Search Party Music, firmly ensconced in New York, has added composer Chris Funk to its recently launched Portland, Ore. office. This marks Funk's first-ever commercial music representation. Best known as the multi-instrumentalist in the indie rock band The Decemberists, Funk is also a noted music producer and studio musician. He has lent his musical acumen to such bands as The Shins, Laura Veirs, and Blue Giant. Funk is also a founding member of the acclaimed neo-gothic string band Black Prairie on Sugar Hill Records. The Decemberists' new album, “The King Is Dead,” releases January 18. Search Party's new Portland operation is housed in the legendary music venue La Luna, shuttered in 1999. The venue was a fixture in the grunge era, hosting the likes of Nirvana, The Dandy Warhols, Elliott Smith, Everclear and Sweaty Nipples. The new office is headed up by EP Sara Matarazzo, who relocated to the Northwest from New York, and has hit the ground running with recent work for Target out of Wieden + Kennedy, Portland and an upcoming Super Bowl spot for Budweiser….The Visual Effects Society (VES)–a professional, honorary society, dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of visual effects and to upholding the highest uniform standards and procedures for the visual effects profession–has extended by two years the contract for Eric Roth as its executive director. With the extension, the contract expires in December 2013. Roth has been the exec director since '04 and under his leadership, VES has more than doubled in size from 900 members to over 2,200 members worldwide representing over 20 countries. Roth has worked to create VES Sections in San Francisco, Vancouver, London, and Sydney while also presiding over the VES during a time of tremendous change in the entertainment industry that now relies more than ever on the use of visual effects to make stories come alive….Deutsch New York has hired creative directors Donovan Goodly and John Heath to work on its Microsoft BtoB account. Deutsch won the business in August of last year. Goodly joins Deutsch from BBDO where he was a senior art director. Heath comes over from Euro RSCG where he was an associate creative director working on Heineken, Charles Schwab, and NYSE….
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