 | |
| Industry | Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| Founder | Chris Hanada Tanner Kling |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, CA |
| Products | Web series Branded entertainment |
| Website | retrofitfilms |
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 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]
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]
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 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 |
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