Picture Park partners/executive producers Mark Hankey and Eric Korsh have tapped Tessa Rayner to serve as executive producer of the five-year old Boston-based production companys Santa Monica office. Rayner, who joins the shop from bicoastal Epoch Films, where she served as head of production, replaces Korsh, who has been running the California office since opening the doors last July. Korsh will return to Picture Parks Boston hub, but will maintain a corporate residence in Los Angeles and expects that both he and Hankey will be on the West Coast frequently.
Rayner brings more than a decade of production experience to Picture Park. During her 18-month tenure at Epoch, she produced a Jeff Preiss-directed Microsoft campaign via Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore., which entailed six months of shooting. Her recent producing credits include a Paula Greif-directed Pantene assignment out of Grey Advertising in New York as well as the Preiss-directed Yellow Pages spot with Jon Lovitz via the Martin Agency, Richmond, Virginia, and a Sony assignment, also directed by Preiss, out of Young & Rubicam, New York.
Prior to her tenure at Epoch, Rayner spent a year as a freelance estimator for various shops including Epoch, Johns + Gorman Films (now JGF), Hollywood, Stiefel & Company, Hollywood, A Band Apart Commercials, bicoastal and Minneapolis, Venice-based PYTKA, and several bicoastal/international houses such as Propaganda Films, @radical.media, HSI Productions and Satellite. She was staff production manager and bidder for Los Angeles-based Morton Jankel Zander in 95 and served in the same capacity from 92-94 at bicoastal RSA USA. She has also held staff production posts at Lucasfilm Commercial Productions, the predecessor to what is now Industrial Light + Magic Commercial Productions, San Rafael, Calif., and L.A., and ONeil & Associates, L.A. Rayner earned a graduate degree in personnel management from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and got her start in advertising at J. Walter Thompson, Johannesburg, before emigrating to the U.S. and moving over to the commercial production house side of the business.
According to Korsh, Rayner brings a little bit more attitude to our production, which will help update the companys look and art direction. She is also valuable in terms of connections to production designers and production staff, Korsh said. She will run the [Santa Monica] office and itll really be made in her design.
For her part, Rayner said she hadnt intended to leave Epoch, but then heard about the position at Picture Park from a colleague and grew interested in the creative challenge it presented. After meeting with both Korsh and Hankey, she was sold on the opportunity. I like the rapport they have between them and with their directors, she said. Theyre very honest and involved and they care about their directors careers. Theyre also realistic about their companys position in the industry, and I liked the challenge of running an office. She added that the position was a logical next step in the advancement of her career.
Rayners first order of business is lining up a sales rep in the Midwest. Picture Park is repped on the East Coast by Peter Elegant of Putnam Valley, N.Y.-based virtual pete worldwide, and on the West Coast by L.A.-based independent Lisa Gimenez. Additionally, Rayner will take part in the recruitment of two directors, one for each office. Shes also working to spread the word about Picture Parks West Coast presence, and specifically what she calls its good quality work, enthusiastic directors, and very collaborative and creative approach. Korsh added that since they opened the Santa Monica branch the word has begun to spread. Because we were so East Coast oriented [weve mostly been doing] New York jobs that are shooting in L.A., he admitted, but weve started to crack the West Coast market a little bit, and we make ourselves more accessible and national by being there. Were trying to grow, he said. But were trying [not to] expand beyond the pace of our own directors.
Picture Park s directorial roster includes Jonathan Bekemeier, John Huet and Harry McCoy on the East Coast, and Paul Holahan and Damon Santostefano on the West Coast.
Bekemeier, who hails from the music video world, is currently developing a feature project. He recently wrapped assignments for Papa Ginos pizza via Clarke Goward Advertising, Boston, and Fidelity out of Boston-based Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulous.
Huet, an established still photographer, is looking to become more established as a director, but because of the demands of his sports photography career, he does a limited number of spots per year. He recently shot the cover and a basketball spread for Sports Illustrated. In December, Houghton-Mifflin released his photography book about street basketball, Soul of the Game.
McCoy, who was an agency producer before he became a director, recently helmed a short film produced by Picture Park titled Gas Huffin Bad Gals. In 97, he co-directed Black and White and Red All Over, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. He is currently developing his next independent feature project.
Holahan is working on a national spot for Olympic stain via Mintz & Hoke, Avon, Conn., and two assignments out of Della Femina/Jeary & Partners, New York: one for clothier Jos A. Banks and another for the New York Mets.
Santostefano, whose background is in directing episodic TV, recently helmed a Warner Bros. feature, Three to Tango, starring Neve Campbell and Matthew Perry, which is slated for an August release.
As for Korsh and Hankey, the executive producers are also involved with feature development. Picture Park has acquired the rights to the novel Whats Wrong With America by Scott Bradfield, for Holahan to direct and Korsh to produce. Holahan has written the script for the film, which tells the skewed story of an older woman who shoots her abusive husband and buries him in her backyard, only to be tormented by his more-abusive ghost, suspicious neighbors, and a persistent cop. Korsh is also working on a documentary project about the NFL, which DirecTV and several broadcast networks have shown interest in. Hankey is producing Khari Streeter and Demane Davis next feature Lift (Streeter and Davis co-directed Black and White and Red All Over with McCoy) and Pete Mastersons feature debut, West of Here.
In spite of the activity on the feature front, Korsh said the companys prime focus is commercial production. He explained the feature projects demonstrate the companys diversity and an approach that allows its directors to do personal projects that they enjoy, and keeping people flowing, keeping them busy and keeping them artistic.
