Under Rounds’ leadership, and on contract to record companies, Charlatan produced the short, song-length promo films and then distributed them on videotape to TV stations around the country. Tom Rounds, former program director for San Francisco Top 40 radio station KFRC, was brought on board later in 1967 as Charlatan president. Charlatan was founded by filmmakers Peter Gardiner and Allen Daviau, both of whom were special effects producers that year for the film, The Trip. In 1967, a Los Angeles company called Charlatan Productions began producing promotional films for rock groups, with a unique approach that involved interpreting individual songs by crafting original scripts and artistic scenarios to match. Their 1964 film A Hard Day's Night, and particularly its performance of the song ' Can't Buy Me Love', led MTV to later honor the film's director Richard Lester with an award for 'basically inventing the music video'. The Beatles used music videos to promote their records starting in the mid-1960s. Ideas for music television began in the 1960s. See also: Music video § History and development, and Music television 1.4 2010–present: Retirement from music videos.
