Relativity_Party_ - H 2015
Sometime in the latter half of 2012, when Carly Rae Jepsen‘s catchy tune “Call Me Maybe” was all the rage, top executives at Relativity Media hired RJ Durell and Nick Florez to choreograph and direct a company parody of the music video.
The spoof was intended as a gift for CEO Ryan Kavanaugh, with Durell and Florez, who have worked with Katy Perry and Madonna, among others, enlisting dancing girls and most of the staff, including president Tucker Tooley, Relativity Sports CEO Happy Walters, Relativity TV CEO Tom Forman and then-marketing president Terry Curtin.
Times were happier then at Relativity, although even so, some inside the company found the manpower and money spent on the video to be inappropriate (and many resented the idea of having to participate, says one person). Three years later, the company is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy with more than $1 billion in liabilities. And at least 75 employees have been laid off.
See below for highlights of the parody, shot at Relativity’s Beverly Hills offices. The Hollywood Reporter obtained screen grabs of the video, which was never made public.
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Tooley (in black) and Walters (in white) performed “Call Me Maybe” on Segways.
Dancers in Kavanaugh’s office.
Curtin (center front) joins dancers and staffers for one of the final scenes. In another scene, the well-respected Curtin, who now works at STX Entertainment, playfully vamped in a suggestive crawl across a conference-room table.
Tooley on the Segway, the preferred vehicle of choice for Kavanaugh to get around the office.
Dancers and staff hamming it up in Kavanaugh’s office.
Forman polishing his Emmys.
Walters also serves as co-president of Relativity alongside Tooley.
