Rose Hackney Barber has snapped up the director, Simon Levene, from the
now defunct Redwing Films to become the tenth director on its roster.
Levene, whose latest work is for Jiffi Condoms through Mustoe Merriman
Herring Levy, will join the roster when he returns from a project in Los
Angeles this week.
Bertie Miller, joint managing director of Rose Hackney, said Levene’s
‘young, but accomplished’ style had convinced him to sign up the 27-
year-old.
Levene, who started out as an editor with Soho’s the Whitehouse, began
to direct while in Los Angeles, where his work included a spot for the
LA Times. He returned to London last year to take a place on Redwing’s
roster. His work there included spots for AGF Insurance and Stussy.
There are no projects lined up for Levene at Rose Hackney as yet, but
Miller sees Levene’s penchant for comedy dialogue taking him ‘in the
footsteps of Graham Rose’, co-founder of the company. Chris Palmer, who
worked alongside Levene at Redwing, said: ‘What impresses me about Simon
is he’s got a handle on pace. His editing background probably didn’t do
him any harm.’
Miller claimed that Rose Hackney had beaten off several rivals to land
Levene, on the understanding that the director will be allowed space to
develop his career.
‘There will be no pressure on him to shoot for the sake of making
money,’ Miller explained. ‘I think he will be a star and we will look to
help him by allowing him to shoot the right films.’
