Uncommon has appointed James Guy as its chief production officer. The hire marks a pivotal moment for the shop as its previous chief production officer Charlie Gatsky Sinclair becomes its first president of brands and entertainment. Guy will report directly into Gatsky Sinclair as well as work alongside head of production Goldie Robbens.
Gatsky Sinclair first joined Uncommon in January 2021, and has since built a team of experts across every discipline to support and execute some of the studio’s most ambitious work of late. Projects include the award-winning B&Q “Flip” celebrated at D&AD, Cannes Lions and British Arrows for film craft and production design. Uncommon served as the advertising agency on “Flip,” which was directed by Oscar Hudson of Pulse Films. Other notable global campaigns out of Uncommon have been for such brands as Beats by Dre, Pinterest, Formula E, Jordan and ITV. Uncommon also oversaw a major rebrand for EA Sports FC, launching its new vision to the world in a star-studded live streamed event in Amsterdam earlier this year.
Prior to Uncommon, Gatsky Sinclair’s career spanned music, entertainment, film and broadcast with stints at Warner Music and Driift as well as achieving an award winning career across advertising working with the likes of Mother, Fallon and most notably leading production at BBH.
Gatsky Sinclair’s vision of blending line production, design, talent, art and motion has created a unique production model for Uncommon. This approach has enabled the studio to flex and work in different ways–building a bespoke offering across every project to maximize the potential for brands and partners–and affording Uncommon growth into new and exciting capabilities across experiential, digital and long-form entertainment. Technology has spearheaded projects such as World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) “Future of Nature”–which used AI to imagine the bleak future of UK nature if it continues to be destroyed, and what is possible if we act now.
The model has also enabled co-production possibilities such as partnering with the UN and YouTube to create the moving documentary series We Were Here bringing together refugees with top YouTube creators to tell their powerful stories to millions around the world. This project was produced at Uncommon and exec’d by Alma Har’el through Lief.
Gatsky Sinclair has grown the studio’s presence in the world of entertainment–exec producing Uncommon’s first feature production for Nick Cave and Warren Ellis–This Much I Know to Be True directed by Andrew Dominik (Netflix’s Blonde, The Assassination of Jesse James). The film premiered at Berlinale and SXSW and achieved critical acclaim including The Guardian’s Film of the Week as well as being listed in NME’s top films of last year.
Most recently she has been behind the studio’s second feature In Camera–alongside partners PRETTYBIRD, BBC Films, BFI, Public Dreams Ltd.–recently shortlisted at London Film Festival and British Independent Film Awards.
Gatsky Sinclair said that Guy “has long been associated with the best of the creative output the U.K. has seen to date. We are honored to have him join the team at this pivotal time of the studio’s growth. The excellence in both output and talent development will continue to flourish under his and Goldie’s leadership.”
Guy added, “Uncommon is one of the few places in the market currently that not only offers a varied output but is actually managing to push it through. Building on this way of working, I look forward to leveraging the production department to be an essential partner for creatives to continue to make more interesting work.”
A versatile and progressive production department becomes even more vital as Uncommon embarks on its new chapter and expansion to the U.S.
Guy, whose career spans 20 years, made his most significant impact thus far during a 15-year tenure at Wieden+Kennedy London. For his last five years at W+K, he served as head of integrated production, leading memorable campaigns including Nike’s “Nothing Beats a Londoner” as well as work for the likes of Honda, Three, Lurpak, and Coca-Cola.
In 2022, Guy took a step away from agency life to help set up and serve as executive producer for Art Practice, a makers studio founded by acclaimed photographer Dan Tobin-Smith, Mike Skrgatic and James Allen, founders of Time Based Arts.
It was during this stint at Art Practice that Guy was instrumental in setting up a partnership between Art Practice and Love Song, via his long time agency relationship with director Daniel Wolfe (Love Song’s co-founder and director.) In the time spent working together this collaboration between companies resulted in three notable pieces of work that made their mark on the industry–C4 masterbrand idents, the EE Rebrand, and Camille Summers-Valli’s music video for Mette.
