An empty armchair under a single microphone in a dark concrete room
An empty armchair under a single microphone in a dark concrete room

01

DOCUMENTARY PORTRAITS
PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

DOCUMENTARY PORTRAITS
PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

STORIES FROM THE MIDDLE GREY

RESEARCHED, UNSCRIPTED DOCUMENTARY INTERVIEWS FOR FOUNDERS, BUSINESS OWNERS, INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES.

UP A TIER creates researched, unscripted documentary interviews. The business matters. But the business is rarely the story. The person is.

UP A TIER creates researched, unscripted documentary interviews. The business matters. But the business is rarely the story. The person is.

Storytelling in the Middle Grey · UP A TIER
Storytelling in the Middle Grey · UP A TIER
  • FOUNDER PORTRAIT

    —

  • LEGACY PORTRAIT

    —

  • DOCUMENTARY INTERVIEWS

    —

  • STORIES FROM THE MIDDLE GREY

    —

  • Still from an UP A TIER interview
  • Still from an UP A TIER interview
  • Still from an UP A TIER interview
  • Still from an UP A TIER interview
  • Still from an UP A TIER interview
  • Still from an UP A TIER interview
  • Still from an UP A TIER interview
  • Still from an UP A TIER interview
  • Still from an UP A TIER interview
  • Still from an UP A TIER interview
  • Still from an UP A TIER interview
  • Still from an UP A TIER interview

8

BUSINESS DAYS
STANDARD DELIVERY

FINAL

APPROVAL BEFORE
DELIVERY OR PUBLICATION

UP A TIER

02 / PORTRAITS

PORTRAITS

I.

FOUNDER PORTRAIT

For founders, owners, directors and senior leaders.

A business can tell you what it does. A Founder Portrait documents the person who built it — what shaped them, the decisions they’ve made, what they believe and how they think while they’re still building it.

It isn’t a scripted company video or an advertisement disguised as an interview. It’s a researched, unscripted documentary interview made to stand on its own now and remain useful long after the business, career or person has changed.

A Founder Portrait gives clients, partners and future collaborators a way to understand who they’re dealing with. Your experience. Your judgement. Your reasons for doing the work. Use it on your website, LinkedIn or alongside a proposal when the person behind the business matters to the decision. Over time, it becomes a record of how you thought and what you were building.

A Founder Portrait introduces the person behind the business as a companion, not a corporate entity—building trust through experience, judgement and character.

II.

LEGACY PORTRAIT

For individuals and families who want more than photographs and second-hand memories.

A Legacy Portrait documents someone as they are now. Their voice. Their humour. The stories they tell. What they remember. What they believe. The things their family knows about them and the things they may never have thought to ask.

A researched, unscripted documentary interview preserved for the people who come after them.

A Legacy Portrait gives your family something they can return to. Your voice telling the story, in your own words. It can be shared now and passed on later, giving people who may never have met you a chance to hear you and understand something of your life.

A Legacy Portrait keeps someone present as a companion: their voice, humour, perspective and presence, held in their own words.

03 / ARCHIVE

THE ARCHIVE

Conversations with people still in the middle of becoming.

AJ Harris interview

FOUNDER

▶

How I Escaped FIFO Mining to Start My Own Cleaning Business

AJ Harris

Josh Horneman interview

FOUNDER

▶

AI Regulation Is a Control Problem, Not a Safety Problem

Josh Horneman · Founder of HOWLL AI

Leti Fa'amausili interview

LIFE & FAMILY

▶

Pacific Islander Identity, Religion, Sexual Abuse and Motherhood in Australia

Leti Fa’amausili · Mother and Pacific Islander Australian

Derick Pitt interview

FOUNDER

▶

Parenthood, Marriage, and the Autism Diagnosis that build his Real Estate Business

Derick Pitt · Real estate professional

Will Jobe interview

LIFE & FAMILY

▶

Suicide. Culture. And becoming the mentor he never had.

Will Jobe · Strength & conditioning coach / youth mentor

Josh Horneman interview

FOUNDER

▶

Curiosity, Sovereignty & The AI Question Nobody Can Answer.

Josh Horneman · Entrepreneur & AI founder

Teah Pitt interview

LIFE & FAMILY

▶

Digital Footprint, Caring for Her Brother, and What Gen Z Actually Worries About

Teah Pitt

AJ Harris interview

FOUNDER

▶

How I Escaped FIFO Mining to Start My Own Cleaning Business

AJ Harris

Josh Horneman interview

FOUNDER

▶

AI Regulation Is a Control Problem, Not a Safety Problem

Josh Horneman · Founder of HOWLL AI

Leti Fa'amausili interview

LIFE & FAMILY

▶

Pacific Islander Identity, Religion, Sexual Abuse and Motherhood in Australia

Leti Fa’amausili · Mother and Pacific Islander Australian

Derick Pitt interview

FOUNDER

▶

Parenthood, Marriage, and the Autism Diagnosis that build his Real Estate Business

Derick Pitt · Real estate professional

Will Jobe interview

LIFE & FAMILY

▶

Suicide. Culture. And becoming the mentor he never had.

Will Jobe · Strength & conditioning coach / youth mentor

Josh Horneman interview

FOUNDER

▶

Curiosity, Sovereignty & The AI Question Nobody Can Answer.

Josh Horneman · Entrepreneur & AI founder

Teah Pitt interview

LIFE & FAMILY

▶

Digital Footprint, Caring for Her Brother, and What Gen Z Actually Worries About

Teah Pitt

04 / PROCESS

THE PROCESS

From the first conversation to the completed Portrait.

01

THE FIRST CONVERSATION

Tell us who you want to interview and why you want to document them.

02

THE PROPOSAL

You receive a written proposal covering the Portrait, agreed shorts and reels, location, review process, usage rights and price.

03

RESEARCH

We research the person and the background to their story.

04

THE INTERVIEW

The conversation is guided but not scripted. The subject answers in their own words.

05

THE EDIT

The Portrait is edited, sound-treated and colour graded. The agreed shorts and reels are also prepared.

06

REVIEW AND DELIVERY

The client reviews the finished work and has final approval before delivery or publication. Standard delivery is within 8 business days of filming.

05 / METHOD

THE METHOD

The stories that deserve attention aren’t always black and white.

Most stories are told after the outcome is known. Uncertainty becomes hindsight.

UP A TIER documents people before that happens.

The result is more than content. It is an interview with commercial value today and archival value tomorrow.

THE INTERVIEW IS GUIDED. THE ANSWERS ARE NOT.

06 / COMMISSION

DOCUMENT THE PERSON BEFORE HINDSIGHT CHANGES THE STORY.

Tell us who you want to document and what you want to make.

1. WHO

2. DETAILS

3. FIRST CALL

NEXT

James Semisi, founder of UP A TIER

07 / ABOUT

MEET THE FOUNDER

JAMES SEMISI

FOUNDER & INTERVIEWER

I founded UP A TIER to document the part of a person’s story that traditional storytelling often overlooks: the unresolved middle.

It is where businesses are built, identities are tested, families evolve and consequential decisions are made—before hindsight turns uncertainty into a clean lesson.

Through Middle Grey Storytelling, I create cinematic documentary interviews that capture character in real time. For founders, individuals and families, the result has immediate value as a credible expression of who they are—and lasting value as an archive of who they were while their story was still unfolding.

The purpose is not to manufacture answers or force a transformation narrative. It is to document the journey honestly and remind audiences that none of us is the only person still figuring it out.

James Semisi

08 / NOTES

NOTES FROM THE MIDDLE GREY

THE INTERVIEW ENDS. THE QUESTIONS DON’T.

Notes From the Middle Grey is the written side of UP A TIER. Essays and field notes about character, contradiction, ambition, pressure and the parts of a person’s story that remain unresolved. No manufactured certainty. No lessons forced before they have been lived. Just honest thinking from inside the work.

MIDDLE GREY ESSAYS

Ideas about character, pressure, contradiction and the stories people tell about themselves.

SUBSCRIBE TO NOTES FROM THE MIDDLE GREY