Pardon our dust… Genius Effect Media Group has finally moved into its new Los Angeles office. We will share the space with our sister company, Jigsaw Global (more info on Jigsaw Global coming soon!). It’s really a great space – a 2500+ sq ft multi-level loft located near Universal City. Not only will the new space be our home offices, but it will also be available for private events and productions for up to 300 people. The building has been used to host all kinds of cool things, from live music, to art exhibits, photo/video shoots, mixers, panel discussions, holiday parties (hint, hint!) and everything in between. It’s also fully accented with exposed brick walls, commissioned art work, hard wood floors, 20-foot ceilings, full kitchen, multiple rooms, etc. Feel free to come by and check us out! For more info, send an email to info(at)geniuseffectla.com.
Click on the images for a larger view:
Hey Everybody,
Here is some information on the Independent Television Festival taking place in West Hollywood’s Laemmle 5 on Sunset over the next few days. If you ever wanted to know the ins and outs of going from concept to pilot to major distribution, this is a MUST attend. Not only that, it’s a great network of established and up-and-coming powerhouses in media production. And to top it off, Genius Effect’s own Chris Denson will be a featured guest on the Multimedia Entertainment Panel on Wednesday August 5th.
If you’re around tonight, the Gala Event Kick Off is this evening with all kinds of complimentary food and drink. Press, Celebrities, and need-to-know professionals will all be in attendance. Bring business cards, bring ideas, bring an appetite, bring an open mind! … and don’t forget to iron your clothes.
See below for details!
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The Independent Television Festival is a festival for independently produced, original and innovative television pilots and webseries. It is the only festival for independently produced television pilots in Los Angeles, ITVFest prides itself on being for and about the pilotmakers.
In July 2006 ITVFest opened for business with the mission of altering the way the industry views television production by exploring the creativity that goes into independent production. In the inaugural year, the festival welcomed almost five thousand interested industry audience members, giving them the opportunity to experience the finest in independent television.
With the support of institutions like Budweiser, Current TV, Showbiz Software and Studio System and the talent of pilotmakers from all over the world, ITVFest proved that the world of successful independent production is not merely limited to the silver screen. ITVFest, in fact, quickly became a viable platform in which directors, writers and producers can showcase their original visions for the small screen.
At ITVFest, creative people can not only showcase their work, but also gain notoriety and opportunity through their independent television efforts. Pilotmakers showcased at ITVFest have gone on to get script deals with NBC, web deals with atomfilms.com, development deals at Leverage and Starz!, representation from UTA, 3 Arts and others and much more. Check out here to see some of the success stories that come from the festival. Winners of the third ITVFest also walked home with $5,000 in production support each.
Now in its fourth year, ITVFest stands poised to once again serve as catalyst for change in the ever-evolving television industry. Creativity is paramount at ITVFest, and being based in Los Angeles, the hub of television production, the festival provides the people who need to see your work the opportunity to do so.
http://producedbyconference.com/
A gathering of the GREATEST PRODUCERS IN FILM, TELEVISION, AND NEW MEDIA. (of course Genius Effect will be there too!)
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday JUNE 5,6,7
For one weekend only — you will have access to the likes of CLINT EASTWOOD, JAMES CAMERON, MARSHALL HERSKOVITZ, KATHLEEN KENNEDY, NORMAN LEAR, AND MANY, MANY MORE.
Learn from the masters at more than 30 seminars. Participate in our first-ever Mentoring Roundtables, where you and nine other attendees can sit for ONE HOUR with the producer of your choice, and ask the questions you’ve always wanted to ask!
by Chris Denson
I first met Kerry when I was the Marketing Director at the New York Film Academy. At the time, I booked her as a guest speaker along with writer/director, Brian Herzlinger to talk to our students about real life in Hollywood and screened one of their recent projects, “My Date With Drew.” A few lunches, phone calls and now years later, Kerry (and Brian for that matter) has become one of my absolute favorite people in the enertainment industry. She’s smart, dynamic, has an incredible energy, and is great at what she does. With that said, we are proud to have Kerry David as part of the Genius Effect Advisory Board.
About Kerry David:
KERRY DAVID (Producer) has produced such hits as Agent Cody Banks and Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London. She most recently produced the award winning Like Dandelion Dust, starring Mira Sorvino, Barry Pepper and Cole Hauser for 20th Century Fox. Dandelion was adapted from a New York Times best-selling novelist by Oscar nominated screenwriter Stephen J Rivele (Ali, Nixon). Dandelion was named Best of the Fest at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2009.
Her multiple award winning documentary; My Date with Drew was made with a budget of only $1,100 and had a worldwide, theatrical release, selling domestically for $650,000, and grossing over $8,000,000 worldwide. Drew won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the HBO Comedy Arts Festival, against such films as Napoleon Dynamite, Garden State and Supersize Me. Drew also won the Best Feature Award at the New York Gen Art Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Vail Film Festival, the Audience Award for Best Feature, the Gellar/Devonport Award for Best Feature and the Grand Jury Award for Best Feature at the Sonoma Valley Film Festival. Drew also received a “Special Mention” at the famed Locarno Film Festival; arguably the most prestigious documentary film festival today and was named the fourth most profitable movie of all time based on a budget to revenue comparison by an independent study.
In 2006 David produced Perfect Romance for Lifetime Television Network, written by Allison Burnett (Untraceable, Fame). Her next project partnered her with two of the top ten golfers in the world to produce Expert Insight: Short Game Golf with Jim Furyk & Fred Funk which won the 2007 Telly Award for Outstanding Instructional Content and Cinematic Excellence.
Before starting her own production company she spent three years working for, and traveling with, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman on such films as Portrait of a Lady, Peacemaker, Practical Magic, The Blue Room, Without Limits, Mission Impossible: 2 and as she refers to it her “13 months in film school with Stanley Kubrick” on Eyes Wide Shut. David also Co-produced the award winning, special edition DVD of The Usual Suspects: Roundup: Deposing the Usual Suspects.
Kerry David's social network for filmmakers
In 2001 David founded www.IndieProducer.net (iP), a social networking community that helps educate and support new and emerging filmmakers. With a current member base that reaches 60,000 filmmakers worldwide, iP provides information, resources, entertainment news, interviews, education, and offers an annual screenwriting and short film contest to its members. iP promotes networking opportunities that connect new & emerging filmmakers with established working professionals and rewards them at an Annual iP Awards Gala at the Writer s Guild Theatre in Beverly Hills, so far iP has honored such notable filmmakers as Jon Favreau, Bill Paxton, Andy Garcia and Michael Rapaport.
David has been a guest speaker, panelist, and moderator at film festivals and film summits all over the world. She speaks at colleges, schools and writing groups to encourage and support new and emerging filmmakers. She is a voting member of BAFTA (British Academy of Film & Television) and the PGA (Producers Guild of America) and a mentor for Step Up, a national network dedicated to strengthening community resources for women and girls.
In the summer of 2008, Genius Effect LA was selected to accompany multi-platinum recording artist, Robin Thicke on most of his promotional tour for the release of his latest album, entitled “Something Else.”
While shooting, we were able to capture a relaxed and personable Robin Thicke, never-before-seen footage, exclusive performances, band/crew comradery, raw interviews, and a real feel for what the artist experiences on a day-to-day basis. Most of the footage was used for international on-line promotion via the record label, Interscope.
We are proud to announce that Genius Effect will now be handling all marketing and promotional efforts for Ginger McGann Design International. We look forward to designing a slate of multi-media assets from video, still photography, web, and live events. Stay tuned for more!!!
Recording Artist Anne Montone
Of recent, painting and jewelry design has re-emerged as two of Ginger McGann’s key passions. She continues to operate GMDI, an international architecture firm, carrying out projects for her most important clients, but her focus has shifted to creating a grouping of artworks in order to be shown in galleries on both coasts, given exposure in lifestyle magazines, and promoted on an international scale. The style of painting that Ginger McGann is most passionate about is a new style that incorporates transparent layers of lush colors in non-objective/abstract themes. Her jewelry designs can be described as totally unique compositions of stones emulating her paintings: rubies, emeralds, sapphires, fire opals, imperial jade, peridots, and amethysts.
Hype TV Print Ad
H.Y.P.E. TV was a newly established hip hop network launched in a joint effort with Playboy Television. The network was designed to be an outspoken competitor to the MTV’s and BET’s of the world, allowing the art form and the culture a chance to speak and act freely.
The scope of the white space project was to establish the look, feel, and presence of the network. To do so, our team first developed and produced three new series and later acquired a fourth. It was imperative that these shows spoke the hip hop language that is both familiar to our audience, yet never-before-seen. During production, we created a national print and television ad campaign, designed a nationwide tour, produced a video sales reel, and held several live events to generate buzz. The name of the network was also re-branded to H2L (Hip Hop Life) as noted in the video below.
Through strong industry relationships, clever on-air styling, print ads ,and on-line presence, the network launch yielded successful numbers for HYPE TV and Playboy.
Kudos to Evil Twin Productions for their post production!
Genius Effect kicked off the year by partnering with Basement-Inc and Sony Pictures to create a social media campaign for the DVD Release of Resident Evil: Degeneration. The DVD is the first fully animated feature from the franchise and is the only story-line based on the characters from the video games.
Resident Evil: Degeneration Microsite.
The goal was to design a set of tools useful to fans of the franchise, bloggers, and other pop culture authorities. The resulting campaign consisted of creating and distributing exclusive video and still images from the film, uniquely designed Facebook quizzes and character profile competitions, community polling, a photoshop “Zombifacation” tutorial, avatar competitions, and several other tools. As a compliment to Sony’s existing efforts, within its first six weeks, the program had reached over 20 million monthly viewers – specific to Resident Evil enthusiasts – across several online communities, social networks, and blog sites.
Welcome to the Genius Effect. My name is Chris Denson. I’m going to spare you the typical corporate, PR laden “bio” and tell you a bit about myself with my own words. Genius Effect Media Group was born out of my passion for building on ideas. As a kid I was always infatuated with humor. Ask my mom to this day about me, and the first thing she’ll tell you is that the only books I use to collect were joke books. Of course I collected other things, but you know how moms are. But I was always in love with how well-presented comedy moved people. The way a punchline could bring a room (or nation for that matter) full of people together in laughter at our commonalities and our differences – and all in peace. It’s at that moment that our guard is down, and we find a common ground in a form of celebration through laughter. At the age of 17, I took that infatuation and turned it into a behind-the-scenes stand up comedy career while studying Packaging Engineering at Michigan State University. By the time graduation rolled around, I had performed on national television, appeared in local improv shows, created my own televised sketch comedy show, and had a job lined up as an engineer with Chrysler.
After a year of bustin’ up the chifaro in the automotive industry, I had finally had enough. It just wasn’t me. But my passion for creation, and dissection of how things worked and what brought people together sustained. So I packed my Isuzu Rodeo to the gills and headed to Los Angeles. Although I loved stand up, I didn’t want to be on the road for the rest of my young life. So what did I do first? Like everyone else I wrote a script. A few tries later, my writing garnered enough attention to get me some writing gigs with some pretty notable Hollywood do-gooders. Don’t worry, I’ll save the name-dropping for another time. Then I got my first taste of real Hollywood life – an entire writing staff got fired, including me – so I figured I better expand my skill set if I wanted to keep luxurious things like food and heat. Long story short, I ventured into production. The more I produced and wrote, the more I realized I didn’t just want to create “productions,” I wanted to create experiences. So I started getting involved in the marketing and creative presentations of the work I was putting together. Whether it was an award show, an animation project, a radio series, an event or a script, I wanted to do it different and I wanted to do it big.
In my downtime(s) and in another effort to maintain my luxurious lifestyle of gasoline and haircuts, I managed to get my real estate license and explored property management. Which was great! Where else can you get free rent and free time? So there I was, a producer, a writer, a property manager, and a marketing enthusiast. Which in its own way, seemed to gel just fine because I was able to put a creative edge and a different set of perspectives on what everything I was involved in. If you ask what my motivation was outside of keeping the lights on, I think my motivation was simply that I wanted what I was doing to matter. Cookie cutter processes and solutions are a waste of time. They lack personalization and they lack personality. Plus, I wasn’t a doctor or a teacher, so I wasn’t shaping lives per se, but in my own way, I always wanted to do things that are either different or make a difference.
Then in recent years, digital media exploded and oh boy, did the floodgates open. Although I had dabbled a bit in the early 2000′s with a few different companies, it’s nothing compared to now. I will say a lot of ideas have resurfaced that were only “good thoughts” back then, but almost technologically insurmountable. But if there’s one quote I’ve learned that stands the test of time, it’s this: “Thoughts become things.” It may take a while but it eventually happens!
Through my years, and throughout my endeavors, I’ve met some great people along the way – brilliant, talented, passionate, inspiring, and wonderful to say the least. Some for a brief moment, others enduring time that followed our first encounter. I’d like to think that we’ve all contributed to each other’s growth and knowledge in one way or another… hence the Genius Effect – an expression of great things experienced and expanded. And now, with so many opportunities to create compelling multi-faceted forms entertainment, I’ve designed this company to be the service that helps businesses and individuals reach their full potential through creativity.
With that said, feel free to nose around, ask questions, or drop us a note. I look forward to the future!
