Screen Magazine - Index

Screen Magazine - Screen Magazine: Vol. 29, Issue 15 - Index

The Pink Story
Compiled by CJ Arellano and Amy Wilschke
Let’s face it, though we’re halfway through 2008 and times
are much more progressive than they were half a decade
ago, it’s still a man’s world. Even in the anything-goes
creative industry, it seems men have a tendency to run the
show – though it may merely be by happenstance. In this
issue, SCREEN has decided to shed some light on a few of
the many women who are making a major impact on the
advertising and production scene.
Allison Amon & Lisa Mehling
Co-Owners, Chelsea Pictures
Chelsea Pictures is one of very few companies in the industry
solely owned by women. The business’s current success is
due in large part to the work of two industry veterans,
Cheslea co-owners Allison Amon and Lisa Mehling.
Amon and Mehling came to Chelsea with different
professional and personal backgrounds, but their shared
vision and energy for Chelsea drove the bi-coastal business to
be one of the premiere production companies in the world.
Amon manages the production half of Chelsea, drawing on
20 years of experience in commercial production, including
a stint as a freelance line producer before becoming
head of production for Palomar Pictures in 1995, and
joining Chelsea in 1999. Mehling manages Chelsea’s sales
department, drawing
on her 20 years of
sales experience,
including years at
Spots Films and
Radical Media,
before joining
Chelsea in 1997.
Their personalities
and experience
combined to create a dynamic partnership, and in 2003,
Amon and Mehling began to change the direction of the
company by focusing on independent and documentary
filmmakers and unique and interesting storytelling. After
growing the company significantly since 2000, Mehling and
Amon bought out partner Steve Wax in October 2006, and
Chelsea joined the Women’s Business Enterprise Council
becoming a certified minority-owned business. Chelsea
is also working towards becoming completely green,
practicing environmentally friendly principles in its offices
and productions. Both Amon and Mehling are married
with two young children and balance their personal and
professional lives with aplomb.
Chelsea has produced numerous long-form branded films
for clients including Microsoft, Teach for America and ESPN
Sega’s Beta-7, which is widely regarded as one of the most
innovative branded campaigns to date. It won three of
Yahoo’s Big Idea Awards, and top prizes at the ANDYs,
One Show, Clios and Art Director’s Club. Chelsea has also
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produced several short and feature films, including “kids +
money,” “Killing Joe” and “Unmade Beds.”
//www.chelsea.com
Nicole Dionne
Creative Director And Executive Producer
PrimalScream Music
Nicole Dionne, Creative Director and Executive Producer of
PrimalScream Music, is a force to be reckoned with in the
advertising industry. She is a woman “whose influence on
the ad biz and the way music is created for advertising is
ever-expanding,” according to Kristy Thomley, Managing
Director of Raging Artists (Los Angeles, the brand promotion
company for PrimalScream).
A distinguished ad and music industry presence, Dionne
counts a host of celebrated agencies, directors, clients
and artists among her collaborators. She has served as a
judge for the Clios, AICP/MoMA, First ‘Boards Awards, and
Ear Awards, and as a panelist at music and entertainment
conferences, including the influential CMJ Music Marathon
& Film Festival and Europe’s premier music festival, the
innovative Popkomm.
Dionne’s latest feat is a complete rebranding of the
Starz Network, which launched back in January 2008.
PrimalScream has created six new tracks that not only
complete the new image, but actually inspired the entire
production process. These songs don’t come off of the flavor
of the month’s
new album (that
likely will be dated
a year from now);
rather, it aims to
be original radioquality
music
unique to the
brand for which it
was created.
Dionne founded PrimalScream Music nearly a dozen years
ago. She was in her early twenties at the time. “We became
extremely well-known for great sound design, but I hadn’t
found my true calling,” Dionne recalls. “I realized after a bit
that my real strength was in producing original music for top
national advertising campaigns.”
So Dionne switched gears, rebranding PrimalScream to
better suit her creative bent. Highly regarded in both the
ad and music worlds, Dionne is now known for producing
high end, cutting-edge tracks for advertising campaigns
and theatrical trailers. She accomplishes this by tapping
into a vast A-list talent pool, hand-picking world-renowned
film composers, recording artists, bands, television series
composers, record producers, radio programmers, DJs,