Rabbit Runs in a Different Direction
Brent Harris and Douglas Howell have their hybrid studio on a fast track.
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Rabbit Runs in a New Direction By Anthony Vagnoni Looking out from their spacious loft on Wooster Street in Manhattan’s SoHo, Rabbit founders Douglas Howell and Brent Harris can see as far as Silicon Valley and Hollywood. This, in a nutshell, is the thinking behind Rabbit, their two-year old international production company that’s working on a variety of projects, both traditional and non-traditional, for a range of advertising clients. In its most recent spate of expansion—announced just weeks ago by Messrs. Howell and Harris—the firm has lined up the talents of a group of leaders who bring varied and vital skills to the enterprise. Among them are people like Eric Filler, Rabbit’s Chief Operating Officer, who was formerly Head of Media and Finance for Google North America. No doubt his previous experience in building a ‘new model’ should prove invaluable to their cause. Another is Kevin Lake, formerly the development head of Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions, who joins the company as it’s branded content leader and whose mission is to expand Rabbit’s reach into long-form and entertainment. Behind this effort, of course, is the partners’ belief that in the integrated world of the future, only the adaptable and capable will survive. Says Harris, “We had a shared philosophy, Douglas and I, to build a production house with an open architecture and an open mind.”
“Films are no longer made in isolation,” Harris continues. “What you see now is more screens in more places, and filmmakers and producers both in entertainment and advertising are positioning projects to take advantage of that.” Heading up its production team is Executive Producer Anura Idupuganti, who brings a wealth of independent film knowledge to the commercial realm, not to mention a certain effervescence. And then there’s perhaps Rabbit’s greatest zealot, Katrin Aul, who serves as Director of Sales, coordinating that effort across the continent and into new territories. At its foundation is the Rabbit directorial roster, consisting of an eclectic group of veterans and up-and-comers, several of whom have received acclaim for their work. For example, director Trevor McMahan shared the 2009 AICP award for Best Spec Spot with director David Neham (who’s represented by Bandito Bros.) on a spot for Tide titled “Have Fun.” McMahan also won an award from the Commercial Film Producers of Europe and Shots Magazine in its Young Directors competition for a PSA he directed for Above the Influence, an effort aimed at underage drinking, titled “Fitting In.” Additional Rabbit accolades at the event include directing collective +jacksonkarinja being short-listed for their eBay spec spot titled “Shopping Carts.” Subsequently they have completed a Nike short film and are busy in pre-production on a Freebord spot for Cutwater. In addition, the company now represents Catherine Owens, longtime Creative Director for the Irish supergroup U2 and director of the ‘U2 3D’ film.
Then there is TWiN, the prodigious Australian duo who are blazing a trail in the land of SFX-oriented storytelling. (Check out their Nissan “Morning Light” commercial.) In keeping with Rabbit’s management philosophy, the team has recently signed with William Morris Endeavor in Los Angeles to represent their feature film career. As for Harris, himself, he’s a multi-awarded director who’s shot for agencies around the world. His first job under the Rabbit roost was the deliciously salacious MTV “Fetish” spot for Y&R, New York, which comes complete with masochism, dwarfs in French maid outfits and, um, teabags. He also shot a riveting Nike spot with therunner Oscar Pistorius, who's attempting to compete in the Olympics on his prosthetic legs. This rundown of notable work underscores the fact that a filmmaking culture is very much at the company’s core, Harris points out. “Rabbit is about creating a platform from which our directors can fully express themselves,” he says. “The ‘new school’ director is one who can create as well as execute. And we have precisely those sorts of directors in our house. Organically we are seeing film production lead into other opportunities. We don’t want to limit ourselves; on the contrary, we very much are about embracing the new.” Howell refers to this approach as offering triple-threat-talents who can write, produce and direct. It makes total sense, given the writer/producer mentality that the TV industry lives on, which contrasts with the director-driven matrix behind the commercials business.
“Part of my role is to harness the ideas inside the company into longer form storytelling,” Lake explains. “The ethos here is that the directors are viewed as creators, not just executors. I help the filmmakers to develop their stories, whether it’s an original idea, a book, a script, or a 30 second spot that becomes the core concept behind a feature length film. Lake adds that he views running the feature film side of Icon Productions as perfect training ground for what he’s doing now with Rabbit. “Instead of having one filmmaker at the center of the company—that was Mel Gibson—I now have more than more than a dozen directors to build on. It’s a great opportunity.” The Rabbit brand—and that’s what Howell and Harris admit they’re building—is one that’s been well-thought out and approached with a systematic plan. “We’re named after a creature that is famed as an upstart, a lovable rogue,” says Harris. “But perhaps more pertinent to current times, the Rabbit is also known as a ‘shape shifter.’ We think it’s completely fitting.” |
The duo—the former a forward-thinking Executive Producer, the latter a veteran Director—have taken their vision for the future of an integrated, multi-media advertising world and realized a few truisms: in times of confusion, clients will cleave to industry leaders; regardless of the format or the channel or the size of the screen, advertising will still be a story-based means of communication; the key to great stories, be they for brands or otherwise, are great ideas put in the hands of talented directors and producers.
Adds Howell, “The company is built on two essential pillars: film talent management and a culture of creating opportunities, by natural extension, for this talent pool. We exist in something of an ecosystem of preferred partners, be it digital or analog, and through this collaboration we have the capability to extend any great idea to its logical extreme.”
Other members of the Rabbit directing corps includes 
One project that fits this model is currently in the works for Sony Pictures Television. It’s a documentary-style adventure series developed by Lake that explores the outer limits of human ability. Harris and Howell believe the series has a natural appeal to a wide spectrum of brands in diverse categories, and add that this is what Lake was brought in to add to the Rabbit equation.
