About Us
Why SWAY exists
I spent twenty years building and running media departments inside large studios before starting SWAY.
SWAY was created to give complex media projects direct access to senior talent without forcing the work through a fixed studio structure. We assemble the team around the project — its creative needs, technical requirements, schedule and budget — rather than asking the project to support permanent overhead.
Senior people, assembled for one job, accountable to it, and on site through opening.
Eric Hungerford, Founder
Eric has spent more than twenty years leading media production for immersive attractions, museums and brand experiences — most recently as President of Mousetrappe, and before that as Senior Director of Media at The Hettema Group and Director of Media at Thinkwell Group.
At both Thinkwell and Hettema he built the in-house media department from scratch and ran it — assembling the team, the workflow and the vendor relationships around the work in front of him. That is the same thing SWAY now does for clients, one project at a time.
His work has been recognized with three THEA Awards for Outstanding Achievement, earned at three different studios:
- The Making of Harry Potter — Warner Bros. Studio Tour London (2013)
- One World Observatory — New York (2016)
- SeaWorld Abu Dhabi — Yas Island (2023)
Alongside Hypersphere 360 and Wondrous Journeys, his credits include Gateway at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and See Forever at One World Observatory, where he was responsible for every media installation on the deck.
On every SWAY engagement, Eric is the accountable lead. Not a relationship manager who hands you to a team after the pitch — the person answering for the work, from kickoff through opening.
What clients bring to us
Most engagements start in one of three places.
“We’ve been handed a media scope and we’re not sure it’s real.”
A budget, a schedule and a creative vision that may or may not be compatible. We tell you which parts are achievable, what the real number is, and where the schedule will break.
“We need a media team and we don’t have one.”
The project justifies senior capability but not permanent headcount. We build the team, lead it, and it dissolves when the project delivers.
“Something isn’t working and it’s already installed.”
Remediation on a live attraction — usually with the constraint that operations can’t stop and audiences shouldn’t notice.
How the model works
SWAY doesn’t carry a permanent production staff. It maintains a standing network of senior specialists — media designers, animators, technical directors, sound teams, integrators — and assembles the right ones for the project in front of it.
That isn’t a virtual-company gimmick. It works because the network is real and the relationships predate SWAY. We can have a team up and running within three to five business days, because we’re calling people we’ve already delivered with rather than posting a role.
The result is a team whose seniority matches the project, rather than whoever happened to be free that quarter.
Success With No Surprises
It’s our promise, so here is what it actually obligates us to.
- A written scope before work starts. What’s included, what isn’t, and what would count as a change.
- One named accountable lead. Not a relationship manager — the person answering for the work.
- Written status every week. Schedule, budget and risks — including the ones you’d rather not hear.
- No change orders without your written approval. Ever.
- Honest early warnings. If something is going to slip, you hear it the minute we know.
- On site through opening. The team that designed it is the team there when it turns on.