Oscar and Grammy Award-nominated producer Geoff McLean has stepped into the executive producer role at Golden LA. Having been a freelance line producer for the past two decades, working with the Venice-based multidisciplinary studio alongside owner/EP Matthew Marquis since its inception, the organic evolution of their working relationship led McLean to this moment.
“It took the right set of circumstances to finally feel comfortable taking the leap to an executive position, as I wanted to have the ability to continue creating content outside of the commercial space, while at the same time building and nurturing a unique and diverse roster,” explained McLean. “The goal is always to be creating cool things with cool (and talented) people, no matter the format.”
Of their collaborative history, Marquis said, “I have known Geoff as a producer, creative partner and good human for a decade, and am so excited about what Geoff brings to Golden LA. We’ve always shared a similar approach to advertising and the long-form as producers, which is to support our talent on both a production and ideation level. There is so much more to help usher a good project into existence than simply booking the job and securing crew. Geoff and I have always embraced a more holistic approach in the way we work and nurture our talent.”
Having extensive experience producing both commercials and long-form projects, McLean served as producer on the Matt Ogens-directed Audible, which was nominated this year for the Best Documentary Short Oscar. (Ogens is with m ss ng p eces for commercials and branded content.) A cinematic coming-of-age story about standing up to adversity, the film follows Maryland School for the Deaf high school athletes as they face the pressures of senior year and grapple with the realities of venturing off into the hearing world.
McLean describes making and following Audible on its extraordinary journey as, “a life-altering experience and one that I’ll not soon forget. Even though we didn’t take home the statue, seeing our cast work the red carpet alongside Hollywood’s most elite, representing their community and becoming role models for future generations of Young Deaf Adults is more of a win than we could have ever imagined.”
Fusing his strengths in this new position, McLean will be producing a new documentary project under the Golden LA banner, while continuing to generate top-level commercial work, with recent projects such as Lucky Charms directed by WATTS (Anomaly), Good Good with WATTS (Droga5), Saman Kesh-helmed campaigns for Citibank/American Airlines and Opendoor, and Jordan Bahat-directed spots for Molson and McDonald’s, to name just a few.
“I’ve enjoyed working and growing alongside some of my favorite directors and to now be collaborating with many of them in this new capacity is truly exciting,” McLean concluded. “This is a unique group of talented individuals and I feel honored and lucky to be a part of this evolution.”
