Jeff Baron is a production veteran who broke into commercialmaking as a freelancer, became a bidder at Johns+Gorman Films and then joined Propaganda Films as a staff bidder. He moved onto HSI in the same role for several years followed by what was to be a 12-year tenure at Anonymous Content, initially as head of production, then executive producer and finally sr. exec producer.
He now begins a new chapter in his career, taking the reins of international production house Stink’s first U.S. office as its managing director. The new Los Angeles-based venture opens with a directorial roster which includes John Hillcoat, Nicolas Winding Refn, Martin Krejci, Yann Demange, Nacho Gayan, Ne-O, Jones+Tino, Norman Bates, and Pleix.
The opening of Stink’s L.A. office is accompanied by the West Coast expansion of interactive production company Stinkdigital. Currently Stinkdigital has a sizable presence in New York, where it has produced work for Google, Old Spice, Target, GE, Prada, HP and IBM in the past year alone. Stink and Stinkdigital will share an L.A. office space and provide an integrated production package to clients and agencies.
James Cunningham, a current executive producer at Stink London, will join Baron in Los Angeles. Executive producer Iliana Espineira will head up Stinkdigital’s Los Angeles offering. Espineira worked at Stinkdigital New York for three years before relocating to the West Coast in 2013. Mark Pytlik, CEO of Stinkdigital, said: “We’re incredibly excited to have Stink join us in the U.S. market and to finally be able to offer fully integrated services that cover everything from creative, design and technology to film and branded content.”
The U.S. launch adds to Stink’s existing profile of offices in London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Shanghai and São Paulo. Stink was founded in 1998. Stinkdigital was formed in 2009.
SHOOT: You spent the past dozen years at Anonymous Content, a high-profile shop. What lessons were learned there that you will apply to Stink?
Baron: The greatest lessons over the past decade-plus at Anonymous would have to include the ability to handle projects of all shapes and sizes. Anonymous prides themselves on their production, the ability to produce all varieties of jobs and to do them well. They continue to do that. I learned a ton from that experience–how to best approach a production at its conception through production and post. We did a large amount of visual effects work, of large visual productions. I received a well rounded education from production through post effects.
And I’ve had mentors there like [executive producer] Andy Traines not only when he was at Anonymous but earlier at Propaganda Films. He’s a person most responsible for where I am today. Another mentoring influence would be [Anonymous founder/managing partner] Steve Golin–he too being at both Propaganda and Anonymous. At Propaganda I worked with not just Andy and Steve but executive producers like Roger Zorovich [now at HSI] and Scott Gardenhour [now at The Institute]. It was a great learning experience.
SHOOT: What drew you to Stink?
Baron: Most attractive to me about this opportunity was the growing desire and need to try to bridge the gap between live action and digital–to marry them together in projects for maximum benefit to agencies and clients. Digital is such an important part of the landscape. Stink’s reputation in the business is second to none. I knew I could bring my live-action experience and work alongside some of the geniuses who work on the digital side at Stink and turn out some amazing work with them.
And to have Stinkdigital on the same premises here in L.A. is a golden opportunity. They do incredible work and I have so much to learn in that regard [in digital]. And they are just as excited about tapping into the live-action partnership.
Also drawing me to Stink is their roster of directors. I want to focus my attention on each and every one of them equally. My objective is to keep the roster fairly contained and grow it selectively. I want to retain that boutique feel; a roster that is too sizeable doesn’t afford me the opportunity to do as much as I can for each director. It’s also important for me to establish a warm, creative environment here. I want the directors to be comfortable hanging out with each other, to compare notes and help each other. Stink already has that feeling in its other offices around the world. We want to bring that same dynamic to the U.S. office.
SHOOT: What business model are you putting in place at Stink?
Baron: The business model already exists here. I want to take advantage of the live action and digital sides of the company. The tools are all here. The communication between the companies–digital and film–is the area that’s going to require the most work. Bringing these two worlds together for our clients in the best way possible is the goal.
Our objective simply is to do incredible creative work. As we all know, budgets are shrinking across all platforms. Schedules are shrinking as well. We have to be selective, unafraid of anything, willing to tackle any challenge spanning short and long-form content, from traditional :30s to digital pieces to longer pieces, branded content. The production model is changing, and Stink represents that evolution.
