Guillermo Navarro–an Oscar winner for his cinematography of the Guillermo del Toro-directed feature Pan’s Labyrinth–has joined the directorial roster of Believe Media for exclusive commercial representation. Believe will oversee Navarro’s commercial projects and work with him on a non-exclusive basis for the development of select television projects.
This marks the first time Navarro has been officially represented by a production company in the ad arena. Via Believe, Navarro is looking to direct his first spots. However, Navarro is no stranger to the director’s chair, having helmed episodes of such TV series as Narcos (Netflix), Hannibal (NBC), Preacher (AMC) and American Gods (Starz).
In addition to the Best Cinematography Oscar back in 2006, Pan’s Labyrinth earned DP Navarro an Independent Spirit Award, Camerimage’s coveted Golden Frog honor, and a New York Film Critics Circle Award. The film also garnered him Best Cinematography nominations from the BAFTA Film Awards and the British Society of Cinematographers.
Navarro’s other notable credits as a cinematographer include the features Jackie Brown (directed by Quentin Tarantino), Pacific Rim, Hellboy and Hellboy II (all three helmed by del Toro), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and Part 2 (both directed by Bill Condon), Night at the Museum and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (both directed by Shawn Levy), and Desperado (directed by Robert Rodriguez).
Luke Thornton, partner at Believe Media, said, “We are extremely excited to be working with Guillermo to apply his narrative and visual storytelling creativity to the advertising genre. His ability to oversee a project and have a strong creative impact on the story, lighting, and photography is unique among directors.”
Navarro’s career began when he moved to Paris and DP Ricardo Aronovich took him under his wing and became his mentor. It wasn’t until 10 years later when Navarro served as DP on his first feature. Since then Navarro has become an accomplished cinematographer. His transition to television started as the DP on Bryan Fuller’s pilot Mockingbird Lane which led to Navarro directing several episodes of the NBC series Hannibal.
Navarro said of embarking on a commercial directing career, “It is a thrilling privilege to enter the Believe creative community. Together we share a common vision of a rich and diverse world.”
Believe maintains offices in Los Angeles, New York, London and Prague.
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