Retrofit Films is a production company located in Los Angeles, California, that develops and produces digital media and entertainment.
 | |
| Industry | Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| Founder | Chris Hanada Tanner Kling |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, CA |
| Products | Web series Branded entertainment |
| Website | retrofitfilms |
History
editRetrofit Films was founded by Chris Hanada and Tanner Kling in 2004.[1][2] Starting in 2006, the company began creating companion Web series for television shows.[2] After graduating from Loyola Marymount University’s film school, Hanada and Kling began their careers working at Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner’s C/W Productions on films such as Mission: Impossible 2 and Vanilla Sky, where they contributed to script and story development, research, production and promotion.[3] Hanada and Kling are members of the Producers Guild of America.[4]
Overview
edit
Television and new media
editRetrofit Films produces new media projects for television networks, movie studios and advertising brands, including animated and live-action web series, DVD featurettes, mobisodes and gameisodes.[1]
The company created three Web series for NBC's Heroes, entitled Going Postal, The Recruit and Nowhere Man, featuring characters from the series.[1][2][5] The Recruit was nominated for two 2009 Webby Awards.[2] They also created Kara & The Chronicles of Krypton, an animated Web series for The CW Network's's Smallville;[1] the 4-episode companion Web series A Darker Truth for The CW's Vampire Diaries;[6] a Web series for Gossip Girl entitled Gossip Girl: Real New York Stories Revealed;[1] and a companion Web series for NBC's My Own Worst Enemy called Conspiracy Theory.[2][5] Other projects include a 13-part series of 3-minute "appisodes" for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch for the INHouse app for Fox's House in 2010,[7] and 10 on-air/Web Sprint New Media Episodes in 2009 for Heroes entitled Slow Burn.[8] In 2012, Retrofit worked with Marvel on Marvel Mash-Up, a series of interstitials taking footage from classic Marvel animated series and re-editing them in a humorous way. They originally aired on Disney XD and online.[9] In 2015, Retrofit produced the 6-chapter Web series Dark Matters, a prequel to the television miniseries Heroes Reborn, with all six chapters directed by Kling.[10] In 2016, the company executive produced This Isn't Working, a five-part short-form digital series starring Lisa Schwartz, and in 2017 executive produced The Off Season, a five-part short-form digital series starring Robert Belushi and Erica Rhodes, both for ABC.[11][12]
The company's client list includes NBCUniversal, Sprint, Mindshare, Ogilvy & Mather, Edelman, The CW, ABC, Warner Bros., Marvel, DreamWorks and AOL.[1][9][11]
Publishing division
editIn 2015, Retrofit Films launched a science fiction publishing division, Retrofit Publishing, which was renamed Axiomatic Publishing in 2016.[13] In 2015, Retrofit Publishing put out First Fleet, a collection of serialized novellas by Stephen Case;[14] and The Rewind Files, playwright Claire Willett's debut novel.[15]
Awards
edit- The Recruit
- Winner of Two People's Voice Webby Awards: People's Voice, Online Film & Video, Best Series, 2009;[16] People's Voice, Online Film & Video, Best Individual Episode, 2009[17]
- Winner of Silver Telly Award: Online Video, 2009[18]
- Conspiracy Theory
- Winner of Bronze Telly Award: Online Entertainment, 2009[19]
- Nurse Jeffrey: Bitch Tapes
- Nominee, Golden Reel Award: Best Sound Editing – Computer Episodic Entertainment, 2011[20]
- Insidious: Spectral Sightings
- Nominee, Golden Reel Award: Best Sound Editing – Computer Episodic Entertainment, 2014[21]
- Heroes Reborn: Dark Matters – "Chapter Two: Phoebe"
- Winner, Writers Guild Award: Adapted Short Form New Media, 2016[22]
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Academy
- Nominee, Producers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Digital Series, 2016[23]
Notable Projects
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Going Postal | Producer | Original Web series for Heroes (NBC) |
| The Recruit | Producer | Original Web series for Heroes; winner of two 2009 Webby Awards; winner of 2009 Silver Telly Award | |
| Conspiracy Theory | Producer, director | Original Web series for My Own Worst Enemy (NBC) | |
| Kara & The Chronicles of Krypton | Producer, director, writers | Original Web series for Smallville (The CW) | |
| Smallville Season 7 DVD | Producer | ||
| Heroes Season 2 DVD | Producer | Select featurettes | |
| 2009 | Slow Burn | Director | Broadcast and Web-branded series for Sprint and Heroes |
| The Vampire Diaries: A Darker Truth | Producer, director | Original Web series for Vampire Diaries (The CW) | |
| Dove Go Fresh Presents Gossip Girl: Real NYC Stories Revealed | Producer | Broadcast and Web-branded series for Unilever and The CW | |
| Nowhere Man | Producer, director | Original Web series for Heroes | |
| Smallville Season 8 DVD | Producer | ||
| 2010 | Nurse Jeffrey | Producer | 13 iOS appisodes for House (Fox) |
| Vampire Diaries Season 1 DVD | Producer | ||
| Smallville Season 9 DVD | Producer | ||
| Michael Jackson: The Experience Live! | Producer | Live-streamed webcast for Xbox Kinect game Michael Jackson: The Experience | |
| 2012 | Marvel Mash-Up | Producer | Series of interstitials re-editing Marvel animated series |
| Nikita: Codebreaker | Producer | 10-part interactive game series for Nikita (The CW) | |
| 2013 | Insidious: Spectral Sightings | Producer, writer | Three-part digital prequel to Insidious to promote Insidious: Chapter 2 |
| 2014 | The Flash: Chasing Lightning | Producer | Digital series on The CW website for The Flash |
| Fandango FrontRunners | Producer | Digital series about Academy Award nominees for Fandango.com, hosted by Dave Karger | |
| Think Inside the Box | Producer | Digital promotion for The Boxtrolls and Amazon.com | |
| 2015 | Heroes Reborn: Dark Matters | Producer | Six-chapter Web series for Heroes Reborn miniseries |
| 2016 | This Isn't Working | Executive producer | Five-part short-form digital series for ABC |
| Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Academy | Producer | Five-part digital series for ABC | |
| 2017 | The Off Season | Executive producer | Five-part short-form digital series for ABC |
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f “Retrofit Films Shoots Webisodes for 'Vampire Diaries'”, Videography, 21 October 2009.
- ^ a b c d e Liz Shannon Miller, “Q&A With Heroes Webseries Creators Chris Hanada and Tanner Kling,” GigaOm, April 20, 2009.
- ^ “Chris Hanada and Tanner Kling,” LMU.edu, October 21, 2013.
- ^ Dave McNary, “Producers elect Gordon, Koch co-presidents,” Variety, June 4, 2010.
- ^ a b Marc Hustvedt, “NBC Prepping Fourth ‘Heroes’ Web Series,” Tubefilter, February 25, 2009.
- ^ “’Vampire Diaries’ Prequel Web Series, CW Starts Biting Early”, Tubefilter, 26 August 2009.
- ^ “Retrofit Films Makes ‘House’ Calls With iPhone Appisodes”, Tubefilter, 18 May 2010.
- ^ “Heroes Web Series Heading to the Carnival”, Tubefilter, 18 September 2009.
- ^ a b Marc Strom, “Doing the Marvel Mash-Up,” Marvel.com, March 19, 2012.
- ^ “Exclusive Interview with Heroes Reborn: Dark Matters’ Aislinn Paul,” talknerdywithus.com, August 27, 2015.
- ^ a b Todd Spangler, "ABC Bows 4 More Digital-Only Originals, Including Comedy From YouTube Star Lisa Schwartz," Variety, September 2, 2016.
- ^ Jessica Pena, "Ginger Snaps, The Off Season: ABC Launches New Digital Series," TV Series Finale, June 22, 2017.
- ^ Connie Bennett, “Book Review: The Rewind Files,” KLCC (FM), February 5, 2016.
- ^ “Book Review: First Fleet by Stephen Case,” Farstrider Magazine, November 27, 2015.
- ^ Alex Telander, “The Rewind Files,” San Francisco Book Review, November 16, 2015.
- ^ “Webby Awards - People’s Voice Winner – Drama: Series”, Webby Awards, 2009.
- ^ “Webby Awards - People’s Voice Winner – Drama: Individual Episode ”, Webby Awards, 2009.
- ^ “30th Annual Telly Awards – 2009 Online Video Silver Winners”, Telly Awards, 2009.
- ^ “30th Annual Telly Awards – 2009 Online Video Bronze Winners”, Telly Awards, 2009.
- ^ Alexa Harrison, “’Black Swan,’ ‘Inception’ top sound noms,” Variety, January 21, 2011.
- ^ Maane Khatchatourian, “’Game of Thrones’ Rules Golden Reel Awards TV Nominations,” Variety, January 17, 2014.
- ^ “2016 Writers Guild Award Winners Announced,” Archived 2016-03-21 at the Wayback Machine wga.org, February 13, 2016.
- ^ "PGA Awards: The Complete Winners List," The Hollywood Reporter, January 28, 2017.