Radke Film Group

Identity area

Type of entity

Corporate body

Authorized form of name

Radke Film Group

Parallel form(s) of name

Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

Other form(s) of name

Identifiers for corporate bodies

Description area

Dates of existence

1992-

History

The Radke Film Group was formed in Toronto in 1992 by Richard Radke (in partnership with the company Partners’ Film Company). Radke, who was raised in New York City, had come to Canada in the early 1980s and began his advertising career in 1988. The company was intended to be a director-driven enterprise with sales agents generating contracts to produce commercials for various clients. Radke enlisted several directors to his firm, which his company then represented to various clients. In addition to representing Canadian directors, the Radke Film Group also served as a sales representative for a number of the major American production companies for business in Canada.

Following Radke’s sudden death at the age of 40 in 1994, then General Manager Edie Weiss took over the company. In 1998, Partners’ sold its 30% share to Weiss and she became the company’s full owner (she continues to serve as President). In 2003, the company opened an office in Vancouver.

The Radke Film Group also encompasses a number of affiliates:
· Steam Films was launched in 2001 to enable Radke to represent a larger number of directors; in 2003, they too opened a Vancouver office. Steam also provides crew and production for American shoots.
· Soft Citizen, a dedicated music video production company, was founded in 2003 with the intention of producing videos for both Canadian and international artists. To date, the company has produced videos for such artists as Badly Drawn Boy, Broken Social Scene, Cut Copy, and Death Cab for Cutie.
· The Vapor Music Group is a full service music house based in Toronto. The company specializes in original music, sound design, film/television branding, long format licensing, radio and voice direction. Vapor is managed for former Jungle Music head Roger Harris; clients include Nissan, Purolator, AGF, Gatorade, Nike and Toyota.

Radke directors have won every major international advertising award, including Cannes Lions, Clios, AICP’s (Association of Independent Commercial Producers), Bessies and more. Amongst the best known directors are Mike Bigelow, Antoine Fugua, Zak Snyder, Martin Shewchuk and Eric Lynne; a number of these people have also worked on feature films.

Places

Legal status

Functions, occupations and activities

Mandates/sources of authority

Internal structures/genealogy

General context

Relationships area

Control area

Authority record identifier

2007.010

Institution identifier

University of Toronto Media Commons

Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

Created 03/19/2015

Language(s)

English

Script(s)

Sources

The Radke Film Group website: http://www.radkefilms.com/

Steam Films website: www.steamfilms.ca

Soft Citizen website: www.softcitizen.com

Vapor Music website: www.vapormusic.com

Zima, Danielle. “A Turbulent year.” Playback (December 5, 1994) http://playbackonline.ca/1994/12/05/3989-19941205/

Iezzi, Teressa. “Radke, Partners’ split.” Playback (July 27, 1998) http://playbackonline.ca/1998/07/27/22635-19980727/

Staff. “Radke, Steam in B.C.” Playback (October 27, 2003) http://playbackonline.ca/2003/10/27/radke-20031027/