New York mafia capo Dwight "The General" Manfredi is released from prison after 25 years and exiled by his boss to set up shop in Tulsa, Okla.; realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a crew.
My role as Creative Director for the MTV Entertainment Studios art team was to collaborate along side our P+ partners to create striking key art showcasing Sylvester Stallone front and center, and highlighting the juxtaposition between his character’s urban mafia background and his new found home in rural Tulsa, Oklahoma. This included in-house ideation and creative strategy, shepherding concepts with our creative agency partners; Lindeman & Associates and Icon Arts, organizing and directing our asset capture day in Oklahoma City featuring Sly Stallone and the entire cast in various key art and portrait setups, and presenting concepts and artwork to internal executives, 101 Studios, and showrunner Terence Winter.
As a result, the series premiere of Tulsa King was the most-watched debut episode of a TV show in 2022, surpassing the previous record holder, HBO's House of the Dragon.
MTV Entertainment Studios
SVP, Brand Creative: Thomas Berger
VP, Art: Angelina Battista
Creative Director: Jamey Welch
Senior Art Director: Yenting Chuang
Senior Director, Production: Jennifer McComb
Senior Producer: Trisha Novy
Senior Producer: Ian Kahn
Director, Photography: Michael Levine
Paramount+
SVP, Head of Design: Matt Hernandez
VP, Creative Director: Becca Schader
Senior Creative Director, Key Art & Print: Steve Chan
Art Director: Chris Hawkins
Art Director: Sabrina Nguyen
VP, Photography: Christine Ramage
Photographer: Frank Ockenfels