senckađ
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
Hires, Wins & Business in association withLBB
Group745

Roy Skillicorn Returns to Backyard Productions as CMO and Managing Director

05/09/2018
Production Company
Manhattan Beach, USA
87
Share
Skillicorn founded Backyard with Chicago photographer Tony D’Orio in 1988

Roy Skillicorn has returned to Backyard Productions, the company he founded and guided for 20+ years, as CMO and Managing Director. Roy partners up with Kevin Allodi, president and CEO of Philo Media, which acquired Backyard in 2017.

Allodi reached out to Skillicorn knowing that he ran Backyard during its most successful years, and also realised success as founder of the award winning Seed Media Arts, a non-DGA production model company. Within minutes Kevin and Roy hit if off, sharing the same vision of production in an increasingly dynamic marketplace.

“Roy is internationally known for his innovative, focused marketing strategies and unprecedented trendsetting business models, and has had an uncanny ability to remain highly relevant throughout a long and prosperous career. His track record for nurturing the development and growth of directors’ careers is unsurpassed; as managing director overseeing sales and marketing I see him as the perfect ‘Sherpa’ to lead Backyard and its directors to new heights,” says Kevin.

Skillicorn founded Backyard with Chicago photographer Tony D’Orio in 1988 while still a 'rep' for PIXAR, Colossal Pictures and HKM Productions - all start-ups he recognised as future superstar companies. He found, promoted and secured for each of them their very first commercials, representing each company for over a decade. Skillicorn was the first 'independent' film rep in the US, representing four production companies at a time when in-house representation was the rule/conventional practice. He was the first to introduce the 'vignette' genre of filmmaking to the commercial advertising community through HKM Productions, who brought the groundbreaking technique from London. As the head of sales, he brought London based Passion Pictures into the limelight in the US. Roy is humbled to think he played a part in helping them become the Oscar-winning powerhouse they are.

Under Skillicorn’s leadership and marketing savvy, Backyard became a $50M/yr entity that was not only considered one of the top international production companies by the trades, but the only one to ever spring forth from a secondary market like Chicago. After relocating production headquarters to LA in the mid-'90s, Roy continued to lead sales and marketing from Chicago, keeping the brand’s uniqueness guarded while maintaining its notable Midwestern, honest and diligent work ethic. Loyal clients refer to Backyard as 'a Shangri-La of production', delivering a thoroughly enjoyable experience, infused with engaging and dependable people with caring attitudes, while offering innovation and craftsmanship at the highest levels.

After leaving Backyard in 2011, Roy maintained that same culture at Seed while employing a more efficient overhead structure in keeping with the evolving demands of production in a multi-platform world.  Roy relates that Seed has been a great learning experience, describing it as '…an experiment that has provided loads of fun and profit because the model holds up well in today’s changing business environment'.  In the last 12 months Seed bid against 7 of the top 10 production companies in the world and won, scoring a Cannes Lion in the process, which caught the eye of the community and Allodi who felt strongly about returning Skillicorn’s considerable experience to Backyard.

“I’m happily surprised to find myself back in the ‘Yard’ and I’m excited to work along side several more A list directors and incredibly strong EPs, like my long time friend, Kris Mathur, and Emily Malito. When I shared my vision of next steps for Backyard, I told Kevin, this 'new Backyard won’t be fenced…it’s time to unleash the dogs'," said Roy. No doubt the iconic hand puppet dog logo that Roy’s graphic designer wife crafted back in 1989 will soon return to Backyard as well. 

Seed and Backyard will coexist independently but will share a new model of minimum overhead, focused and strategic individual director promotion while integrating Skillicorn’s unique marketing know-how.  Changes at Backyard have already begun with new representation and a more themed roster emerging under Skillicorn’s guidance.

Credits
More News from Backyard Productions
The Directors
The Directors: Mac Eldridge
03/10/2023
175
0
The Directors
The Directors: Lara Everly
16/08/2023
251
0
ALL THEIR NEWS
Work from Backyard Productions
ALL THEIR WORK