A three-minute, star-studded short called "Comeback City" dropped this week, serving as a glossy pitch for San Francisco's big revival. Directed by Joe Talbot and produced by local studio Portal A, the film weaves together celebrity cameos and a roaming coyote into what the creators describe as a love letter to the city. Its debut, landing in the middle of a heated local political season, also puts a spotlight on money, messaging and who is trying to sell San Francisco's comeback story.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Talbot, the Sundance winner behind "The Last Black Man in San Francisco," packs in cameos from Joe Montana, Francis Ford Coppola, Dave Eggers, Steph Curry and rapper Stunnaman. The paper reports that the piece opens on a coyote, played by two coydogs, and notes that the filmmakers say no AI was used to create the animal. Nate Houghteling, a Portal A founder and co-writer, told the outlet, "San Francisco is a very complicated place" as he described the film's intentionally outsider point of view.
Funding for the spot flows through Believe in SF, a group that backs Mayor Daniel Lurie, and public filings show the related committee reported roughly $1.77 million in contributions and nearly $950,000 in expenditures this spring. Those campaign filings are available on the San Francisco Ethics Commission website. The Believe in SF site presents the video as part of a wider push to "revitalize downtown" and to connect residents with volunteer programs and civic activities rather than just cheerleading from afar.
Portal A, the production company that helped make the "Ed Lee: 2 Legit 2 Quit" ad go viral about a decade ago, is betting its storytelling skills can catch lightning in a bottle again, although consultants say the online audience is pickier now about what it shares. As the San Francisco Chronicle notes, creators face a higher bar if they want people to share political content. Dan Newman, a Democratic political consultant who helped spark the idea, told the paper that the goal is to get people talking, not to run a traditional policy-heavy ad.
Who's funding it and why it matters
Public records name prominent donors, including Jonathan Gans and Matthew Paige, and they list a $250,000 contribution from the Manzanita Action Fund, a donation that reporting has tied to Jan Koum. The San Francisco Standard highlighted that connection after Mission Local first flagged the contribution, and the Ethics Commission's committee page shows that fund alongside other major backers. That mix of political and philanthropic money is part of what makes the piece feel like both a civic-minded short film and a communication that sits just off to the side of a campaign.
Legal and disclosure notes
The group behind the ad files independent expenditure reports, which must be submitted to the city's Ethics Commission and include both contributors and large payments. The campaign dashboard on the San Francisco Ethics Commission site shows the committee's FPPC forms and the 24-hour filings that detail its spending. Because independent expenditures are legally required to list donors and amounts and are not allowed to coordinate with campaigns, they remain a common and relatively transparent way to boost a message that lines up with a candidate.
Whether "Comeback City" turns into a viral talking point or remains more of a polite PR effort, its rollout highlights who is shaping San Francisco's public image and how they are trying to do it. Believe in SF has paired the video with links to volunteer programs and to First Lady Becca Prowda's "One City Day," and organizers say they hope the film nudges residents toward civic action rather than just sparking another round of online takes. If the spot does break through the noise, the first reactions are likely to surface on social media feeds and in local political coverage, where the fight over downtown's future is still very much in progress.
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