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ANTHONY FURLONG
← Selected work

Company building & creative leadership

Creative Leadership & Studio Building

Leading the creative work and the company behind it.

My role

Founder / Executive Creative Director / Director

I’ve built and run several production companies, including Basic Nature. The work combined creative direction across live action, animation, design and VFX with responsibility for staffing, budgets, production and delivery.

A performance frame from the NBC Sunday Night Football broadcast open
NBC Sunday Night Football / Design & Art Direction / Sports Emmy, Best Art Direction

The companies behind the work

Build the team.
Build the way to work.

Basic Nature

Creative leadership with responsibility for the business.

Founder & Executive Creative Director

I founded and ran a creative, production and post company working across live action, animation, design, VFX, editorial and finishing.

I increased its company-wide average profit margin from approximately 20% to 60% through changes to staffing, cost structure, production and delivery.

I was also brought in by media organizations to design and launch internal production and post divisions.

  • Individual project budgets up to $4M
  • Multidisciplinary project teams up to 50, combining staff and freelance talent
  • Production crews of more than 100

Building production companies

Build the organization as well as the work.

Creative, production and operating leadership

Across several production businesses, I’ve helped define the company’s direction, establish teams and connect creative ambition to production and post.

That work has included company strategy, naming, staffing and the way projects move from the first idea through delivery.

    Animation, production and craft

    Selected films.

    A restaurant owner serving customers in the Square documentary brand film.

    Direction / Creative Direction / Cinematography

    Square for Restaurants

    Frame from Citrix brand film

    Creative Director / Live Action Director

    Citrix brand film

    The JAXJOX Interactive Studio and its connected fitness equipment in a designed home environment.

    Direction / Creative Direction · BUCK

    JaxJox Interactive Studio

    Stories behind the work

    A closer look.

    Yahoo / Mobile SymphonySoftware inside a live show.

    Director / Creative Director / product concept and build

    I conceived, designed and built a custom application that synchronized mobile devices used by roughly 50 performers with a live choreographed musical production. The screens became part of the lighting, choreography and performance.

    Yahoo Mobile SymphonyWatch on Vimeo
    NBC / Sunday Night FootballEvolving a weekly entertainment ritual.

    Design / Art Direction

    The move from Faith Hill to Carrie Underwood was a major identity moment for Sunday Night Football. I helped evolve the open with more pace, scale and visual clarity while preserving what audiences already recognized.

    Sports Emmy Award, Best Art Direction.

    NBC Sunday Night Football openWatch on Vimeo
    Motorola / One Zoom launch filmMaking the camera’s capabilities cinematic.

    Director / Creative Director / Designer / Editor / Animator

    This launch film introduced the Motorola One Zoom and its quad-camera system, with a 48MP sensor, optical image stabilization, optical zoom and an ultra-wide lens. As director, creative director, designer, editor and animator, I worked directly with Motorola from concept through delivery.

    The film was part of a broader international campaign across television, social and print. Shot in Los Angeles and on Catalina Island, it paired product demonstration with playful, cinematic visuals to make the phone’s low-light performance and zoom capabilities clear and entertaining.

    Motorola One ZoomWatch on Vimeo
    Citrix / Brand filmCreating space for the human story.

    Creative Director / Live Action Director · BUCK

    Citrix’s rebrand centered on the human value of technology: more room to think, collaborate and create. I led creative direction and directed the live action at BUCK, working with Athletics’ new identity.

    Live-action performance gave the film its human center. Abstract CG expressed the systems around it, using material, light and rhythm to convey clarity and momentum without relying on interface demonstrations.

    My work also spanned design, editing, 3D modeling, look development, lighting, compositing, previs and animation. COVID restrictions required adapting the live-action production while preserving the film’s visual approach.

    Citrix brand filmWatch on Vimeo
    Lincoln / In-car interfaceInterface design as part of the drive.

    Creative direction, in-car interface

    Creative direction on the in-car interface: the layout, motion and hierarchy a driver reads at a glance on the center display.

    The work had to express the brand and remain clear to the person using it.

    Lincoln in-car interfaceWatch on Vimeo
    IKEA / Practical productionThe set itself carried the idea.

    Creative Director / Live Action Director

    The campaign used practical sets and precisely repeated motion-control camera moves. Planning the camera moves, set construction and post-production together was central to how the work could be delivered.

    IKEA campaignWatch on Vimeo
    Avatar / UI VFX design and animationInterfaces inside the story.

    UI VFX design and animation

    Designed and animated user-interface VFX for Avatar through Prime Focus, including the screens and readouts used within the film’s world.

    Not individually screen credited.

    Avatar UI VFXWatch on Vimeo

    Keep exploring

    Production Technology & Applied AIBoss BeautiesIndyCar Docuseries

    LET’S TALK
    ABOUT WHAT’S NEXT.

    I’m interested in full-time studio leadership opportunities across entertainment, innovation and production. I bring experience building businesses, leading teams and developing the creative and technical capabilities behind the work.

    Email Anthony Connect on LinkedIn