Gifted Youth, the creative commercial production division of Funny or Die, has added director Trevor Clarence to its U.S. roster, marking the South African’s introduction to the American ad market.
Clarence has garnered international acclaim for his work with KFC, KitKat and Volkswagen, among other brands, while headlining his own production boutique in Johannesburg. On the awards front, he has won multiple Loeries (South Africa’s mainstay award show), including Gold for his SABC Audience Services ad “Education English” out of TBWAHuntLascaris, Cape Town.
Clarence launched into directing commercials following a successful stint with MTV Europe where he created “Crazy Monkey,” a series of spots that quickly amassed an enthusiastic cult following as well as industry recognition, including a YoungGuns Award in 2003, Many of Clarence’s projects have found their way to Cannes, earning him widespread attention and accolades.
Dal Wolf, managing director of Gifted Youth, describes Clarence as being “a fiercely talented, impeccably skilled, and vastly knowledgeable visual storyteller steeped in comedy.” Wolf expressed confidence that Clarence’s talent will translate well in the U.S. market.
Clarence joins a Gifted Youth directorial lineup which includes Zoe Lister-Jones, Peter Atencio, the Fatal Farm collective, multiple Emmy nominee Alice Mathias, SNL slum Jake Szymanski, Jason Winer, who won a DGA Award for the Modern Family pilot, and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar winner and Best Director nominee (both for The Big Short) Adam McKay.
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