Scoundrel Films Partners with 18 Label Studios to Bring More Creativity, Art, and Production to the Heart of Montclair
With an already well-established and nationally recognized film festival, bringing a production company to Montclair seems like a logical next step. Finding a home with 18 Label Studios on Frink Street, in Montclair, Scoundrel Films looks to shine a light on lesser-known stories and people who are shaping culture and society. The company manages the production of documentaries, narratives, commercial and branded works, non-profit videos, animation, as well as promotional projects.
Scoundrel Films is spearheaded by three major contributors: Montclair resident and distinguished film producer Luke Parker Bowles, who serves as CEO; Danny Monico, President, experienced filmmaker and Montclair resident; Jasmine Wang, a well-crafted producer who serves as the head of operations.
These three are experienced and well connected. Parker Bowles is the Chairman of BAFTA New York (British Academy of Film and Television Arts). While in the creative department of Working Title productions, he was an integral part of the development of cinematic favorites such as About a Boy, Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason, Pride and Prejudice, and Love Actually. In addition, he serves on the board of the Montclair Film Festival.
Monico has worked with some of the film industry’s most talented stars such as Robert Duvall and Keira Knightley and has received recognition for his film, Broken Wing, in various film festivals.
Jasmine Wang has honed her craft as a producer, co-founding Incurrent Media, and working as a production director at 212NYC.
The Montclair Dispatch had the pleasure of talking to Luke Parker Bowles about Scoundrel’s connection to Montclair and 18 Label Studios, as well as what goes into creating a production company, especially choosing a catchy name.
“18 Label Studios and the subsequent new Annex studio and event spaces are owned by Steven Plofker and Bobbi Brown, who are close friends. Scoundrel Films Head offices are also located in one of the Plofker’s properties, so they cannot avoid us! Scoundrel manages all film or television events that take place at the studios as well as bringing new productions to the venue. We have no ownership stake in the studios. We facilitate production.”
Parker Bowles explained that Scoundrel has served a wide range of clients, “Scoundrel has a very diverse slate of projects from feature films, commercials, television shows, corporate projects and short films. Our clients include TED, British Airways, Universal Pictures, Barclays, UPS, and Transferwise. A short film written and directed by our President, Danny Monico, has won several awards at film festivals in the last year. We like to do a little bit of everything – our wives are not always thrilled!”
The grand opening of Scoundrel on Frink St. comes right on the heels of plans for a new tax break announced by Governor Phil Murphy, hoping to attract film, television, and other production work to the state. This thrills Parker Bowles, as he said that, “Under the former Governor of the state of New Jersey (unlike pretty much every other state) there was no tax incentive in place to entice productions to come to New Jersey and film here. Per his announcement at the Montclair Film Festival in April, Governor Phil Murphy pledged to create a new tax break in the next few months. This will open the floodgates for filming in New Jersey and we are thrilled to have state of the art studios that can accommodate films, television shows and all the other creative entities that will flock to Montclair.”
Now, I could not resist finding out the story behind such a unique name, and in turn, I learned what makes Scoundrel such a special production company itself. “Everyone secretly loves a Scoundrel, don’t they? Danny and I like to bring a playfulness and a level of quirkiness to all our projects. When we formed we mandated that we would only make work that was a pleasure to create for all involved. It works out pretty well, to be honest.”
The Montclair Dispatch is thrilled to welcome Scoundrel Films and is looking forward to an increasing number of creative artists and entities coming to town!
The author of the article is a Montclair native class of 2017, currently a student at McGill University, studying history and communications within the Faculty of Arts.
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