MTh Gets on the Directorial Fast Track
With a trio of additions to its directorial roster, Motion Theory President & EP Jeff Scruton is putting his mark on the company.
Scruton Gets MTh on the Directorial Fast Track
With a slew of additions to its directorial roster, Motion Theory
President & EP Jeff Scruton is putting his mark on the company.
By Anthony Vagnoni
MTh, the Venice, CA-based production company also known as Motion Theory, has been on something of a shopping spree of late, and what they've been buying is talent. The studio, which added Jeff Scruton as President and Executive Producer earlier this year from MJZ, has announced several additions to its directorial roster in just the past month.
Joining the studio are the team known as Akama, the team of Atanasio & Martinez and Guillaume de Fontenay. (Atanasio & Martinez also just signed with Thomas Thomas Films in London.)
The additions represent a range of styles and add depth to the studio's roster, which includes MTh and Mirada Co-Founder Mathew Cullen as well as Grady Hall, Mark Kudsi, Synn Labs, Christopher Leone, Brent Jones, Steven Diller, Jesus de Francisco, Chris Riehl, the team of Marlind & Stein and of course the feature director and producer Guillermo del Toro.
SourceEcreative asked Scruton what's behind the talent expansion. "Our goal is to diversify the roster here while maintaining the culture of MTh," he says. The talents who've joined the studio since his signing – he added comedy specialist Steven Diller to the roster earlier this year – represent "a nice cross-section of styles and approaches, from storytelling to comedy to performance," he adds.
Among them are the team of Atanasio & Martinez, better known as Anthony Atanasio and Valerie Martinez. Previously based in London, they'll be splitting their time now between L.A. and the UK, Scruton says. Since teaming up in 2004, after Atanasio's debut in the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase at Cannes, they've emerged as an award-winning duo, creating work for top brands including Nintendo, Nike, Audi, Levis, McDonald's, Budweiser, General Motors and Toyota.
"They have a unique visual style that engages the viewer," Scruton says about their work. "They create spots with big scale, performance, visual effects and emotion, and that makes them a great fit with the other talents on our roster." Their work has been recognized with Clios for both Best Directing and Best Cinematography, as well as Gold Addy Awards, AICP honors and more. The pair has also directed several award-winning short films and music videos. Among the agencies they've worked for are BBDO, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, DDB, Anomaly, Y&R, TBWA\Chiat\Day and Saatchi.
"MTh directors are known for thinking outside the box, and we're eager to add to that repertoire," says Atanasio. Adds Martinez, "We're very excited to join Jeff and the team at MTh and are proud to call it our new US base for commercials."
Also joining the MTh roster is the French directing duo known as Akama. It's comprised of Alexandre Ada and Cedric Jeanne, who joined forces in 2004 and have been creating award-winning work for global brands such as Audi, Volkswagen, Lacoste, Kit Kat and others. The directors specialize in blending live-action with 3D, VFX and motion graphics, producing work that's been recognized by Cannes Lions, VES, the One Show, Eurobest, London International, New York Festivals and other awards.
"As directors, we're always trying to push the envelope both creatively and technically, and MTh is a great place for us to pursue new ideas," says Ada. "We're honored to be part of MTh and its roster, and thrilled to have access to their amazing VFX and animation support."
Scruton says the pair, given their talents in effects and integration, is a great match for the studio. "They're incredibly talented at creating compelling and cinematic visuals, so there's really no limit to what they can put on the screen."
Finally, Scruton has announced the signing of the Montreal-based director Guillaume de Fontenay. He's shot over two hundred spots over the course of his career, working for such brands as Pepsi, Bailey's, Honda, Dodge, Toyota, Kellogg's and many more.
de Fontenay got his start in the business as an art director, and is also an accomplished set and furniture designer; this background often shows in his artistic vision and meticulous approach to his directorial projects. He's won multiple awards for his ad work, including a Grand Prix and two Gold Cassie Awards, several Prix Crea Montreal Awards and two Marcus Awards from the European Car Advertising Film Festival.
In addition to directing commercials, de Fontenay has also designed large-scale exhibits including "Warhol Live," one of the biggest Warhol retrospectives to date, produced by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in partnership with the Andy Warhol Museum and the de Young Museum in San Francisco.
"I enjoy pushing the envelope creatively and offering a new perspective," says the director. "I know MTh will support me well in that approach, and help me cultivate fresh and provocative concepts moving forward."
Scruton says that adding a mix of talents such as this is part of the plan hatched by himself and MTh founders Mathew Cullen and Javier Jimenez when he came over from MJZ in Februry of 2012.
"Ours is still a model where you can come to us and work with a team of directors and artists to take a concept all the way through to completion," he explains. "But we've expanded that to include a wide roster of individual live action talents, so now you can also come to us to work with a specific director who might be best suited for your needs. We felt this was the best way to add additional live action options for our clients while still capitalizing on what MTh is all about."
Acknowledging that the company's origins were as a motion graphics, design and visual effects studio, Scruton says that the plan was to add more depth by bringing in directors whose forte was comedy, narrative or other stylistic approaches. Not all agency projects need the concept-to-completion approach of a studio, he points out, and so the new MTh model allows them to collaborate with agencies that are just looking for a live action component.
"We're not married to any traditional production company or effect studio model anymore," he adds, "as that can limit a company." Now the studio offers what he describes as a range of talents that complement each other.
Are there more signings in the works? The affable Scruton isn't being coy, but says he can't yet name names. "There are some opportunities out there," he says, "and we're actively looking for the right fit. We want to continue to broaden the roster, rather than bring in directors who might end up going head to head."
"Our goal from the outset was to re-brand the company," he continues, "and we think we've done that largely through the talent mix, yet still preserve its culture. And that's the journey we've been on so far."
Published 29 October, 2012
Membership
