Phasmatrope Studios, a Haverford, Penns.-headquartered production house headed by director Jeff Odiorne and executive producer Jonathan Isen, has added director Guy Quinlan and extended its reach with the launch of a New York office under the aegis of Christine DoRego. Formerly a producer at Dallas-based ad agency The Richards Group, DoRego joins Phasmatrope as head of sales.
The New York-based Quinlan has just wrapped his first Phasmatrope job, an online spot/mock movie trailer for Vitamin Water via agency Stick and Move, Philadelphia, featuring star NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles.
First establishing himself as a producer in the business, Quinlan learned the ropes at Wells Rich Greene, New York, transferring to Milan to produce commercials worldwide. There he introduced numerous U.S. directors to the Italian market.
Quinlan then jumped over to the production house side of the business, becoming New York-based executive producer for now defunct The End. Four years later he went freelance in New York, producing for U.S. and European agencies. During his freelance tenure, he started to garner directorial assignments. He amassed directing credits on 10 viral web films and 10 shorts shot on location in Europe.
The opportunity at Phasmatrope then emerged. “Jon Isen was looking for a director who was walking the new media line and Oscar Thomas [producer at Driver Media, New York] said ‘I have the guy,'” said Quinlan. “The timing was perfect.”
Quinlan added that he feels “a like-minded connection” with Isen and Odiorne as they look to bring advertising and entertainment together in “relevant new forms of worldwide media.”
N.Y. digs Phasmatrope’s New York office is housed in the Ed Sullivan Theater complex. The aforementioned DoRego had been a producer at The Richards Group for the past four years. She moved up the ladder there, having joined the Dallas agency in ’01 as a production coordinator.
Like DoRego, Odiorne has deep ad shop roots, having made a successful transition from agency creative to commercials director. On the agency side, he was creative director/cofounder of Odiorne Wilde Narraway and Partners, San Francisco. He first was part of a directorial team, the Odiorne Brothers, with Peter Odiorne. The Odiorne Brothers launched Phasmatrope in ’05, going on to gain inclusion in SHOOT’s New Directors Showcase the following year. Through work directed by the Odiorne Brothers, Phasmatrope earned five gold and three silver Best of TV awards at the ’07 Philadelphia Ad Club ADDY Awards.
By that time, The Odiorne Brothers had split up–as a directorial team and then from a business standpoint when Peter Odiorne exited Phasmatrope in late ’06 to form Sleeping Tree Films in New York and Bryn Mawr, Penn.
The Phasmatrope directorial roster now consists of Jeff Odiorne, Quinlan, Steve Andrich, Scott Whitham and Billy Paul. The latter three helmers joined the company earlier this year.
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More