“When you lose a David Fincher, it’s a big blow,” acknowledged Steve Golin, founder/CEO of Anonymous Content, who nonetheless affirmed that his company is in a great place overall, adhering to and benefiting from its long-standing business plan of opening up opportunities for its directors spanning features, TV, branded content and commercials. And on the latter front, Golin noted that Anonymous Content is coming off its best year ever while currently on a pace in 2012 to exceed that record-setting spot biz performance.
Director Fincher left Anonymous Content a month or two ago, said Golin, to reunite with Dave Morrison, Anonymous’ former head of commercials who departed last year. They have formed their own venture, Reset, a Santa Monica-based production company that opens with a directorial roster for commercials and branded content that also includes former Anonymous helmers Guy Ritchie, Markus Walter and stop motion artisan Pes. Also on board is director Tim Miller, co-founder and creative director of Blur Studio, who earned inclusion into this year’s Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase at Cannes on the strength of his title sequence for Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Golin said he replaced Morrison with executive producer Eric Stern, formerly of MJZ. Stern–who joined Anonymous last September after Morrison left–became part of a team that includes executive producers Jeff Baron, with the company 10 years, Danielle Peretz, a five-year Anonymous vet, and executive producer in charge of production SueEllen Clair, who’s been with Anonymous for eight years.
Anonymous also has considerable directorial firepower still on board, reflected on the commercialmaking side by such work as “Best Job,” the centerpiece launch spot of Procter & Gamble’s Summer Olympics campaign directed by feature filmmaker and Academy Award nominee (Babel) Alejandro González Iñárritu for Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore. (For a client perspective on the campaign from P&G’s sr. integrated production manager Jerry Rice, on SHOOTonline, 7/19, click here.)
“Best Job” is nominated for this year’s primetime commercial Emmy Award. Earlier the spot won five Lions at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity, including two Golds. Also scoring at Cannes were: director Malcolm Venville’s “What I See” for P&G, which garnered a Bronze Lion; director Tomas Jonsgarden’s “Amoothness” for IQ, another Bronze Lion recipient; and director Garth Davis for Toohey’s “Nocturnal Migration,” which copped one Silver and a pair of Bronze Lions. Repped by Anonymous stateside, Jonsgarden and Davis came up winners at Cannes via their respective companies, Flodellfilm in Stockholm, and Exit Films, Sydney.
Among recent Anonymous-produced ad assignments are: the GE Olympics commercials “Homerton” and “Darius” directed by Brett Morgen for BBDO New York; Dell’s “Annie” for Y&R New York and Sprite’s “Camouflage” from BBH New York and Shanghai, both spots directed by Peter Thwaites of Anonymous and London-based Gorgeous Enterprises; and Nike’s “Voices” helmed by Mark Romanek for Wieden+Kennedy, Portland.
Feature/TV docket
As for the alluded to activity for directors across multiple disciplines, assorted projects put together by Anonymous Content have emerged, with prime examples involving directors not only repped by Anonymous for commercials but also handled by Anonymous’ Talent & Lit Management agency. They include:
o Director Cary Fukunaga is set to direct eight one-hour episodes, including the pilot, for HBO’s True Detective, created and written by Nic Pizzolatto (who’s also managed by Anonymous Content) and starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. The eight-part drama series centers on two detectives (McDonaughey and Harrelson) whose lives intertwine during a 17-year hunt for a serial killer in Louisiana. Production is slated to get underway in January. Fukunaga’s credits include the first Levi’s “Go Forth” commercial, “America,” as well as the features Sin Nombre, winner of the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, and a Focus/BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre.
o Director Venville is tabbed to direct the feature FAKE!, a project in development based on Clifford Irving’s novel about Elmyr De Hory, an infamous art forger. Irving is currently writing the script and Anonymous is producing with Scott Kaplan. Anonymous also developed Venville’s first feature, 44 Inch Chest, a 2009 release starring Ray Winstone, Tom Wilkinson, Ian McShane and John Hurt.
o And director Morgen has the feature When The Street Lights Go On in development at Anonymous with a script by Chris Hutton and Eddie O’Keefe. Set in an idylic suburban neighborhood, a local girl and her boyfriend are found murdered leading to panic and hysteria in the once peaceful town. Morgen’s filmography includes the documentaries The Kid Stays In the Picture (chronicling movie producer Robert Evans) and Chicago 10, both which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival–in 2002 and ’07, respectively.
There are also directors on Anonymous’ commercialmaking roster who are not handled by the Anonymous talent agency. Still, a number of these helmers also have long-form projects at Anonymous, including:
o Director Andrew Douglas has wrapped shooting of U Want Me 2 Kill Him?, a feature film based on a Vanity Fair article relating the harrowing story behind the stabbing of a British teenager, a tragedy which sprung from a chilling chat room fantasy world. Project is currently in postproduction.
o Director Frederic Planchon’s Await Your Reply is being developed by Anonymous. The film is based on Dan Chaon’s novel of the same title about three strangers whose lives connect in unforeseen ways and with surprising consequences.
o And director Christian Loubek has in development an untitled thriller about a woman who goes to great lengths to protect her family and kids after her husband accidentally kills his mistress. Kelly Masterson (Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead) is writing.
360-degree involvement
Just as there are commercial directors at Anonymous who are not on the company’s talent agency roster, so too are there Anonymous Talent & Lit Management clients who are repped for spots by other production houses, an example being Marc Webb, director of The Amazing Spider-Man, whose commercialmaking roost is DNA.
Ideally, though, Golin is partial to having directors both repped and managed by Anonymous, making for “a 360-degree involvement…We are involved in quite a bit of feature and TV development with a lot of our directors. We want them to be completely diversified in advertising and entertainment production. That’s our model and it’s what we continue to pursue.”
Golin said Anonymous Content currently has 40 features and some 15 TV shows in development, as well as a number of brand integrated projects. “We maintain a big operation, over a hundred employees–a talent management business, motion picture, TV and commercial production. Commercials remain very important to us. We want the filmmakers we’re in business with to be fully diversified.”
As earlier reported (SHOOTonline, 6/20), one such recently diversified director is Armando Bo, an accomplished commercialmaker whose feature directorial debut, The Last Elvis (El Ultimo Elvis) premiered at this year’s Sundance Festival and most recently screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Both Rebolucion (with offices in Argentina and Brazil), the company Bo co-founded in 2005, and Anonymous Content were among the shops that produced and financed The Last Elvis. Bo–who’s repped for spots by Anonymous but not managed by Anonymous Talent & Lit–said that he’s grateful for the support of Golin, who was one of the film’s producers. “I feel lucky to have the trust of Steve and the backing of Anonymous for The Last Elvis. We’ve been together pretty much since I was starting out [at Rebolucion]. They saw something in me and my company, and we’ve been working together ever since.”
Emmy nominations
Besides the aforementioned P&G’s “Best Job,” there are other Anonymous nominees in this year’s Emmy field, specifically Talent & Lit management clients, including: Glenn Close (Damages) and Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey) for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series; Idris Elba (Luther) for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie; Max Werner (The Colbert Report) for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series; and executive producer John Riggi (30 Rock) for Outstanding Comedy Series.
Additionally Downton Abbey is up for Outstanding Drama Series and Luther has been nominated in the Outstanding Movie or Miniseries category.
