Duke Greenhill

Duke Greenhill (born 3 November 1978) is an American advertising executive, entrepreneur, film producer and writer best known for being one of the members of the team who created transmedia film marketing and distribution in the United States. His film Zenith, which he co-produced, used alternate reality gaming and transmedia storytelling, and was serially distributing the film via BitTorrent.^[1]

Background

Greenhill was born in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of William D. and Ann Greenhill. His grandfather, Joe. R. Greenhill, was the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. Greenhill was active in the arts from a young age, and worked as a professional stage actor and model through college.^[2] He attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in film and communications, and graduate school at Columbia University.

Early career

After college, he relocated to Washington, DC, where he joined the advertising firm Stevens, Reed Curcio and Potholm as production department manager. He produced campaigns, including ones which won Telly and Pollie Awards.^[which?]} In his late twenties, He then attended Columbia University's graduate school of film. While there, he served as consulting producer on the Student Academy Award-nominated film The Assasstant^[3] and produced and directed a number of award-winning short films and wrote five screenplays.

Career

Upon graduating from Columbia, he worked as a producer of independent films including Shifting the Canvas,^[4] Trophy Kids and Zenith. Shifting the Canvas went into turnaround, and after Greenhill filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the other producer of Trophy Kids, the suit was settled out of court and Greenhill relinquished his rights to the film.

He also wrote and reviewed films for industry magazines including MovieMaker Magazine,^[5] and worked on branding, marketing and advertising campaigns for clients including Adidas and Dockers, as well as smaller luxury brands.

Greenhill founded and serves as CEO and Executive Creative Director of the New York marketing boutique, Greenhill+Partners | The Idea Factory, and in 2011, founded two new agencies, YoungLuxe, which specializes in marketing to affluent youth, and rEvolutionary Media, a digital political media firm, with business partner Aiden Livingston. He writes for publications including Campaigns and Elections,^[6] MobileMarketer^[7] and MarketingProfs.^[8]

He and his firms have become known for creating and deploying brand stories across new and digital media platforms, and for leveraging viral marketing and online video.^[9]

Personal life

Greenhill was born on November 3, 1978, in Fort Worth, Texas. His biological mother, who was reported to be fifteen years old, placed him for adoption at the Fort Worth-based Edna Gladney adoption agency. Greenhill was adopted by attorney William D. Greenhill and Ann Greenhill only a few days later. Greenhill has two younger brothers: Frank Greenhill, also adopted from Edna Gladney, and Joe R. Greenhill the fifth. At twenty-three, Duke Greenhill married Maggie Hammett, granddaughter of Austin attorney, James V. Hammett, Senior, with whom Greenhill's grandfather had practiced law and served as a Supreme Court of Texas clerk. They divorced two years later.

References

1. ^ Tabitha (September 21, 2010). "Zenith and its “transmedia” approach to storytelling could very well become an Internet phenomenon". SoundsOnSight.org
2. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2998889/otherworks
3. ^ http://allenpinney.blogspot.com/2008/04/assasstant-oscar-worthy-project.html
4. ^ http://broadwayworld.com/article/Alan_Cumming_To_Star_In_Griffiths_Shifting_the_Canvas_20080520
5. ^ http://www.moviemaker.com/articles/article/indie_sizzle_vs_hollywood_fizzle_2958/
6. ^ http://www.campaignsandelections.com/magazine/us-edition/182162/rethinking-your-digital-spend.thtml
7. ^ http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/9544.html
8. ^ http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2011/4650/need-a-brilliant-brand-strategy-go-see-a-movie
9. ^ http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=5046141&page=1

External links

• Duke Greenhill on IMDB [1]
• Duke Greenhill on ABC News [2]
• Duke Greenhill in Campaigns and Elections [3]
• Duke Greenhill in MobileMarketer [4]
• Greenhill+Partners | The Idea Facotry [5]
• Duke Greenhill on MarketingProfs [6]
• Duke Greenhill in the GL Review [7]
• Duke Greenhill and Zenith the movie in Variety [8]
• Duke Greenhill's bio on Wildsound Filmmaking [9]
• rEvolutionary Media digital political media [10]
• YoungLuxe affluent youth marketing [11]