Industry vets Dom Thomas, Morgan Clement, James Cunningham and Justin Benoliel have partnered to launch Object & Animal (O&A), a creative studio with offices in London and Los Angeles. The new venture opens with a roster of directors which includes Nick Walker, Karim Huu Do, FKA Twigs, Luis Cervera, Diana Kunst and Bright Black.
Walker was on the A+ roster at Academy Films in London before joining O&A. Huu Do comes over from Caviar. FKA Twigs was previously at Academy. Kunst had been at Joinery. The Bright Black duo was formerly with Humble. Additionally, director Natalie Rae, who is represented by Sanctuary Content in the U.S., has joined O&A’s U.K. lineup.
O&A is also partnered with Spain’s O Creative Studios, repping its roster of talent–including director Cervera who heads that company–in the U.K., U.S., Canada, The Netherlands and Scandinavia.
O&A’s U.K. partners Thomas and Clement will head up the studio’s London location, while U.S. partners Cunningham and Benoliel will handle the Los Angeles operation. Millie Yoxen, veteran art buyer and photo producer at Mother, BBH, and Saatchi, will lead O&A’s London-based photography division.
O&A partners Thomas, Clement and Cunningham all worked together at Academy Films. Thomas was a spot producer there, then EP of A+ Films; he also did stints at Gorgeous and Blink. Clement was at Academy for eight years as EP, having earlier served as music and TV producer at Mother London. Cunningham was Academy’s head of content, then helped set up A+ with Clement and Thomas. Later Cunningham spent time as EP at Stink London followed by Stink LA. Benoliel was owner/EP at Swordfight and had a boutique production company for seven years prior to O&A.
O&A has already turned out spots for Apple, Nike, Uber, Impossible Foods and Global Goals, and music videos for A$AP Rocky, Skepta, and Playboi Carti.
Additionally, O&A is in production on two feature documentary films, with a slate of others in development.
O&A is represented in the U.S. by Red Reps on the West Coast and Miss Smith on the East Coast.
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