Heated Rivalry: doing more with less (and what it means for YOU) 🏒👨🏻❤️💋👨🏼🔥❤️
I watched Heated Rivalry for the fist time on Friday, January 16th.
I have rewatched it almost every weekend since.
In between "reheats", I'm binging deep-dive analysis videos, reading the books, watching fan edits.
I haven't been this consumed by a fandom since I was 15 and plastering My Chemical Romance posters on my bedroom walls (and ceiling, so I could stare at their faces while falling asleep and waking up).
I say all of this because this is not a niche obsession that I alone share.
This heatwave is sweeping the globe, and has done things that shows with quadruple the budget and time have not been able to achieve.
The main actors, who were LITERALLY WORKING AT THE SPAGHETTI FACTORY ONE YEAR AGO, are now holding Olympic torches, hosting SNL, appearing at every award show, selling out PHYSICAL copies of Vogue, and being flown to Balenciaga shows via Balenciaga's private jet.
I'm just as fascinated by the mass hysteria as I am by the show itself.
Heated Rivalry has become a MASSIVE hit, yet was made on a shoestring budget (more like the plastic part of the end of a shoestring).
The show is a glossy, emotional, beautifully shot HIT made on roughly $2 million per episode.
A comparable HBO show runs $10–14 million PeR ePiSoDe.
How the HELL did director Jacob Tierney pull it off?
AND - does that mean that micro small businesses like ours can also accomplish gigantic levels of success with similar methods?
Jacob made this teeny tiny budget work because he planned EVERYTHING ahead of time.
Big Budgets like Marvel Movies can have endless reshoots and figure things out later during editing.
This means production takes forever and so does editing.
Jacob and his team went in knowing exactly what was needed before they ever rolled camera, so no time or resources on set were wasted.
He shot the entire season in 36 days. THIRTY SIX Y'ALL! 🤯
The way Canadian funding works for TV shows means that Jacob didn't have the typical Big Budget of a streaming service like HBO or Netflix.
Similarly, you and I are building businesses without investors, without backers, and without financial safety nets - AND - limited time.
At most, we have supportive partners and our savings.
and the clock always ticking.
We have to do a lot with a little - and the only way to pull that off without burning out is to know the whole picture before you start building it.
That's process mapping, aka, Jacob's pre-production process, aka the first step in the framework I use to optimize your offer.
Building your systems piecemeal ("I'll fix onboarding later, I'll deal with invoicing when I get to it") is the equivalent of reshooting scenes with no plan and hoping it comes together in the edit.
You got Marvel Money? Cuz that method always costs mo' time, mo' energy, mo' money.
Planning ahead also meant Jacob could think of the most efficient way to do everything.
For example, instead of cutting back and forth between characters (which means more shots, more setups, more editing) he'd stay on one character's face longer.
The result is arguably a bigger emotional payoff with a fraction of the work. ✨
Funny how it works that way, huh?
I see this in my System builds all the time.
Often the more efficient way to do things is the better experience for the client as well.
Little tweaks can have big payoffs, things like:
attaching your intake form directly to your scheduler so clients fill it out at booking instead of after a three-email chase.
Bundling your proposal, contract, and deposit in one send instead of multiple emails over multiple days.
An automated offboarding sequence that handles your wrap-up, feedback request, and referral ask all at once.
None of these are complicated. They just require knowing how they all connect before you build any of them.
OKAY, now here's where Gay-Feminist-Icon Jacob Tierney really won me over😍
Because Jacob planned everything so thoroughly, his shooting days ran around 10 hours - and sometimes wrapped EARLY.
Unheard of in an industry where 12–14 hour days are considered the norm.
More importantly, Jacob talked about who takes the brunt of those long days on a typical set: hair, wardrobe, and makeup.
Departments largely run by women.
One of his wardrobe team members was even pregnant during the shoot.
He wants better working conditions for roles primarily filled by women - a demographic who typically carries the weight of running their family as well.
I see the same thing in our industry.
Hustle culture is dead, baby!
I work with moms who want to be present for their kids.
I work with childfree CEOs (hi, it me) who just want more life instead of being permanently tethered to their standing desk and walking pad.
(I love my walking pad, but I want real walks too. Outside!)
When you map your whole client journey before you start building, you stop working late chasing down loose ends because the loose ends don't exist anymore.
Everything is already accounted for and we build your offer with intention. 🙌
And despite the microscopic budget, the shortened timeline, and the fewer hours, Jacob had one rule the entire time: the show could never look cheap.
It doesn't. It's stunning. 😭❤️
and its captured the heart of straight women aged 30 - 45 everywhere.
Your business can be the same way.
Big impact, tight constraints, zero compromises on quality - IF you map it right.
Ready to turn your offer into a Heated Rivalry-level hit? Let's build it. 🎬
