Media, management and production company Anonymous Content has announced executive producer and commissioner James Hackett has joined the UK division as head of music and special projects. In this newly created role, James will work directly under Anonymous Content UK’s managing director and executive producer Tor Fitzwilliams to bolster the UK’s music video department and develop short and long-form projects in non-traditional advertising spaces: fashion, branded content, event activation, and the intersections between these platforms.
James will work with award-winning directors across Anonymous Content’s and Serial Pictures’ UK rosters including Autumn de Wilde, Bardia Zeinali, Cara Stricker, thirtytwo, BRTHR, Daniel Askill, Pantera, Moses Sumney, and The Reids.
“We are extremely excited to continue our growth and expand our offerings in the UK in the worlds of Music Videos and Special Projects,” said Tor. “With James’s wealth of experience and stellar track record in the music industry, he is the perfect fit and natural choice to head up this new department within AC UK. We look forward to working with him and building out this exciting new venture.”
James spent more than a decade at EMI Records and EMI Music where, as director of video, he commissioned videos for artists including Florence + The Machine, Sam Smith, Coldplay, Kylie Minogue, Chase & Status, Massive Attack, Lewis Capaldi and Bastille. While at EMI, he championed up-and-coming talent; a key element of music video creation has always been to make a space for new talent to develop their craft and James has credits in the early works of some of the most revered and established creative talents of today. Prior to joining EMI, James spent five years at Sony Music, where he commissioned all of the music videos for Calvin Harris and Mark Ronson’s first albums and was awarded Best Commissioner at the UK Music Video Awards
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve lived for the feeling of having just a small part in making some amazing work, and I feel incredibly lucky that Anonymous Content reached out to continue to do this with their exceptional, diverse roster of directors,” said James. “I can’t wait for the adventures we are going to have, and I’m looking forward to making culturally impacting films with the amazing team here.”
Since opening in 2019, Anonymous Content UK has been nominated for Best Creative Production Company at the Creative Circle Awards, named to Ad Age’s A-List and been recognized with top industry awards including wins at British Arrows, Ciclope, Creative Circle, D&AD, UKMVA, AICP, and the Kinsale Sharks.