Director Theodore Melfi and executive producer Rich Carter have launched brother, a commercial and branded content production company. Plans call for the shop to also be active in features and TV.
The new venture opens with a directorial roster consisting of: Melfi whose feature film debut–St. Vincent starring Naomi Watts, Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy–will make its world premiere at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival; and filmmakers Ben Falcone (the recently released comedy Tammy which starred McCarthy in the title role) and Shana Feste (Country Strong, Endless Love, The Greatest).
Both Falcone and Feste are making their initial forays into spots and branded entertainment while Melfi is a seasoned ad helmer. In fact, Melfi has wrapped the first two jobs under the brother banner, commercials for McDonald’s out of H&L Partners, and Domino’s via Crispin Porter+Bogusky (CP+B). Melfi has directed more than 100 spots in his career for the likes of FedEx, McDonald’s and Slimfast, among assorted other brands. He made his first industry splash via MTV’s porn film spoof “Pizza Guy,” a spec spot which helped to earn him inclusion in SHOOT’s 2004 New Directors Showcase. The piece starred porn legend Ron Jeremy and went on to earn Clio honors. Melfi’s “Playground” promo for the L.A. Film Festival garnered Silver at the London International Advertising & Design Awards. He also early in his career was nominated for Best Young Director distinction at Cannes. Melfi went on to broaden into shorts as well as a telefilm before breaking into theatrical features with St. Vincent.
Prior to forming brother, Melfi and Carter were together at production house GARTNER where the latter served as co-owner and exec producer. Carter noted that director Melfi also has producing chops; the director served as a producer and also wrote the screenplay for St. Vincent. Carter related that Melfi is not just a director with a stake in a production company but rather will serve as an architect of brother, helping fellow feature filmmakers to make a smooth transition to commercialmaking. Conversely when brother brings in established spot directors, Melfi could prove instrumental in helping them diversify meaningfully into features and other longer form fare.
From working with McCarthy on St. Vincent, Melfi met her husband, director Falcone. As they got to know each other, Falcone expressed an interest in extending his directorial reach into commercials, prompting Melfi to afford him that opportunity via brother. “The idea of our company is for talent to cross-pollinate,” said Carter. “And Ted [Melfi] can help directors diversify. He’s a director who’s supportive of other directors and he could easily be an executive producer when it comes to building a company and helping to develop other directors’ careers.”
Carter noted that he and Melfi plan to add established commercial talent to complement the feature filmmakers already on the brother roster. At the same time, Carter affirmed that they intend to keep the company small with more of a boutique feel. “We want to keep the company manageable. And by doing so, I’ll be able to stay close to the filmmaking process. I want to be involved in making film and less in steering the ship of a large company.”
Carter is a long-time active member of and past chairman of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP). He was on the board of governors of the AICP Show at MoMA and is a founding trustee of PHBP, an organization that provides health insurance to more than 4,000 freelance and staff commercial production company employees. Carter is a member of the Commercials Peer Group at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and had a hand in winning a primetime commercial Emmy (for the GARTNER-produced NBC/snapchat.com spot “New Friend” directed by Ray Dillman; “New Friend” won the Emmy in 1999).
Headquartered in Los Angeles, brother also has outposts in NY and London. Another key staffer is head of production Monica Reimold who broke into the business at GARTNER, moved up the ranks and was on staff at Tool of North America prior to reuniting with Carter at brother. The brother sales force consists of indie reps Meredith Bergman on the East Coast, Sue Rosen in the Midwest, Millie Munro on the West Coast, and Alyson Griffith and Molly Bonner in the Southwest.
