Brazilian director Vellas has joined Anonymous Content Brazil, Anonymous Content’s joint venture with an investment from Creative Artists Agency (CAA). In his new role, Vellas will work closely with the Anonymous Content Brazil team to develop advertising and content projects to bolster their growing content slate.
Vellas continues to be repped by various production companies in different territories, including PRETTYBIRD in the U.S. and U.K. markets.
Barbara Teixeira, CEO and executive producer at Anonymous Content Brazil, said, “Vellas’ arrival reinforces Anonymous’ proposition and the significant movement that the Brazilian operation is making. His creative vision and talent as a director are not limited to advertising, as he has also worked on various content projects. This move is a practical example of our business vision, where great ideas should be executed in their best format, whether it’s a 30-second commercial or a streaming series.”
Renata Dumont, Anonymous Content Brazil’s executive producer, added, “The value proposition of Anonymous Content Brazil is unique because it offers brands and agencies storytelling in any format, whether in advertising or entertainment. It is in the company’s DNA to operate in a structured and complementary way in both scenarios, and its work and awards reinforce this. We see in Vellas exactly the profile of a director with a portfolio and potential for work that shines in both advertising festivals and TV and film awards.”
Vellas said, “I have found at Anonymous not only a place where I will have the freedom to work on projects I truly believe in and identify with, whether in advertising or entertainment, but also the entire structure, international support, and some of the greatest global talents in front of and behind the cameras. The evolution of streaming, the transformation of cinema, and the changing understanding of brands about new ways to communicate fit perfectly with this movement, with which I will certainly be able to contribute even more being here.”
Starting his career as an agency art director, Vellas transitioned to directing and worked with several production companies before founding his own, Saigon, in 2014. During this time, he directed national and international films for brands such as Nike, Vivo, Apple, Coca-Cola, and Movistar—highlighting “Alma” from F/Nazca S&S for Leica, which won five Cannes Lions in 2012. The next year, he was one of the few Brazilians selected for the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase. His work in entertainment and branded content includes shorts for Google and Movistar, works like “Gloria,” and episodes of the series “Arcanjo Renegado” for Globoplay. He directed the third and final season of “Dom” for Prime Video and episodes of the second season of “DNA do Crime” for Netflix, still in production with a premiere set for 2025.
Operating in Brazil since 2019, Anonymous Content Brazil entered the country with a primary focus on content and entertainment projects, led by Teixeira. Following a partnership started in 2024 with Rebolución to also enter the advertising space, the operation announced the arrival of Dumont as general director and executive producer of this division. Vellas’ hiring was overseen by David Davoli, president of international, and Eric Stern, managing director of brand studio and partner at Anonymous Content, who collaborated to integrate the two pillars, reinforcing their complementarity.
Since Anonymous Content Brazil’s inception, the production company has been working to build its content slate on the film and television side and recently struck a deal with About Entertainment, the content arm of the Argentine production company led by director and writer Armando Bo, to develop and co-produce television series and advertising content for the Latin American market.
Current Anonymous Content Brazil film and television projects include a documentary series about Brazilian football player Sócrates, directed by Walter Salles, which is in postproduction, and Perfect Days (Dias Perfeitos), an eight-episode adaptation of Raphael Montes’ novel, directed by Joana Jabace, both for Globoplay. Anonymous Content Brazil is producing these projects while also developing fiction and non-fiction projects for various partners in the region.
On the advertising side, Anonymous Content has been the creative force behind major global brands such as Apple, Nike, Amazon, Netflix, Coca-Cola, and HP. Most recently, at the 2024 Cannes Lions, it was awarded the Grand Prix in Entertainment for the documentary “We Are Ayenda,” created in partnership with WhatsApp and agency Modern Arts, which tells the extraordinary story of the Afghan Youth Women’s National Football Team and their remarkable escape from Afghanistan after the Taliban took power in 2021.
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 — or exceeded — 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