. It was where Katie Feeney introduced important moments, challenge outcomes were revealed, and contestants reacted as a group. Those reactions could not be repeated convincingly. When contestants learned who had won, the production needed the first response from Katie, the winners, the other competitors, and the group as a whole.

ZANE Productions designed key common-room sequences around up to nine cameras. The coverage included individual contestants, groups, wide frames, cross coverage, and multiple reaction angles at the same time.

Director Zane and the production team controlled the technical environment before the contestants entered each challenge. Once the timer started, creative interference was minimized so the participants could react, collaborate, improvise, make mistakes, and solve problems naturally. Production stepped in only when technical, operational, or safety needs required it.

The approach applied broadcast and unscripted-production methodology to a native vertical series. The production infrastructure was designed around the moments the edit could not afford to miss.

COMMERCIAL CRAFT DESIGNED FOR VERTICAL

Best in Class was designed for Instagram and TikTok rather than filmed horizontally and cropped after production. Native vertical storytelling influenced subject placement, movement, camera coverage, production design, and how quickly viewers could understand what was happening on a phone.

The challenge material prioritized authentic behavior and complete multi-camera coverage. The host segments allowed for more visual control. Lighting could be refined, frames composed precisely, multiple takes captured, and wardrobe coordinated by episode.

ZANE Productions' experience in vertical video production, commercial video production, and multi-camera live stream video production allowed both methods to live inside the same series. The result was premium, platform-native entertainment with commercial-level craft.

HOW XFINITY POWERED THE ENTERTAINMENT

Xfinity's role extended beyond sponsorship, product placement, or a creator mention. Connectivity helped shape the premise, challenge mechanics, creator experience, stakes, and episodic structure.

Contestants filmed content with their own devices, edited against strict time limits, received surprise video calls that introduced new curveballs, and uploaded their finished work before time expired. Xfinity's utility was connected directly to the creators' behavior and the competition format.

That approach reflects ZANE Productions' philosophy for branded content production. The strongest brand-powered entertainment gives the brand a meaningful function inside the story and gives the audience something worth watching.

LOS ANGELES CREATIVE LEADERSHIP AND NEW YORK CITY PRODUCTION INFRASTRUCTURE

Best in Class demonstrates how ZANE Productions' two-market production model works on a large project.

Director Zane led the physical production and direction. ZANE Productions brought several of its top Los Angeles collaborators to the New York City production market, including Cinematographer Will Turner, Production Designer Kathleen Rebecca Wright, and Wardrobe Stylist Jasmine Liddel.

They worked alongside ZANE Productions' experienced New York City broadcast, vertical, camera, sound, grip, electric, production, and support teams. The combination preserved the creative relationships and visual standards established through the company's Los Angeles work while using its New York City network for local crew, equipment, transportation, logistics, and broadcast experience.

Principal photography took place in Montclair, New Jersey, within the Greater New York City production market. Much of the production infrastructure came through New York City. Crew members, camera personnel, sound professionals, production staff, equipment, transportation resources, and other services were sourced and coordinated through ZANE Productions' East Coast network.

Many crew members lived in New York City and did not drive. ZANE Productions established daily passenger-van transportation between the city and the New Jersey location while coordinating off-site parking, equipment movement, production vehicles, permitting, police and fire requirements, client transportation, and talent logistics.

The project shows how ZANE Productions connects the creative leadership of its Los Angeles video production team with the local infrastructure of its New York City video production company operation. For brands, agencies, studios, networks, and media groups, that means one production partner can assemble the right creative and operational team across both markets.

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT AT SCALE

CREW, EQUIPMENT, AND TRANSPORTATION

The shoot coincided with an exceptionally busy production window in the New York and New Jersey market. Several regular collaborators and production resources were already committed elsewhere.

ZANE Productions expanded its network, reviewed additional camera and sound professionals, sourced transportation beyond its usual suppliers, and assembled communication equipment through multiple providers. The production ultimately coordinated more than 60 crew and an on-location population of more than 100 people at peak.

The work behind the images included crew architecture, vehicles, radios, monitors, power, parking, permits, safety systems, schedules, and equipment. Each element supported the production standard viewers would see on screen.

CLIENT MONITORING FOR MORE THAN 30 STAKEHOLDERS

Approximately 30 to 32 client, network, agency, and associated representatives were present at certain points. During simultaneous challenge blocks, several rooms could be filming at once.

ZANE Productions established separate visual feeds and individual audio monitoring so stakeholders could follow active competitions without introducing monitor audio into the production environments. The larger client group could divide its attention between rooms, giving each challenge focused review and notes. The system kept decision-makers informed while protecting location sound and contestant authenticity.

SEVERE WEATHER RESPONSE

Severe weather moved through northern New Jersey during the later portion of filming, and a tornado warning forced production to stop. More than 100 people were on or around the property.

Crew, talent, clients, and representatives moved into the safest available shelter area in the basement. Production remained there for approximately 45 minutes while conditions were monitored.

Once the threat passed and the location was cleared, the team reorganized and returned to production. ZANE Productions still completed the required material within the four-day shoot.

The response demonstrated the value of a structured production plan with enough flexibility to absorb a major disruption without compromising safety or the required deliverables.

HOW AI SUPPORTED PRODUCTION OPERATIONS

AI played a limited operational role behind the scenes. It was not used to generate visuals, establish the visual direction, or replace the director, cinematographer, production designer, wardrobe stylist, crew, or other creative professionals.

During preparation, AI helped review schedules and production documents for clarity and possible inconsistencies. It also helped the team evaluate contestant-rotation combinations across six creators and six competitions. Each participant needed to enter every competition once without accidentally repeating a room. The production team used AI to review possible pairings and simplify that scheduling logic, then applied human judgment to the final production plan.

For ZANE Productions, the practical value was straightforward. AI reduced administrative friction so experienced people could spend more time on creative, technical, and production decisions.

WHAT BRANDS, AGENCIES, STUDIOS, AND NETWORKS CAN TAKE FROM THE PRODUCTION

Build around the viewing format. A vertical competition series should be designed for the phone from the start. Framing, pacing, coverage, production design, and episode structure should reflect how the audience will experience the work.

Give the brand a meaningful role. Integration feels natural when the product or service affects what participants can do, how the format works, or why the entertainment exists.

Scale coverage around editorial risk. Nine cameras were unnecessary for most scenes. They were essential when multiple people could react differently to an announcement that happened only once.

Treat production design as part of scheduling. The order in which environments are built, filmed, redressed, restored, and wrapped can determine whether a complex production stays on schedule.

Plan for real production conditions. Talent availability changes, equipment becomes scarce, locations impose restrictions, and weather can stop filming. A strong plan must give the team enough structure and flexibility to protect safety, quality, and deliverables.

MORE THAN PRODUCTION EXECUTION

Best in Class shows why ZANE Productions operates as a director-led strategic creative partner rather than only a production vendor.

Rock Studios, Xfinity Creative Production, and Carmichael Lynch brought an ambitious entertainment concept. ZANE Productions' role was to translate that creative ambition into a physical-production system capable of delivering it at scale.

Director Zane and the ZANE Productions team considered the audience experience, vertical format, visual direction, authentic contestant reactions, multi-camera coverage, production design, scheduling, budget stewardship, crew structure, brand integration, talent availability, client monitoring, location logistics, and the editorial requirements of seven episodes.

The value extended beyond placing cameras in rooms. ZANE Productions helped determine how to execute the creative at a high level without losing what made the idea engaging in the first place.

That is the company's approach across commercial campaigns, branded entertainment, vertical and social-first content, television, livestreaming, and multi-platform production. Start with the objective, understand the audience and platform, then build the creative and production plan around what the content needs to accomplish.

ABOUT ZANE PRODUCTIONS

ZANE Productions is an award-winning, full-service video production company with teams in Los Angeles and New York City, serving brands, agencies, media groups, businesses, and individuals nationwide. As a director-led strategic creative partner, ZANE Productions brings creative, strategy, and production together to develop high-end commercial campaigns, branded entertainment, vertical and social-first content, livestreams, television, film, corporate content, and multi-platform productions. Since 2015, ZANE Productions has delivered 500+ videos for 250+ clients, generating more than 1 billion cumulative views and producing work attributed to more than $100 million in client revenue. Clients and collaborators include Amazon, Samsung, Adidas, Marvel Studios, Warner Bros., NBCUniversal, Volkswagen, Hyundai, UFC, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Heinz, Cisco, and more.

NEED A PRODUCTION PARTNER FOR AN AMBITIOUS IDEA

ZANE Productions partners with brands, agencies, studios, networks, and media groups on high-end commercial campaigns, branded entertainment, social-first series, vertical productions, and multi-platform content in Los Angeles, New York City, and nationwide.

Explore ZANE Productions' branded content production, vertical video production, commercial video production, and New York City video production capabilities.

Have an ambitious concept that needs the right production strategy? Contact ZANE Productions to build the production around what the idea deserves.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHAT IS BEST IN CLASS POWERED BY XFINITY?

Best in Class Powered by Xfinity is a seven-episode social-first vertical reality competition produced by Rock Studios at NBCUniversal in partnership with Xfinity Creative Production and based on a concept by Carmichael Lynch. Hosted by Katie Feeney, the series follows six rising college creators competing in content-creation challenges for a $100,000 Xfinity brand partnership.

WHAT DID ZANE PRODUCTIONS DO ON BEST IN CLASS?

ZANE Productions led the physical production, and Director Zane directed the series. The company developed the physical-production strategy and managed production planning, crew, production design, technical execution, multi-camera coverage, location operations, logistics, scheduling, and on-set production.

HOW LARGE WAS THE BEST IN CLASS PRODUCTION?

Best in Class was a $1M+ overall production with six contestants, seven episodes, four shoot days, more than 60 production crew, more than 100 people on location at peak, multiple simultaneous competition environments, and up to nine cameras for key sequences. ZANE Productions managed physical production within its allocated production budget; talent, contestant-related expenses, and NBCUniversal post-production were separate.

WHERE WAS BEST IN CLASS FILMED, AND HOW WAS THE NEW YORK CITY TEAM INVOLVED?

Principal photography took place in Montclair, New Jersey, within the Greater New York City production market. Director Zane and key Los Angeles creatives worked alongside ZANE Productions' New York City broadcast, vertical, camera, sound, grip, electric, production, and support teams. Much of the crew, equipment, transportation, and production infrastructure was sourced and coordinated through the New York City market.

CAN ZANE PRODUCTIONS CREATE VERTICAL REALITY AND BRANDED ENTERTAINMENT SERIES?

Yes. ZANE Productions produces vertical and social-first branded content, reality and unscripted formats, creator-led series, competition shows, commercials, and multi-camera productions. These disciplines can be combined within one campaign, as they were for Best in Class.