All the latest production moves, hires and partnerships: February 26, 2020

Comedy director Amber Schaefer has joined the roster at Caviar. With a background as a writer, creative, actor and producer, she has directed commercial work for clients such as Geico, Burrow, Carnival Cruises and Dos Equis. She has written and produced content for clients like Expedia and American Express, and has also worked with talent including Ben Schwartz, Shaquille O’Neal and Sam Smith. RSA Films has added theater and film director John Crowley to its U.K./U.S. commercial roster. His 2015 film “Brooklyn,” starring Saoirse Ronan, received three Academy Award nominations and won the Best British Film BAFTA. His most recent film was 2019’s “The Goldfinch,” adapted from the Donna Tartt novel and starring Ansel Elgort. His commercial credits include ads for Formula 1 as well as Tesco’s 2013 Christmas campaign from Wieden & Kennedy London. Wondros has signed comedy director Lee Farber to its roster. Farber joins the company after years of directing for TV, including “The Wayne Brady Show,” and “The Soup,” as well as feature films. His work on writing and directing Brady’s daytime show won him an Emmy Award. Most recently, he directed “This Giant Beast” for Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, starring Zach Galifianakis, Rashida Jones and Ted Danson, which premiered in 2019 on Amazon. Farber’s latest project, for “Stand Up To Cancer,” is in final post-production and debuts in March. Washington Square Films has signed director Jakob Ström for U.S. representation. A short film, commercial and music video director, Ström’s work includes projects for brands including Care Norway, Suntrust Foundation and Lidl. His 2015 short film “Dear Daddy” about the trauma of domestic abuse received over 400 million views worldwide. The short, which was translated into 10 languages, won awards including a Gold and Silver Lion in Cannes, a Grand Prix at the New York Festival, a D&AD White Pencil and others. Venice Beach-based production company Rodeo Show has signed director and photographer Mike Ho to its roster for U.S. commercial and branded content representation. Ho has helmed commercial projects for brands including Calvin Klein and Monster, and collaborated with celebrity talent J. Lo, Nicki Minaj, Ronda Rousey, Lil Wayne and Cardi B. London production house Familia has added 11 new directors. They include Elle Ginter, who has worked on sports campaigns for Nike and Adidas, as well as New York-based Sofia Malfa, who has worked in fashion, athletics, art and beauty and Stephanie Wang-Beal, whose clients have included Planned Parenthood, ESPN, Tiffany, Apple and Nickelodeon. Loic Maes, Iain Crawford and Oliver Knauer are known for hair and beauty work; James Lovick works on food; and Scott Cudmore and Alexandre Moors specialize in music videos for the likes of Riihanna, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, and Kendrick Lamar. Also new are multidisciplinary visual artists Fausto Becatti and Maxime Quoilin. Stink Films has promoted Andrew Levene from head of production to U.K. films managing director. Levene has run production in London for the last six years overseeing productions for brands such as Lexus, Nike, Adidas, Barclays, Aldi, Argos, Volkswagen, Save the Children, Oxfam and Libresse. Before joining Stink in 2011 as a freelance producer, he worked at Sweet Shop and prior to that for the likes of Spank, Bare, Rogue, Independent, QI and 2AM. German director Andreas Roth and executive producer Daniel "Rocco" Kopecny have partnered to open Akkurat Studios, a creative collective and production company. Roth and Kopecny will respectively serve as creative director and managing director and will lead the company out of Berlin, with a satellite office in Los Angeles. The director roster includes Cloé Bailly, Mario Feil, Joschka Laukeninks, Novemba, Ozan Biron, Ben Brand, Francisco Gonzalez Sendino, Ivana Bobic and co-founder Roth. Projects have already included work for Jung von Matt and Mercedes Benz F1’s summer and winter campaigns for Antoni Garage. Brandon Nicholas has joined Los Angeles-based multimedia production company More Media for commercial representation in the U.S. His previous roles include in-house director at The Woo, a creative agency based in Culver City, working on projects for rands such as Samsung, De’Longhi, Motorola, Bosch, Israeli Tourism and Intel. He has earned a Webby nomination for a Lenovo spot, “The Groomer." Los York has appointed Leticia Gurjão as executive producer and head of its film division. Gurjão comes to Los York Films from Station Film, where she was executive producer. Prior to that, she was director of business development at The Cavalry and Green Dot Films. While at Cavalry she helped to launch the VR/AR company Spectacle. Alkemy X has hired Rupert Cresswell as creative director. Cresswell comes to Alkemy X from MPC, where he spent nearly eight years as a director and creative director working on projects for clients such as Adidas, Samsung, Jaguar, Ford, Google, Sky One and Fox Searchlight. Cutters Studio has hired Rob Churchill as VFX Director of its creative production studio Flavor. Most recently with Carbon VFX since its 2018 acquisition of Filmworkers, he has worked on campaigns for Capital One, Allstate, Apple, Budweiser, McDonald’s, Samsung and State Farm, and is also increasingly involved in projects as a director. Post-production company PS260 has opened a Boston office, hiring executive producer Raná Martin and promoting Tyler Hurst to editor. Martin, who will be reporting to Zarina Mak, managing partner, joins PS260 from Rock Paper Scissors where she served as executive producer in Los Angeles. Her career began in New York City, where she held roles at Lost Planet, Three Fingered Louie, Final Cut and Cut+Run. Hecho Studios has named Adam Milano head of development, a new title at the company, reporting directly to Hecho Studios President Briony McCarthy. He makes the move from Live Nation where he served as senior VP of Production and worked across Live Nation’s slate of music-driven projects. His previous posts include Senior Vice President Film at Simon Cowell’s SYCO Entertainment, where he helped Cowell launch the U.S. division of his company and produced the One Direction movie, “This is Us.” Christjan Jordan, editor of work for clients including Amazon, Geico and Hulu, has partnered with industry veteran Mary Ellen Duggan to launch The Den, an independent boutique editorial house. Duggan’s career has included heading production departments at KPB, Cliff Freeman and most recently The Big Family Table in Los Angeles. Jordan has worked with Arcade Edit, Cosmo Street, and Rock Paper Scissors. The Den’s founding roster also includes editor Andrew Ratzlaff, who has cut many comedy spots. Creative studio ATK PLN has added Kent Zambrana as senior producer. Zambrana has over a decade of experience in production, overseeing projects spanning live action, animation and design. He comes to ATK PLN following a career at creative shops across the agency and production sides of the business, including working at The Marketing Arm to lead its in-house production shop. Charlie Roberson has joined London production house Rogue as head of talent. He moves from Stink where he spent three years as head of sales. Prior to that he ran the sales department at Prettybird, working on commercials, music videos and longer form content, having previously worked as an agent.

All the latest production moves, hires and partnerships: February 26, 2020

Featured Stories