Eric Coles Email & Phone Number

Freeport, Maine

Head motion and still photography production efforts across all channels including broadcast, web, catalog, instore, digital and social. Create and manage annual and project video and photography budgets and schedules. Hire, coach and supervise staff of inhouse producers while overseeing on set freelance teams. Partner with creative/art directors regarding talent and crew for shoots including photographers, directors, models, actors, stylists and set designers. Manage talent and creative agency relationships, negotiate rates and oversee contract specifics. Review bids and treatments from production partners and directors. Award jobs and serve as executive producer on external productions. Collaborate with creative team to define the sound for specific video ads and the company as a whole. Direct music supervision partners to help find and or create music for various motion projects. Provide artistic direction for music producers, performers and voice over actors during recording sessions. Supervise music licensing and talent usage agreements. Guide talent castings and location scouting. Work with finance and risk management to ensure that productions are in compliance with company and regional guidelines.

Martha'S Vineyard

Lennox & Harvey is a modern day general goods outpost offering and eclectic collection of items for the home, beach and body. The goods are purposefully sourced based on our design sensibility and love of travel. The idea is that guests can go on a journey through products originating from Bali to Brooklyn, France to Philly, Denmark to Detroit and beyond. As Co-Founder & Co-Creative Director, I help define the look, feel and overall customer experience via product buying, private label design, store merchandising, and brand collaborations.

New York City

Oversee all bookings operations for premier fashion photography studio with locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Negotiate deal agreements with editors, photographers, directors, agents, location scouts, producers and art buyers. Develop, maintain and nurture those relationships in effort to increase studio bookings and company profile. Increased studio revenue by twenty percent per year via new client partnerships and strategic resource management. Clients include Estée Lauder, Design Within Reach, Todd Snyder, Bombas, J.Crew, Art + Commerce and Condé Nast.

New York City

Managed all production logistics and shoot schedules for e-commerce editorial, product, still life and video shoots. Ensured that asset imagery was photographed to standards, while meeting seasonal deadlines and creative. Partnered with marketing, factory and PR departments on talent castings for presentations, look books and in-store. Sourced and booked all models, photographers, stylists, set designers, hair & makeup artists, studios and locations. Negotiated rates and usage for all talent bookings while overseeing production estimates, budgets and asset deadlines.

New York City

Sourced model, photography, video, styling, beauty and set talent for advertising, catalog and e-commerce shoots. Directed castings for in-house brands including mainline, Red Fleece and Thom Browne designed, Black Fleece. Created production schedules to ensure that web product inventory dates, print marketing and PR deadlines were met. Negotiated rates and usage for all talent bookings while overseeing production estimates, budgets and logistics. Managed all facets of studio and location shoots via in-house teams as well as contracted line producers.

New York City

Served as RR Donnelley in-house exclusive e-commerce photo producer & casting director for client, Ralph Lauren. Produced fashion, video and still life shoots for all brands including Collection, Purple Label, Rugby, RLX and Double RL. Recruited, booked and managed all creative talent for specific shoot needs, including videographers, photographers, art directors, models, hair & makeup artists, stylists, tailors, set designers and digital techs. Headed inclusivity efforts ensuring that one in three models booked across all Ralph Lauren brands were diverse in nature. Led creative and support teams numbering as many as 75 people on a daily basis with regard to client and vendor standard operating procedures, shoot direction, image requirements, file workflows and ad hoc special projects. Managed and tracked all aspects of production budgets averaging $250K per week, with respect to ten million dollar annual allocation. Negotiated all talent rates and image usage rights. Strategized scheduling and logistics for up to ten individual photo shoots per day in terms of pre-production, studio locations, talent, merchandise, prop coordination, set design, equipment rental, catering and security. Gave on-set art direction for on figure and still life photo shoots regarding lighting, styling and shot selects. Supervised post-production of image retouching, digital asset management and file delivery. Executed the production of web video shoots ranging from Canon 5D and Red Epic to Phantom. Directed all photo production aspects for the e-commerce launch of Ralph Lauren subsidiary, Club Monaco.

New York City

As CEO, directed all operations for music-inspired global t-shirt apparel brand, Red Coles. Conceptualized t-shirt collections and rendered all artwork illustrations for brand and custom design clients. Retail accounts included Ron Herman, Fred Segal, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Lane Crawford and Beams. Custom design clients included MTV, Essence Magazine and Sony BMG Music. As freelance photo art director, created editorial and e-commerce concepts for fashion and still life shoots. Collaborated with photographers and stylists to establish the visual narrative of studio and location stories. Cast models, scouted locations, sourced props and booked all creative talent, while negotiating rates and usage. Supervised retouchers and graphic designers on post-production of images and layout of marketing collateral.

New York City

Managed all photo studio booking and prop rental operations for company’s New York office, including deal negotiations, production, facility maintenance, shoot scheduling, staffing and budgeting. Developed and maintained relationships with clients from film, television, recording and publishing industries, resulting in monthly revenue increases up to fifty percent. Clients included Hearst, Condé Nast, Time Warner, Nordstrom and Target.

New York City

PolyGram Music Publishing / Midnight Songs – New York, NYAs Interim Creative Director, managed roster artists including D’Angelo and Angie Stone regarding collaborations, song placements and artistic direction.Universal Music Group / GRP / Impulse! Records – New York, NYAs Director of A&R, headed all creative aspects of urban music department for newly revived Blue Thumb imprint, including talent acquisitions, recording studio productions, budget creation, tracking and management.DreamWorks/SKG Music – New York, NYAs East Coast Creative Director, scouted talent and song catalogues to acquire while pitching music for recording, television and film projects.Levi Strauss / Slates – New York, NYFeatured in Levi Strauss / Slates “Entrepreneurs” national print and outdoor advertising campaign, shot by Richard Avedon.The Miami Herald / Street Miami – Miami, FLAs a freelance journalist, wrote arts & entertainment feature stories and record reviews for The Miami Herald and sister publication, Street Miami.Prop Central Stylehaus – Miami, FLAs Managing Director, ran all aspects of South Beach photo production-driven business, including prop & wardrobe inventory acquisitions, rentals and staffing.

New York City

As Director of A&R, discovered, developed and signed various artists, including multiplatinum Grammy winner, Maxwell. Spearheaded talent acquisitions, negotiated deals, guided art direction and oversaw a creative roster of twenty-five, including Sade, The Fugees and Groove Theory.

New York City

Behind the Velvet Ropes was a cable television program that aired in New York, Los Angeles and London. It profiled the best of “downtown life” in the late 80s and early 90s. As Music & Entertainment Editor, conducted on camera interviews of various established and up & coming talent including Naomi Campbell, Grace Jones, Keith Haring and Francesco Scavullo.