Greg Hemmings, founder of the Saint John-based production company that bears his name, has spent nearly 20 years exploring the space where storytelling, business and community impact meet. Now, as audiences grow increasingly skeptical of polished digital content and artificial media, he believes authentic storytelling matters more than ever.

“We’re not just producing marketing videos or TV ads for companies that drive desired commercial outcomes,” Hemmings says. “We help our clients share their important stories that strengthen their communities.”

“In this day of AI slop and the distrust of everything that you see, we really want people to see us as the purpose-driven film production company that can tell authentic stories that cannot be replicated by the machine.”

—Greg Hemmings

That philosophy is now being formalized through Beyond the Frame, a LinkedIn newsletter Hemmings House is developing with longtime collaborator Dave Stonehouse. The series explores case studies behind some of the company’s more socially driven productions — projects designed not simply to promote organizations, but to generate measurable public engagement and lasting social value.

Founded in 2006, Hemmings House has built a reputation through commercial production, documentary filmmaking and values-focused storytelling work across Atlantic Canada and internationally. In recent years, the company has worked on projects in Peru and Brazil tied largely to environmental and sustainability initiatives funded through foundations and international partnerships. Becoming a certified B Corp more than a decade ago helped establish many of those relationships.
But some of the projects Hemmings points to most readily happened much closer to home.

Among the examples featured through Beyond the Frame are films connected to Sistema New Brunswick and Code Kids. A documentary tied to Sistema helped support the eventual formation of the Sistema New Brunswick music program, while work surrounding Code Kids contributed to the creation of Brilliant Labs.

Those outcomes, Hemmings says, reflect the company’s growing interest in what he describes as “branded impact content” — storytelling funded by companies, foundations and philanthropists seeking to align their organizational values with projects capable of producing meaningful community outcomes. “That’s right in the pocket of stuff that we love to do,” he says of the company’s impact-oriented productions.

The company continues to produce commercial work for clients throughout Atlantic Canada and the United States, but Hemmings says the broader opportunity lies in helping organizations communicate with audiences in ways that feel human, grounded and emotionally credible at a time when digital trust is increasingly fragile. That shift, he believes, is already reshaping how businesses think about film itself — less as advertising alone an more as a form of long-term relationship building rooted in authenticity, shared values and lived experience.

For Hemmings, the strongest stories are rarely the most polished or promotional. They are the ones that reveal something recognizable and emotionally true — the kind of storytelling capable not only of capturing attention, but of holding it long enough to leave a lasting impression.

“In this day of AI slop and the distrust of everything that you see, we really want people to see us as the purpose-driven film production company that can tell authentic stories that cannot be replicated by the machine,” he says. “Documentary style, even in the shortest form, is an amazing way to share authentic values-driven stories about your brand.”