Director Mehdi Zollo has signed with the New York-based commercial production company Zero 2 Sixty (0:2:60) for exclusive spot representation, it was announced today by President/Executive Producer Doug Robbins.
“We want to attract the younger more dynamic creative teams in the industry. With our sister company, Guerilla FX, an independent production, design, effects and post finishing house with a digital division created exclusively for the development of interactive content, we have built a uniquely creative, vertically integrated company. Together we can take a project from preliminary discussions through the shoot, editing and effects,” explained Robbins. “We are looking for directors who can push the envelope using the additional tools that our effects and post capabilities add to their creative arsenals,” he continued.

Because of a friendship that Zollo had at Uniworld and long term relationship that Doug Robbins had with the company, the two were introduced by an agency producer who thought that 0:2:60 should get to know a new young talent they were excited about. The two chose to work together on a trio of :30s multi-cultural spots for Time Warner Cable and Robbins was impressed by the way Zollo approached, attacked and solved the creative challenge they were given in their first foray together.

Mehdi Zollo is an edgy, ‘Y-urban’ (youth oriented urban), graphic documentarian with a European sensibility. He is young, hip, international and very talented. He gets what’s involved in new media. He understands that the foundation of the commercial business is shifting, skewing toward interactive. “We cross platform all the time and any asset I bring to 0:2:60 will also be an asset that is available to Guerilla. Any artist that we bring on at this juncture has to fit into both cultures. With Zollo, who will be marketed through both companies, we can push all our creative resources,” Robbins stated.

On joining Robbins and 0:2:60 Zollo said, “On the Time Warner Cable project we worked so well together that Doug asked me to join his commercial production team. A huge plus for me is that as a director I can do commercial and interactive work with 0:2:60 and also be heavily involved with the graphics and post at Guerilla FX. It really is a golden opportunity to be involved in a project from its inception to completion. ”

Before officially joining the 0:2:60 family, Zollo, in 2005, moved from Paris to Brooklyn, where he fell in love with the vibrant urban scene. Under his FatKing Films production banner, he shot a number of music videos including a house music video for Ed Star’s Take it to the Floor; Swizz Beatz’ Where the Cash At; Akir’s Treason, featuring Immortal Technique; The LongShots debut LP Hunger Music; and projects for other emerging artists. In addition, to hone his storytelling skills in a :30 format, he shot a number of short experimental films.

While still in Paris, DJ-ing evenings and earning his Masters during the day, Zollo directed his first TV :30, “Chipie,” an art film shot through Partizan Paris, which screened at the Palais de Tokyo in 2004 as part of Hype Gallery, a curated exhibition of film projects.

Zollo spent the earliest part of his career assisting on numerous industrial film sets, at still shoots for a number of popular magazines, and ultimately directing a trio of shorts that were picked up by Switzerland’s national television station after they made the rounds of the festivals.

Although Medhi Zollo’s main focus will be on his commercial directing career, he will continue to shoot music videos through his Brooklyn-based production company FatKings Films.

Mehdi Zollo joins a creative 0:2:60 directorial roster that includes Thor Raxlen (storyteller/visual effects artists) and Aggressive, AKA Dan Shapiro and Alex Topaller (motion graphics and visual effects artists/compositors).

Zollo, 30, earned his undergraduate degree in ancient languages at The University of Geneva (Geneva, Switzerland) and his masters in directing at the Ecole Superieure de Realisation Audiovisuellee (Paris, France). He currently makes his home in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY.

When not behind the lens, Mehdi Zollo spends his time pursuing his passion for painting, photography and music. He speaks English, Spanish, French and Italian fluently.