Director Delaney Bishop and producer Isabel Reyes have launched creative production studio Bishop Takes Queen (BTQ). The new venture has already turned out a pair of ideation-through-execution assignments directed by Bishop and produced by Reyes: Saban Brands’ Robyn Hoodie, a new series starring world-class extreme martial artist Jesse Jane McParland (the kid-centric show combines action mystery with classroom comedy, cyber ninjas, and forest kung fu fighting); and Trinidad James Vignettes, a series of 20 comedic and hip hop shorts for Warner Brothers’ digital network, Stage 13.
Bishop and Reyes first came together eight years ago at mun2 Television, a bilingual division of NBC, influenced by early MTV. Bishop was an on-air promos producer, winning multiple awards for short form content, and Reyes produced an hour long daily show The mun2 Shift.
Bishop went on to establish himself as a director, turning out music videos for Marilyn Manson, Pete Yorn, Jurassic 5, and many others. His commercials and short form spots span clients such as TiVo, Chevy, M&M’s, and Saban. His short films have won awards at festivals around the globe and his first feature, suspense thriller Voyeur, is currently in post.
Reyes cast and produced over 30 episodes of LA Ink and helped launch mun2 on the West Coast. She helped develop a variety of shows for Rocket Science Laboratories, including Ink Master. Prior to the formation of BTQ, Reyes was the head casting director for a variety of companies including Rocket Science Laboratories, Original Media, Go90 and Playboy TV.
Bishop and Reyes embrace a “Cassavetes-style workflow,” something that evolved when they first connected. Their home is a studio–and, perhaps more significantly, their studio is a home. In some ways, BTQ is the formalization of a social circle, a group of artists that has gathered at Bishop and Reyes’ Highland Park compound over the years. It’s a tight-knit community that continues to evolve organically into an expanding network of colleagues and professionals, including friends and family as far back as elementary school. Thus BTQ can tap into varied talent on a non-exclusive basis, including DJ and filmmaker Lucas McFadden (aka Cut Chemist), producer Doron Ofir (Popular Productions), feature and TV writer Ron Osborn, social media creator Aristotle (Blake Webber) Georgeson, talent manager Caryl Fleemons (Incensed Media), EP Shahrook Oomer (Media Distribution Partners) and comic book artist Sina Grace.
Bishop noted that with the advent and evolution of social media platforms–from YouTube to IGTV–music videos and advertising have experienced rebirth and continued visibility. “There’s still lots of great talent making music videos, which remain a testing ground for concepts and techniques,” Bishop observed. “Unlike the days of MTV, there’s greater opportunity to cross-promote with the artist.” Amidst the clutter, Bishop believes, “the audience can discern creativity, spotting the quality work from the cookie-cutter stuff.”
In addition to writing, directing and producing, BTQ is equipped to supervise post workflows at any scale, across feature finishing, motion graphics, CGI, and audio.
Rounding out BTQ’s capabilities is its casting department. Via her LaBellatini Casting, Reyes has amassed 30+ credits as a casting director and has worked on narrative features and shorts, non scripted television, commercials, and music videos. Her credits include LA Ink, The Bachelor, Fear Factor, and Ru Paul Drag U. “A talent for casting not only influences projects at BTQ–it influences everything in my life,” said Reyes. “I have had the opportunity to talk to thousands of people over time. I am fascinated by personal life experiences and love learning about what makes us all tick. There is no shortage of people who want to share their stories so the least I can do is listen. Casting influences my work at BTQ, in that I want our projects to feel as genuine and real as the people I meet day-to-day.”
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