FilmTecknarna–a noted Stockholm-headquartered design/storytelling/animation house with work spanning commercials, music videos and shorts–has set up shop in New York with plans to upgrade its stateside presence from an office to a full-service studio within the next year.
Hired several months ago to help realize that goal was veteran executive producer Bill Hewes, who earlier in his career had a lead hand in establishing and staffing the New York operation of Digital Kitchen, which also maintains offices in Chicago, Seattle and Culver City, Calif. While at Digital Kitchen from 2003-’07, Hewes was part of the overall management of the company and routinely executive produced live action, design, visual FX and animation projects in all four offices.
FilmTecknarna’s credits include campaigns for such clients as Absolut, BMW, Boddingtons, Ikea, McDonald’s, Hummer and Southern Comfort, high profile music videos like Madonna’s “Music” and Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out,” and short films, among the most notable being Lies, which earlier this year won the Special Jury Prize for best international short at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Lies was directed by Jonas Odell, who co-founded FilmTecknarna with director Stig Bergqvist and company CEO Lars Ohlson.
“We have looked forward to deepening our presence in the States for some years now,” said Ohlson. “We love to tell compelling stories through unique design, and feel we can do it more and better by expanding our presence into the U.S. market.”
This marks FilmTecknarna’s first full-fledged stand-alone stateside office. Years back it had been repped by and worked through New York-based Curious Pictures on American assignments,
FilmTecknarna’s directorial roster consists of Odell, Bergqvist, David Nord, Johanna Andersson, Jessica Lauren, Boris Nawratil and Jonas Dahlback.
Exec producer Hewes’ experience encompasses live action, design, graphics, visual effects and animation in spot production, broadcast and new media. He made the transition from traditional live action to the design/animation driven production world at Studios V12 in Los Angeles. Previously he was for several years executive producer at Barking Weasel, a live action commercial company based in Los Angeles, where he also oversaw Weasel Works, a small design division, and Model Citizen, an in-house editorial company.
FilmTecknarna has a U.S. sales force comprised of independents Judy Wolff on the East Coast, and firms Hilly Reps in the Midwest and Reber Covington on the West Coast. Hesty Reps handles the Canadian market.
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