On The Line, A Four-Episode Docu Series Premieres on Resy.com

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Four-Part Documentary Shorts Series Following Restaurants Amidst the Global Pandemic Premieres Thursday, August 27 On Resy.com

 

Los Angeles, CA (August 27, 2020) – Award winning new media studio Crimes of Curiosity and hospitality technology company Resy today debut On The Line, a four-part documentary shorts series chronicling four Los Angeles restaurants amidst the COVID-19 crisis. On The Line follows the owners and employees of Alta Adams in West Adams, Kensho in Hollywood, Kismet in Los Feliz, and Lasa in Chinatown as they grapple with how to keep their businesses afloat, staff employed, communities fed, and dreams alive during the pandemic, which continues to have a crushing impact on the hospitality industry. On The Line premieres today, Thursday, August 27 at Resy.com/OnTheLine.

 

On The Line documents four restaurants’ stories of overnight reinvention, adaptation, and survival following the statewide stay-at-home order imposed on March 15, 2020. Each episode gives viewers an insider’s lens into the realities these restaurants have had to face and the difficult decisions they have had to consider in the face of the national hospitality industry crisis. They are stories of perseverance, passion, innovation, and humanity that make clear how restaurants’ roles in our lives, communities, and cities are more essential than ever.

 

On the Line was produced by Crimes of Curiosity’s all-female production and creative team. The series is directed by Danielle Oexmann. It was executive produced by Crimes of Curiosity’s Oexmann and Jess Engel, and Alex Hooven, an executive on the Marketing team of United Talent Agency (UTA). The series was shot by cinematographer and UTA client Chloe Weaver, a frequent contributor to Netflix’s original series, Chef’s Table, for which she took home a James Beard Award this year. The series was edited by Sofia Kerpan and Eva Dubovoy. All filming was done in compliance with social distancing regulations set forth by state and local jurisdictions.

 

“Our entire society has faced profound uncertainty in recent months,” said Oexmann. “The resilience, creativity, and tenacity of the independent restaurateurs and employees in this series is truly incredible. They’ve pushed through amid the difficulties to show up for each other and their communities. We hope to highlight and amplify the importance of supporting local businesses and restaurants by elevating their stories.”


“Local, independent restaurants are a pillar of what makes LA’s cultural landscape so vibrant and special,” Hooven added. “It was very important to showcase what these restaurants are enduring in this climate to invigorate our friends, neighbors and peers to support their favorite neighborhood spots and preserve our sense of community that we all miss so dearly.”

 

On The Line goes behind the scenes and inside the kitchen with Alta Adams’ Executive Chef Keith Corbin and owner Daniel Patterson as they assess their roles in the larger restaurant community and how to affect positive change in the industry, all the while pivoting Alta from a full-service restaurant to an outdoor dining-only establishment in light of COVID-19 restrictions.

 

In Hollywood, Kensho owner David Wynn leans into LA’s artists and artisans, and finds a glimmer of hope as the community turns out to support his new market model.

Meanwhile, Kismet partners Sarah Hymanson and Sara Kramer pivot from a full service restaurant to an online marketplace to serve their community. We get a first hand glimpse of their daily struggles navigating their business during this uncertain time. 

 

“What I’ve struggled with most is that people are looking to us for answers, and we don’t have them. It’s been really painful to have our employees expect so much from us, and to not be able to give them anything,” says Kramer.

 

And at Lasa, brothers and restaurant co-owners Chase and Chad Valencia discuss the beauties and challenges of running a family owned business while shifting their operations entirely due to the pandemic.

 

“I want us to pull through and make our family proud, and ourselves proud, and the community proud. It’s been really hard, but we’re fighting,” says Chase. “This is our life. It’s everything. And we’re not going to give that up.”

 

Resy, the presenting partner of On The Line, is devoted to using its platform to amplify the stories and voices of its restaurant partners who are fighting to keep their businesses, and the industry, alive.

 

“Our restaurants are navigating unprecedented and unthinkable challenges to their businesses right now,” says Victoria Vaynberg, Resy CMO. “From day one, Resy has been by restaurants, for restaurants’ and being by their side during this crisis as not just a technology partner, but also as a platform to tell and amplify their stories, is so important.”

 

For more information on how you can support these and other restaurants you love, visit Resy.com/OnTheLine.

 

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ABOUT RESY

 

RESY helps the best restaurants be their best by creating innovative technology to reimagine the future of hospitality. Since its inception in 2014, Resy has revolutionized, elevated and enhanced dining experiences worldwide with its reservation management software and dynamic suite of tools, and in August 2019 Resy joined the American Express family. Together they connect diners with the restaurants they love, help restaurants’ businesses thrive, and support the restaurant community through best-in-class technology, exclusive content, access and experiences. The amazing world of restaurants is just two taps away in Resy’s mobile app and on Resy.com.   

 

ABOUT CRIMES OF CURIOSITY

CRIMES OF CURIOSITY is a new media creative studio and production company based in Los Angeles. CRIMES is run by Jess Engel and Danielle Oexmann, two award-winning multidisciplinary producers and storytellers who believe great stories transcend form to shift culture and perspectives. Oexmann is a documentary and mixed-media filmmaker who has worked with clients such as Vice, Red Bull Music, Youtube Music, MOCAtv, LA Dance Project, and Ceylon. Engel is a pioneering producer who focuses on championing artists working with new technology. Her work has been shown around the world at major festivals and institutions, including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Cannes, Venice, Telluride, NYFF, MIT, and Art Basel. She is a participating producer of the Sundance Institute’s inaugural “Future of Culture” Initiative.