Music industry veterans Matt Drenik, Johanna Cranitch, and Christina Tortorelli Carlo have joined forces to launch Little Beast, a new full-service music house for film, television, and advertising built around creative partnership, musical integrity, and emotional impact.
Founded by longtime friends and musicians who came up at competing music houses, Little Beast offers original composition, production, artist partnerships, and music supervision. While the company can work within the traditional advertising model, its founders say the mission is to approach every project from the perspective of working artists, bringing emotional truth and cultural resonance to the center of the process.
Before launching Little Beast, Drenik served as Creative Director and Partner at SOUTH Music & Sound, Cranitch was Creative Director at Barking Owl, and Tortorelli Carlo was Executive Producer at Heavy Duty. Now working side by side from their Los Angeles studio, the trio collaborates with a broad network of touring musicians, composers, and producers to match each project with the right creative voice.
“The priority is curating exceptional talent and producing meaningful work,” said co-founder Johanna Cranitch. “We believe sustainable success follows when creative decisions are guided by passion, integrity and a genuine love of music.”
Cranitch recently co-composed, alongside Patrick Stump, the Tribeca Film Festival feature documentary Billy Idol Should Be Dead, directed by Jonas Åkerlund and set for release later this year. She also composed for If These Walls Could Rock, the documentary about the Sunset Marquis music scene directed by Tyler Measom and Craig A. Williams.
The founders also bring deep experience as touring musicians. Cranitch has toured with The Cranberries and with Nina Persson of The Cardigans, while Drenik tours with Louise Post of Veruca Salt. Drenik also contributed as a composer to the FX drama Sons of Anarchy.
“As working artists, we felt there was room for a different point of view in the music-for-picture space,” said co-founder Matt Drenik. “We spent summers writing and playing music together, and at a certain point, the idea felt inevitable. If we were already creating together in so many parts of life, why not build something of our own?”
The founding team’s collective background spans global campaigns, studio production, and live performance, giving Little Beast a blend of creative instinct and technical precision. Surrounding them is a trusted circle of collaborators, tastemakers, and composers whose approach to musical storytelling aims to balance commercial fluency with artistic credibility.
Little Beast has already landed early work. The company created custom music for Jeep and Highdive’s Billy Goes to the River, featuring a retro Big Mouth Billy Bass performing Al Green’s Take Me to the River. Released during Super Bowl week, the spot broke through the clutter and gave the company an attention-grabbing first project.
“At its core, Little Beast is a company built on friendship, shared values and a belief that music is most powerful when it comes from a real place,” said Tortorelli Carlo. “We exist to create work that feels human and emotionally grounded, music that moves people as much as it moves brands. Ultimately, music that moves us as a company, because that is who we are and what we love.”
REELated:
Constant Contact… contacts TBWA\Chiat\Day LA for Brand Refresh
