Bill Reilly, owner and executive producer of the L.A.-based live action production company Space Program, has been named the new executive producer for commercials and advertising content at animation and mixed-media production house Curious Pictures, New York. Reilly will merge Space Program into Curious Pictures, bringing with him directors Zach Braff and Scott Duncan. Braff has already landed his first project at Curious, a comedy job for a Procter & Gamble brand that combines live action, visual effects and tabletop for Saatchi & Saatchi, New York.
Additionally, Curious is opening an office in Santa Monica, the first outside N.Y. in its 18 year history, and has named new representation for the East Coast. The new office will provide a base of operations for the studio’s growing involvement in feature film, TV programming and other entertainment projects, as well as service the work of its West Coast-based directors. Reilly will divide his time between the New York and Santa Monica offices of Curious. He takes charge of commercials and advertising content at Curious, a province previously headed by Mary Knox who served as managing director of commercials for the company before moving over to Red Car New York as its managing director (SHOOTonline, 3/16).
Jan Korbelin, managing partner of Curious, noted that the studio has steadily been adding live-action directors to its roster over the years and extending its production footprint to the West Coast in terms of advertising and entertainment. The hiring of Reilly, an experienced live action EP with a background in visual effects and animation, along with the new office in Santa Monica, furthers Curious’ growth in both regards.
As for the alluded to new East Coast representation, Curious has secured the services of independent firm Hello, Tomorrow, consisting of reps Michelle Stuart and Mary Eiff, who previously repped Space Program in the East.
“We’re continuing to lay the groundwork for the future of commercial content at Curious,” said Korbelin about Reilly’s signing. “As advertising is now incorporating so many new forms–everything from games to apps to long form–the signing of Bill is going to go a long way to ensuring our role as partners and producers for both agencies and brands.
Reilly sees joining Curious as way for him to offer a broader range of creative options and resources to his agency clients. “At Space Program, we were frequently asked to provide different kinds of deliverables that we didn’t have the capability of executing on our own,” he said. In his new post he’ll work closely with Camille Geier, Curious Picture’s head of production/exec producer, who’s joined the studio last year from the New York visual effects shop Rhino (now Gravity). She had previously worked with Reilly on numerous projects, handling visual effects on jobs shot by his Space Program directors.
Indeed, Reilly initially viewed Curious as a potential co-production partner for Space Program, but the more he learned about the studio, the more compelling he found the idea of joining in a full time capacity. “Being here gives me so many more things to talk about with agencies,” he explained.
The move brings Reilly back to his roots in visual effects–he got his start in the industry fresh out of UCLA’s film school with a job at Dream Quest Images, a visual effects studio in Simi Valley, Calif. He later worked at ILM (where Geier is also an alum) before teaming up with comedy director Mike Bigelow, his UCLA classmate, to launch Space Program after a stint together at now defunct Coppos Films. While Bigelow eventually moved on from Space Program, Reilly continued to build the company.
Curious is currently producing a network pilot and is working on various development projects for both advertising and entertainment. The workload has increasingly seen Curious’ producers and directors travelling to California for meetings and shoots, making the L.A. office a needed outpost to complement the work of its New York studio. That’s where the bulk of its staff of 150 producers, directors, animators, CG artists and other specialists are based, working out of a 30,000 square foot studio housing a shooting stage, a full CG department and motion capture capability.
Director Hans Emanuel Joins Caviar For Commercials and Music Videos
Production company Caviar has signed director Hans Emanuel for U.S. commercial and music video representation. The film and advertising director fuses his keen--and Berlinale Film Festival Award-winning--eye for cinematic storytelling with a commercial background across multiple genres including beauty, automotive, dance, and visual effects-heavy projects, to produce creative for clients like Kia, Nivea, Nissan, L’Oreal, BMW and more.
Caviar executive producer Salim El Arja noted, “Hans has a unique ability to blend stunning visuals with heart and humor, rooted in his confidence as a craftsman. This allows him to focus on drawing exceptional performances from actors--including celebrities--and crafting films that are not only visually striking but also deeply engaging and often hilariously comedic. His sensibilities align perfectly with Caviar’s vision, and we’re excited to collaborate with him on work that pushes creative boundaries.”
Emanuel added, “Caviar is a renowned name, certainly since I began my career. They have a solid reputation for quality work, and I’ve always respected them as a company. Life is about where destiny makes you flow with the people you need; thanks to a series of projects, I was introduced to Florence Jacob with Caviar Paris first, and the rest is history. I feel they can support my career growth with their comedic expertise and filmmaking prowess.”
Prior to joining Caviar, Emanuel had been repped by production house Stadium. He was born and raised in Santa Monica, Calif., to a Mexican-German mother, benefiting from a culturally diversified upbringing that carried through his education interests. Knowing he wanted to be a filmmaker from the start, he began his career in the luxury and beauty field,... Read More