Industry veterans David Mitchell and Tomer DeVito have founded creative collective Wild Gift, a production company working across all formats with a highly curated talent roster. Mitchell will serve as Wild Gift managing director, running the company’s day-to-day business, with DeVito as a collaborating EP.
A producer at Ridley Scott’s RSA Films for over two decades, Mitchell most recently served as the company’s managing director. He’s collaborated with many A-list directors, artists and celebrities over the years, producing high-profile global campaigns, commercials and branded content. His work includes Jake Scott’s “Gentleman’s Wager” films for Johnnie Walker and Nike’s Emmy-winning commercial “Awake,” along with Tony Scott’s iconic “Beat The Devil” for BMW Films starring Clive Owen, Gary Oldman and James Brown. DeVito has a storied production background as well, coming up the ranks at RSA Films before founding independent creative boutique Native Content in 2010, where he also remains as managing director, managing the company’s day to day business.
Mitchell and DeVito saw founding Wild Gift as an opportunity to push one another to do what they hadn’t yet done in their collective experience. Their mission is to foster a diverse, tightly knit creative community of genuinely good people with direct access to leadership. Wild Gift’s eclectic roster so far includes award-winning film, television, commercial and music video directors Tobias Granström, Tomas Skoging, Michael Mann, Tate Taylor, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, Ewan McGregor, Duncan Jones, Kaz Firpo, DJ Caruso, Øcean Vashti Jude and Arielle Pytka.
“Our focus is on filmmakers who are not only great at their jobs, but also collaborative and passionate in their approach,” Mitchell said. “Our roster so far is a clear reflection of that, and we’ll have even more exciting news to share soon.”
“Wild Gift will genuinely be a partner to our clients,” DeVito added. “We will always deliver at a very high level creatively and collaborate to solve any challenges, like an extension of an agency’s own in-house production team.”
“As an MD at RSA over the last three years, helping to run their busy global business shifted my focus away from what I love most, which is producing,” Mitchell said. “Wild Gift lets me get back to working closely with talent while getting my hands dirty once again with the crew in production. Not to sound all kumbaya … but if there’s a team effort with no rigid hierarchy, you bring everyone along and they work hard and give you blood. You walk away with a fantastic product, and everyone has a good time doing it.”
Wild Gift is represented by Pop-Arts on the West Coast, The House of Representatives in the Midwest and MilkToast on the East Coast.
Is “Glicked” The New “Barbenheimer”? “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” Hit Theater Screens
"Barbenheimer" was a phenomenon impossible to manufacture. But, more than a year later, that hasn't stopped people from trying to make "Glicked" — or even "Babyratu" — happen.
The counterprogramming of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" in July 2023 hit a nerve culturally and had the receipts to back it up. Unlike so many things that begin as memes, it transcended its online beginnings. Instead of an either-or, the two movies ultimately complemented and boosted one another at the box office.
And ever since, moviegoers, marketers and meme makers have been trying to recreate that moment, searching the movie release schedule for odd mashups and sending candidates off into the social media void. Most attempts have fizzled (sorry, "Saw Patrol" ).
This weekend is perhaps the closest approximation yet as the Broadway musical adaptation "Wicked" opens Friday against the chest-thumping sword-and-sandals epic "Gladiator II." Two big studio releases (Universal and Paramount), with one-name titles, opposite tones and aesthetics and big blockbuster energy — it was already halfway there before the name game began: "Wickiator," "Wadiator," "Gladwick" and even the eyebrow raising "Gladicked" have all been suggested.
"'Glicked' rolls off the tongue a little bit more," actor Fred Hechinger said at the New York screening of "Gladiator II" this week. "I think we should all band around 'Glicked.' It gets too confusing if you have four or five different names for it."
As with "Barbenheimer," as reductive as it might seem, "Glicked" also has the male/female divide that make the fan art extra silly. One is pink and bright and awash in sparkles, tulle, Broadway bangers and brand tie-ins; The other is all sweat and sand, blood and bulging... Read More