Production house aWHITELABELproduct has signed director/cinematographer Darius Khondji for commercial representation. Khondji’s initial directing projects are campaigns for CK and Dior. As a spot director, Khondji draws upon a career as an accomplished cinematographer, Oscar and Cesar-nominated for Evita and Delicatessan, respectively, and he has collaborated with directors ranging from David Fincher to Bernardo Bertolucci….Los Angeles-based HELLO! has formed a new integrated content division with Ko Kawashima joining as head of integrated content and Chris Kraft as in-house producer. A former artist manager who represented iconic Icelandic singer Bjork during “Post,” her only album to go Gold in America, Kawashima has spent the last 19 years as a serial entrepreneur with an emphasis in the marketing, branding, and philanthropic services sector. She launched Asylm Marketing, one of the first word-of-mouth national pop culture oriented street teams in the country; Asylm became the agency of record for Seiko Spoon, was a key component in launching the first Sony Playstation, and worked with such brands and artists as Wired, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros. Records, Interscope Records, Sony Music Group, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, and Bush. She later started the brand strategy firms agitprop media group and BPM (brands+music), whose clients included Ketel One Vodka, Converse, Nike, Peer Music Group, loll designs, In Ticketing, and Namaste Interactive. Kraft came up through the music video production ranks in the 1990’s. His first producing endeavor was a live music video for Joan Jett and L7, re-working the Runaways “Cherry Bomb”; he has since produced over 100 music videos for nearly every major label and artist. He has also produced live concert specials for The Rolling Stones, Offspring, Yolanda Adams, Cyndi Lauper, Keith Urban and Loggins and Messina to name a few, as well as the CBS TV special Michael Jackson: Number Ones, Audioslave’s MTV special Live on Broadway, and the Amex Jam Sessions for A&E featuring Alanis Morrisette, Black Eyed Peas and John Legend. In the film world, Kraft line-produced the World Cup Soccer 2007 documentary The Power of The Game, directed by Michael Apted. Kraft is currently in post-production on a series of six 5-minute webisodes sponsored by Mountain Dew entitled Will and The Ruins, soon to be released….
Director Cassandra Brooksbank Joins Monument Content For Spots and Branded Content
Monument Content has signed director Cassandra “Cassie” Brooksbank for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. She brings to her directing and storytelling the experience and skills of a writer, conceptual artist, editor and visual effects artist.
Her body of work as a director includes Pepsi’s “Selfie” featuring Lionel Messi amid a flurry of fans, Barclays madcap women’s Soccer League spot where she collaborated closely with the agency to develop the creative, ultimately winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Sports Industry Awards, and a grass-roots campaign for Fellow Coffee. The latter just didn’t brew buzz; it helped raise $1.2 million on Kickstarter.
Prior to joining Monument Content, Brooksbank had been repped in the U.S. for commercials by production house Hey Wonderful.
On the long-form front, she is repped by CAA for film and television. And on the horizon is her debut feature, My Masterpiece, produced by Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions and backed by Amazon.
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