Commercial production company Cap Gun Collective, with shops in Chicago and London, has opened a Los Angeles office with the hiring of executive producer Jason Botkin and an expanded U.S. directorial roster that includes founder Alex Fendrich, Docter Twins, Jeppe Ronde, Jonathan Doe, Michael Sewandono, Spooner Bonde, Tomas Mankovsky, and Tom Haines.
The company has also launched an original content offering, Cap Gun TV (CGTV), a hybrid production studio that develops, produces, and markets original content for broadcast, film, digital and video on demand, incubating micro-content into larger, fully realized properties and finding new ways of funding and distribution within the landscapes of traditional and new media.
Botkin hails from an extensive production background, most recently as EP for commercial production stalwart Furlined. Prior to Furlined, Botkin was the founder and managing director of Streetgang Films, a music video company that helped launch the careers of assorted prominent directors.
Cap Gun Collective was originally founded in Chicago in 2009 by executive producer Matt Abramson, director Fendrich, and producer Kaitlyn Parks. In 2011, the company opened an office in London with exec producer Oliver Allgrove. Cap Gun Collective is part of the grouping of Whitehouse Post “one roof” partner companies that includes Gentleman Scholar and Carbon VFX.
Since its 2009 inception Cap Gun Collective has developed and produced a number of original content properties, including The Venue, which won the Comedy Central Pilot Competition in 2012. Cap Gun also produced the web series Teachers with director Matt Miller and improv comedy troupe The Katydids. The series is showcased on The Onion website and is also being developed into a longer format series.
Cap Gun will continue its successful foray into original content with CGTV.
Cap Gun Collective is represented on the West Coast by Brooke Covington and Rebecca Reber, Jimmy Waldron for the Mid-West and Meredith Bergman for the East Coast.
Hwang Dong-hyuk On Season 2 of “Squid Game,” Wrapping Production on Season 3; What’s Next?
Viewers may gasp, cringe or cry out watching characters die on Netflix's "Squid Game," but those simulated deaths have a different effect on its creator, writer and director. Instead, Hwang Dong-hyuk feels happiness seeing them go.
The show has a huge cast and Hwang says it was "really difficult" to manage everyone on set.
As characters would die, Hwang recalls saying to the actors on their last day, "'Oh no! How sad! I won't see you tomorrow,' but I was always smiling inside."
"Squid Game" season two premieres Thursday. It once again stars Lee Jung-jae and centers around a secret competition in South Korea that targets people in debt and the winner gets a big cash prize. What they don't know is that losing the game is deadly.
Hwang originally conceived of the show 15 years ago as a two-hour film but it failed to gain traction with financiers or even interested actors. He put it aside and worked on other films instead. He then had the idea to make it a TV series instead and took the project to Netflix. There, it could reach a wide audience.
"I never in my wildest dream thought it was going to be this huge," said Hwang, who spoke about the show and what comes next. Answers have been edited for clarity and length.
Q: What have you learned from "Squid Game"?
HWANG: I learned that I shouldn't give up. If you love something and if you want to create something, it might not work now, but the time might come later. Or that idea could be the source of inspiration for something else.
Q: You've already finished filming season three of "Squid Game." Have you thought about what your next project will be?
HWANG: I'm afraid to talk... Read More