Cortez Brothers’ Founder Ed Rivero to Represent Shoot Cuba in US

With the doors to Cuba now flung wide open, American film producers, ad agencies and other content creators are rushing to explore this untapped Caribbean nation that for so long has been so close and yet so far.  And to make their entry to Cuba more efficient and seamless, the country’s top production service company, Shoot Cuba, now has an outpost in the US. Headed by veteran Executive Producer Ed Rivero, Shoot Cuba is open for business, just in time for President Obama’s historic visit to the country later this month.

As part of their agreement, Shoot Cuba will serve as the Cuban base for Cortez Brothers, the production company Rivero founded in 2006, which specializes in the crossover between the general market and the Hispanic market and has shot for agencies and brands throughout Central and South America as well as across the US.

Rivero and Lago have a mutual contact that helped pave the way for their connection. Producer Asori Soto, a protégé of Lago, also worked for Rivero for a number of years in the US. “Asori’s history with Luis is one of the big reasons I sought him out,” says Rivero. “I realized that Luis had similar experiences as I’ve had, and that he worked at a level that paralleled what we’ve been doing in the States.”

Rivero brings an extensive background in advertising production to the Shoot Cuba relationship. He’s lived and worked in New York, L.A. and Florida, and worked on general market campaign at RSA Films before launching Cortez Bros. He’s also spent time on the client side, where he was the Hispanic agency liaison for M&M Mars, dealing with creative and production teams at both general market and specialty agencies as well as with production companies.

Rivero says one of his goals with Shoot Cuba will be to help beef up its infrastructure in Cuba, so that it can handle multiple shoots at any given time. “With the relaxation on imports, we’ll be bringing in quite a bit of gear to bolster Luis and his crews,” Rivero points out.

Not that Lago hasn’t been working with some of the top production companies in the business already: Shoot Cuba has handled production service for shoots by Sonny London for Mother and Stella Artois, directed by Fredrik Bond, as well as for M&C Saatchi for Havana Club, also directed by Bond. RSA director Adrian Moat has worked with Shoot Cuba as well, as has Knucklehead director Rob Leggatt on a shoot for Havas and Unilever.