Fire Season: On Assignment FOR THE NEW YORKER Covering THE January 2025 Southern California Wildfires
HOW A LOCAL COMMITMENT BECAME A NATIONAL EDITORIAL CREDIT
FRAMEWORK FILMS + THE NEW YORKER
In January 2025, the Los Angeles wildfires became one of the most destructive fire events in California history, burning through the Pacific Palisades, Altadena, and surrounding communities and destroying more than 16,000 structures. Framework Films was already capturing archival footage on the ground.
Through early consultation, real-time access, and a commitment to documenting what was unfolding across the city, Framework Films earned a formal editorial assignment with The New Yorker, one of the most respected journalistic institutions in the world. The engagement spanned aerial and ground coverage, talent direction, social production, and print and digital placement, resulting in Framework Films' work appearing on The New Yorker's homepage, inside the print magazine (September 29, 2025), and across its social platforms.
BUILDING TRUST THROUGH A DISASTER
MEDIA COVERAGE WITHIN THE EVACUATION ZONES
As the fires tore through Los Angeles, Framework Films founder Mike Lindle was already embedded across evacuation zones, capturing aerial and ground footage of the Palisades, Eaton, and Kenneth fires in real time. Contacts at major outlets, including The New Yorker, reached out for local knowledge, story pitches, and visual access.
Framework Films provided early-stage consultation, offering up-to-date scene assessments, story ideas, and a right of first refusal on developing footage. That trust, built in the earliest and most uncertain days of the disaster, led to a formal assignment: document the destruction of New Yorker staff writer Dana Goodyear's home in Pacific Palisades, and cover the broader impact across the Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
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Consultation + Editorial Pitching
Real-time story development and scene assessments from within evacuation zones.
Aerial and ground scenics provided under right of first refusal.
Ongoing communication with The New Yorker's Executive Producer throughout the disaster timeline.
Assignment Coverage
Aerial documentation of the aftermath in the Pacific Palisades.
Ground coverage of Dana Goodyear's impacted home and surrounding neighborhood.
Full delivery of footage assets to The New Yorker's editorial team.
Social Production + Talent Direction
Directed a social piece featuring Dana Goodyear on location at her former home.
On-the-ground talent direction, audio/video capture, and b-roll filming.
Professional color grade delivered to The New Yorker's editing team for final cut.
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Framework Films' aerial footage led The New Yorker's digital homepage, introducing Dana Goodyear's written piece to a global audience.
A drone image was selected for print placement inside The New Yorker magazine, accompanying Dana Goodyear's personal account of displacement and loss.
Directed social content featuring Dana Goodyear was published across The New Yorker's Instagram and TikTok platforms under our credit.
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Print: The New Yorker Magazine, Sept 2025
Digital: The New Yorker’s Homepage, Featured Placement
Social: The New Yorker’s Instagram + TikTok
DIRECTING DANA GOODYEAR TO RECLAIM HER STORY
ON LOCATION IN THE PACIFIC PALISADES
Following the formal assignment, Framework Films directed a social production with New Yorker staff writer Dana Goodyear, filmed on location at the foundation of her burned home in the Pacific Palisades. Working from a written brief provided by The New Yorker's Executive Producer, we managed all aspects of the production day: location logistics within an active disaster zone, talent direction, audio, b-roll coverage of the cleared lot and surrounding neighborhood, and a professional color grade delivered to The New Yorker's team for final assembly.
The media captured Dana Goodyear speaking candidly about displacement, loss, and the process of confronting what remains. Framework Films shaped the visual language and emotional tone, ensuring her story was told with clarity, dignity, and restraint.
The deliverables accumulated millions of views worldwide.
A DEFINING EDITORIAL CREDIT UNDER REAL-WORLD PRESSURE
From early consultation through final delivery, we functioned as a trusted creative and editorial partner to one of the world's most respected media institutions. The work stands as both a professional milestone and a contribution to the visual record of one of the most catastrophic natural disasters in California history.
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