Creative content production company Lifeboat has been launched by founders Jeff Baron, Greg Panteix, Fred Fiore and Nicolas Winding Refn. With bases of operation in Paris and Los Angeles, Loveboat will produce independent projects across advertising, entertainment, and fiction–––including commercial content for agencies and brands worldwide–––with a diverse cooperative of directors and interdisciplinary artists.
Loveboat opens with a roster of directors ranging from the established international talents of co-founder Refn, Park Chan-Wook, Tino (formerly of Jones+Tino), Meryam Joobeur and Lorcan Finnegan, to the artistry of Maïmouna Doucouré, Emma Luchini, Daniel Soares, Billy Pols, and NAN, to the emerging talents of Jesse Lewis-Reece, Baloji, Sandra Winther and Les Frères Boukherma. Select directors on the roster are represented by Loveboat globally, with the others repped by the company in L.A. and/or Paris.
Loveboat is the first U.S. representation roost for directors Joobeur and Lewis-Reece while others have had prior affiliations such as Refn with Stink Films and Anonymous Content, Tino with Stink, and Winther with Sibling Rivalry.
Leading Loveboat’s Los Angeles office as managing partner is Baron whose career has been defined by a commitment to mentorship and director development. Previously the managing director of Stink Films in the U.S., and a senior executive producer at Anonymous Content before that, Baron has a history of leading progressive cultures of platform-agnostic creative thinkers and storytellers. He is joined in the L.A. office by executive producer Rachel Curl.
Panteix helms Loveboat’s Paris office as managing partner with more than 20 years of industry experience. For the last 12 years, Panteix has worked as an executive producer at Stink Paris. Prior to that, he was at 75 Productions (Soixan7e Quin5e) as a sr. executive producer on music videos with international artists including Madonna. Marine Garnier serves as Loveboat Paris EP.
Co-founder Refn is a Danish producer, screenwriter, and director who moves seamlessly between feature films and television series, absorbing his audiences in rich and varied storytelling with his distinctive attention to framing and artistic direction. His films include Drive and Neon Demon, and his scripted series include Too Old To Die Young for Amazon, and Maniac Cop, currently in pre-production at HBO. Refn has won honors including the Cannes Film Festival’s Award for Best Director, and has helmed ads for clients including Gucci, Nike, and Hennessey, as well as a series of notable Lincoln commercials starring Matthew McConaughey.
Loveboat is associated with Logical Pictures Group, an entertainment entity with shared values, specializing in feature film financing, distribution, production, and international sales through its various subsidiaries including Logical Pictures, Pulsar Content, and Cascade8. Logical Pictures, the investment entity for film production, was born out of founder Fiore’s interest in a disruptive sector. Fiore has two decades of professional experience, including with Ernst & Young where he was one of France’s youngest managers, and as the founder of Garderisettes, where he later served as international CEO after selling it to Babilou.
The founders of Loveboat have come together out of a desire to give directors access to a multitude of innovative opportunities. Said Panteix, “We wanted to change the way production companies approach director development. Our primary mission is to nurture directors from all walks of life to create stunning work in a variety of formats. We believe that advertising can be as fun and rewarding as making a series or a feature film.”
Added Baron, “It’s thrilling to bring the expertise of both European and American producers to our clients, for a truly global sensibility.”
