Backyard has added director/DP Anthony Furlong to its roster for commercial and branded content representation in the U.S. He brings to the production house diverse expertise as a live-action director, VFX/graphic artist and animation director. Often, two or more of these disciplines are included as part of his films.
For the past six months, Furlong had been directing via his own ongoing company, Basic Nature, as a freelancer. Prior to that he had been repped by Alkemy X in the ad arena.
Furlong's body of work includes collaborations with various blue-chip brands, including IKEA, Motorola, Samsung, Apple and NBC.
With a background as an actor, programmer, auto engineer, and numerous creative roles, Furlong brings a unique analytical perspective to each project that complements his instinctive artistic sense.
“His works are performance driven, artistic masterpieces,” said Backyard CMO and managing director, Roy Skillicorn. “They reflect the vision of a true visual thinker.”
Back in 2014, furlong earned an Emmy in art direction for his work on NBC’s Sunday Night Football intro starring Carrie Underwood.
“His lavish imagery draws from a deep, and constantly updated, toolbox of techniques,” related Kris Mathur, Backyard’s EP; “With an engineer’s mind and the heart of an artist, his work manifests itself in unique and unconventional cinematic ways.”
Furlong said he was drawn to Backyard by its “high quality work” as well as its “familial environment, communication and teamwork.”
Backyard’s president, Kevin Allodi, added, “Anthony is the proprietor of Basic Nature, where he applies his various VFX/GFX and editing skills, often finishing his own work. He not only fills a significant place as a live action director on our roster, but his post company allows us to efficiently package live action through the finished product, something many of our clients are increasingly asking for–we plan to put Basic Nature to good use for our entire roster, whenever appropriate.”
Furlong joins a Backyard directorial roster that includes Greg Popp, Xander Strohm, Kevin Fitzgerald, Jeff Lable, Jesper Ohlsson, Steph Green, Shyam Madiraju, and Patrick Creadon.
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