Great Guns, the international production company headed by founder/chairman Laura Gregory, has grown its global footprint with the opening of shops in Shanghai, Singapore and Mumbai. These offices join the company’s continuing operations in London, Bangkok, and Venice, Calif.
As part of the deal facilitating the Mumbai launch, Great Guns has entered into a joint venture with Sajiv Kurup’s Crocodile Films, an Indian film production company with representatives in Kuala Lumpur and the Middle East. Crocodile has produced notable campaigns for Appy Fizz and Grappo Fizz, the Frooti “Mango Theme” commercial, and the Medimix relaunch campaign.
To oversee its expansion, Great Guns has appointed Janene Fitzgerald as head of the Asia Pacific region. Based in Shanghai where she has most recently been producing with Black + Cameron, she will work closely with Kurup. Sheridan Thomas is head of production in London and Kojo Abban has been promoted to head of sales for the U.K. and Europe.
The move to expand globally comes at a time when more clients and agencies seek an international approach to communications, demanding multi-disciplinary directors that can operate in different markets.
To further support its expansion, Great Guns has signed exclusive deals with established directors based in Asia, including Bo Krabbe, Marco Pinesi and Squid. Krabbe, Pinesi and Squid will also be repped out of the London office. Additionally Great Guns has secured animation and design collective MIE for exclusive Asia representation while signing K-Roll from Gang Films, Paris. K-Roll directs both music videos and advertising, having recently helmed a Nina Ricci ad. As part of a crossover deal with Gang Films, the Paris house will be representing Great Guns Paul Shearer and Roar Uthang in France.
Shearer directed Volvo’s Blind Preview, a short film which earned SHOOT Top Spot (11/27/09) distinction. Out of Euro RSCG 4D, Amsterdam, the short introduced the new Volvo S60 without showing the car–instead offering detailed drawings and a painting by blind Turkish artist Eşref Armağan.
As for greatguns:USA under the aegis of managing partner Tom Korsan, the company recently had a hand in a Gold Lion and a Bronze Lion in the Cannes International Advertising Festival’s Direct Lions and Cyber Lions competitions, respectively, as well as a D&AD Yellow Pencil–all for the Virgin Australia “4320LA/SYD” initiative out of Droga5, Sydney. Greatguns: USA and Goodoil Films, Sydney, teamed on the job, which was billed as Australia’s first Twitter-based campaign, giving three Aussies the chance to travel to L.A. for three jam-packed days. The catch: they had to Tweet every minute of the trip, generating buzz for Virgin Australia’s “3 Day L.A. Deals.”
David Nobay was executive creative director for Droga5, with Ben Akers serving as senior copywriter, Ben Smith as senior art director, Paul Johnston as agency producer and John McLean as digital producer.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More