Director Jason Farrand has joined Straw Dogs, a bicoastal production house, which New York-headquartered Paradise Music & Entertainment (NASDAQ: PDSE) agreed to acquire this spring. The Paradise deal is expected to be finalized next month.
Farrand joins Straw Dogs after nearly three years at the former Michael Romersa-owned bicoastal shop, Fahrenheit Films, which was closed in September (SHOOT, 9/17/99, p.1). Farrand is in the process of completing his first job through Straw Dogs: a live-action/effects spot promoting the VHS and DVD releases of the Warner Bros. movie Iron Giant, via L.A.-based Creative Domain.
Straw Dogs president/CEO Craig Rodgers said he has followed Farrand’s career since the director’s stint at G.M.S. Productions (now bicoastal Villains). Farrand worked for a year and a half at G.M.S.—the first six months co-directing with Austin Smithard before directing solo—and shifted to Fahrenheit in late ’96 (SHOOT, 12/13/96, p.1). (Smithard currently directs via Electric Avenue Films, Marina del Rey, Calif.).
"I always thought he had an incredible eye," said Rodgers of Farrand, "and since our rep Paula Arnett introduced the two of us years ago, we’ve always had a bunch of fun with the group of people we socialize with. It’s just a natural transition."
Describing Farrand as a "truly undiscovered talent," Rodgers said that the director is technically well versed. "His work is very stylized and has a strong point of view. He’s got everything from effects to very edgy visuals to dialogue," Rodgers said.
Farrand related that he was looking for a company bigger in size and in stature. Straw Dogs seemed an ideal fit. "I knew that, for one, it was an intelligent, informed, forward-thinking company, and that’s how I like to think of myself as a director. It seemed to me to be kind of a no-brainer, really."
Based on his initial conversations with Rodgers and Straw Dogs director Jesse Dylan (who is also CEO of Paradise), Farrand said he came away persuaded of the company’s aspirations to succeed. "In a competitive business, it’s all about putting yourself in front of the right people—that’s all a director can ever ask. Up until that point—and after that point—it’s up to you as a director to move your career forward. It’s a great situation. They’ve got a brilliant sales force and directors that have already proven themselves, and it’s up to me to exploit that."
Farrand’s recent spot credits include his last Fahrenheit production: "Penalty," a Hispanic market Budweiser spot promoting soccer via Ornelas & Associates, Dallas. Shot on location in Mexico City, the ad revolves around a man imagining a penalty kick in a World Cup final, a task for which he finds the pressure akin to stopping a train.
Other spot credits include "Fisherman" for Chevy via Campbell-Ewald, Warren, Mich.; a Partnership For a Drug-Free America PSA via Saatchi & Saatchi, New York; and "What Planet Are You From?" for Planet Hollywood via Bernstein-Rein, Kansas City, Mo.
The U.K.-born Farrand began making short films as a teenager, and at age 17, got his first film-related job at Samuelson Film Services, a London-based camera/film equipment rental company. "You could figure out, mechanically-speaking, how production was done," explained Farrand. "From a technical standpoint, if you’re close to those kind of things and you want to learn, you can pick a lot of things up. Personally, I’m fascinated by anything technical, but only as a means to an end."
In ’89, Farrand moved to the U.S. and further pursued his interest in film as an equipment/technologies developer at Tarzana, Calif.-based Panavision (of which his father is the chairman). "Again, it was a great opportunity to be around a lot of people who were interested in making films," related the director. "There was—and still is—a great energy at Panavision because by the time people get there, they’re in gear to start production."
During a sabbatical in ’93, Farrand spent $9,000 and co-wrote and directed The Last Refuge, a 30-minute environmental drama starring Martin Sheen and Mimi Rogers. This film helped Farrand to land directorial representation at G.M.S. in ’95 (SHOOT, 6/30/95, p. 7).
"Part of the reason for me being [at Straw Dogs] is trying to consolidate the work I’ve been doing over the past couple of years into more of the direction I wish to go in the future. I’m interested in working with agencies and people that have clever ideas, and want somebody that’s really going to execute. I hope my [work] will always [reveal that] attention has been paid to the color and to the way it’s been lensed and photographed. But I really want projects where the content has just as much personality [as the visuals], and that’s hard to find."
Farrand joins a directorial roster comprised of Dylan, Neil Burger, Mike Rowles, Charlie Cole and Rob Lieberman, who works through The Lieberman Company in association with Straw Dogs. Rodgers related that the announcement of another directorial signing is imminent.
Straw Dogs is repped by Chicago-based Tracy Bernard in the Midwest, New York-based Chris Messiter on the East Coast and by the aforementioned L.A.-based staffer Arnett on the West Coast.
