Brian Adler

Brian Adler has been a leading entertainment and technology executive and producer for nearly 20 years.   After serving as Executive Producer at Gentle Giant Studios (a 3D Systems company – NYSE: DDD), Brian launched PROTAGON, a consulting firm advising on visual effects and representing elite 3D Scanning and Motion Capture studios worldwide.  Previously at Gentle Giant, Adler oversaw global production and technology development for feature films, TV and video games, including scanning, digital modeling, photography and 3D printing for visual effects, production design and costume departments.  Recent titles include Furious 7, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman vs. Superman, The Hunger Games series, X-Men series, The Flash and Supergirl.  Brian serves as the key liaison with filmmakers, networks, studios and talent agencies and spearheaded production, business development, marketing and strategic business initiatives, including in-house technology development.  His clients included every major studio and television network, museums, galleries and leading creative digital studios.
In addition to his experience as a producer and executive, Brian has been an award winning producer, director and visual effects supervisor for over fifteen years.  He is currently producing the feature film, Wild Man, starring Ted Welch, Kate Upton, Mike Vogel and Christine Woods, and is attached to produce and direct Kristen Brownell’s memoir, Lost Vegas, set to be released by HarperCollins in 2016.  Brian was visual effects supervisor on the critically acclaimed Sundance Film Festival standout, Black Dynamite, released by Sony, and supervised the Rob Minkoff (The Lion King) directed kung fu action adventure, The Forbidden Kingdom, starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li.  Working alongside Academy Award winning cinematographer, Peter Pau (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), and master action choreographer Yuen Woo Ping (Crouching Tiger, The Matrix) Brian led efforts in pre-visualization, on-set supervision, digital set extensions, CG animated weaponry and digital stunt double character animation.
Known for his rare combination of business-legal prowess and broad creative flair, Adler has extensive contract negotiation experience with every major studio and has created, directed and served as Executive Producer on television shows for NBC-Comcast and Scripps and overseen commercial campaigns for some of the world’s leading brands such as Nokia, Bridgestone, Cadillac, Hewlett Packard and Burger King and music videos for Will Smith, Mary J. Blige, Ludacris, and Madonna.  He was nominated for “Outstanding Visual Effects in a Music Video” by the Visual Effects Society (VES) for his work on Duran Duran’s What Happens Tomorrow and oversaw effects on “Future Lovers,” Madonna’s Confessions Tour show opener, a colossal multi-screen video directed by acclaimed fashion photographer Steven Klein, lensed by Oscar® winning DP Janusz Kaminski (Schindler’s List), with wardrobe by Jean Paul Gaultier.  Brian directed the CG animated commercial, “Mom,” for Wal-Mart, via Bernstein Rein Advertising and has produced and directed live shows, webcasts and music videos for artists such as CeeLo Green, and branded content for Yahoo! and game titans Electronic Arts, Square Enix and Activision/Blizzard.
A graduate of the University of Michigan’s Cinema & Television program, where his short film, Maxey Boys, was awarded best student film, Brian began his career working for New Line Cinema’s national promotions department in New York and George Lucas’ Industrial Light + Magic, in Marin County, CA.  It was at ILM where he began his foray into visual effects, working on groundbreaking movies such as The Mask, Casper, Star Trek: Generations and Forrest Gump and commercials for Nike, Energizer, and Lincoln-Mercury.
After college, Brian was selected to Turner Broadcasting’s T-2000, a highly competitive management training program designed to groom the company’s future leaders.  Adler worked directly with senior executives in every major business division, where he wrote strategic business plans designed to leverage Turner assets and form alliances internally among Turner business divisions (TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, Sports, Publishing, Interactive). Brian authored the business plan for Turner Production’s Film Effects production division and served on the planning committee for the design and construction of a $40 million studio and post production facility in Atlanta, GA.  Adler was as a guest lecturer at Georgia State’s Digital Arts Department, where he taught film production, advanced cinematography and digital post-production to graduate students, and he has been a judge for the Broadcast Design Association (BDA) and the Visual Effects Society (VES).  Brian is a resident of Los Angeles, CA and can be reached at brian@adlerfx.com.