New venture opens with a directorial roster of Dana Scruggs, Okema T. Moore, Gladimir Gelin, Fred Daniels, Matthew Ellis
Creative marketing agency 19th & Park has launched 1Park9, a full-service production company for commercials, branded content, experiences, film, and TV. 1Park9 was conceived to build on the vision of its parent company to offer brand and entertainment clients holistic creative solutions backed by talent that reflects the cross-cultural, cross-generational audiences of today; moreover, to meet the demands of where and how today’s audiences consume media, as Gen Z has all but determined the future of media is skewing towards social, digital, and streaming.
Building on the ethos of 19th & Park, co-founders Tahira White and Whitney Headen set up 1Park9 to be more than just a provider of end-to-end production services; the new venture aims to break down barriers for emerging and underrepresented creators.
“Production has been a part of 19th & Park’s DNA from day one,” said White. “But five years into our journey, we’ve evolved into something bigger than a production unit executing campaigns; we are dreaming up the ideas behind them, working hand-in-hand with extraordinary talent to reshape the cultural narrative with a digitally-native mindset.”
1Park9 is equipped to handle projects from concept development and consulting, to full production execution and postproduction. It is also poised to develop long-form storytelling with its first documentary set to launch later this year.
“1Park9 is the business addition that increases the value of everything we do at 19th & Park,” said Headen. “Our direct-to-brand clients have access to full-service creative execution–and our first-ever exclusive roster of talent. 1Park9 is a new division of 19th & Park that has been a part of our brand identity from the beginning, and now, it has its own home as a standalone production partner to brands, in-house agencies, and entertainment partners.”
White and Headen designed a production model that placed equal emphasis on creating breakthrough opportunities for the talent they work with. Answering that promise, they have signed a multidisciplinary roster of talent to break ground at 1Park9. The inaugural roster reflects Black excellence across the worlds of photography, advertising, television, film, and art: Photographer/director Dana Scruggs, recognized as the first Black person to photograph a cover for Rolling Stone, and the first Black female to shoot ESPN’s Body Issue; Emmy-nominated producer and director Okema T. Moore, recognized for developing content for the likes of Meta, Lifetime, Netflix, and Nickelodeon; fashion and lifestyle director/photographer Gladimir Gelin; sports journalistic director/photographer Fred Daniels; and photographer Matthew Ellis, who specializes in travel and photojournalism.
“I’m really excited about the talent we’ve assembled to carry on 19th & Park’s tradition of brokering new opportunities between emerging storytellers and major brand clients, and breaking down barriers for Black creators both behind the screen and on it in the process,” said White. “They each bring a unique worldview, accolades, and experience to back up the mastery of their respective craft.”
While 1Park9 is currently based on the East Coast, the company is positioned to execute all over the country and internationally with its extended network of talent, including showrunners, screenwriters, animators, editors, and glam.
“The traditional lifecycle of how content comes to be and who creates it is dying,” concluded Headen. “With that, cultural competence matters more than ever. 1Park9 is here to help brands and entertainment providers navigate and stay ahead of where the industry is headed.”
Maggie Smith, Star of Stage, Film and “Downton Abbey,” Dies At 89
Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" in 1969 and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in "Downton Abbey" and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Friday. She was 89. Smith's sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said in a statement that Smith died early Friday in a London hospital. "She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother," they said in a statement issued through publicist Clair Dobbs. Smith was frequently rated the preeminent British female performer of a generation that included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench, with a clutch of Academy Award nominations and a shelf full of acting trophies. She remained in demand even in her later years, despite her lament that "when you get into the granny era, you're lucky to get anything." Smith drily summarized her later roles as "a gallery of grotesques," including Professor McGonagall. Asked why she took the role, she quipped: "Harry Potter is my pension." Richard Eyre, who directed Smith in a television production of "Suddenly Last Summer," said she was "intellectually the smartest actress I've ever worked with. You have to get up very, very early in the morning to outwit Maggie Smith." "Jean Brodie," in which she played a dangerously charismatic Edinburgh schoolteacher, brought her the Academy Award for best actress, and the British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) as well in 1969. Smith added a supporting actress Oscar for "California Suite" in 1978, Golden Globes for "California Suite" and "Room with a View," and BAFTAs for lead actress in "A Private Function" in 1984, "A Room with a View" in... Read More