By Emily Vines
NEW YORK—Director Tripp Dixon has joined Good Films, New York, for exclusive commercial representation in the U.S. He has been with NFL Films, Mt. Laurel, N.J., a division of the National Football League, for the past eight years.
Although he noted that NFL Films didn’t limit him to "football-specific work," Dixon said he felt it was time to move on. When asked why he chose to sign with Good Films, he cited its executive producers/partners Kitty Overton and Ian Hunter, as well as the dynamic at the shop. "It’s a young company and I thought it had some exciting potential for me," he related.
To Overton, Dixon’s ease with sports figures was appealing. "We are looking for opportunities for him to do more of what he does well, which I think is really capturing a lighter side of the professional athlete or real person," she said. "There is a lot of personality in what he does, and we see that translating to almost every place where people use celebrities and real people and sports people to market their [brands]."
Dixon’s lighthearted approach is evident in a bumper titled "Advice" for the NFL Celebrity Golf Shootout, which features Samuel L. Jackson walking on the green between Jerome Bettis of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Warren Sapp of the Oakland Raiders. Playfully ribbing their opponent, Bettis and Sapp critique Jackson’s work, commenting that he sometimes falls short of a great performance. Samuel retorts that he never would have known that from his critics’ reviews. Straight-faced, the athletes continue to question Jackson’s technique and ask if he has tried any method acting courses, Stanislavsky perhaps? Caught off guard by the players’ knowledge of his craft, Jackson falls behind as Sapp bellows, "Stella!" and chuckles with Bettis.
Although Dixon’s reel primarily features work for the NFL, it also includes a comedic spec spot for Luden’s throat drops out of DDB New York. In "Late Night," a guy wakes up in bed alone—martini glasses and strewn clothes surround him. A raspy, masculine voice comes from the shower, commenting on the wonderful night they shared. Alarmed, the undressed man grabs his belongings and runs out. When a beautiful blonde woman emerges from the bathroom too late, a voiceover suggests, "Irritated throat? Try Luden’s Wild Cherry."
Dixon graduated from Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa., in 1991, and began working as a graphic designer in Hong Kong for STAR TV network’s on-air promotions department. A year later, he moved behind the camera as a director at the network. Upon returning to the States in ’96, he joined NFL Films.
At Good Films, he rounds out a directorial roster that includes Andrew Walton, Nick Rafter and Margee Challah.
Maggie Klein of Maggie Klein & Co., New York, represents the shop on the East Coast, while independent reps Maureen Butler and Yvette Lubinsky handle the Midwest and West Coast, respectively.
DreamWorks Animation Hits 30 With A New Hit Different From The Norm: “The Wild Robot”
Filmmaker Chris Sanders had finally cracked "The Wild Robot."
Peter Brown's middle-grade book, about an intelligent robot living in the wilderness, had been sitting on the shelf at DreamWorks Animation for a bit. No one had quite figured it out. Then Sanders, the man behind beloved animated features from "Lilo & Stitch" to "How to Train Your Dragon," came along.
His vision, however, was different from the norm: The story started without zippy dialogue and didn't follow traditional beats. He also wanted to embrace a more illustrated style that melded analog warmth with computer generated imagery capabilities, which was finally technologically possible. Before he got too deep, he needed to make sure the studio was on board.
"They said, 'That's the reason we bought the book. We want to do something different,'" Sanders said. "One of the great strengths of DreamWorks is they're willing to try new things. To everybody's credit, they stayed the course."
And it's already paying off. "The Wild Robot" opened No. 1 in theaters nationwide this weekend, riding in on a wave of critical acclaim. Sanders didn't know it at the time but something bigger was at play too: "The Wild Robot" would be released coinciding with the studio's 30th anniversary.
It wasn't so long ago that DreamWorks was the new kid on the block. The upstart, founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, was in October 1994 the first new studio in 60 years. Since their first animated release ("Antz," in 1998), DreamWorks Animation has released 49 feature films that have grossed more than $17 billion at the box office. They have major franchises, including "Shrek," which became the first best animated feature Oscar winner, "Kung Fu Panda" and "How to... Read More