By Robert Goldrich
SANTA MONICA --Noted ad agency creative Harry Cocciolo has decided to embark on a directorial career, joining bicoastal Tool of North America for exclusive representation. He has already wrapped his first job under the Tool banner: a :60 (with a :30 version) for the San Francisco Zoo, out of BBDO West/San Francisco. Titled “Tail,” the spot is featured in this week’s “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery.
Cocciolo’s last staff position was at San Francisco agency See where he served as executive creative director. There he rebranded the agency (it was formerly Odiorne Wilde Narraway & Partners), spearheaded campaigns for anchor client Electronic Arts (EA) and for the international launch of EA Games’ The Sims 2, and helped grow the client roster with such additions as Country Music Television.
His agency pedigree also includes two tours of duty at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, and serving as creative director/partner at the San Francisco office of London agency Leagas Delaney. At the latter shop, he had a guiding hand in notable work for adidas and CNET.
Cocciolo first joined Goodby in 1991 as a writer, moving up to an associate creative director on high-profile campaigns for the California Fluid Milk Processors Advisory Board (“got milk?”), Budweiser, Polaroid, SEGA of America and Major League Baseball.
In ’97, Cocciolo moved over to Leagas Delaney. Five years later, he returned to Goodby, helped land the AT&T Wireless account and wrote its launch spot at the agency, “Business Traveler,” directed by Scott Hicks of Independent Media, Santa Monica. He also served as a Goodby creative director on Goodyear, Discover Card and the nonprofit Girls, Inc.
The sweet tug-at-the-heartstrings “Business Traveler” reflects a relevant, emotional brand of storytelling that’s been a prime part of Cocciolo’s creative portfolio, yet has been a bit overshadowed by his agency involvement over the years in strong, at times off-the-wall comedy ranging from “got milk?” (“Trix,” “Heaven”) to work for the likes of CNET (“Dancers,” “Plant”) and adidas (“Abandoned Mr. S,” “Spelling Trouble”).
Cocciolo came aboard See in ’03. There in the summer of ’04, he directed his first formal spot, a PSA for The Arc, a See pro-bono client that finds employment for mentally-challenged adults. In retrospect, related Cocciolo, that experience proved pivotal. He enjoyed directing and the job was produced via Tool, reinforcing his positive feelings about the production company, which were based on his collaborations there over the years as an agency creative.
The Arc spot, for which Cocciolo served as both creative director and director, shows a series of people whining about various aspects of their jobs. The complaining plays as humorous but is finally put in proper perspective when a mentally challenged employee appears and expresses his gratitude just for the chance to work.
Last October, Cocciolo left See, primarily to take some personal time to enjoy his recent entry into parenthood. In contemplating his professional options, Cocciolo made the decision in December to pursue a directorial career. He naturally gravitated to Tool, based on his experiences with the shop as well as his colleagues there, including such Goodby alums as directors Erich Joiner, Tom Routson and Sean Ehringer. (Cocciolo also worked with Ehringer as partners/co-creative directors at Leagas Delaney.) Joiner, Routson and Ehringer have all successfully made the transition from agency creatives to spot directors at Tool.
LESSER OPPORTUNITY
Another former compatriot, Jim Lesser, who’s now executive VP/executive creative director at BBDO West/San Francisco, figured prominently in Cocciolo’s first directorial gig since coming over to the production house side of the business–the aforementioned San Francisco Zoo’s “Tail.”
The spot tells the story of a schoolgirl who’s an outcast because of a physical oddity; she has a long fur tail. While the circumstance is offbeat, the spot carries the universal emotion of feeling at one time or another isolated–if not shunned–for being different. The commercial, said Lesser, walks the fine line of us feeling the girl’s pain but not getting immersed in that loneliness thanks to the sense that something magical is about to unfold.
“This story required just the right touch from the director, and Harry [Cocciolo] immediately came to mind [for the job],” related Lesser, who’s known Cocciolo for 10 years, including working as a freelance creative for him at Leagas Delaney.
Of his experience with Cocciolo on “Tail,” Lesser assessed, “Harry gets it. He understands the process because he’s been on the agency side, but that’s the easy part. The most impressive part is that he is a director who knows how to tell stories. A lot of guys know how to deal with the agency b.s. The rare thing is to find a great storyteller.”
Cocciolo described “Tail” as “a delicate, emotional piece.” He noted that “while the idea is whimsical, the real human truth in the story has to come through–.If there is something consistent in the work I most enjoy, it’s the humanity of the message. That doesn’t mean that it features people, just that there is a real message there, told in a way that is relevant to the viewer. It can be hilariously funny, emotionally moving or something altogether different. There is power in respecting your audience and finding the humanity in each idea.”Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More