I, Frank Scherma, have been involved with the AICP for close to 20 years, representing the community as a West Coast President and National Chairman. We always tell our children to study history because of three reasons: 1) we don’t want to repeat the same mistakes twice, 2) we want them to understand the present, and 3) most importantly, we want them to be prepared for the future. With my historical perspective and insight on agency deals, union contracts , payment schedules, client guidelines, and production programs & incentives, I’ll generate and motivate a community that will swiftly move forward and hopefully, not backwards.

I am currently serving on the National Board and would like to continue the work we have all begun. As the national structure has only been in place for a year there is still lots of work to do to insure that it will benefit our members.

As the President/Co-Founder of @radical.media, I understand, the changing landscape that all of our companies are facing today. From the linear process that once led from client to agency, and agency to production company, the integration of branded content, films for online, offline, the big screen and the small screen, applications for smartphones and iPads, and digital media …has expanded the face of our industry and its future.

I would love to be on the Board and continue to be an activist, aggressor, anticipator, initiator, supporter, innovator, and ...trailblazer for this community.

As most of you know, I have no problem discussing my point of view and will continue to do so.

FRANK SCHERMA

Frank Scherma is the President of @radical.media, a global transmedia company that creates some of the most innovative content across all platforms. It creates, produces and distributes award- winning projects in a variety of media including commercials, television feature films, music programming, graphic and interactive design, smartphone & tablet applications, exhibitions, events, and original photography. With offices in New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, Sydney and Shanghai, the company’s global network has given it a foundation for identifying and nurturing in-house talent, while offering its client base a global reach for the development, production and distribution of content.

From the Academy Award® winner for Best Documentary "The Fog of War," to the Grammy Award®-winning memorial for George Harrison titled "Concert for George," Frank has received much critical acclaim in the feature film arena. Credits include Jay-Z's "Fade to Black," Metallica’s “Some Kind of Monster," which won Best Documentary at the Independent Spirit Awards, “Crude,” the winner of the Cinema For Peace’s International Green Film Award and the National Board of Review’s Best Documentary of the Year, and the Academy Award® nominated film “Blue Valentine.” More recently, Frank and his team, along with HBO, produced the highly-anticipated documentary “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory,” which follows the growing movement and epic story of the West Memphis 3 murder trials. The film will make its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Frank’s television credits are no less imposing, including the production of the pilot episode of the Emmy® and Golden Globe® award-winning series "Mad Men” for AMC, another Emmy® winning series “10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America” for the History Channel, “Master Class” and “Visionaries,” two series for Oprah Winfrey’s channel OWN, “Britney: For the Record,” and five seasons of "Iconoclasts," produced for the Sundance Channel and sponsored by Grey Goose Entertainment. In addition, Frank and his team have produced “Storymakers,” a series hosted by Peter Bart and for the AMC Network, “In The Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams,” which premiered on PBS Great Performances, “Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful,” for Showtime, “Nick Minaj: My Time Now,” “Drake: Better Than Good Enough,” “Lady Gaga: Inside the Outside,” featuring an intimate, stripped-down portrait of the artist, for MTV Networks, and “IBM: Watson,” which aired during Jeopardy! The company is currently producing programs for A&E, MTV, Discovery and OWN.

As the company transcends international borders and various media platforms, it stays true to its pioneering spirit of marrying art and commerce. In the branded content space, Frank and his team continue to rewrite the rules, producing innovative content for courageous brands. With Wieden + Kennedy, @radical produced the "Nike Battlegrounds" series for MTV, which has placed among the network’s highest-rated programs. The company also produced two projects with Nike China airing on CCTV, which both won a Gold and Silver at the One Show Entertainment. Additional long form branded projects include: “ “Honda: The Power of Dreams” series, "The Gamekillers," a scripted reality dating series produced for Unilever's Axe deodorant, as well as Volkswagen’s third season of “Racing Under the Green" series for the Discovery Channels, Toyota's "Two Roads to Baja" and its sequel “Two Roads to Taupo” for The Speed Channel, “Ironic Iconic America” for the Tommy Hilfiger brand and Bravo TV, and “Summit on the Summit” with Proctor & Gamble and MTV to raise the awareness of the global clean water crisis. Currently, the company produced “Project Shiphunt,” a follow-up to last year’s award-winning initiative, “Rocket Project, for Sony and Intel.

Digital initiatives and application platforms include: The award-winning interactive film “The Wilderness Downtown,” in conjunction with Google Creative Lab and Arcade Fire, which won the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Lions Advertising Festival and was named FWA’s “Site of the Year”; the Grammy®-nominated and numerous Webbys Awards® winner “The Johnny Cash Project”; the Gagosian iPad App, which provides exclusive access to distinguished artists from around the world; The One Campaign App, the first application designed exclusively for advocacy; “Boost Up” for the Ad Council, which resides at the Cooper Hewitt Museum; “Get Schooled” for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Viacom; “Bold Moves” for The Ford Motor Company; “Kodiak” for the Vaseline brand; “6 Beers of Separation” online and television series for Lion-Nathan Australia; “Meet the Lucky Ones” for Lincoln Mercury; and "The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman” for American Express.

Frank has alsocontributed significantly to public awareness campaigns and initiatives such as Conservation International, “Get Schooled” for the Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation and Viacom, 1GOAL for Queen Rania and FIFA, the ONE campaign, Clinton Global Initiative, and works closely with the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater & Television.

In addition to its Oscar®, Golden Globe® and Grammy® wins, @radical.media has earned two Palme d'Or Awards at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. The company has won numerous Emmys®, Webbys®, D&AD Pencils, One Show Pencils, MTV VMA Awards, Clios, Art Directors Club medals, the prestigious Smithsonian National Design Award for Communications Media and just about every accolade and trophy associated with the advertising and marketing industries, in both traditional and new media.

With @radical.media, Frank was elected West Coast president of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) for a one-year term, which eventually turned into an unprecedented three and a half year tenure. He was then elected Vice Chairman of the National AICP and subsequently became the first National Chairman elected to a two-year term. He is widely recognized for the effectiveness of his efforts, including the successful negotiation of deals with all the major unions including: IATSE, the Teamsters and the Director’s Guild of America.

Frank became a board member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) from 2000 to 2004. During his first two terms as Governor on the Board of Directors, he was one of a team of three who approached the Academy and persuaded them to recognize outstanding commercials by creating an Emmy category for them. He was recently elected to his third term as Governor on the Board of Directors of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Frank was also one of the founding board members of the Entertainment Industry Development Corporation.

When he’s not working, Frank is often found on the soccer field or softball diamond, moonlighting as a coach for one of his three kids’ teams. He has been married to his wife Cari for twenty years. In discussing @radical’s “family environment” Frank sites his Italian upbringing as his greatest management influence. “My background taught me that the trick to keeping people close by is to keep lots of good food around.”