But looking back, it makes perfect sense. 

It was March 2020. The world was shutting down. Shoots were getting cancelled. Entire production schedules were thrown into chaos. The Heist team needed to find a new path forward – fast. With in-person filming becoming more difficult, the question became: 

How do you tell a dynamic, cinematic story about real-life crime with mostly archive?

The answer? Get VERY creative. Stock footage. Personal tapes. Clever composites. A lot of problem solving – and a bit of luck. 

Meghan, alongside Co-Executive Producer Jeff Zimbalist and then intern, Kaelin McDonald, spent countless hours digging through archive, tracking down rare footage, and licensing materials from indie filmmakers. (One of those filmmakers would later hire Archival Ninjas – on the documentary Clemente.) 

In the middle of global uncertainty, Heist became the blueprint: a testament to what’s possible when resourceful storytelling meets archival ingenuity. 

Before the series wrapped, Meghan knew she wanted to keep working with Kaelin. What began as helping out here and there gradually became a full-time role. It was during this period that Meghan recognized a broader need in the industry. Most production teams only have one Archival Producer, and most Archival Producers focus on a particular niche. Meghan saw a different path. 

“There was a real opportunity to build something new – a team that could move faster and efficiently, dig deeper, and bring different lived experiences and perspectives to the work. With the right team, I knew we would be nimble, smarter, and more creative than as individual Archival Producers.“ – Meghan Geier, Founder of Archival Ninjas

What started as a two-person collaboration has since evolved into a tight-knit team of researchers, clearance specialists, and creative problem-solvers – each bringing unique subject matter expertise and an unrelenting drive to get the story right. 

In the five years since Heist, Archival Ninjas has: 

• Supported Emmy-nominiated documentaries with Super League: The War for Football winning the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Documentary Series.
• Been nominated for numerous awards, including Company of the Year by FOCAL International 
• Worked on more than 100 productions across genres and mediums 

But through it all, Meghan’s passion, the team’s relentless energy, and the heart of the company has stayed the same: help storytellers highlight moments of the past to tell better stories today.

As Kaelin puts it best: “Meghan is a superstar.”

And now, five years in, the story’s only just getting started.