Instagram · 5 episodes

Close Friends Only

Client: Instagram

Close Friends Only is an Instagram series where famous friends interview each other.

Starting with KATSEYE, we evolved the show from a sit-down interview into a more playful, intimate and Instagram-native experience.

5 episodes

Kai & Kaiya Cenat

J Balvin & Ryan Castro

KATSEYE

The Summer I Turned Pretty

Paige Bueckers & Azzi Fudd

Overview

Close Friends Only is an Instagram series where famous friends interview each other. Gut Feeling produces and directs it, with creative end to end. Starting with KATSEYE, and moving through J Balvin & Ryan Castro and Kai & Kaiya Cenat, we evolved the show from a sit-down interview into a more playful, intimate and Instagram-native experience.

The new format

We gave them more ways to connect.

The single interview frame opened up into connected spaces where the friends sit, stand, eat, play games, dance and make music, and their movement carries us from one to the next.

Personal objects, food, games and surprises trigger memories, jokes, reactions and stories.

The cameras

15 autonomous cameras. No crew in the room.

PTZAction360iPhoneHandycam

They all run remotely, so production disappears and the room belongs to them.

We stopped just interviewing the friendship. We let you see it.

Our role

Creative, end to endDirectionProductionOriginal Music

Deliverables: five full episodes.

And people felt it

500M+organic views since the new format

129.7Mreached

2X+Instagram benchmarks

The strongest new-format moments became @instagram Reels, comments, fan reactions and publisher coverage.

Instagram says

“Working with [Gut Feeling] is always magic. [They have] an unmatched ability with talent to make them feel seen, safe and secure in the feature [they're] creating. Having [them] on set provides a knowing that you're going to get stunning visuals, innovative audios, and that the overall energy and vibe will be impeccable.”

Hannah Cecille, Creative Producer, Instagram Editorial

Paige Bueckers & Azzi Fudd

The internet was waiting, so we gave it the moment. At the height of buzz around WNBA All-Star Paige Bueckers and NCAA champion Azzi Fudd, Close Friends Only with Instagram became the stage for their relationship hard launch. Gut Feeling produced, directed and supported creative from start to finish, engineering a conversation that felt like an unguarded, intimate hang that fans weren’t supposed to see. Timed for maximum impact, the drop lit up timelines, fed the fandom, and put Instagram, Meta Quest and the WNBA at the center of a cultural moment.

In the press

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