Silver forges Copper
Gragido co-founds prod'n co., to help employ helmers
Under the joint venture, the producers will collaborate to create opportunities for commercial directors seeking feature work and feature directors hoping to expand into the commercial arena.
Silver Pictures’ Steve Richards, who brokered the deal with Gragido, will work closely with Copper to develop new business opportunities for the company. Silver Pics’ Dan Cracchiolo will concentrate on finding new directors for the Copper stable.
“The desire of a majority of commercial directors is to eventually work in the television and film industries,” said Silver, who is prepping “Exit Wounds” starring Steven Seagal, and sequels to “The Matrix” for his Warner Bros.-based Silver Pictures. “We are constantly looking for new directors for many of our television and feature projects and often look to groundbreaking commercial directors to fill that need. We believe this unique opportunity will attract some of the best directors to Copper Media.”
In addition to his Silver Pictures banner, Silver produces lower-budgeted titles under the Zinc Pictures label. Zinc’s first production, the $6 million “Proximity,” stars Rob Lowe and James Coburn and will be directed by Scott Ziehl.
Silver has already demonstrated his willingness to help commercial directors cross to features with the upcoming “13 Ghosts,” which will be directed by award-winning commercial helmer Steve Beck and produced under Dark Castle Entertainment, Silver’s joint venture with Robert Zemeckis.
Copper Media’s directors include Gil Cope, whose spots include State Farm Insurance, Centrum and Blue Cross; Steve Fong, who recently left his post as creative director at San Francisco’s Foote Cone Belding and has completed spots for Eddie Bauer, Sega and Pennsylvania Lottery; and Goetz and Goode, whose work includes Motorola and Tire Kingdom. The team is developing an action TV series for Silver.
Gragido is an executive producer with more than 15 years of commercial, musicvideo and film production experience who has produced work for leading national advertisers.
