Prodigy Films, with shops in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S., has signed director Felicity Morgan-Rhind, formerly of Down Under-based Film Construction, where her Frank beverages’ spots “Gold Digger” and “Adulterers” earned Bronze Lion distinction at this year’s Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival….Guerilla FX, a New York-based independent production, design, effects and post finishing company under the aegis of creative director Thor Raxlen and exec producer Doug Robbins, has launched a digital division exclusively for the creation of interactive content…Senior editor Dayn Williams of Cut+Run, London, has come stateside as an “editor in residence” at Cut+Run, Santa Monica, until spring 2008. Williams has edited a number of projects in L.A. and is currently collaborating at the Santa Monica office with RSA director Jordan Scott on Nike via Wieden + Kennedy….
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