Synthetic Pictures, which has bases of operation in Los Angeles and Austin, has taken on North American commercial and branded content representation for docu-style storytelling and international action/adventure director Sam French.
French currently lives in Los Angeles. Previously, he spent five years in Afghanistan where he wrote and directed the Academy Award-nominated narrative short film, Buzkashi Boys. Most recently, his feature-length documentary, With This Breath I Fly, about two heroic Afghan women fighting for freedom after being imprisoned for “moral crimes,” has played in more than 20 festivals worldwide, and won 10 awards, including the Special Jury Award at Salem Film Festival, the Spirit of Activism Award at SF DocFest, and the Audience Award at Austin Film Festival. International humanitarian and Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie signed on as executive producer of the film.
“I have known Sam and his powerful directing work for some time,” said Synthetic executive producer Allison Smith. “I had been following his journey with his most recent groundbreaking feature doc, With This Breath I Fly, and was just floored by his bravery and honesty as a filmmaker. He’s a director who seeks authenticity and cross-cultural connections that have the potential to really elevate work in our industry of commercial and branded content storytelling.”
French has also directed episodes of the Emmy-nominated documentary series Religion of Sports, the Emmy-nominated series Why We Fight, and the Red Bull series, All In, and Life of Kai. His award-winning directing work has appeared on HBO, BBC, CNN, Channel 4 News, Al Jazeera, National Geographic and many other broadcast outlets.
“The timing was finally right for us to start working together,” said French, who has been friends with Smith and Synthetic owner Justin Corsbie for several years in Los Angeles. “I’ve always been impressed with the work Synthetic Pictures produces, and I couldn’t imagine a better home. Allison and Justin have as much passion as I do for the art of storytelling, and I’m looking forward to bringing my character-focused docu-style approach to the company so we can collaborate on creating compelling narratives that connect with audiences.”
While signing on with Synthetic is his first official foray into commercial representation, French will continue his work in both documentary and scripted features. He is currently in early production on the documentary Dominion, which follows a new generation of evangelical climate activists fighting against their parents’ identity politics to save God’s creation, as well as other narrative feature writing and additional entertainment projects.
Founded in 2002, Synthetic Pictures is a boutique production company that has produced work for clients including Ford, Toyota, Starbucks, Shell, Amazon, Samsung, Nissan, Dairy Queen, Burger King, P&G, Kellogg’s, and Vegas Tourism. Synthetic’s indie feature film, Hard Luck Love Song, was released in theaters nationwide in fall 2021 by Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate. French joins Synthetic’s diverse roster of live action directors, accompanied by post and visual effects division SP/FX.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More