ProMotion Pictures Gets Fresh

On Tuesday, April 10th, NYU

ProMotion Pictures held its annual

gala celebration at Tribeca

Cinemas’ Varick Room. This event was the

culmination of a year-long partnership with

Subway, during which student teams of

MBAs and MFAs from Stern,Tisch Kanbar

Film Institute and NYU’s Interactive

Telecommunications Program (ITP) developed

and produced multimedia branded

entertainment projects for the company.The

gala was attended by notable NYU faculty

and staff, including Dean Gary Fraser, Vice

Dean of Graduate Education Adam

Brandenburger, Al Lieberman and Sam

Craig, Tisch Graduate Film Chair John

Tintori and ITP Professor Katherine Dillon.

Guest speakers included Subway’s Global

Chief Marketing Officer Tony Pace.

For those unfamiliar with the program,

ProMotion Pictures was established in 2004

by Stern MBAs Russ Axelrod, Jeffrey

Grossman and Erik Zuckermann. It was initially

designed to to provide NYU Stern and

Tisch Kanbar Film students with the opportunity

to collaborate on a series of innovative

film projects for a sponsoring brand.Previous

sponsors of the competition include Verizon,

Johnnie Walker, Volvo, Heineken, Unilever

(AXE), I Love NY and Vita Coco.

Last summer, the incoming Executive

Producers of ProMotion Pictures, led by

MBA2s Harmony Davis and Krystal

Bowden and MBA/MFA candidates Colin

Whitlow and Geoff Mansfield, established a

third partnership with ITP – an interdisciplinary

graduate program at Tisch that

focuses on the intersection of art, design and

technology. Students at each of these three

schools (Stern,Tisch and ITP) now have the

opportunity to compete for the chance collaborate

on fully-funded multimedia projects

commissioned by a sponsoring brand.

With the expansion of the program came

an expansion in leadership as well, including

MBA1s Anna Wiggins, Whitney

Rothe and Libby Klein, MBA/MFA

Candidate Cathy Yan, and ITP students

Genevieve Hoffman and Emily Webster.

This team of all-stars managed the

film/technology production process, the

client relationship with Subway and the

premiere at SXSW. They also helped drive

ongoing improvements to the program

throughout the year, including educational

seminars to guide students through the

development stage of their projects, and the

establishment of a professional Advisory

Board consisting of industry leaders such as

Doug Scott, President of Ogilvy

Entertainment, and Evan Shapiro, newly

dubbed President of Participant Television.

For ProMotion Pictures’ ambitious 2011-

12 challenge, two talented NYU teams

were selected to craft an experience that

integrates multimedia into a 3-episode

series as part of the SUBWAY FRESH

ARTISTS™ FILMMAKERS program,

with a brand brief entitled, “Every

Breakfast Sandwich Tells A Story.”

“We are pleased to provide an outlet for aspiring

filmmakers to pursue their passion,” said

Subway CMO Tony Pace. Students’ creative

concepts were judged by a panel that included

industry-insiders James Widdoes (Director of

“Two and a Half Men”) and Brian

Baumgartner (Emmy Award-winning actor

from NBC’s “The Office”).The two winning

series that were selected were: The Loop, a

comedy featuring two friends stuck in a time

loop, and Tech Up, about an ambitious young

man determined to get his tech start-up company

going, but without an office space is

working out of a Subway restaurant. Both

series premiered at the IFC Crossroads

House in March at the 2012 SXSW Festival.

They are also featured on MyDamnChannel

and IFC.com; each episode has received over

100,000 views to date.

“Opening the SUBWAY FRESH

ARTISTS FILMMAKERS project to students

in three different programs within

NYU created a tremendous amount of

energy and enthusiasm in our community,”

said Sam Craig, Director of the

Entertainment, Media and Technology

Program at Stern.“Today’s content industry

depends upon creative, business and technological

excellence, and the opportunity

for our students to combine forces has been

truly inspiring for them and our faculty.”

Last month’s gala featured a screening of the

students’ winning web series at Tribeca

Cinemas, followed by a cocktail reception in

the Varick Room. During the reception,

guests had the opportunity to interact with

multimedia components of the Subway project.

ITP student Justin Lange (of Team

Loop) developed a mobile app that allows

users to view additional video segments with

the series cast and includes a GPS feature