Madheart, the L.A. shop headed by exec producer Lisa Phillips and representing director Jan Gleie, has expanded its ensemble of filmmaking talent. The production house has signed commercial director Jonas Arnby for the U.S. market, and will serve as stateside rep for The Brainstormclub, a Munich-based creative collective co-founded by Arnby. The Brainstormclub’s filmography includes notable viral ads that have sparked controversy and earned advertising awards across Europe.
Plans call for Madheart to add more directors shortly. The company has also appointed Catherine De Angeles as head of sales. She will additionally serve as Madheart’s Midwest rep through her indie firm Hot Betty.
Arnby is a Danish-born, British-educated filmmaker who has worked with top agencies across Europe and the U.S. for such brands as Sprite, Harley-Davidson, Peugeot, Quiksilver, TDC Mobile and McDonald’s. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his advertising work, including Clio, Cyber Lion, Creative Circle and Mobius award recognition. He has also directed several short films and music videos, and will direct his first feature next year. Arnby was last repped in the U.S. by TWC and prior to that, The Joneses. He continues to maintain his own company, Schmalz Film, in Copenhagen.
Meanwhile The Brainstormclub, which continues to represent itself in Europe, gains its first career stateside representation via the deal with Madheart. A collective of young filmmakers, advertising creatives, designers and artists, The Brainstormclub was founded in 2007 by Arnby, managing director Yves Peitzner, creative producer Hondo Raktkovic, and sales director Dalibor Tomasevic. Brainstormclub’s work, for such brands as Sony Ericsson, BMW and HBO, primarily consists of viral ads and other viral media, but it has also produced environmental advertising, broadcast commercials, music videos and even fine art installations.
The Brainstormclub won a Bronze Lion at the 2010 Cannes International Advertising Festival for a viral BMW ad in which a motorcycle is used to pull the cloth off a long table set on which is elegant dinnerware. Last month, the same ad took top honors at the Gold Award of Montreux for Best Use of Viral Media.
Madheart’s Phillips said she was drawn to Arnby’s comedic touch and The Brainstormclub’s guerilla marketing sensibilities.
“It’s an interesting opportunity to introduce our business model,” said Brainstormclub’s Peitzner of linking with Madheart in the U.S. “We aren’t a film production company or an ad agency in the traditional sense so we can be very flexible. We see many possibilities for working with agencies, or clients directly.” Peitzner added, “We are convinced that viral marketing, or rather contagious, branded entertainment, is the future.”
The Madheart sales force consists of Hot Betty in the Midwest, Lisa Gimenez Toliver on the West Coast, and Dana Dubuy on the East Coast.
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More