Partners with Victoria Guenier and Adam Lawson in comedy-centric production company
Director Pete Marquis has opened Good Behavior, a comedy-focused production company in which heโs partnered with executive producer Victoria Guenier and producer Adam Lawson.
The trio worked on some 50-plus productions since meeting three years ago at Strike Anywhere, a production house where Marquis was on the directorial roster, Guenier was on staff as EP and Lawson freelance produced.
Marquis, Guenier and Lawson continued collaborating after departing Strike Anywhere. Starting this past June, they picked up five jobs which have since been wrapped. They have five more projects that have been awarded to them, two of which are in post. Their latest campaigns were for Fruit by the Foot, Doordash and White Claw. Good Behavior officially launched today (Sept. 9). Appropriately enough, Marquis has a humorous explanation for the launch date and company moniker. When he was in daycare, a stern German woman looked after him. As a result, one of the first phrases he ever learned was, โNein. Nein.โ A lifetime of being told, โnein nein,โ has prepared him to be on good behavior, and to formally open the doors of Good Behavior on 9/9.
Marquis draws on his writing abilities and knack for collaboration with actors and creatives, to mine every scene for truth and humor, and consistently create work that hits a nerve with the zeitgeist. โIโve been fortunate enough to be making the kind of work I like seeing out in the world. And doing it with the same people I love, admire and enjoy working with, Adam and Victoria. We always challenge ourselves to push the work and stretch the budgets, while keeping the set running smooth and the experience a joy for everyone. I hope to one day retire alongside those two. And hopefully that dayโs not tomorrow.โ
Prior to Strike Anywhere, Guenier served on the agency side of the business at Omelet, Ogilvy and Deutsch LA. For the latter shop, she served as director of broadcast and content production. At her new roost, Guenier assumes the informal company mantle of Ms. Behavior.
Lawson has done everything from AD-ing an Academy Award-winning film to show running TV to producing the CyberPunk 2077 promo with Keanu Reeves. Lawson bids. He produces. He oversees post. His love for comic books has no bounds–he even created one with Wesley Snipes called The Exiled.
โI couldnโt be happier working alongside Adam and Pete,โ said Guenier. โThey are two of the nicest and most hardworking people Iโve met and to see our company work on some of the top U.S. brands is a joy.โ
โIโve taken many great adventures in entertainment and advertising, but this one promises to be the best one yet,โ said Lawson.
On Good Behavior, Marquis said, โWeโre capable of bad, bad things. But we try to do it in a way thatโs nice and pleasant for everyone. My dream is for our shop to be a magnet for wickedly funny work, and kind and motivated folks who put their napkins on their laps, keep their elbows off the table, and happen to be incredibly talented.โ
Good Behavior is repped on the East Coast by Milktoast, in the Midwest by Sharon and Perry, and on the West Coast by Stephanie Stephens.
Changing OpenAI’s Nonprofit Structure Would Raise Questions and Heightened Scrutiny
The artificial intelligence maker OpenAI may face a costly and inconvenient reckoning with its nonprofit origins even as its valuation recently exploded to $157 billion.
Nonprofit tax experts have been closely watching OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, since last November when its board ousted and rehired CEO Sam Altman. Now, some believe the company may have reached โ or exceeded โ the limits of its corporate structure, under which it is organized as a nonprofit whose mission is to develop artificial intelligence to benefit "all of humanity" but with for-profit subsidiaries under its control.
Jill Horwitz, a professor in law and medicine at UCLA School of Law who has studied OpenAI, said that when two sides of a joint venture between a nonprofit and a for-profit come into conflict, the charitable purpose must always win out.
"It's the job of the board first, and then the regulators and the court, to ensure that the promise that was made to the public to pursue the charitable interest is kept," she said.
Altman recently confirmed that OpenAI is considering a corporate restructure but did not offer any specifics. A source told The Associated Press, however, that the company is looking at the possibility of turning OpenAI into a public benefit corporation. No final decision has been made by the board and the timing of the shift hasn't been determined, the source said.
In the event the nonprofit loses control of its subsidiaries, some experts think OpenAI may have to pay for the interests and assets that had belonged to the nonprofit. So far, most observers agree OpenAI has carefully orchestrated its relationships between its nonprofit and its various other corporate entities to try to avoid that.
However, they also see... Read More