Four Inane Questions with Scenic Road Productions’s Darren Mark

Photo Courtesy of Darren Mark

Darren Mark is one helluva visual storyteller—so it makes sense that he’s devoted his career to beginnings, middles, and endings. 

From film school at NYU to positions both on TV and behind the scenes, Darren co-founded the content agency Scenic Road where he helps tell stories for some of the world’s most exciting products and brands.

Have an idea that needs finessing? Want to build your brand from the ground up? Mark is game to have a conversation—provided it’s at a local coffeehouse. We can’t be sure, but we’re fairly certain he owns stock in Parisi Coffee. 

When he and his squad aren’t busy making award-winning productions, Mark is quite the foodie. His magazine food features have been read on both sides of the Atlantic, “all the while tiptoeing around the cholesterol-related implications of such physically demanding work,” he adds.  

We caught up with Mark in between shoots to pepper him with our peculiar questionnaire. Naturally, he wanted to do it on camera, but we politely declined. Bless. 

Photo Courtesy of Darren Mark

The Pitch: What TV show from your childhood needs to be rebooted … starring you!?

Darren Mark: Who remembers NBC’s Silver Spoons with its castle home, arcade games in the living room, and ride-on train functioning as an in-home Segway? Not to mention the one-two punch of both Jason Bateman and Alfonso Ribeiro as my best buds. C’mon! 

In my mind, I’ve already rebooted that show, and I’ve cast myself as John Houseman. But in my version, I traded the choo-choo for a home tiki bar. In real life, my wife and I converted our old storage room into said bar, so now I’m basically counting the minutes until Hollywood writes me a letter of intent.

What’s been your weirdest/oddest/quirkiest brush with greatness or celebrity encounter?  

It was always my dream to work in movies, and as a college junior, I got my shot. I worked on Great Expectations, where I had the unique opportunity to procure and arrange supermarket fruit into pinwheel patterns for the office snack depot. It was all the glamour I’d come to expect from Hollywood. 

But amid the great banana strike of the ’90s, I was reassigned. 

“Meet Gwyneth at the optometrist for a contact lens fitting,” I was told.

“Who’s Gwyneth?” I asked. 

“You’ll figure it out.”

And for the next hour, she would sit a foot away from me and ask, “How do these look?” 

I’ve now come to realize it was a smokescreen for what was really afoot—her deep desire to leave Brad Pitt and start a new life with me. C’est la vie. 

If you were an amusement park ride, what amusement park ride would you be? And why?

Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney. Do I fashion myself as the boat? Or the pirate being chased by the woman? Or the pre-1997 bride being chased by the pirate? Or the prisoners in jail? Or the dog holding the key to the lock on the jail? Nope.

But I love the ride. It tells a masterful story without needing words. It’s quaint without being provincial. And its analog technology was so ahead of its time that people will still wait hours to experience it. In short, it’s a class act, and who wouldn’t want to be that? 

What’s the single best restaurant menu item available in Kansas City right this very second? 

The chilaquiles at Red Kitchen in Downtown OP. I order the carne pastor version, but I add an egg, and I split the salsas between Roja and Verde. Why is it so good? It starts with the incredible chips, which form the base of the dish. They make Tostitos look like that break dancer from the Australian Olympic team. The rest is all chef Alejandra. She’s from Mexico City and is a one-woman masterclass on the difference between chef-driven Mexican and everything else. 

There’s both a nuance and depth in her flavors that make you realize you’re having a moment with your plate every time the moment strikes to go there. 

Bonus 5th Question: Describe, in detail, your ideal coffee shop down to the last damn minute detail. 

For me, coffee shops aren’t just a place to caffeinate—They’re my literal working environment. Since the day I started Scenic Road, I’ve been “officing” out of coffee shops even though I have an actual office. With a coffee machine. 

But there’s something visceral about being in a coffee shop, mid-workday, tricking my brain into thinking I’m not working when, in actuality, I’m embracing business as if a verb. The shop with the best cortado used to win my loyalty, but anymore, I’m a drip coffee guy who values hygge over the roast… self-serve over self-importance… and when everyone also knows your name. Well, cheers to that most special of places.