Commercial industry veteran Stuart Gross has left his post as chairman/CEO of Random/Order, a Culver City-based interactive TV company that also maintains spot production and editorial operations. Succeeding Gross is Tory Hazard, who’s been upped from president/COO.
According to Hazard, Gross’ departure was triggered by a Random/Order board of directors decision to de-emphasize new media and strategic consulting, so that the company could instead focus on the creation of interactive television software and content. "We’ve demonstrated strength in producing media and software to run on many of the deploying iTV [interactive television] technologies," related Hazard. "And the board wanted to expand on that."
Hazard said that Gross disagreed with the board-initiated change, prompting a restructuring of the company’s management team.
At press time, Gross declined to answer SHOOT questions, only saying of his former Random/Order colleagues, "I wish them well in their new direction."
Lisa M. Lawrence, executive VP of strategic services, has also exited Random/Order. Hazard said this, too, was due to the company’s decision to move out of the consulting business.
Random/Order’s executive management team now consists of Hazard; newly hired president Stan Winsten; Lee Pearson, who continues as executive VP; and CFO Dan Martin, whose responsibilities have been broadened to also encompass the role of COO.
Winsten most recently served as a consultant to Random/Order, providing expertise in strategic and operational planning, business and legal affairs, and the acquisition of investment capital. His résumé includes extensive interactive media experience, perhaps most notably as president/COO of New York-headquartered R/GA Interactive, from 1993 to ’95.
Winsten played an integral role in the formation of R/GA Interactive. During his stay there, he oversaw operations, assisted in raising investment capital, developed the company’s business plan and became involved in several groundbreaking interactive television trials. One such experiment was the Time Warner Orlando project, which entailed the production of prototype spots for Chrysler and the U.S. Postal Service.
Hazard acknowledged that it was Gross who originally brought Winsten into Random/Order as a consultant. Gross had been with Random/Order since its inception last year. He teamed with the principals at now defunct commercial production company Open Films—including Hazard and Pearson—to launch Random/ Order as a convergent media company/spot production house (SHOOT, 4/23/99, p. 1). For Gross, the move ended what had been an extended hiatus from the commercialmaking biz since ’93, when he left both Harmony Pictures, a company he co-founded in the late 1970s, and its publicly traded parent, Harmony Holdings Inc. Gross took the now defunct Harmony Pictures public in ’91, creating the Harmony Holdings banner, which later became parent to such bicoastal production houses as The End and Curious Pictures. (The End and Curious are now part of the publicly traded iNTELEFILM family of companies.)
From ’97 to ’98, Gross was CEO of Scala Computer Television, an international media software company started by Scandinavian venture capital. He then served as a consultant to the firm until Feb. ’99.
During his tenure at Random/ Order, Gross was a vocal advocate of interactive television and its impact on the advertising industry. He envisioned Random/Order as providing assorted services related to interactive television, including strategic consulting for ad agencies on new media.
Hazard contended that the changed focus of Random/Order—to its "core competencies" of creating interactive television software and media content—will prove valuable to the advertising community, as well as to technology companies and delivery systems. He noted that Random/Order still maintains its interactive media lab, which demonstrates ad prototypes for various interactive television platforms, including OpenTV, RespondTV, WebTV Networks, Worldgate, Liberate, Canal+US Technologies and Mixed Signals. He related, for example, that the Worldgate demo contains a banner which can be clicked on to trigger streaming video of a commercial directed by Random/Order’s Kevin Bourland. "Ad agencies can come to our lab and see what’s possible on the different platforms," said Hazard.
Hazard plans to expand Random/Order’s technology and creative teams to step up the creation of software and content. And executive VP Pearson, a former spot director, is spearheading the company’s initiative to develop proprietary media software assets.
According to Hazard, Random/Order additionally intends to invest in its commercial production operation and build a directorial roster to complement Bourland. Recently hired to run spot production at Random/ Order was executive producer Michael Dill, formerly at Lux Pictures, Venice, Calif. Prior to Lux, Dill was with Crossroads, bicoastal and Chicago.
Random/Order also has an in-house editorial arm, with lead editor Gil Goren. As earlier reported (SHOOT, 8/18, p. 1), the company’s announced deal to acquire a majority stake in Santa Monica-based editorial/ design house ARTiFACT fell through.
