FELA, the Toronto-based production company that specializes in the creation of cutting-edge music videos, commercials, branded content, documentaries and films, is setting up shop in America. Launched in the summer 2020 in Toronto, FELA stands on the mission of providing a voice for the unheard and underrepresented, while injecting relevancy and cultural authenticity into everything they create. Managing Partners at FELA include Director X, Taj Critchlow, Karena Evans, Dean Rosen & Fuliane Petikyan. The group is behind the lifestyle brand with the motto: Own Your Culture, Tell Your Stories. Director X Taj FELA
FELA will engage the advertising sphere in the same way its founding partners, Taj Critchlow and the legendary Julien Christian Lutz (pka Director X), have penetrated the American music industry. Close collaborators for over 20 years, the pair have worked with musical icons such as Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Rihanna, and brands such as Bud Light, Facebook, Toyota, Fuji, American Express, Nike, and more.
“Which led me to come up with our company mantra: Own Your Culture. Tell Your Stories. It embodies the state of mind I share with so many others who are tired of asking for a seat at the table. It’s time to put ownership back into the BIPOC entrepreneurs, artists, and communities that create the work and gain authority of our own narratives.”
In addition to continuing their legacy of making culture-defining content, Critchlow and X have adopted the mission to continue the fight for a diverse and inclusive media industry. Critchlow explains, “Being a Black executive, I’ve witnessed firsthand the challenges faced by Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) and women within our creative industries.”
Director X comments, “FELA is looking forward to the day that inclusion and diversity is the new standard versus a mandate. Culture drives everything, and we need to empower the people that drive it, PERIOD.”
FELA is making their ambitions clear; assembling a team of executives with the experience and passion to bring their ethos stateside. Award-winning filmmaker and actress Karena Evans is being expanded in the role of Creative Executive Producer with the help of COO Dean Rosen (whom Critchlow refers to as “the Rick Rubin of the company”). Evans is known for helming the highly acclaimed pilot for P-Valley, as well as the highly anticipated pilot for HBO Max’s reboot of Gossip Girl. Evans and Director X will now both be represented by FELA for advertising and music video work throughout the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, veteran producer Fuliane Petikyan, a longtime top-of-list collaborator of the entire FELA crew, has been made Managing Partner and will be heading the LA operation.
The groups first year has proven to be a success: their accomplishments include a Grammy nomination for Drake and Future’s “Life is Good,” and the release of Underplayed, a feature-length documentary funded by Bud Light. Up next is an industry-focused podcast, and several FELA-owned properties in development. FELA has partnered with Dana Balkin and Frank Antonoff from Resource in the west and Barrie Isaacson Management in New York for strategic sales representation coast to coast.
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