1stAveMachine Launches Talent Management Division

Multifaceted storytelling production company 1stAveMachine, which has won multiple Cannes Lions and Clio Awards, has launched a talent management division and is expanding its burgeoning content production business, it was announced today by co-founder Serge Patzak.

1stAveMachine Management is a platform-agnostic hub that services existing 1stAve directors and other emerging and established talent in film & television, branded, social, VR and digital entertainment.

“With 1stAveMachine Management, we want to create a vibrant roster of clients, drawing on our existing commercial directing talent, our relationships with digital creators and to bring in new talent,” 1stAve Partner Serge Patzak says. “Ultimately, we want to bring different talent and ideas together to produce original content in branded, VR, online and Film & TV.”

To oversee the new Management division, 1stAveMachine has appointed longtime industry exec Ross Siegel, who has held Executive positions at MGM and Maker Studios during his career, to serve as Head of Management and Development.

“I’m thrilled to join the 1stAveMachine team, a group of forward-thinking creators and storytellers who see the future of content through the same multi-tiered lens that I do,” says Siegel, who will be joined at 1stAveMachine Management by Patzak and Head of Content Andrew Geller. “The success the 1stAveMachine team has already had in the digital and branded entertainment spaces, along with the momentum they have been building in the film and TV worlds, represents a great opportunity to take the entire company to the next level. My goal is to work with and develop the highly-skilled roster of 1stAve collaborators, while bringing like-minded creators into the fold.”

According to Patzak, several trends arose within both the production company itself and the industry-at-large that helped inspire the launch of the new division. “A number of our directors are poised to make the jump from commercial directing to more longform content directing. For example, Nico Casavecchia, whose feature film, Finding Sofia, that they produced and financed and has now been licensed by Hulu, is exactly the kind of artist the want to help nurture along that process,” he explains. “Secondly, our work in digital media and with a variety of creators has given us a desire to be more involved with the creators we are working with over the long-term and management is a way to help them navigate their careers and opportunities across media.

Patzak adds that 1stAve’s platform-agnostic approach, which is exemplified by esteemed, innovative directors including Bob Partington, will translate well to the new Management venture. “Many of our top talent didn’t start out as directors, but we got excited about and supported their visions and nurtured them into new media. Bob, for instance, went from a fine artist to art department, to being the world’s number one commercial Rube Goldberg director, to being an online creator, to being a TV personality on History Channel. We think we can bring this ethos to talent management, creating opportunities for exciting talent ranging from commercial, to branded, to digital, VR, short form and long form TV & film entertainment.”