Wieden+Kennedy, Amsterdam, has tapped into China, India and Mexico for an infusion of creative talent. Art director Gwen Yip joins the shop after freelancing for W+K London. Prior to that she was an art director at Ogilvy & Mather, Hong Kong. Meanwhile Hemant Jain joins W+K Amsterdam as a copywriter direct from Mumbai, India. Born in Rajasthan, Hemant spent seven years in Delhi working at Ogilvy & Mather and Leo Burnett before moving to Mumbai to work for Rediffusion DY&R. Also new to W+K Amsterdam is Jorge Callega who will come aboard in June as art director to partner with senior copywriter Carlo Cavallone on the Nike business. Callega hails from Mexico City but most recently served as an art director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco…..Veteran exec producer Steve Johnson has launched Socket Films with offices in New York, Santa Monica and Dallas. The new venture opens with a directorial roster that includes Buddy Cone, Bobby Sheehan, Alexander von David, Michael Grasso and Shaun Conrad. The latter two come over from Snug…..New York production house Nola Pictures has formed The Quarter, a creative collective comprised of writers, directors, designers and animators. The unit is designed to offer agencies new resources in the making of nontraditional media….Director Howard Greenhalgh has joined Home Corp’s roster of directors for stateside spot representation. He continues to direct in the U.K. via Home Corp’s London shop. Greenhalgh was formerly repped in the U.S. by Believe Media….
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