Roger Zorovich has been hired to head the commercial division of F.M. Rocks, a Santa Monica shop known primarily for its music video production. He comes over from bicoastal/international Propaganda Films, where he spent the past five and a half years as an executive producer.
Zorovich explained that he left Propaganda for the opportunity to help shape F.M. Rocks’ spot operation as its executive producer. One of his prime responsibilities will be to bring up-and-coming, as well as established, commercial directors into the F.M. fold. He has already assembled an ad sales force, securing the services of independent reps Chris Messiter and Jill Reehl to handle the East Coast and Midwest, respectively. Staffer Nancy Osborne continues as head of sales and West Coast rep for F.M. Rocks.
Director Dave Meyers, an accomplished music video-maker at F.M. Rocks, is available via the company for spots. Last year, Meyers helmed a Pringles job for Grey, New York, and this past January he garnered a Twix spot that represented repeat biz from Grey. His numerous music video directorial credits include Janet Jackson’s "All for You," Dave Matthews Band’s "I Did It," Britney Spears’ "Lucky," Creed’s "With Arms Wide Open," Outkast’s "Bombs over Baghdad," Dido’s "Thank You" and Missy Elliott’s "Get Ur Freak On."
Meyers’ first spot—the aforementioned Pringles assignment—came when Eileen Terry was executive producer of commercials for F.M. Rocks. Terry is no longer with the company, and now Zorovich takes the spot reins. Osborne had a hand in lining up Zorovich for the role, bringing him and F.M. Rocks owner Craig Fanning together. Zorovich said he was impressed by Fanning’s commitment to diversify the company into commercials by taking a page from the Propaganda book. Zorovich noted that Propaganda’s roots were in music videos before it successfully broke into commercials and longform.
During his Propaganda tenure, Zorovich worked on spots with such directors as David Kellogg (now with bicoastal Anonymous), Dante Ariola, Mark Pellington, Marcel Langenegger, Geoffrey Barish, Nzingha Stewart, and the team of Kuntz & Maguire. Prior to Propaganda, Zorovich served briefly as head of production at Johns+Gorman Films (now JGF), Hollywood. Earlier in his career, he freelanced as a bidder with different spot shops, after having served in that same capacity on staff at the now Santa Monica-headquartered Stiefel+Company.
