Roberts Hot Tubs • 2026 • Commercial

Roberts Hot Tubs brand and factory films

Older man speaking to camera in a woodworking workshop, boards stacked behind him

A man and a woman stepping into a wooden hot tub on a deck with trees behind

Stacks of wood boards on pallets in a storage area

Wide view of the Roberts Hot Tubs factory floor with workers at benches and machines

A worker beside a CNC router cutting a large round panel of wood

A worker sanding the edge of a large round wooden tub base

Credits

Producer, Director and EditorDave Suchanek
DP and ColoristBeshoy Saad

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Objective

Tell the story of Roberts Hot Tubs, the Berkeley, California maker of wooden hot tubs since 1976, in two films: a brand film and a factory film.

About This Project

This project is two films for Roberts Hot Tubs, a Berkeley, California maker of wooden hot tubs since 1976. The brand film tells the company's story through the founder, now retired, and his son, the CEO, who runs it today. The factory film shows how the tubs are made. Together they let a viewer meet the family behind the tubs and see the work that goes into them.

The company began when someone in a Berkeley woodworking co-op asked the founder, a cabinet maker who had apprenticed in Japan, to make a redwood barrel. The film makes a plain argument. Roberts says it was the first company to make wood tubs commercially and is one of very few left, because most wooden hot tub makers went out of business in the 1990s when plastic tubs arrived. Its case for wood is about feel: more soul than plastic, a different texture and depth, biodegradable, and built for soaking in a wooden vessel rather than sitting in front of a wall of jets.

The rest of the film covers how the tubs are made. Roberts builds in red cedar, yellow cedar and teak, sourced directly from the mills. Every tub is made to the client's specifications, often with designers and architects, with jet placement, bench heights and equipment all adjustable. Design and manufacturing happen in the company's own facilities, which is what the companion factory film shows.

Our Approach

Dave Suchanek produced, directed and edited both films, and Beshoy Saad was director of photography and colorist. The brand film lets the family tell the story in their own words while the picture shows what they describe: archival photographs from the company's early years, interviews shot in the workshop, stacked lumber, and people soaking in the finished tubs.

The factory film is shorter and runs on the work itself. It moves across the factory floor, from a CNC router cutting a large round panel to workers handling and fitting boards and sanding a finished tub base, and it ends on the Roberts Hot Tubs logo. The grade keeps the wood and skin tones warm and natural across both films, so the workshop and the backyard read as one brand.