The last vestiges of the once proud Propaganda/Satellite empire are now officially and entirely extinct, with the London branch renaming itself Independent Films and partnering with US production company HKM.

The name change has been common but unofficial knowledge for months. The cross-representational alliance with bicoastal HKM and its arty satellite, The Directors Bureau, represents a firming up of Independent's roster. All of the directors under the company's shingle are exclusively signed by Independent for pan-European representation.

Independent is the wholly-owned British arm of Italian prodco BRW and is run by co-managing directors Jani Guest and Richard Packer.

The resulting Independent roster is fairly young but includes several top names, including: Brian Beletic, David Charhon, Pat Holden, Dominic Leung (the former Hammer & Tongs director also designed Independent's logo, a disembodied face), David Mould (a recent signing, previously with Academy Productions, London), Mark Osborne, Stuart Rideout, Howard Shur, Us and Zackheim. The HKM/Director's Bureau names added to the master list are: Michele Civetta, Graham Henman, Michael Patrick Jann, Michael Karbelnikoff, Christian Loubek, Max Malkin, Rodney Ascher, Mark Borthwick, Todd Cole, Sofia Coppola, Geoff McFetridge and Mike Mills. Roman Coppola, a key member of the Director's Bureau, is repped through @radical.media in the UK.

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Parisian prodco Quad has entered the US spot market in a new joint venture with Los Angeles-based Believe Media.

"We will open a company named Quad in Los Angeles that will be owned 50% by Quad and 50% through Believe Media. They will do the marketing and production and we will provide the talent," says Quad principal Nicolas Duval.

"The idea is that some of our directors deserve to work outside the French market. Instead of lending or renting them to a foreign company, the idea was to open an office."

Quad directors involved are Bruno Aveillan (see "Directors on Top", Page 38), Rémy Belvaux, Karina Taira and Stéphane Levallois. In a related note, Quad will be representing Believe Media directors for the French market.

Los Angeles is Quad's second expansion; Duval opened a London office in 1999.

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Hollywood spot and promo house David Naylor & Associates (DNA) now represents directing team Big TV and diretors of London's Academy Films on the US music video market.

DNA directors Francis Lawrence, Liz Friedlander, Marc Webb, Nzingha Stewart, Rocky Schenck, Tryan George, Art Alexakis, L'Wren Scott, Tamarat Makonnen and Lili Fini Zanuck will be repped by Academy for UK music videos.

Academy's video roster is Jonathan Glazer, James Griffiths, Nick Gordon, Ed Gill, Walter Stern and Miguel Sepochnik. Big TV continue to work through their own London company Studio, in the UK and shoot commercials through CMP in the US, as does the Academy roster.

Commercial representation is not part of this deal, however, DNA will provide Academy with production space in Los Angeles for commercial shoots as needed.

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Exec producer Ava Seavey has launched Avalanche, a New York production company.

Seavey, an exec with New York's Big Picture Communications for the last eight years, is the sole owner of Avalanche. The first names on the Avalanche roster are Tony Lee, Kathy De Silva and Ben Dolphin.

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New York's September Productions has launched a satellite arm, Lunch TV, on the strength of directors E.J. Foerster, Steven Shainberg and Neil Salley.

September founder/director Dan Driscoll will act as president of Lunch. September EP Sonta Giamber will also be involved in the new venture. Foerster comes from 2nd unit directing on numerous action flicks and has worked in spots through his now-defunct prodco Momentum Films, Santa Monica. Shainberg recently picked up a special jury prize at Sundance for his second feature The Secretary and previously directed spots through t minus 30 Films, Santa Monica. Designer/director Salley has directed numerous spots and also multimedia projects spanning film and video installations.

Webfiles:
Quad> http://www.quad.fr
Believe> http://www.believemedia.com
DNA> http://www.dnala.com
Academy> http://www.academyfilms.com
September> http://www.september.com