Clockwork Films, the award-winning production collective with offices in Sydney and Auckland, partnered with Marc Furmie, Michael D. Olmos, and Ty Linegar to launch Clockwork in the U.S. The award-winning production collective has signed a slate of U.S.-based directors for advertising and feature film content. Talent mentorship and supporting underrepresented voices, alongside known and noted directors, is fundamental to the company which works across various forms of media. Clockwork’s focus is telling exceptional stories in advertising and entertainment, bringing excellence in production to the client experience.
Marc Furmie, writer, director and producer, is a longtime friend and colleague to writer, producer and director Michael D. Olmos who, in addition to his leadership role at Clockwork, closely collaborates with Edward James Olmos & Olmos Productions at Disney on film and television productions. Together with Ty Linegar, whose background spans tech and production, the trio harnesses intensive passion and depth of experience to offer a creative enterprise in Clockwork.
“Joining forces to develop Clockwork in the US was driven by a collective desire to approach original content creation with humility and generosity of spirit,” explains Furmie. “We want to be at the forefront of telling powerful human stories in a variety of mediums and genres.”
“We’ve applied our experience and what we love about the industry to forge a content creation company – from IP to commercial production – that is a welcome playground for filmmakers, writers, advertisers, studios and networks to craft stories that stand apart,” agrees Olmos.
Clockwork represents veteran commercial directors Matt Murphy, Justin McMillan, Jonathan Nyquist, Laurence Thrush, Harrison Woodhead and Henri Bassil. The company has also just signed US-based directors Allison Gay, Daniel Carberry, Etienne Aurelius, Kevin T. Willson and Keenan O’Reilly to the filmmaking collective.
Allison Gay possesses a gift for exploring documentary and docu-stye stories that capture the spirit of a subject, character or brand through a uniquely intimate and spontaneous visual language. One of the first in-house filmmakers at Airbnb, Allison was part of the team that helped the company find its voice and grow to global travel giant. Her work has been displayed in the NYTimes, CNN, The New Yorker, Fast Co., Wired, The Jerusalem Post, SF Chronicle, and many more.
Daniel Carberry is an award-winning American filmmaker and director with numerous music videos, short films, and branded content credits under his belt. Carberry has worked with various artists across all genre spectrums including Usher, Dua Lipa, Jimmy Eat World, Deadmau5, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, R3HAB, Yuna, Conor Maynard, Skylar Grey & Betty Who along with branded content for Johnny Was, Spotify, and Netflix. His visually striking and emotionally-driven work is personified in his veteran’s PTSD PSA.
LA-based, Hawaiian born Etienne Aurelius is an internationally-recognized, award-winning filmmaker who began as a self-taught videographer of skate and surf projects. As director of content for Jason Momoa’s production company, he created 80 commercials, short films and documentaries in 2019 alone, during which time he also collaborated with Netflix on their original series Frontier. Etienne then worked with Legendary Pictures, alongside Denis Villeneuve, Oscar Isaac, Timothee Chalamet, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa for a behind-the-scenes documentary on the upcoming remake of Dune. Etienne has worked extensively with Leica, Harley Davidson and numerous sports and beverage brands. He recently completed production on his upcoming directorial debut feature.
Kevin T. Willson loves directing captivating comedic stories and is known for delighting viewers through likable characters, dynamic ascetics and unexpected story twists. Kevin has directed three award winning SuperBowl commercials and has directed projects in fifteen countries for brands such as Nescafe, Purina, Jeep, Lay’s, Cheetos, Doritos, Ubisoft, Pergo, Habitat For Humanity, Free Wheelchair Mission and many more. He has had the pleasure to direct a variety of accomplished acting talent including Tony Hale, Andy Samberg, Zoe Saldana, Adam Pally, Derek Hough, and Zachary Quinto.
Keenan O’Reilly is a writer/director based out of Los Angeles. His unique visual style is marked by precise, calculated choices and grounded characters with canny insight into human behavior. His obsession with authenticity of character can be seen in his work for REI, Paypal, Betterhelp and Visit California, among others. He has worked with major labels on music videos for Prettymuch, Michael Ray, Joshua Bassett, Sabrina Carpenter and Beck Pete. Most recently Keenan has completed the award-winning short film “What We Find In The Night.”
These are but a few of the multi-talented and diverse talents that comprise the global Clockwork creative family.
“We are building a global creative family with directors who are brave storytellers with worldly, unique life experiences,” notes Clockwork Global CEO, Jamie Cohen.
“Cross-pollination between industries, genres and perspectives – including new ground in tech-enhanced narratives – is very much a part of our collective mindset and approach as we produce branded content and elevated genre films,” says Ty Linegar.
In feature films, Clockwork U.S.‘ inaugural production will be Crying Ground, a 70’s-set supernatural thriller directed by Marc Furmie with producers Sean Robins (Mortal Kombat, TAG, Paul Blart), Jim Robison (Moonrock For Monday, Danger Close) and Keith Sweitzer. Other projects in development or production are the prestige drama The Enforcer, the true story of a notorious Brooklyn mafia hitman who is hired to orchestrate the assassination of Pope John Paul V with producers Jeremy Garelick (The Wedding Ringer, The Binge) and Jon Weinbach (The Last Dance); Harlem 58, the true story of the 1958 attempted assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., with producers Elliott Yancey and Jamal Mallory McCree; Defiant – based on the incredible true story of Janine Shepherd, a champion athlete who defies a diagnosis of paraplegia to become a successful aerobatics pilot with producers Alan Nevins (What To Expect When You’re Expecting) and Chris Chard and Gray State, based on the true story of David Crowley, a U.S. war veteran turned conspiracy-theorist with producer David R. Rodriguez (Colossal Youth, Green Ghost).
To find out more about Clockwork, please visit: www.clockworkfilms.tv.
