Director Erick Ifergan has decided to go independent via his own West Hollywood house, Serial Dreamer Productions. Serial Dreamer has been Ifergan’s longstanding banner, but the director said it in essence functioned only as a label in association most recently with bicoastal/international Believe Media and prior to that with bicoastal RSA USA and London-based RSA Films. The relationship with RSA lasted about a year, sandwiched in-between two tours of duty with Believe.
“I felt it was time for Serial Dreamer to move on to become the real thing–a full-fledged company,” explained Ifergan. “I want to be more in control of my own destiny, to build a production house.”
Ifergan already has put several building blocks in place, securing director Vince Gallo, Pavlina Hatoupis as executive producer, and Sarah Jenks to handle national representation for commercials. Serial Dreamer will focus on spots, but also intends to be active in features, shorts, video installation art, music videos and new-media projects.
Gallo is best known for his feature endeavors as an actor, writer, director and producer. He directed, wrote and starred in, for example, Buffalo 66, a comedy/drama that attained a measure of critical acclaim. Gallo later directed, wrote and acted in Brown Bunny. He also starred in Hollywood Salome, a feature directed by Ifergan.
Serial Dreamer becomes the first house to represent Gallo for commercials in the U.S.; however, he is no stranger to the ad discipline. Among Gallo’s spot credits are campaigns for Toyota and fashion client Costume International for audiences in Japan and Italy, respectively. Serial Dreamer will handle Gallo worldwide and Ifergan throughout most of the globe. (Ifergan continues to be repped in France by noted production house Bandit.) Ifergan plans to keep Serial Dreamer’s directorial roster a manageable size, anywhere from three to five directors at the most.
Known for storytelling, stylish visuals and the mesh of American aesthetics and European sensibilities, Ifergan has been directing a mix of American and international work over the years. Among his recent projects are a campaign (“Crocodile,” “Asian Presenter,” “BBC Filmmaker) for the U.K.’s BBC, and an AT&T package (“Trojan Horse,” “Rain”), which is out of Young & Rubicam, New York. Ifergan’s other directing credits include spots for such clients as Reebok, IBM, Apple, L’Oreal, Toyota, Audi, Mitsubishi and Sony PlayStation.
For the latter, Ifergan helmed “PlayStation 9,” which earned recognition as a SHOOT “Top Spot” (11/10/00, p. 14) for its clever promotion of PlayStation 2 through an ad set in the year 2078. The commercial shows a young man in futuristic garb opening a transparent ball marked “PS9.” Bubbles are released from the orb and hover momentarily before entering the young man’s body through his nose. A seductive voiceover reveals that the bubbles are “electronic spores” that “tap straight into your adrenal glands.” Then Matrix-like images flash by as the PS9’s features are delineated (e.g., retinal scanning, holographic vision). A female voice intones, “The ultimate just got better. PlayStation 9. Teleport yours today.” An image of the PS9 fades to black, and then we see the PS2 logo. The closing text reads, “PS2: the beginning.”
Ifergan also helmed Divine Presence, a Sony “Dreams” short in 2004. Earlier in his career, Ifergan directed several music videos for the likes of Tori Amos, Isaac Hayes and Shawn Colvin. The director made his first major mark, in fact, with a French Clip for singer Alain Souchon, which went on to win a Silver Lion at Cannes in 1989. Ifergan said that he and Gallo would be open to taking on select music video assignments at Serial Dreamer.