Picture Motion
Picture Motion is a New York-based social impact agency that designs and executes cause-marketing campaigns for documentary films, TV, and branded content, serving major studios, streamers, and foundations.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Picture Motion does
Picture Motion is a New York-based social impact agency that develops and executes cause-marketing and impact campaigns for documentary films, narrative films, TV series, and branded content. Founded in 2012 and operating as a private LLC (Picture Motion Campaigns, LLC), the company serves filmmakers, distributors, foundations, and brands—working with clients that include Netflix, HBO, Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney+/Hulu, PBS, National Geographic, Searchlight Pictures, Patagonia, Planned Parenthood, and Bloomberg Philanthropies. The company has delivered over 400 campaigns across its history.
The firm's core services include impact strategy, campaign management, grassroots screening tours, partnership development, experience and event production, discussion guides, and a "Braintrust" advisory offering. Picture Motion operates a proprietary grassroots screening host network spanning schools, community centers, churches, and libraries, and reaches international audiences (e.g., 140 educational screenings across 39 countries for The Territory). The company also built a Virtual Screening Room platform during COVID-19 to enable remote screenings and panelists, and integrates with third-party virtual cinema platforms (Kino Now, Kino Marquee, Ovee).
Revenue is generated through customized professional services engagements, with pricing tailored to client goals and budgets. The company is founder-led, with Christie Marchese as Founder and CEO and Brian Walker as CEO, and has proven quantitatively measurable outcomes (e.g., 65,000 participants in a sugar detox challenge, 5,040 students attending Free Solo field trips, 3,000+ attendees at Summer of Soul events). It is bootstrapped, with no disclosed funding rounds or institutional investors, and operates with a lean team of 1-10 employees from its headquarters at 375 Hudson Street in New York.
Picture Motion firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Picture Motion
- Legal name
- Picture Motion Campaigns, LLC
- Website
- https://picturemotion.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Picture Motion is a New York-based social impact agency that designs and executes cause-marketing campaigns for documentary films, TV, and branded content, serving major studios, streamers, and foundations.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Picture Motion industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Social Impact Marketing Services
- NAICS
- Motion Picture and Video Industries (5121)
- SIC
- Services-Allied To Motion Picture Production (7819), Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Motion Graphics & Animation (BPAFAIAD)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- VFX & Motion Graphics (CGI, Compositing, 2D/3D) (MPAAAMAC)
Keywords
Where Picture Motion is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Picture Motion business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Impact Campaign Services: Picture Motion develops and implements social impact campaigns for documentary films, narrative films, TV series, and branded content. The company creates custom proposals tailored to client goals and budgets, providing services including impact strategy, campaign management, grassroots screening tours, event production, and partnership development.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Picture Motion product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Picture Motion is a social impact agency that develops and executes impact campaigns for documentary films, narrative films, TV series, branded content, books, and podcasts. The agency creates custom impact strategies, manages grassroots screening tours, produces events, develops partnerships with activists and academics, and builds educational toolkits to drive audience engagement and measurable social change for film, entertainment, and brand partners.
Product overview
Picture Motion is an award-winning cause marketing and social impact agency for film, entertainment, and brand partners. The company operates as a service-based agency offering a portfolio of campaign management services including Impact Strategy, Impact Campaign Management, Grassroots Screening Tours, Partnership Development, Experience & Event Production, Discussion & Engagement Guides, Braintrust, and Development & Pre-Production. The core offering centers on developing and implementing marketing and purpose campaigns that maximize storytelling's power to ignite audience engagement and real-world social change. The company also provides a Virtual Screening Room platform for clients. Their campaign portfolio includes high-profile documentary impact campaigns such as The Territory, Summer of Soul, Free Solo, 13th, Growing Up, The Color of Care, DIS | INTEGRATION, Fire of Love, Till, Fed Up, Fair Play, and Creed III. Picture Motion works with filmmakers, creators, distributors, foundations, and brands across all storytelling types from film and TV to books and podcasts.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Impact Campaign Services Comprehensive social impact campaign services for documentary films, narrative films, TV series, branded content, books, and podcasts. Includes impact strategy development, campaign management, grassroots screening tours, event production, partnership development, and discussion guide creation. Custom proposals are built for each client based on goals and budget.
- Virtual Screening Room Custom virtual theater platform built for clients during the COVID-19 pandemic to enable remote documentary screenings and conversations. Features include chat and livestream panel capabilities for facilitating virtual panel discussions and audience engagement during documentary screenings.
Quantifiable outcome
- 140 educational screenings across 39 countries for The Territory documentary
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Picture Motion
Customer profileNamed customers13 records
Segments7 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Picture Motion technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration4 records
Picture Motion partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- The Virsa Foundation Inc.coreStrategic partnership for 'Third Degree Burnout' documentary national impact campaign in 2026. The campaign focuses on grassroots screenings, educational distribution, and cross-sector partnerships across healthcare, academic, and community institutions. The documentary earned twelve awards and two UN recognitions during its festival run.
- Muslim American Leadership Alliance (MALA)minorPartnership for The Cave documentary screening at National Geographic Museum in Washington DC, with panel discussions on Syrian humanitarian crisis.
- NetflixcoreClient relationship for impact campaigns on Netflix documentary releases including 13th, When They See Us, College Behind Bars, Crip Camp, and other documentary content.
- HBOcoreClient relationship for impact campaigns on HBO documentary releases including Free Solo (via National Geographic), and other documentary content.
- Searchlight PicturescorePartnership for Summer of Soul theatrical release campaign extending reach through community screenings around Juneteenth events.
- Harpo ProductionscoreCollaboration with Harpo Productions on The Color of Care documentary impact campaign addressing racial inequities in healthcare.
- Smithsonian ChannelcoreCollaboration with Smithsonian Channel on The Color of Care documentary impact campaign addressing racial inequities in healthcare.
- National GeographiccoreOngoing partnership for environmental documentaries including Jane Goodall: The Hope, The Territory, and Free Solo campaigns.
- PatagoniaminorBrand partnership for environmental documentary campaigns including Public Trust and Artifishal.
- Planned ParenthoodminorPartnership for Ours To Tell documentary campaign on reproductive justice.
- Bloomberg PhilanthropiesminorPhilanthropic partner for social impact documentary initiatives.
- Kino LorberminorTheatrical distributor partner for virtual cinema initiatives and documentary releases.
- Warner Bros. DiscoverycoreClient relationship for social impact campaigns on documentary and feature film content.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Picture Motion competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Participant: Participant (formerly Participant Media) is a much larger impact-driven entertainment company that produces and funds socially relevant films and social impact campaigns, serving the same studios and brands as Picture Motion but as a vertically integrated producer rather than as an agency.
Direct peers
- Active Voice: Active Voice builds screening and engagement campaigns for documentary films to drive social impact, serving the same filmmakers, distributors, and foundations that Picture Motion targets and competing for the same campaign contracts.
- Doc Society (formerly BRITDOC): Doc Society runs impact producing labs, funding, and campaign support for social-issue documentaries globally; it overlaps directly with Picture Motion's impact campaign management and partnership development services for documentary filmmakers.
- Working Films: Working Films is a nonprofit impact organization that runs grassroots screening and engagement campaigns for documentary films, directly comparable to Picture Motion's core grassroots screening tour services and target audience of filmmakers and distributors.
- The Video Project: The Video Project distributes impact-driven films and educational media to schools, libraries, and community groups, directly comparable to Picture Motion's grassroots screening host network and educational distribution services.
Emerging players
- Impact Partners: Impact Partners is a film financing and producing entity that funds social-issue documentaries and supports impact campaigns, partially overlapping with Picture Motion's impact campaign work and competing for the same mission-driven content budgets.
- Gamechanger Films: Gamechanger Films is a film financing and production company focused on women-directed social impact documentaries, adjacent to Picture Motion's cause-marketing work and potentially a complementary partner or competitor for impact campaign budgets.
- Cinereach: Cinereach supports and produces independent films and impact-driven projects, with partial overlap to Picture Motion's impact campaign services in the documentary and independent film ecosystem.
Others
- Sundance Documentary Fund: Sundance Documentary Fund provides grants and support for non-fiction filmmakers, complementary to Picture Motion's impact campaign services as a funding ecosystem participant rather than a direct agency competitor.
- Catapult Film Fund: Catapult Film Fund provides early-stage grants to social-issue documentary filmmakers, adjacent to Picture Motion's impact producing work as a complementary funding source rather than a direct service competitor.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Picture Motion social profiles
Digital presencePicture Motion financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Picture Motion leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Picture Motion funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Picture Motion M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Picture Motion
What does Picture Motion do?
Picture Motion is a social impact agency that develops and executes impact campaigns for documentary films, narrative films, TV series, branded content, books, and podcasts. The agency creates custom impact strategies, manages grassroots screening tours, produces events, develops partnerships with activists and academics, and builds educational toolkits to drive audience engagement and measurable social change for film, entertainment, and brand partners.
Is Picture Motion a public or private company?
Picture Motion is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Picture Motion founded?
Picture Motion was founded in 2015. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Picture Motion based?
Picture Motion is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Picture Motion make money?
One revenue line is on record: impact Campaign Services.
Who are Picture Motion's main competitors?
Participant is listed as a broad incumbent. Direct peers are Active Voice, Doc Society (formerly BRITDOC), Working Films and The Video Project. Emerging players are Impact Partners, Gamechanger Films and Cinereach. Others are Sundance Documentary Fund and Catapult Film Fund.
Does Picture Motion have an API?
No public API is recorded for Picture Motion.
What industry is Picture Motion in?
Picture Motion's product category is Social Impact Marketing Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAFAIAD, Motion Graphics & Animation, with a secondary code of MPAAAMAC, VFX & Motion Graphics (CGI, Compositing, 2D/3D). Its NAICS code is 5121 and its SIC code is 7819.