Creative Production Agency Son&Heir Launches with Commitment to Future Generations

Taking a socially and environmentally conscious stand, creative production agency Son&Heir launches with a commitment to the next generation by working with brands and music artists whose practices and stories either put the planet first, champion sustainability or bring awareness to social issues. Led by creative director and executive producer Dilly Gent and based in Los Angeles, the company launches with a full roster of talent including Adam Patterson, Giovanni Ribisi, Alex Nazari, Jennifer Juniper Stratford and Bella Monticelli. The agency will develop creative ideas, oversee all stages of production from writing and creative to execution and delivery, and develop partnerships between music artists and sustainable brands, tapping into Gent’s expansive experience in music and advertising.

 

Son&Heir will support brands getting behind environmental and social issues by creating cause-related campaigns and original content that is clever, clean and simplified in ways that everyone can understand. This comes following Gent’s pivotal experience commissioning and executive producing 60 films for Al Gore’s Live Earth in 2007, during which time she scoured through over 300 pitches full of one environmental issue after another. 

 

The company also takes advertising one step further by merging music and brands. Before a foray into advertising, Gent spent 16 years as Radiohead’s creative director and in 2005 launched “From The Basement” with music producer Nigel Godrich, a global music TV series featuring artists such as The White Stripes, Beck, Sonic Youth, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. As musicians seek to partner with brands that share socially and ecologically conscious values, Son&Heir will develop these mutually beneficial relationships as a method of expanding reach and spreading awareness. 

 

“We partner with brands whose mission is to protect our health and the planet for future generations, whether it’s a product that does exactly that or a cause that they stand behind,” comments Son&Heir founder Dilly Gent. “I’ve worked on many environmental films over the years and what’s lacking most often is a commitment to the message once the campaign is over. However, for brands who live and breathe a future-minded mission, we can help them spread their message with thoughtful advertising.”

 

Heavy hitters like Adam Patterson join Son&Heir after years directing and producing for the BBC on topics like the refugee crisis and working as a photo journalist across the globe. Most recently, Patterson directed a film for Facebook’s Beyond The Screen series currently circulating theaters across the UK, celebrating inspirational young people through a series of short films. Patterson’s film, Help Refugees: A voice of Hope, shines a light on Free Movement Skateboarding, an organisation that brings mobile skate parks to refugees in Greece. 

 

“Rarely do you meet people that share the same sensibility as you, and with Dilly, I see eye-to-eye,” said Son&Heir director Adam Patterson. “There are global, systemic social and environmental issues that are not getting enough attention, especially in the west. We all have a responsibility to uphold the basic principles of humanity and brands especially have a responsibility because they have the power to impact a vast number of people.” 

 

Giovanni Ribisi also joins the Son&Heir roster for commercial and music representation, with his first campaign breaking in the new year. Having worked with Gent previously, Ribisi remarks: “Dilly is a creative force who gives a sense of purpose to the work she does. It’s a privilege to be a part of Son&Heir.” 

 

Other recent work for the company includes three spots by Ellis Bahl for AT&T’s 'It Can Wait' texting and driving campaign, each at the scene of a traffic accident showing injured texters and guilty drivers in the aftermath of their bad choices to use devices behind the wheel. 

 

Another director to being her documentary and filmmaking perspective to Son&Heir is Bella Monticelli whose work spans from commercials to documentaries in disaster and conflict zones. She has directed pieces for NGO’s all over the world including Nepal, Africa, the Caribbean and Europe. Recently, she directed two short films for the Susan G. Komen foundation’s 'More than Pink' campaign inspiring women and young girls who have been affected by breast cancer. Monticelli’s short film 'The Lone Cowboy' won best film at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, which was the first of many collaborations. For this year’s festival, she directed  'Conducting a Revolution', a film sponsored by Bvlgari about the only female opera conductor in Italy, Speranza Scappucci. Upcoming this month is another project with the festival at the US/Mexico border.