Culver City, Calif.-headquartered Backyard Productions has signed Free the Work directors Kanyessa McMahon, Jasmin Kuhn, Lorenzo DeGuia and Eric Kiel for U.S. commercial representation. Kuhn is a commercial director/cinematographer with a portfolio that includes international clients such as Avon, Dove, Olay, Head+Shoulders, Secret + L’Oreal. DeGuia’s work spans such brands as Nike, the NHL, General Mills, BMW and Goldman Sachs as well as celebs and athletes like LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. Kiel has directed for Land Rover, GMC, Tabasco, John Deere, Pep Boys, XOJet, Yeti, Dicks Sporting Goods, Fox Sports, Pfizer, Marriott, Cargill, HP, Patagonia, and Outside, among other clients. McMahon’s experience turning out 450 digital films between Nike and Adidas globally with top-tier athletes and entertainers has refined her sense of artistry, agility, and acumen. Her other clients have included YouTube, Capitol Records, iamOTHER and Estee Lauder….
FCB has promoted its top two global strategic leaders, Nigel Jones and Vita Harris. Jones moves up from day-to-day operations to take on the chairperson role for FCB, where he will partner with FCB’s global leadership team on special projects. Meanwhile Harris has been elevated from chief strategy officer to global chief strategy officer, a role previously held by Jones. Both Jones and Harris will report to FCB Worldwide CEO Carter Murray and will partner closely with him, global CCO Susan Credle and FCB’s recently appointed global head of data science & connections, Tina Allan, to lead greater alignment of FCB’s strategic capabilities with its performance and data offerings, including its rapidly expanding creative data agency, FCB/SIX. Harris has been instrumental in evolving FCB’s DE&I framework and led the introduction of the network’s Disrupting Thought Patterns workshops, while also helping lead the expansion of cultural competency and workplace inclusion initiatives to all its offices. In 2019, Harris helped develop FCB’s proprietary process to disrupt biases from seeping into the work–across strategy, planning and creative– which has been deployed globally and embraced internally by many of the agency’s clients. Harris will continue leading these initiatives while also expanding FCB’s strategic offering with data-driven performance capabilities. Committed to giving back to help advance the industry, Harris also serves on the boards of the 4As, ANA Educational Foundation and NYWICI, and on the Ad Council’s Campaign Review Committee, which appraises the direction of campaigns designed to promote social change. Among other accolades, Harris has been recognized as one of the 4As’ “100 People Who Make Advertising Great,” honored with an ADCOLOR Legend Award, and received the Missouri Honor Medal from the Missouri School of Journalism in 2018…
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More