Joe Sabia: Filmmaker, digital creator, celebrity interviewer, Franz Liszt Society Member, international pun champion.
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Conde Nast Formats [2014-Now]
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Freelance Life [2007-2014]
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Bio
I'm a filmmaker and digital creator whom The New York Times, a long time ago, proclaimed "speaks to the web the way Doolittle does to animals"
I'm the interviewing voice and creator of Vogue’s 73 Questions, the interviewer of Billie Eilish's annual "One Year Apart" series, and the guy who asked Elizabeth Holmes if she can tell him a secret in that HBO documentary.
In 2024 I directed my first feature film “Federer: Twelve Final Days” for Amazon Studios on the retirement of Roger Federer from tennis, alongside director Asif Kapadia. I originally pitched the project as private home videos for Roger's family and friends, but showed him a 63 minute edit and persuaded him to release it as a film.
I currently run Studio Sabia, a full service production company alongside ex-Vox veteran Greg Gordon, acting as creative directors and prodco for YouTube, Audible, Amex, Bose, NatGeo, Pinterest, Carnegie Hall and pro-bono for UNICEF.
In a previous life I was the SVP of Creative Development at Conde Nast Entertainment (2014-2020) where I led the conception, development and execution of franchises and formats across the portfolio of brands. Leading an evolving team of some of the best digital creators around, our formats grew Conde brands' YouTube audience from 1.5M to 46M subscribers, reaching over 550M monthly organic views, even beating Buzzfeed.
In an even more previous life, I was an independent creator, digital video remixer, TED Talk giver, co-host with Xeni Jardin on Boing Boing TV on Virgin America, and co-founder of YouTube music collective CDZA (which received one of the first ever Content Innovation Program grants from YouTube, and performed at YouTube Music Awards alongside Spike Jonze as creative director).
I've been an advisor to MasterClass, Outlier.org, Tonebase Piano, and sit on the Moth's Programming board.
I love music. Especially classical piano. I co-own the first ever documents management company in the Georgian Republic with my two best friends, one of which I am in a lifelong competition to visit more countries.
I have very vivid spatial synesthesia.
Please do not confuse me with this nursery rhyme author. You can email me at joe[at]studiosabia.com
Press
STORIES/FEATURES
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THE SABIA EFFECT (BC Heights)
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VOGUE 73 QUESTION SERIES (Daily Dot)
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CONDE NAST EMULATES YOUTUBE WITH 73 QUESTIONS (Wall Street Journal)
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THIS AMAZING SUPERCUT OF CULTURAL REFERENCES ON THE OFFICE (FAST COMPANY)
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THE SPOT: FISH OUT OF WATER (Adweek Print Edition)
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GOTTA MINUTE? SO THERE'S THIS GUY TONY... (New York Times Print Edition)
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SOAP AND THE CAMPUS: A WEB-SITE SPOOF SUCCEEDS (New York Times Print Edition)
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BEHIND THE SCENES WITH CDZA, THE YOUTUBE MUSICAL-COMEDY STARS (Mother Jones Magazine)
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HOW CDZA COMBINES HIGH BROW MUSIC SKILLS AND WEB MARKETING SAVVY TO CREATE YOUTUBE HITS (Fast Company)