Blinkink, a London-based production studio, continues its push into North America by signing a pair of directors–NYC native Zach Tavel and Canadian Cole Kush–for global representation. This marks the first commercial representation for both filmmakers who fit into Blinkink’s rapidly expanding mixed-media roster.
Kush is a well-established director, 3D artist and one-half of the creative studio “Grin Machine” alongside Dan Streit. Kush has honed an idiosyncratic style over the years through directing projects for the likes of A$AP Rocky, Mac Demarco, Nike, Adult Swim, SNL, Vice, and many others.
Kush’s solo work welcomes the uncanny and the absurd, often revealing the bizarre in the mundane by blending emblems of pop culture with nightmarish 3D visualisations of our world and the freakish humanoids within it. He’s got a variety of creative influences and a background in clinical biology that have contributed to the distinctive flavor of his work. He’s also in development with Blink Games and Blink Industries, Blinkink’s long-form division.
“Cole’s been a collaborator with us for years,” said Blinkink executive producer Josef Byrne. “He’s worked with our long-form division, the Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared crew, and is developing a game with our new Blink Games team. It’s only natural that we get him even more intertwined with us. His music videos are some of the most bizarre things we’ve seen, and he brings that tone seamlessly into his commercial work, Nike Jordan being a great example. Very excited to push Cole’s work even further and into new worlds and techniques.”
Zach Tavel
U.S.-based Tavel brings a modern touch to the old-school craft. Drawing influence from bizarre fringes of life and the accidental surrealism of B-movies and old regional TV commercials, he relishes in satire and subverting the expectations of genre through films that toe the line between hilarity and insanity.
Tavel often works with practical effects, handmade sets and non-traditional casting methods. From his quick-witted writing to persistent experimentation with visual style, humor is at the core of everything he makes, with a particularly demonstrable talent for performance-based comedy.
Byrne said, “What Zach has created off his own back is incredible–most of the projects on his reel he’s written and directed himself. His performance comedy is some of the finest we’ve seen. His visual style and ability to make weird stuff is exactly what we love in live-action. We can’t wait to bring some Blinkink to his work.”
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