Industry veteran Patrick Collins–whose experience spans the agency, production house and consultancy sides of the business–has launched the Collins Consulting Company. The new Los Angeles-based venture will focus on managing television projects and budgets for major advertisers.
Collins was Bird Bonette Stauderman‘s (BBS) L.A. manager for 12 years providing a similar consulting service for Capital One, Jack Daniel’s, Southern Comfort, Korbel, Allstate and Wrigley along with other clients on the BBS roster.
His production experience ranges from ad agencies Leo Burnett, Foote Cone & Belding, McCann Erickson, and Kresser/Craig as well as executive producer posts as three different L.A. production companies in the late 1970s through the mid-’80’s. During that period he was the first president of AICP/West, active on the national AICP board, and a major contributor to the AICP Production Summary revisions and Guidelines that continue in use today.
“The goal is to provide advertisers the guidance they need in navigating the production process and how to get the best value for the budget,” said Collins. “This is done by primarily working closely with the advertisers’ agency producers and business managers to explore all the options that gets all the dollars on the screen.”
Collins observed, “We don’t write copy, count beans, get in the way, or slow things down. We do create a process that works and makes the work better because we know, in the end, it is all about the work.”
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More