Retrofit Films
IndustryEntertainment
Founded2004 (2004)
FounderChris Hanada
Tanner Kling
HeadquartersLos Angeles, CA
ProductsWeb series
Branded entertainment
Websiteretrofitfilms.com

Retrofit Films is a production company located in Los Angeles, California, that develops and produces digital media and entertainment.

History

Retrofit 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

Retrofit Films headquarters in LA

Television and new media

Retrofit 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

In 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

Notable Projects

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

  1. ^ a b c d e f “Retrofit Films Shoots Webisodes for 'Vampire Diaries'”, Videography, 21 October 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e Liz Shannon Miller, “Q&A With Heroes Webseries Creators Chris Hanada and Tanner Kling,” GigaOm, April 20, 2009.
  3. ^ “Chris Hanada and Tanner Kling,” LMU.edu, October 21, 2013.
  4. ^ Dave McNary, “Producers elect Gordon, Koch co-presidents,” Variety, June 4, 2010.
  5. ^ a b Marc Hustvedt, “NBC Prepping Fourth ‘Heroes’ Web Series,” Tubefilter, February 25, 2009.
  6. ^ “’Vampire Diaries’ Prequel Web Series, CW Starts Biting Early”, Tubefilter, 26 August 2009.
  7. ^ “Retrofit Films Makes ‘House’ Calls With iPhone Appisodes”, Tubefilter, 18 May 2010.
  8. ^ “Heroes Web Series Heading to the Carnival”, Tubefilter, 18 September 2009.
  9. ^ a b Marc Strom, “Doing the Marvel Mash-Up,” Marvel.com, March 19, 2012.
  10. ^ “Exclusive Interview with Heroes Reborn: Dark Matters’ Aislinn Paul,” talknerdywithus.com, August 27, 2015.
  11. ^ a b Todd Spangler, "ABC Bows 4 More Digital-Only Originals, Including Comedy From YouTube Star Lisa Schwartz," Variety, September 2, 2016.
  12. ^ Jessica Pena, "Ginger Snaps, The Off Season: ABC Launches New Digital Series," TV Series Finale, June 22, 2017.
  13. ^ Connie Bennett, “Book Review: The Rewind Files,” KLCC (FM), February 5, 2016.
  14. ^ “Book Review: First Fleet by Stephen Case,” Farstrider Magazine, November 27, 2015.
  15. ^ Alex Telander, “The Rewind Files,” San Francisco Book Review, November 16, 2015.
  16. ^ “Webby Awards - People’s Voice Winner – Drama: Series”, Webby Awards, 2009.
  17. ^ “Webby Awards - People’s Voice Winner – Drama: Individual Episode ”, Webby Awards, 2009.
  18. ^ “30th Annual Telly Awards – 2009 Online Video Silver Winners”, Telly Awards, 2009.
  19. ^ “30th Annual Telly Awards – 2009 Online Video Bronze Winners”, Telly Awards, 2009.
  20. ^ Alexa Harrison, “’Black Swan,’ ‘Inception’ top sound noms,” Variety, January 21, 2011.
  21. ^ Maane Khatchatourian, “’Game of Thrones’ Rules Golden Reel Awards TV Nominations,” Variety, January 17, 2014.
  22. ^ “2016 Writers Guild Award Winners Announced,” Archived 2016-03-21 at the Wayback Machine wga.org, February 13, 2016.
  23. ^ "PGA Awards: The Complete Winners List," The Hollywood Reporter, January 28, 2017.

External links

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