Caviar has acquired Funny Or Die’s award-winning commercial production company Gifted Youth. Caviar will maintain the Gifted Youth shingle name with a roster of directors, which include Jake Szymanski (Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, Tour De Pharmacy), Alice Mathias (Portlandia), and Paymen Benz (Brooklyn 99, Key and Peele). Under the deal, Funny Or Die will continue to work with Caviar to identify up-and-coming directors to add to the Gifted Youth roster. Gifted Youth’s NY-based Josh Morse–whose ad agency pedigree includes Barton F. Graf and TBWAChiatDay–will continue to serve as executive producer, working alongside the Caviar team.
“We have seen Caviar ‘in market’ for years and have always been impressed with their diverse roster and their commitment to producing outstanding creative advertising,” said Chris Bruss, president of Funny Or Die. “Their leadership team is top notch, and the Gifted Youth brand could not have found a better home.”
Michael Sagol, executive producer and managing partner of Caviar, related, “We could not be happier to be taking on this venture. Gifted Youth, under Funny Or Die, has created a unique brand and we are confident that it will only continue to thrive as part of the Caviar family.”
Szymanski added, “I am incredibly proud of the work that myself and the rest of the Gifted Youth roster created over the last several years, and proud of the special brand we were able to develop and curate within Funny Or Die. Having originally started my commercial directing career with Caviar, I’m excited for Gifted Youth’s next chapter there, and excited to be working with Michael and the amazing Caviar team.”
Szymanski recently wrapped production on what will be the first Gifted Youth campaign under Caviar, a series of commercials for Smirnoff from 72andSunny (New York).
Founded in April 2012, Gifted Youth has produced hundreds of commercials and branded entertainment campaigns, including both Jeff Gordon “Test Drive” videos, directed by Peter Atencio for Pepsi Max, and the prolific Ron Burgundy/Dodge Durango commercial campaign directed by Szymanski, in partnership with the release of Anchorman 2.
In 2004 and 2005, four companies merged to form Caviar, pooling their talents and resources. In addition to Caviar Los Angeles, the company maintains offices in London, Paris, Brussels, Madrid, and Amsterdam. Caviar currently represents more than 70 directors, spanning visual and comedic expertise, including a lineup of young talent.
Caviar is known for its commercial work for brands such as Apple, Gucci, Adidas, and Budweiser to name a few. The company is also known in the U.S. market for creating top-shelf music videos for artists like Jay-Z, Dua Lipa, Cardi B, and films such as last year’s indie-darling, The Rider (2017) directed by Chloé Zhao, The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2014) directed by Marielle Heller, and the Sundance Award-winning documentary, Jawline (2018).
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More