AT ACTION8 FILMS WE TAKE RISKS AND GO WHERE OTHERS WILL NOT. WE ARE A COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION COMPANY AND CREATIVE AGENCY SPECIALIZING IN THOUGHT-PROVOKING DOCUMENTARIES, DYNAMIC COMMERCIALS, BRANDED CONTENT AND VISUAL DESIGN. WE TELL THE HIDDEN STORIES OF HUMANITY OVERCOMING THE ODDS FROM WAR TORN BURUNDI EAST AFRICA TO THE OPULENT RUNWAYS OF PARIS AND THE BURGEONING RACE TRACKS OF BEIJING. WE HAVE CREATED ACCLAIMED DOCUMENTARIES ON HIGH FASHION MODELING, 3D MOTORCYCLE RACING AND A BOY INSIDE ADOLF HITLER'S BUNKER DURING THE LAST DAYS OF WORLD WAR II. WE PUSH BOUNDARIES, EVEN BRINGING A MEMPHIS HIP HOP DANCER TO BEIJING TO PERFORM WITH YOYO MA AND MERYL STREEP. WE HAVE MADE COMMERCIALS AND BRANDED FILMS WITH REDBULL CHINA, LUCASFILM, GOOGLE, SUNDANCE CHANNEL, WARNER BROTHERS, AUDI, FERRARI/MASERATI AND DOZENS MORE. WE WORK GLOBALLY - SOMETIMES WITH AN EMPHASIS ON CHINA.
FOUNDERS, OLE SCHELL AND LUKE HARRINGTON, HAVE BEEN FRIENDS SINCE THEY WERE POORLY DRESSED FRESHMAN IN AN ART BASED HIGH SCHOOL IN SAN FRANCISCO.
OLE SCHELL, PARTNER. Ole began his career at the Saturday Night Live film unit and has since directed documentaries and advertisements around the globe. He recently finished a series of short films for Redbull in China and a 3D racing film with Gopro, Sony Creative and Audi of America. Ole has also directed ads for Google, Lowe's Home Improvement, Sephora, Stitchfix, Sony Creative and content for a host of automotive clients including Ferrari/Maserati and the electric car companies: Fisker and Wrightspeed, the BMW electric "i series" and the electric racing series, Formula e.
Ole's documentaries include Picture Me: A Model's Diary, distributed by Strand Releasing, Warner Brothers, and the Sundance Channel domestically. Picture Me was released in fifty countries internationally.
Schell also directed Win in China, a film on that nation's most dynamic entrepreneurs, with Chinese Central Television (CCTV). His most recent documentaries include: "Lil Buck Goes to China" (featured on the Colbert Report) about a Memphis hip hop dancer performing in Beijing with Meryl Streep and Yoyo Ma and "Deo: Escape from Burundi" about one man's harrowing escape from genocide in East Africa. Ole received the "Leonardo’s Horse" Best Picture Award for Picture Me at the Milan International Film Festival. Ole graduated from the NYU Film School and is based out of New York City and California. Last but not least he is a kickboxing assassin.
KEITH LANCASTER, PARTNER. Keith began in 2004 as a freelance camera operator and editor for various independent productions in Nashville, Tennessee. He has since he’s producing “branded web content” for various institutions and commercial clients and continues to shoot, edit and color an array of productions from narrative films to multi-cam live events including VR diversity films for Google. In 2012, he finished the production and post process (shooting, editing and color-timing) a feature length documentary bringing awareness to the causes, symptoms and effects of domestic violence in the United States. He has been a partner with Ole since Action 8 Film’s inception.
LUKE HARRINGTON, VISUAL DESIGN DIRECTOR
Luke Harrington is a Concept Designer for Lucasfilm's Star Wars franchise. His artwork is shown regularly at Los Angeles' Hero Complex Gallery, Sketchpad Gallery San Francisco, Wondercon and the Alternative Press Expo.
He began his career at Trip Hawkin's DigitalChocolate and has since worked as a Concept Artist for EA's Sim City and was called on to art direct EA's first multiplayer online battle arena game, DawnGate. He taught Matte Painting at the Art Institute of San Francisco and has done film FX for a number of Ole's films.
Luke is the creator of Monstrossus, a creature design book, and co-founder of Time Beards, a creative partnership that curates pop art gallery shows in the San Francisco area. Lastly, he is a kickboxing ninja.