Casta Diva Pictures, an international production company with offices in New York, Milan, London and six other cities, is adding a select group of photographers from Artist & Agency to its directorial roster for global commercial and web video representation. Additionally Casta Diva will serve as the outsourced production company for all film and video projects generated by Artist & Agency, a boutique shop which was founded by Noah Bruun and Gina Whitehead in 2011 to represent and manage top fashion and beauty photographers and directors.
The infusion of talent is the second major move Casta Diva Pictures has made in the past six months to bolster its presence in the U.S. advertising market. Earlier this year the company established a stateside foothold with the hiring of Jack Cohn as its N.Y.-based executive producer and partner. Cohn is best known to the American ad community as the founder and executive producer of several noted production companies, including Lovinger Cohn, Cohn & Company, and C Entertainment. He’s managed and built the careers of such directors as Michael Grasso, Paul Goldman, Paul Cade and Jeff Lovinger, while producing broadcast work for a who’s who of global brands and assorted ad agencies.
The Artist & Agency photographers who will join the Casta Diva Pictures lineup of directors includes Gilles Bensimon, Rasmus Mogensen, Morten Bjarnhof, Pascal Demeester, Torkil Gudnason and the team of Zoren Gold & Minori.
“What’s great about this association is that it fits perfectly into the Casta Diva 360 approach to finding solutions for our agency clients,” said Cohn. “It allows us to offer a full range of production services to accompany Artists & Agency’s extremely talented and creative image makers, which will lead to finding the ideal scenario for any project worldwide.”
Birth of a partnership
Casta Diva Pictures’ relationship with Artist & Agency grew out of a project shot last year for the Vidal Sassoon brand via agency Atelier, the fashion and beauty arm of Leo Burnett Worldwide. Shot in Europe and directed by Mogensen, Artist & Agency tabbed Casta Diva Pictures to handle aspects of its production.
Based on the success of this job, Luca Oddo, chairman of Casta Diva Group, offered Bruun and Whitehead the opportunity to form an exclusive partnership.
Bruun noted, “We’re confident this relationship will endure and grow to be very powerful. We feel that linking our boutique agency with the Casta Diva Group will revolutionize how creatives solve their problems.”
The relationship with Artist & Agency adds to what originally attracted Cohn to Casta Diva Pictures. He said he was drawn to the global nature of the company which maintains production covering every major region from Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia. He also cited Casta Diva’s holistic approach to producing advertising content; various aspects of its parent company, the Casta Diva Group, handle everything from production for television commercials and web video to branded entertainment, print, digital, events and experiential installations.
“Luca and his team have created a company that’s ideally positioned to handle the needs of a changing marketplace, where clients and agencies are not only looking for standout creative talent but also global efficiencies in integrated production that will allow them to maximize their budgets and create assets for all their media channels,” said Cohn.
Notable U.S. work for Casta Diva Pictures includes a Gillette campaign produced for BBDO New York that ran in support of the 2012 Summer Games in London, as well as the aforementioned work for Vidal Sassoon. The company’s Buenos Aries office also teamed with the New York operation earlier this summer to shoot a Latin American campaign for Ace detergent that was shot in the U.S. with Modern Family star Sophia Vergara. The project included both broadcast commercials and a viral component for the web.
In addition to New York, Milan, London and Buenos Aires, Casta Diva Pictures also maintains full service production offices in Munich, Prague, Istanbul, Mumbai and Cape Town.
Director Lucrecia Signs With PRETTYBIRD For Her 1st U.S. Representation
PRETTYBIRD, the production company helmed by Paul Hunter, Kerstin Emhoff, and Ali Brown, has added award-winning filmmaker Lucrecia to its roster for U.S. commercial and music video representation. This marks the director’s first representation in the U.S. market.
Lucrecia has been signed to PRETTYBIRD UK since 2021, soon after winning UKMVA’s Best Pop Newcomer award for her Tarantino-esque music video for rapper/singer-songwriter Ashnikko--which the director pitched, prepped, and shot in only four days. Since joining PRETTYBIRD UK, Lucrecia has quickly made a name for herself. Her striking narratives, combined with a hyper-real aesthetic and iconic world creation, have been the centerpieces of her filmmaking and photography.
Her work has gone viral on more than one occasion. Her commercial for bibigo, “Live Delicious,” was widely admired and even recreated on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel. She has won awards from Kinsale Shark, Creative Circle, and UKMVA, as well as recognition at the Cannes Lions Young Directors Awards and Ciclope Awards.
Candice Dragonas, VP, talent strategy/executive producer PRETTYBIRD US, said of Lucrecia, “She brings a uniquely stylish approach to storytelling with the perfect splash of humor and playfulness. I admire her extreme passion for her craft and the drive to create at the top of her game.”
In addition to Lucrecia’s cinematic visual aesthetic, she routinely engages in another unique form of self-expression: nail art. She has had everything from whipped cream and cherries to chrome flames adorning her nails.
At PRETTYBIRD, Lucrecia joins a roster of filmmakers including Academy Award-winning duo Daniels (Everything Everywhere All At Once), A.V. Rockwell (A Thousand... Read More