Bicoastal Saville Productions has signed film director and Vanity Fair special correspondent Matt Tyrnauer for exclusive representation in commercials and branded content.
Tyrnauer is perhaps best known for this year’s breakout documentary feature Valentino: The Last Emperor, a film that focuses on the relationship between Valentino, the flamboyant fashion icon, and his partner in life and in business, the enigmatic Giancarlo Giammetti.
For 16 years Tyrnauer has been an editor and writer for Vanity Fair magazine, where his feature articles included profiles of Martha Stewart, Siegfried and Roy, Tommy Hilfiger, Philippe Starck, Frank Gehry, green design pioneer William McDonough, producer Robert Evans, and writer Bret Easton Ellis. In 2004, Tyrnauer profiled Italian fashion designer Valentino and developed a strong rapport with him. Having long harbored ideas of returning to film, which he had studied at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, Tyrnauer got Valentino’s permission to make a documentary about him.
Shot with restraint and simple style, Valentino uses a cinema vérité approach to capture the lives and lifestyles of Valentino and Giammetti. By now most of the fashion fluent have seen the comical canine clip from the documentary that has made its rounds on the web, but in fact, the film goes beyond the surface of Valentino’s over-the-top glamour. Valentino is a warts-and-all portrait that digs deep into one of the industry’s greatest partnerships–at times to the subjects’ discomfort. Tyrnauer captured the glory of Valentino’s 45th anniversary, the bittersweetness of his decision to retire, and the end of the alta moda era with the sale of VFG to private equity firm Permira. But in the end it is the duo’s unique relationship that takes center stage.
The movie premiered to an audience of 1,500 at the Venice Film Festival. Tyrnauer described the film as being “a universal story. It just happens to be about fashion. It wouldn’t matter if they were two walnut farmers living near Mount Vesuvius. That’s the key to all film projects–documentaries, features or commercials–to find a story that touches everyone.”
“Matt has remarkable observational skills and filmmaking expertise,” related Johnny Doran, Saville’s executive producer. Doran said the director has “an enviable knowledge about the positioning of brands, in particular luxury brands, making him an ideal partner to collaborate with on commercials and branded content projects.”
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More