Noted U.K. production house Thomas Thomas Films is opening an office in New York. A prime catalyst behind the decision to launch a U.S. operation was the increasing amount of American work being done by director Kevin Thomas, who founded the London company with managing director Philippa Thomas in 2000.
In recent months, Thomas has directed jobs for Citibank through Fallon, Minneapolis, and the Oxygen network via New York agency Toy. Facilitating those jobs was New York-based executive producer Jenny Gadd, who now heads Thomas Thomas’ stateside shop. Gadd formerly served as exec producer at the Manhattan office of bicoastal/international Believe Media. Prior to that, she had a seven-year tenure producing at Fallon–the first six at the agency’ s Minneapolis headquarters, and the following year at its New York office.
Director Thomas gained a high profile stateside several years ago for his work on the Citibank identity theft campaign for Fallon, which included “Outfit,” winner of the coveted primetime spot Emmy Award in ’04.
Plans additionally call for Thomas Thomas’ New York shop to serve as a springboard into the American market for new directorial talent that the London office is developing, such as director Jim Gilchrist, who joined the company in October ’05. Earlier Gilchrist had been directing via since shuttered production house Small Family Business, London, which was helmer Ringan Ledwidge’s shop. (Ledwidge has since teamed with director Daniel Kleinman in an as yet unnamed London production company.) Gilchrist first established himself on the agency side. He spent five years at Fallon, London, where he shot numerous test films This in turn inspired Gilchrist to attend the International Film School in Rockport, Maine. His directorial credits over a relatively brief span include spots for such clients as the BBC, Coca-Cola, Holsten, Mars, Nike, Skoda and The Sunday Telegraph.
Gadd noted that Thomas Thomas also hopes to bring a U.S.-based director into the fold at some point, but the company is taking its time and intends to be very selective.
Review: Director/Co-Writer Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ “My Dead Friend Zoe”
Even for a film titled "My Dead Friend Zoe," the opening scenes of Kyle Hausmann-Stokes' movie have a startling rhythm. First, two female American soldiers are riding in a Humvee in Afghanistan 2016 blasting Rihanna's "Umbrella." They are clearly friends, and more concerned with the music coming through loudly than enemy fire. Zoe (Natalie Morales) tells Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) tells that if they ever set foot in "some dopy group therapy," to please kill her. Cut to years later, they're sitting in a counseling meeting for veterans and Morales' character has a sour look at her face. She turns to her friend: "Did we survive the dumbest war of all time just to sit here all broken and kumbaya and ouchie-my-feelings?" But after this rush of cavalier soldiering and bitter sarcasm comes a sobering moment. Merit blinks her eyes and is instead staring at an empty chair. Zoe isn't there at all. "My Dead Friend Zoe," co-starring Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris, confronts a dark reality of post-combat struggle with as much humor and playfulness as it does trauma and sorrow. It comes from a real place, and you can tell. Hausmann-Stoke is himself a veteran and "My Dead Friend Zoe" is dedicated to a pair of his platoon mates who killed themselves. The opening titles note the film was "inspired by a true story." Audience disinterest has characterized many, though not all, of the films about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the output has pretty much dried up over the years. "My Dead Friend Zoe" feels like it was made with an awareness of that trend and as a rebuke to it. This is an often breezy and funny movie for what, on paper, is a difficult and dark story. But the comic tone of "My Dead Friend Zoe" is, itself, a spirited rejection to not just the heaviness... Read More