Stephen Orso is driven by Broadway-quality entertainment, amazing food, and the excitement of new challenges. His newest project is a mini-series that will dive deep into the world of elite chefs, fine dining, and exquisite meals which he believes will be especially appealing to millennials and zoomers. As the younger generation consumes an increasing amount of food content, stories centered around creative, unique, and top-quality culinary experiences will be consumed at a premium. Especially due to the Covid-19 crisis, millennials and zoomers are not only consuming more content than they ever have, but they are also cooking more than they ever have. Stephen’s new series looks to take advantage of both of these societal trends.
“In another life, I would have been a food critic.” He told us. Stephen grew up going to dinner parties and immersing himself in the culinary world. Harkening to his background, his new mini-series on food is not only a strategic investment, but also a passion project. He may even take a small, on-camera role in the series.
Stephen has always been interested in film and acting, even since a young age when he and his family would go to all of the classic Broadway shows — Wicked, Rent, Phantom of the Opera, and more. He took acting lessons and learned to appreciate film as the premier storytelling medium. Then, as he got older, he found himself gravitating towards the business side of these endeavors. As Stephen began to network in New York City, he often found himself being introduced to Hollywood stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Selena Gomez. Stephen would always ask questions about their work and craft in the hopes of absorbing as much knowledge as possible, which he is now starting to put to use.
Stephen knows the value of taking on big challenges and hustling until a project is successful. Growing up in New York, and in the Orso family, he developed a keen eye for art and film as well as a set of irreplaceable business and investment skills early in his life. Now, as an investor himself, Stephen recognized immediately that filmmaking would be a high-risk yet highly profitable investment.
How is Stephen so confident in his approach to managing risks and making the investment a success? Stephen diversifies his investments in the industry by targeting multiple film mediums and audiences. Currently, Stephen is primarily working with a private equity firm in Austin on a deal to finance and produce this food centric mini-series, along with several other projects in the pipeline.
Production of the mini-series was scheduled to begin in summer 2020, but the recent development of the Covid-19 crisis has pushed filming back to the Fall of 2020. Despite this setback, Stephen is hopeful and ecstatic to take on this new endeavor when production can resume later this year.