Stun Creative Opens Production Arm, Brown Joins 1stAveMachine and More

Stun Creative, the L.A.-based creative agency and production company, is launching StunSpots, a commercial production unit for consumer and entertainment brand commercial spots. The unit will be led by Jared Christensen, Stun Creative's head of production. StunSpots inaugural roster consists of Patrick Biesemans, formerly an in-house producer/director at Grey NY; Jay Karas, a Hollywood comedy director best known for his work in episodic television, including directing "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," and "Parks and Recreation," and Nick Enriquez, a documentary and commercial director previously represented by Lonelyleap in NYC. 1stAveMachine has added director Tim Brown to its roster in London. Brown worked with fellow 1stAveMachine director Bob Partington on Stella Artois' latest spot that turns a tower of glasses into a zoetrope. During his career, Brown has helmed commercials including Lincoln's "Hello Again," "Extensions" through BBH New York for Google as well as Smartwater's "Look Up" effort. He directed for 1stAveMachine's New York office earlier in his career. Michael Di Girolamo has launched integrated commercial production company Hey Wonderful as part of Ridley Scott's RSA Films family. The new shop will create commercials, branded entertainment, music videos, film and digital content. Di Girolamo was most recently an executive producer and partner at Station Film, which he co-founded in 2008. Hey Wonderful recently completed its first project for WPP-owned agency David. a Burger King campaign directed by Sam Cadman. Other directors on its roster include Drake Doremus, documentary makers Peking and Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, director of the forthcoming "The Huntsman: Winter's War." Acne's U.S. office has appointed Rebecca Davis as head of production and Carlos Anuncibay as the digital department's executive creative director. Davis comes to Acne from Prettybird, where she supervised shoots for directors such as Paul Hunter, Max Malkin, Matt Piedmont, Tim & Eric, Melina Matsoukas and Daniels. Anuncibay began his career as an art director at Saatchi & Saatchi London and since has created campaigns for brands such as British Airways, Olay, Samsung, Babybel, Ariel and First Direct Bank. Knucklehead has added Belgian director Lieven Van Baelen to its roster in North America, Asia and the U.K. Van Baelen has helmed campaigns for brands such as Heineken, Grolsch, Canon, Coca-Cola, Nissan, Renault and Ikea. He began his career as a telecine colorist and became a director of photography before moving into directing in 1999 with short feature film "The Thread." London production company Archer's Mark has signed L.A.-based director Norton to its roster. His first project is directing Nike's new film for its latest Neymar Jr. Hypervenom boot, featuring Brazilian artist Bruno Big. Norton started his career as an editor in New York, editing commercials for brands like Dove, Mercedes, L'Oreal, MTV, Kia, NatGeo, and Coca-Cola. He broke into the L.A. music promo scene after directing an unofficial promo as part of a Genero.tv competition, and has since directed for the likes of Danny Brown, Purity Ring and St. Lucia. Former Uber Content co-founder and executive producer Phyllis Koenig and Uber's former senior executive producer and managing director Steve Wi have opened Hollywood-based production company Raucous Content. The roster of directors includes Ben Callner, Ryan Ebner, Keith Ehrlich, Adam Gunser, Chris Hooper, Paul Iannacchino, Rachel McDonald, Matt Shakman and Daniel Strange. Arcade Edit has appointed Crissy DeSimone to its Los Angeles office as executive producer. DeSimone has worked in the industry for 20 years, including commercials for Barbie out of BBDO San Francisco, Burger King's "Whopper Virgins" and the 2013 Super Bowl spot for Best Buy starring Amy Poehler with CP&B. Recent work includes EA's "Star Wars: Battlefront" spot featuring actress Anna Kendrick as a wannabe Jedi. Film and animation content production company Not To Scale New York has hired Eve Strickman as the executive producer and leader of its New York studio. Strickman has previously worked as a freelance producer for Psyop, Buck, and other studios. Originally launched in London, Not to Scale opened a New York studio in 2012 and is now looking to expand its business across North America. Bicoastal content creation studio Logan has hired Matt Winkel as executive producer of its Los Angeles office. Winkel previously led virtual reality efforts for director Chris Milk at VRSE, including projects for Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary and The New York Times' first virtual reality effort, "Walking New York." Prior to that he was executive producer for post-production at Tool of North America. Earlier in his career he worked at Digital Domain and Motion Theory, as well as founding Black Swan. His credits include projects for Apple, Google and Facebook, as well as creatively leading an installation for Nike. Culver City-based visual effects house Zoic Studios has appointed Blythe Klippsten as executive producer. Klippsten has nearly 15 years of experience in the VFX industry, at studios including Psyop, MassMarket, Stardust Studios and Ntropic, and has worked on campaigns for brands including Pepsi, BMW, EA, Nintendo, Sony, Sprint, EA, Starbucks and Honda. Whitehouse Post has added editor Chris Murphy to its Los Angeles office. Murphy joins Whitehouse after spending nearly a decade at Relish in his hometown of Toronto. During his time there, he cut spots for clients including Google, Bose, and Habitat for Humanity. He also worked on viral video "Catvertising" for agency John St. Murphy will relocate to the west coast this month, and will continue to be represented by Relish for Toronto-based work.

Stun Creative Opens Production Arm, Brown Joins 1stAveMachine and More

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