Bob Friedman, whose roles over the years include serving as president of such concerns as New Line Television and AOL interactive marketing, has added another presidency to his resumé–assuming the top slot at Radical Thinking, a division launched by bicoastal/international @radical.media for the conception, creation and distribution of entertainment fare, including TV, film, digital media and branded content across multiple platforms.
Jon Kamen, chairman/CEO of @radical.media, cited the depth and breadth of Friedman’s experience–such as his involvement in MTV’s start-up, his work at AOL and in the traditional media space–as making him ideally suited to help expand @radical’s content initiatives. “The cross pollination of platforms,” said Kamen, “has created an environment where a great idea that understands what people want can have unusually strong resonance–and nobody understands that like Bob. Expanding the existing core of our business, Radical Thinking will provide new solutions for existing clients while generating new short and long-form content that exploits our creative strategic, and production strength and resources.”
Friedman described this as a pivotal time in the emergence of branded entertainment. He believes his new roost’s creative strength, reputation and advertising relationships position it well in the branded content sector spanning varied platforms. In fact, @radical.media has a track record of branching out beyond commercials, with endeavors that have included The Fog Of War, the Oscar-winning documentary (directed by Errol Morris, who has since joined bicoastal/international Moxie Pictures for commercials), and Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster, which won at the 2005 Independent Spirit Awards. On the TV front, @radical teamed with the History Channel to produce the recently Emmy-nominated documentary series, 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America. Additionally @radical produced The Iconoclasts, a six-part series portraying groundbreaking talents in a wide range of fields; the show was done in conjunction with the Sundance Channel and Grey Goose Entertainment. The most recent branded content project out of @radical is The Gamekillers, an ongoing scripted reality show about dating and the social scene, produced for MTV, agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty and Unilever’s Axe deodorant.
Friedman said Radical Thinking will provide “true 360-degree solutions for our partners,” a reference to not only content but adding to it an integrated marketing dimension. “Our plan,” related Friedman, “is to innovate in content creation as the company has always done with commercial production.”
“Atropia” and “Twinless” Win Marquee Prizes At Sundance Film Festival
The war satire “Atropia,” about actors in a military role-playing facility, won the grand jury prize in the Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. dramatic competition, while the Dylan O’Brien movie “Twinless” got the coveted audience award.
Juries and programmers for the 41st edition of the independent film festival announced the major prizewinners Friday in Park City, Utah.
Other grand jury winners included the documentaries “Seeds,” about farmers in rural Georgia and “Cutting Through the Rocks,” about the first elected councilwoman in an Iranian village. The Indian drama “Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears),” about a city dweller mourning his father in the western Indian countryside, won the top prize in the world cinema competition.
“It’s for my dad,” said writer and director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade. His late father, he said, was the one who encouraged him to pursue filmmaking.
Audiences also get to vote on their own awards, where James Sweeney’s “Twinless,” about the bromance between two men who meet in a twin bereavement support group, triumphed in the U.S. dramatic category. O’Brien also won a special jury award for his acting.
The U.S. documentary audience award went to “André is an Idiot,” a life-affirming film about dying of colon cancer. Other audience picks were “Prime Minister,” about former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and “DJ Ahmet,” a coming-of-age film about a 15-year-old boy in North Macedonia.
Mstyslav Chernov, the Oscar-winning Associated Press journalist, won the world cinema documentary directing award for his latest dispatch from Ukraine, “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a joint production between the AP and PBS Frontline.
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