The Montreal-born music production and songwriting house Apollo Studios has opened a new office in Los Angeles.
Apollo’s founding partner, Paul Maco, said this move is a natural progression for the company as it seeks to grow its business in the U.S. It already has offices in both Montreal and Toronto, as well as producers working in Vancouver, Europe and Dubai.
“It’s somewhat overdue, but we’ve been waiting to find the perfect partner [to head the L.A. office],” said Maco.
They’ve now found that perfect person, said Maco, and her name is Koo Abuali. As head of the L.A. office, she brings a great deal of experience in the feature film industry. She was music supervisor on the 2008 film Fireflies in the Garden, which starred Ryan Reynolds and Julia Roberts; music supervisor on the 2011 film Jesus Henry Christ, starring Toni Collette and produced by Julia Roberts; and music consultant on the 2012 film Mirror Mirror, which also stars Roberts.
“Koo has a keen understanding of her clients’ needs,” said Maco. “They always get exactly what they want and her music always fits the picture perfectly.”
Of her new role with Apollo, Abuali said in a statement she’s excited to be joining “a world-class team of production and creative talent. I’m thrilled to be joining the company as we expand into the U.S. With an amazing roster of award-winning producers and composers, as well as a proven track record in Canada, I’m confident that Apollo will become the preferred place for the best music work in the U.S.”
Because Abuali already has such strong ties in the movie industry, Maco said he expects Apollo won’t have much trouble building up business doing music for films and TV in L.A. “She’s already in the market, she already has the contacts,” he said. “It’s just a matter of finding the right project for the style of music that we do.”
With that in mind, they will be putting considerable effort into growing their advertising business in the U.S. and getting the word out about Apollo’s previous successes in advertising.
The new L.A. office only consists of Abuali at this point, but will hire more staff as the need grows.
Maco said he felt it was crucial to have an office in L.A. because clients there generally prefer to work with people based in the city. “In Dubai or Europe, they don’t mind working with you even if you’re not locally based,” he said, “whereas in the States, it’s much harder. You really need to be there on the spot.”
Interestingly, he said his company found the same thing with Toronto – clients in Toronto really prefer working with people in the same city. So when Apollo opened its Toronto office in 2007, its business with Toronto-based organizations skyrocketed.
Since first opening its original Montreal studio in 1995, Apollo has worked with such notable advertising clients as Coke, Tropicana, McDonald’s, Nike, Adidas, KIA, YMCA and Perrier. The company currently employs more than 20 producers and composers.
