PepsiCo has entered into a deal with recently formed Santa Monica production house BermanBraun–headed by veteran TV execs Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun– to create online entertainment. Braun served as head of Yahoo Inc.’s media group before exiting there in December….Veteran editor and effects designer Steve Medin has opened VOLT Studios, a Minneapolis-based post, design and effects shop. Joining him at the new venture are exec producer Charlie Lach and editor Chris Chiabotti….Composers Richard Friedman and Dino Herrmann have teamed with sound designers John Reese and Francois Blaignan to form music/sound house Tinitus. The new Los Angeles-based venture is currently having its digs being built out; still, it has managed to wrap several jobs including Diet Mountain Dew and Mountain Dew for BBDO New York, and Heineken for Ogilvy & Mather, Singapore. Concurrent with Tinitus, Blaignan continues to maintain a relationship with bicoastal editing house Nomad for select sound design assignments….Audio engineer Daniel Verlinde has joined the audio post group at post facilities Postique and hdstudios in Southfield, Mich. He comes over from Southfield-based Gold Sound. Additionally, Spencer Hall has been promoted to audio engineer at Postique and hdstudios….
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