Retrofit Films | |
Founder: | Chris Hanada Tanner Kling |
Location: | Los Angeles, CA |
Industry: | Entertainment |
Products: | Web series Branded entertainment |
Retrofit Films is a production company located in Los Angeles, California, that develops and produces digital media and entertainment.
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 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]
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]
The company's client list includes NBCUniversal, Sprint, Mindshare, Ogilvy & Mather, Edelman, The CW, ABC, Warner Bros., Marvel, DreamWorks and AOL.[1] [9] [12]
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]
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 | ||
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 | |
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 | |
Producer | Five-part digital series for ABC | |||
2017 | The Off Season | Executive producer | Five-part short-form digital series for ABC |