VENICE, Calif.aHSI Productions, the bicoastal commercial production house under the aegis of president Stavros Merjos, has launched Kayoss, a satellite that will produce original Internet content.
The new entity is divided into three units. Kayoss Syndication will create, finance and produce animated and streaming video fare generated internally by directors at HSI and its bicoastal satellite companies, Mars Media, Venus Entertainment and HSI/ P.A.R. (Pettersson Ackerlund Renck).
Meanwhile, Kayoss Creative Services will produce customized advertising and entertainment content for specific online clients. And Kayoss Cross Media will produce online components for offline properties a la the whatever.nike.com campaigna directed by Johan Renck of HSI/ P.A.R. for Portland, Ore.-based Wieden+Kennedyathat began on television and ended on the Web. Conversely, this division will also develop and expand online properties for use in traditional media.
The Kayoss partners are Merjos, commercial executive producers Bill Sandwick and Kerstin Emhoff, music video executive producer Rebecca Skinner and HSI CFO/general counsel Randy Winograd. George Linardos is the lead executive at Kayoss. For the past four months, Linardos has served as head of new media at HSI, where he has been responsible for researching various Internet ventures and developing a strategy by which HSI and its satellites could diversify into new media.
Emhoff said, "Everyone knows the Internet is the future. The basic idea and goal for this company is to take the skills that we know bestawhich are working with clients and ad agencies, producing commercials and music videos that are the top in the business right nowaand bringing them to the Internet."
In the same way that music videos opened a new medium for filmmakers to explore, the Internet represents a similar creative opportunity, said Emhoff. "The Internet allows a whole different level of filmmaker to come in and create all different types of content. The possibilities are endless, and that’s why Kayoss is as broad-based as it is. It’s based on what clients are saying to us now: that it’s not about creating 10-second ads for the Internet; it’s about, ‘What are we going to be doing?’ and ‘How are we going to be getting our advertising?’ "
Currently, Kayoss is exploring potential affiliations with technology providers, said Emhoff. Ultimately, she related, the company intends to hire about 30 staffers in the areas of creative development, technology and sales/marketing.
Linardos’ background is in film production. From ’97 to ’99, he headed Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films, where he executive produced the ’99 release The Suburbans. Before that, Linardos spent three and a half years as head of Oliver Stone’s production company, Ixtlan Productions, where his credits included associate producing The People vs. Larry Flynt (’96).
"I think the main appeal [of Kayoss] to everyone was the chance to do original creative, to be innovative," related Linardos. "[Because] it’s not a defined medium, we could all jump in and let the directors go.
"We see this strategy," continued Linardos, "as the best way to take our core competenciesatalent and production expertiseaand our presence in the advertising community, and translate those to the Internet without having to focus on the giant technological undertaking of building our own destination site. And we can also bring those Internet sites something they otherwise wouldn’t have access to, which is the level of talent we have and our executives’ expertise in creating short-form entertainment."
The initial Kayoss directorial lineup includes HSI directors Gerard de Thame, David Dobkin, Paul Hunter, LITTLEx, Diane Martel, Peggy Sirota, Zack Snyder, Martin Weisz and Dariusz Wolski. Venus helmers include directors David LaChapelle, Matthew Rolston and Jim Sonzero. Mars represents directors Samuel Bayer, Robert Hales and directing duo Chuck Leal and Matt Donaldson. HSI/P.A.R. directors are Jonas Ackerlund and Renck.
"We want any of our directors to be able to participate in this," said Emhoff. "Some directors are currently developing projects; some directors are interested but are going through the same learning curve that the rest of us are. Some directors, I think, will be more interested once we start developing ideas for them, because we do have ideas for them."
Linardos envisions the Creative Services unit as facilitating entertainment and ad-related Web-specific projects for ad agencies and clients, such as online branding campaigns. Said Linardos, "Other possibilities include working with various entertainment Web sites to create shows for them, or working with record companies or [for instance] MTV Online, to create online music video-type productions."
The Cross Media arm will focus on cross-platform projects. Citing the aforementioned whatever.nike.com campaign, which is considered one of the more successful examples of convergence, Linardos also mentioned Comedy Central’s animated series South Park and FOX’s The Simpsons. "You have to consider that those shows began as animated shorts," said Linardos. "A lot of what’s happening in entertainment now is that people are looking to the Internet as a testing ground, where ideas are proven, find an audience and can then be expanded into traditional media."
The content that Kayoss produces will be primarily sponsorship-driven, aided by the relationships HSI has within the realm of traditional advertising. Emhoff related that Kayoss is now working on developing a show for a retail Web site on behalf of an undisclosed client. "The goal is that the show will catch on," said Emhoff, "and that it will go from being just on [the client’s] Web site to being something we can syndicate to other entertainment Web sites, with the sponsorship of the retail Web site."
For now, Kayoss will be based out of HSI, whose impending move to a new Culver City headquarters is slated to be completed in the next couple of months.
