Boutique live-action company opens with a directorial roster that includes co-founder Forster, Foley, Marshall, Tatone
Preston Garrett and Brad Johns, former live action executive producers at Tool of North America, have launched Rakish, a boutique live action production company focused on commercials, branded content, and IP development. Feature and commercial director Marc Forster is a co-founder along with Garrett and Johns. Forster is joined by directors Kevin Foley, Noah Marshall, and Columbia Tatone on the Rakish roster for commercial representation in the U.S.
Golden Globe-nominated Forster has over two decades of experience as an accomplished director with feature credits including Monster’s Ball, World War Z, Finding Neverland and Christopher Robin, and commercials for brands such as Audi, SoFi, Cadillac and T-Mobile, as well as a film “Lost & Found” for Walmart that aired during the Oscars and “Wizard,” a Super Bowl spot that reintroduced the iconic Toyota Supra. Prior to Rakish, Forster was repped by Tool of North America.
As for the other Rakish directors, Foley too was most recently represented by Tool of North America. Prior to that he was repped in the U.S. by Steam Films, and in Canada by Scouts Honour. Marshall was most recently represented by Sweetshop. And Rakish marks Tatone’s first formal representation.
With a background in television production and short documentary filmmaking, Foley has amassed campaign credits for UNICEF, Air Canada, Canadian Armed Forces, Transamerica and TaylorMade, to name a few.
Marshall got his start as an art director for top creative agencies in Australia before making the transition to commercial directing. He has helmed campaigns for brands including Nike, McDonald’s, Sony, Audi, Mercedes, Toyota, Chevrolet, General Motors, Heineken and Coca-Cola. His genre-spanning work has been recognized internationally at Cannes, the CLIOs, One Show, D&AD, AICP, shots, LIA, and more.
A self-taught filmmaker, Tatone followed a desire to bring the words on the page to life, transitioning to directing commercial and music video projects. She has helmed spots for brands such as Olay, Unilever, CBS Sports, and RedEye Organization.
Company moniker
As for the company moniker, Garrett explained, “‘Rakish’ is a word of the Old English persuasion to describe someone with mischievous charisma, casual swagger. The personality behind it is in line with our focused approach Our philosophy is to create content that challenges us as artists, work with people you enjoy spending time with and who share common goals, and always be transparent with directors and agencies. Brad and I failed rocket science class, so we’ve opted to keep the core values simple.”
Garrett began his career in advertising embedded in creative development, concepting treatments with directors for Form. He transitioned to freelance writing for all platforms and worked on the freelance producing circuit for both features and commercials. This parlayed into three years producing on-staff at Green Dot Films. He then rose to head of production and later executive producer at Sweetshop’s Los Angeles office, facilitating the spearheading of bidding and pitch strategy. He moved on to join Tool of North America as live action EP.
U.K. native Johns launched his career on the agency side in London, spending five years spearheading and building an internal production department at Maverick LDN. He made his way stateside to form Maverick.NYC and spent three years running and building the business. He left to move to Los Angeles as live action EP at Tool of North America.
Review: Director Morgan Neville’s “Piece by Piece”
A movie documentary that uses only Lego pieces might seem an unconventional choice. When that documentary is about renowned musician-producer Pharrell Williams, it's actually sort of on-brand.
"Piece by Piece" is a bright, clever song-filled biopic that pretends it's a behind-the-scenes documentary using small plastic bricks, angles and curves to celebrate an artist known for his quirky soul. It is deep and surreal and often adorable. Is it high concept or low? Like Williams, it's a bit of both.
Director Morgan Neville — who has gotten more and more experimental exploring other celebrity lives like Fred Rogers in "Won't You Be My Neighbor?,""Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain" and "Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in Two Pieces" — this time uses real interviews but masks them under little Lego figurines with animated faces. Call this one a documentary in a million pieces.
The filmmakers try to explain their device — "What if nothing is real? What if life is like a Lego set?" Williams says at the beginning — but it's very tenuous. Just submit and enjoy the ride of a poor kid from Virginia Beach, Virginia, who rose to dominate music and become a creative director at Louis Vuitton.
Williams, by his own admission, is a little detached, a little odd. Music triggers colors in his brain — he has synesthesia, beautifully portrayed here — and it's his forward-looking musical brain that will make him a star, first as part of the producing team The Neptunes and then as an in-demand solo producer and songwriter.
There are highs and lows and then highs again. A verse Williams wrote for "Rump Shaker" by Wreckx-N-Effect when he was making a living selling beats would lead to superstars demanding to work with him and partner... Read More