Diane McArter, a founding partner in the former Omaha Pictures, and James Studholme, managing director of Blink, London, have teamed to launch production house Furlined.
The new venture–based in interim quarters at Hollywood Center Studios–maintains a roster that includes several directors who have come over from Omaha: Brian Aldrich, Charlie White, Zach Math and the team of Will Speck and Josh Gordon (a.k.a. Speck/Gordon). Furlined also handles U.S. representation for a pair of Blink helmers, Stuart Parr and Dougal Wilson. Meanwhile, the Speck/Gordon duo shifts its U.K. representation from Outsider, London, to Blink.
Director Paul Gay, who had been repped by Omaha, is joining bicoastal/international Hungry Man (see story, p. 7). And as earlier reported, McArter’s former Omaha partner, director Michael Grasso, has formed Snug, a Santa Monica-based production company (SHOOT, 6/24, p. 1). Managing director McArter and Grasso decided to go their separate ways after a successful nine-year run at Omaha. They closed the company, which is honoring all of its financial obligations.
ANIMATION, VIDEOS
Furlined opens with international reach. The company has an established European foothold via Blink. At the same time, Furlined also has a hand in the animation and music video disciplines. The company serves as the stateside home to BlinkInk, which is Blink’s animation division. Formed last September in London, BlinkInk is known for conventional and nontraditional forms of animation, often meshed with live action. BlinkInk’s directorial talent pool includes the Lynn Fox trio, and the seven-person collective Pleix. Other helmers in the BlinkInk lineup are Ben Hibon, Simon & Jon, Ruairi Robinson and Ark. The BlinkInk directors are being repped in the U.S. via Furlined.
Additionally, U.K. music video company Colonel Blimp–established in London in ’02–is being launched simultaneously in the U.S. in tandem with, and housed by, Furlined. Under the aegis of London-based managing director John Hassay, Colonel Blimp, a sister shop to Blink, has a directorial lineup that consists of Adam Smith, Alastair Siddons, Alex & Lane, Blue Source, Diamond Dogs, Dominic Hallstone, and the aforementioned Ark, White, Wilson, Fox and Pleix.
Studholme said that in some respects Colonel Blimp and BlinkInk have served as “laboratories” where filmmakers experiment with varied art forms. Out of this art, he said, has sprung “commerce,” meaning ideas, techniques and stories that have gone on to spawn commercials and other pieces of communication. Studholme views this dynamic as an essential component of Furlined, as filmmakers from that house can compare notes and collaborate with their colleagues at BlinkInk and Colonel Blimp. “It’s art feeding commerce and resulting in the creation of other forms of art,” he observed.
Furlined’s helmers additionally are able to access an extensive palette of resources, said McArter. For example, she noted that Speck/Gordon is currently bidding on a hybrid live-action/animation project, with the directorial duo tapping into the animation wherewithal at BlinkInk.
NEW MEDIA
McArter also serves as a member of the board of directors at MODstream, a Hollywood-based digital communications media company founded in ’03 by Joel Hladecek and Fred Macdonald. Three years ago, McArter opened Omaha’s doors to Macdonald, former CEO/owner of Olive Jar Studios, and Hladecek, co-founder and former chief creative officer of Red Sky Interactive. Macdonald and Hladecek together had founded Allied Art & Science in’01 to patent new business processes and products by leveraging emerging wireless and Web-based technologies.
McArter recognized Allied Art & Science’s capacity and offered Macdonald and Hladecek full use of Omaha’s space and resources. What first started as blueprints for new business models quickly grew to the forming of formal strategic relationships with key leaders in a wide range of related industries, including former Young & Rubicam vice chairman Tim Pollak, former EMI Records exec VP John Rose, J. Paul Getty Trust senior advisor Sir Ken Robinson, Two Degrees Management owner Phil Green, and private equity firm Cravey, Green & Wahlen managing partner Spike Wahlen. With the help of these and several other key individuals, including McArter, MODstream was formed.
MODstream’s ongoing businesses include a wireless messaging device and service. Having just completed development and testing, the product will be launched this summer. In addition, MODstream’s subsidiary, Harmony Digital Media Consortium, founded “The Digital Living Project” with three of the nation’s largest youth organizations: Girl Scouts of the USA, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and National PTA. Together these groups represent 15 million members from every zip code in the country. A major Harmony Digital Media initiative, in partnership with Yahoo! Music, will be announced shortly.
INSPIRATION
Speck said that Furlined, Colonel Blimp, BlinkInk and the opportunity to interact with new media/technology talent like Hladecek and Macdonald represent a creative model that is especially attractive to him and Gordon. “It’s a church of talent, with us as directors able to work with and exchange ideas, approaches and inspiration with other artists and directors within the same family [of companies],” Speck explained. “This allows us to grow creatively, to do better work spanning commercials, animation, music videos and new [advertising] forms.”
Integrated campaign work is also emerging from this mix. For example, director White, whose creative roots are as a photography artist, has wrapped a print campaign and at press time was about to direct a related film assignment, produced by Furlined for Svedka vodka out of New York agency Amalgamated. The Svedka work features an original character created by White and Stan Winston Studios.
Other Furlined jobs include: Aldrich-directed campaigns for Southwest Airlines via GSD&M, Austin, Texas, and for Time Warner out of Ogilvy & Mather, New York; a Saturn package of commercials helmed by Math for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco; Pleix-directed Pontiac spots for chemistri, Troy, Mich.; and a Dallas Children’s Medical Center campaign helmed by Parr for The Richards Group, Dallas. At press time, the Pontiac job was being shot in Vancouver, B.C., with special effects slated to be done by The Mill, London.
Also as SHOOT went to press, Speck/Gordon was about to embark on a Furlined-produced Samsung commercial for Berlin Cameron & Partners, New York. This comes on the heels of a three-spot global branding campaign for Samsung helmed by Speck/Gordon, the directors’ last project at Omaha; the spots entailed shooting in the U.S., Denmark, Croatia and The Netherlands.
Additionally the Lynn Fox team is working on a new brand campaign for Boots via Mother, London. Meanwhile Wilson’s recent endeavors also include spotwork for Mother clients Boots, Orange and Pimms.
Wilson first established himself as an agency creative at The Leith Agency, Edinburgh, Scotland. Three years ago, he moved into directing, initially working in the music video arena and then diversifying into commercials. Wilson has won best director honors each of the past two years at the U.K.’s Creative & Design Awards (CADs) music video competition. Among his music video credits are The Streets’ “You’re Fit, But My Gosh Don’t You Know It,” Dizzee Rascal’s “Dream,” and Benee Benassi’s “Satisfaction.”
Furlined’s U.S. sales force consists of staffer George Meeker on the West Coast, and independent reps Barrie Isaacson on the East Coast, and Rich Newman and Sue Rosen in the Midwest.
