Director/photographer Dewey Nicks, formerly of Beverly Hills-based Villains, has joined superstudio, a Santa Monica boutique house headed by president/executive producer Dana Garman. Nicks, who was nominated for the DGA Award as best commercial director of 1999, largely on the strength of an Ameritrade campaign….Director Ramaa Mosley, who recently joined trio films, Los Angeles, has gotten off to a fast start at the shop with campaigns for Lee Jeans, Tide and Pillsbury….Mario de Toledo-Sader has come aboard bicoastal Transistor Films as East Coast creative director. His experience includes serving as a Paris-based freelance motion designer and director, and being on staff at renowned studio Lobo in Sao Paulo, Brazil, working for such clients as Coca-Cola, Diesel, Budweiser, General Motors, Ford, Cartoon Network, Motorola and Cinemax……Leah Welsh has joined Raleigh, N.C.-based commercial postproduction boutique Serious Robots as executive producer…
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