Hornet Nests Talent

Artists are notoriously bad at making money. Van Gogh’s life would have turned out significantly better had he hired a decent publicist. That’s why God made agents. A good agent can uncover and nurture the talented folks out there who may not know how to- or want to spend the time to- market themselves. In return, the agent/protector reaps the rewards (OK, usually 10 percent) of the artist’s new-found, and well-deserved, success.

This model has worked well for actors and writers for centuries. But who’s looking out for directors in the world of animation and film? Michael Feder and Greg Bedard of Hornet, that’s who.

Feder is on a continual global search for exceptional talents, and when he finds them he provides a venue for them to do their thing. He acts as manager, agent and marketing firm at the same time, the perfect triple play for a director whose strongest skills aren’t on the negotiation table. He guides the directors’ careers with the goal of turning each of his clients into a marketable, unique brand. Bedard oversees the production facilities and support staff that allows the directors to work and create in a think-tank environment.

Hornet’s stable of talent is a diversified lot. They’ve all had somewhat established careers either as filmmakers or directors’ for’ hire prior to signing on with Hornet, and work in live-action, animation, mixed media, stop-motion, 2D, 3D and film. But it takes more than being tech-savvy to make it into Hornet’s nest of directors; stylistically Feder is looking for directors with a unique but marketable style and point of view. "We don’t chase the technology," he says, "we chase the stories."

And there are a lot of stories being told at Hornet. Three of Hornet’s directors, collectively known as “The Mix Tape Club,” created a wistful fable of a music video for My Morning Jacket’s “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream, Pt. 2.” It stars a wide-eyed monster they’ve affectionately named Jasper, who wanders through a nocturnal forest capturing fireflies, but at a cost. Stylistically, it looks like A Midsummer Night’s Dream as conceived by Maurice Sendak. In Peter Sluszka’s spot for Wii’s SimCity Creator, eggs that hatch fire-breathing dragons crash-land into an imaginary world, as seen from the inside of a fogged-up car window by a bored little boy on a rainy afternoon.

Hornet Films, a newly formed division of Hornet, Inc., has just sold its first television series: Rocket Monkeys. The project was conceived and executed by the directing duo Dan & Jason and is a coproduction with 4Kids TV network. Meanwhile, Guilherme Marconde is creating the opening animated sequence for the upcoming Josh Hartnett film Bunraku. And Jason Archer and Paul Beck, aka Archer$Beck ( Waking Life), are developing a Web project with Radiohead. These guys are as busy as, well, you know.

While Hornet’s output is mostly in the two’ dimensional realm of commercials, music videos, and film and television projects, they’ve recently gone all soft and cuddly with Hornet Toy’s inaugural market entry PillowPillowPillow. Director/Designer Aaron Stewart has created a line of dog and cat-shaped pillows, so cute, so down-right lovable, that they made The “O List” in this past September’s issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.

As evidence of Feder’s entrepreneurial spirit and his ability to create an environment in which these products could be conceived of, created and sold, Feder enlisted his neighborhood tailor to make the pillow prototype. It then took a grueling three years to figure out how to get the toys on the market. Now they’re sold on five continents. "Content isn’t about rushing," explains Feder. "It’s about planting seeds."