15 Most Celebrated Production Companies...

In advertising, you usually spend all your time looking for the hot, the new, the next. But sometimes it’s good to look back, to appreciate the old that was once new, to see how far we’ve come.

To celebrate our 150th issue, shots takes a nostalgic trip and browses the industry’s rich creative history to pick our favourite 150 agencies, directors, production and post houses, spots, Super Bowl spots, creative gurus, brands, music videos, online campaigns, shots staff most admired work and most important changes…

Academy

Founded and run by Lizzie Gower, Academy has a wealth of directorial talent to its name. It is the home of Jonathan Glazer, Frederic Planchon, Seb Edwards and Martin de Thurah – to name a very few – and with talent like that it’s no wonder they have been a constant presence in the shots canon.

B-Reel

B-Reel has established itself as a leader in innovative, integrated thinking. While B-Reel Films has created great projects for brands such as Google, Facebook and H&M, its digital arm has been a pioneering presence on the commercials scene. Integrated projects for Magnum, Xbox One, Mercedes-Benz and Evian are just a handful of executions that have pushed digital boundaries.

Biscuit Filmworks

With directorial talent like Biscuit co-founder Noam Murro, Tim Godsall, Steve Rogers, Jeff Low and Mike Maguire it can come as no surprise that this company features highly on the shots list of the most creative companies.

Blink

Under the stewardship of founder James Studholme, Blink has established itself as one of London’s most creative production houses. With various arms for various diciplines, Blink has pretty much all the creative bases covered. Directors such as Dougal Wilson, Speck/Gordon and David Wilson have helmed some iconic projects.

Gorgeous Enterprises

Nike Tag and Shade Runner, Guinness Bet on Black, Levi’s Twist, Carlsberg Old Lions… just a few of the commercials made through Gorgeous and just a few of the reasons why they have been one of the most pioneering production companies.

Hungry Man

There’s a tonne of creative stuff to evidence Hungry Man’s inclusion on this list but our favourite has to be the Orange Gold Spot work, shot by Bryan Buckley. Featuring stars such as Spike Lee, Steven Seagal, Alan Cumming, Roy Scheider, even Darth Vader, for Pete’s sake, they were pre-feature film phone ads that were often better than the proceeding film. Buckley’s comedy gold, alongside work from people such as Wayne McClammy, Hank Perlman and Kinka Usher, makes them a shoo-in to this list.

MJZ

When you have talent like Dante Ariola, Nicolai Fuglsig, Spike Jonze, Tom Kuntz, Matthijs van Heijningen, Rupert Sanders and Rocky Morton (the M in MJZ) on your roster then you’re going to have to go some to not be a production powerhouse.

Partizan

A host of fantastic directors have propelled Partizan into the ‘production company that has appeared on shots – on the DVD or online – more than any other. With a number of international offices and the experimental Darkroom, the company is a real creative force in the industry.

Radical Media

As their name suggests, this company doesn’t necessarily go with the flow. Straddling the worlds of traditional commercial filmmaking, entertainment and design, RadicalMedia is a polymath of a company. Led by Jon Kamen and Frank Scherma, the agency’s recent standout work includes Canal+ March of the Emperors, The Johnny Cash Project, Nike+ FuelBand’s store installation and Lincoln’s Hello Again campaign.

Rattling Stick

In relation to the rest of this list, Rattling Stick is a mere stripling, founded in 2006. But in less than a decade it has established itself as a purveyor of advertising excellence. Started by directors Ringan Ledwidge and Daniel Kleinman along with producer Johnnie Frankel, the company has moved from being a “small production company” to one that produces “quality creative content in all forms”. True dat!

RSA

A nice, family-owned company. That family just happens to be the Scotts. Founded by brothers Ridley and the late Tony Scott in 1968, RSA has grown from a London production company to a global creative hub. The family tradition continues with Luke, Jordan and Jake Scott each inheriting the directorial gene and while one of its most famous executions (Apple’s 1984, directed by Ridley Scott) was released pre-shots, its creative credentials have been cemented by a host of other work that has appeared since 1990.

Smuggler

Founded by Patrick Milling Smith and Brian Carmody,  Smuggler, like all the best production companies, is a multi-disciplined beast, covering commercials, entertainment, digital, features and theatre. Their commercial output uses the skills of a host of top directors to produce award-winning work.

Stink/Stinkdigital

With a lot of these companies, it’s hard to know where to start in terms of reciting groundbreaking work and visionary talents; Stink is no different. Ivan Zacharias is one of the seminal directorial talents who has been behind spots such as Stella Artois’ Doctor and Pilot, Honda’s Everyday and Impossible Dream and Nike I Feel Pretty. Other talents such as Arno Salters, Ne-O, Martin Krejci and Vaughan Arnell have meant that Stink has always been at the top of the creative tree. And if you add Stinkdigital to the mix, then you really have a force to be reckoned with.

Velocity

South Africa consistently delivers creative and interesting advertising ideas, and these are often brought to life by Velocity Films. Directing heavyweights Keith Rose and Greg Gray always deliver interesting, emotional and beautiful films that sit halfway between commercials and short films. Work for FNB, Allan Gray, Amstel and Bell’s are a perfect example of great scripts brilliantly brought to life.

Wanda

This French production house has been behind some of the most inspiring work to appear on shots. The recent Lacoste spot, The Big Leap, is a standout entry, as is the recent online work for Guy Cotten [see page 8], but with a whole host of amazing campaigns such as Peugeot Toys, AIDES Sugar Baby Love and Canal+ Tick, Wanda is a company that’s always on our creative radar.