Skunk is Coming to London with Kate Taylor as MD
Skunk's new UK office represents ten directors from the US roster, who between them boast over a billion views on YouTube and have made films for hundreds of the biggest brands ranging from BMW to Burger King to Geico to Nike. Working with talents such as Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Macklemore, Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell and Ben Stiller on commercials, features, short films and music videos has subsequently won them some the highest accolades in industry awards including several Cannes Lions Awards and two Academy Award nominations.
Joining the London team as Skunk’s UK Sales representatives are OB Management. Founded in 2004, OB is one of the most prolific independent agencies in the industry, known for representing a selective pool of the UK’s most credible production companies for commercials and music videos. They will be working with an exciting and eclectic roster of talented film-makers; Andrew Dominik, Brent Harris, Brian Lee Hughes, Glendyn Ivin, Jonathan Augustavo, Paul Minor, Raf Wathion, Rhys Thomas and Saman Kesh. Furthermore Jim Hosking has recently signed to Skunk’s worldwide roster and is Skunk’s first London based director. Jim has won many awards in advertising, directing for brands such as Coca Cola, Cadbury’s and X-Box to name a few. His debut feature film “The Greasy Strangler” just premiered at Sundance and also featured at SXSW last month.
OB Founder Otis Bell says: “We've been on the hunt for a particular stable of experienced storytellers for a while. It's certainly not easy to find this calibre of refreshing talent with such exceptional film craft, so we jumped at the chance when Matt and Kate called us. Skunk's roster embodies an eclectic range of narrative directors perfectly suited to the progressive UK market. Not only is it going to be fun working with Kate and Matt, it will be a real pleasure to show the work!”
This move to the UK follows Skunk President Matt Factor’s already close and long-term ties with production in London. First through his Executive Producer/Partnership experience at Furlined, Blink’s former sister company, where he exposed directors such as Dougal Wilson and Lynn Foxx to the US market and more recently in his six-year partnership with Stink. By opening in London, Matt hopes to continue with the success he has had in introducing directors to new markets, enlisting Kate Taylor as UK MD to expose the current Skunk roster to the creative opportunities in London, Amsterdam and beyond.
Matt says, “Through multiple sources in London I kept hearing about this Curly Kate character. We met and I was immediately struck with the feeling that she’d be the ideal fit to run Skunk in London. Kate has worked with a number of production companies and directors I know and respect over there, has great knowledge of the business and just as importantly, is always fun to spend time with.”
Kate Taylor joins Skunk as Managing Director/Executive Producer bringing a wealth of experience to the Skunk family. Kate has previously produced for a number of London’s leading production companies including Rattling Stick, Sonny, Biscuit Filmworks and Outsider amongst many others. She joins with the sole intention of producing fantastic work with talent that she loves and bringing significant London exposure to the already well-established US roster.
She says: “Skunk feels like the right fit for me. I know Matt and have built relationships with many of the directors over the last few months and we all get on brilliantly. It’s a company that prides itself on producing consistently creative and award-winning work, and successfully exposing European talent to the US, whilst having a great time doing it. I hope to do the same in the UK. Skunk is all about great work in good hands and I am thrilled to be part of the team.”
Matt and Kate are looking forward to bringing London and European talent into the Skunk fold for stellar exposure on both sides of the pond.
