Production company Friends Electric has hired Barney Richard as EP of its London studio.
Richard will take responsibility for the growth of the company and the talent roster across Europe, and will work closely alongside Belinda Blacklock, EP of the LA studio, for their global offering. The Friends Electric roster includes the newly signed mixed media aficionados Future Power Station, as well as Ewan Jones Morris and the animation studio Woodblock.
Industry vet Richard started at Jelly London, subsequently co-founded Friend, went on to Riff Raff and most recently was at Rogue Films, working with influential talent along the way.
Richard said, “I’ve always adored animation, I sort of think in it. The ability to tell stories in limitless ways, be it fantastical, emotional, dark or comedic, you can bring these to life visually in anyway way, or multiple ways. Often untapped, it’s expressive, cut-through, highly original and loads of fun to make…Our boutique roster is exceptional and I want to build on the incredible talent base, creativity and culture that’s already here.”
Friends Electric is the sister company to Electric Theatre Collective, allowing clients to benefit from utilizing world-class visual effects talent.
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