Marketing Kings is currently one of the most prominent branding and marketing companies to hit the Bay Area.
Renowned Films is a London based creative production company backed by US studio Critical Content. Renowned is fast establishing itself as a leader in high end factual and factual entertainment programming.
In 2015, Channel 4 took an equity stake in Renowned Films as part of the networks £20 million Growth Fund. In 2017, Critical Content acquired the stake from Channel 4 and provided additional growth capital, thereby setting up Renowned as one of the most promising and fast growing indie production companies in the UK
Donovan Jerome Leitch is an English-born actor and documentary maker who has served as an executive producer on Showtime’s NAKED SNCTM and AXS TV’s BREAKING BAND. He has produced several documentaries including SUNSET STRIP, THE LAST PARTY, and SCHMATTA: RAGS TO RICHES TO RAGS
This POD is overseen by James, J. Gutierrez, a 19 year veteran of television. Prior to joining Critical Content, Gutierrez was a showrunner for MTV, Spike, TruTV & Discovery. He’s sold 13 concepts including two series, Billy Bob’s Gags to Riches for Discovery & Black Jesus on Adult Swim. This POD is named after the fictional Sopranos character, Noah Tannenbaum, a pretentious film student who was Meadow Soprano’s first college boyfriend.
Hoosick Falls Productions, helmed by George Verschoor, specializes in groundbreaking unscripted programming. Considered one of the pioneers of non-fiction programming, George developed, produced and directed the first four seasons of MTV’s groundbreaking series THE REAL WORLD. Most recently at Critical Content, Verschoor created and is currently showrunning a new makeover series for Netflix, STAY HERE. Previous to that, he was the show runner on HOME FREE (Fox), EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION (ABC), and BUILDING WILD (Nat Geo).
Berman has been making television history for years including the very first LIVE reveal on the season finale of Survivor on CBS to his most recent production of the epic National Geographic, world-wide live event, Earth Live. He’s continued to push the envelope in live television broadcasting over a career that has resulted in some of the most highly rated and groundbreaking shows in television history while logging more than 6000 hours of live network television and receiving four Emmy® awards.
David Metzler is an Emmy Award-winning Executive Producer, Showrunner and Director. He is best known for co-creating, producing and directing the runaway Bravo hit, QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY, and for showrunning MTV’s current hit CATFISH: THE TV SHOW. QUEER EYE earned Metzler a Primetime Emmy Award, a second Emmy nomination, the Producer’s Guild of America’s Producer of the Year Award and two GLAAD Media Awards. He also created and executive produced Sundance Channel’s critically acclaimed BIG IDEAS FOR A SMALL PLANET, which won the Environmental Media Award for Best Documentary.
Led by partners Sean McKittrick, Raymond Mansfield, and Edward H. Hamm Jr., QC Entertainment – standing for Quality Control – has quickly become a go-to company for financing and producing entertainment-forward, character & concept-based, director-driven films. A one-stop solution for filmmakers looking to have all business and creative matters handled in-house by one company, QC develops, physically produces, finances productions, handles sales and distribution, and everything in between.
One of the first projects QC championed from the initial pitch through its successful release was the Academy Award® nominated Best Picture, Get Out. Marking Jordan Peele’s feature-directing debut from his original screenplay, QC produced and financed. Since its World Premiere “Secret Screening” at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, the acclaimed film became a global box office smash and culminated with an Academy Award® win for Best Original Screenplay. Following the success of Get Out, Sean McKittrick produced Peele’s sophomore directorial effort Us, which premiered at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival and opened in theaters as the #1 movie in America, breaking the record for the highest grossing opening weekend for a horror movie in history.
Other recent releases include Antebellum, a 2020 social thriller starring Janelle Monaé that marked the feature directorial debut for Advocacy filmmakers Gerard Bush + Christopher Renz (Bush | Renz) – best known for their pioneering advertising work engaged in the fight for social justice. Marque Richardson, Eric Lange, Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons, Tongayi Chirisa, Gabourey Sidibe, Rob Aramayo, Lily Cowles, and Jena Malone co-star; BlacKkKlansman from visionary director Spike Lee, which premiered in Competition at the 2018 Cannes International Film Festival to a 10-minute standing-ovation, went on to win the Grand Prix, and ultimately winning the 2019 Academy Award® for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as five additional Academy Award® nominations including Best Picture, in addition to numerous Golden Globes, BAFTAs and all guild nominations; The Oath, written & directed by Ike Barinholtz marking his feature directorial debut, starring Barinholtz, Tiffany Haddish and John Cho, which was selected by the Library of Congress for their 2018 National Film Registry, “for purposes of preservation in the national collection…to benefit the culture of the United States of America.”; and The Wrong Missy, starring David Spade & Lauren Lapkus which went on to become one of Netflix’s top ten most-watched original films of all time, garnering 59 million views in the first 28 days.
Films produced/executive produced by the principles of QC Entertainment have garnered 12 Academy Award® nominations (including 2 wins and back-to-back Best Picture nominations), 7 Golden Globe nominations, 7 BAFTA nominations, 2 back-to-back AFI Awards for ‘Movie of the Year,’ nominations from all guilds (including DGA, WGA, SAG, and PGA; Get Out also received the PGA’s Stanley Kramer Award), along with dozens of other award nominations including from The National Board of Review, The Independent Spirit Awards and the Critics Choice Awards, amongst many more, and have premiered at the world’s most prestigious film festivals including Cannes, Toronto, Sundance, and SXSW.
Entrepreneur, CEO
Marketing Kings is currently one of the most prominent branding and marketing companies to hit the Bay Area.