By Robert Goldrich
NEW YORK --Creative Film Management International (CFM), New York, has launched No Smoke, a banner featuring spot directors James Wahlberg, Adam Jones, Markus Blunder, Wayne Maule and Joe Leih. Andrew Swee is the new venture’s executive producer.
Wahlberg comes over from Fabrication Films, Hollywood. He first established himself as an animation director, then diversified successfully into live action, gaining a reputation in comedy and combo live-action/effects spots. His directing credits over the years include commercials for such clients as AT&T, Budweiser, Bud Light, Dish Network, Disney, EA Games, the Fox Network, H&R Block, Kellogg’s, Mazda, McDonald’s, MCI, Microsoft, Miller Lite, Nintendo, Nissan, Samsonite and Travelocity. Wahlberg initially made his industry mark as a founder of Celluloid Studios, an animation house which was eventually acquired by Portland, Ore.-based Will Vinton Studios, now Laika. Wahlberg was also a founding partner in Fusion Idea Lab, a Chicago ad agency best known for its work on behalf of Anheuser-Busch.
Jones’ past affiliations included The Joneses, New York, and Next Media, a satellite of now defunct OneSuch Films. Last year his “Tool Box” spot for washingtonpost.com won a World Medal at the New York Festivals after gaining inclusion in SHOOT‘s “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery. His latest campaign for the Washington Post newspaper garnered several regional ADDY Awards.
Beginning his career in Austin, Texas, Jones worked as a production designer on music videos for such artists as Randy Travis, Travis Tritt, Lyle Lovett, the Crash Test Dummies and Lee Ann Rimes. He diversified into spots, and then got his first opportunity to direct with a commercial for a Southwest grocery store chain; that ad went on to win a pair of regional ADDYs and led to additional helming chances. Via FilmCrew, Dallas, he directed spots for Time Warner Cable, Destination Hotels, Texas.net and the Dallas Mavericks. He won a New York Film Festival Award for “Fly Fishing,” a commercial for the San Antonio Express News. In the ad, a man delivers a slightly over-the-top homage to the Zen of fly fishing that goes awry when he snags a woman’s bikini. Jones became known for comedy and people-based storytelling, He moved to New York in ’01 and began building a national reputation.
Blunder made his first mark with short films, including two, The Visit and What You Want From Life?, which garnered bronze and silver prizes from the Houston Film Festival in ’91 and ’92, respectively. He them embarked on a music video directing career in ’92, working with performers En Vogue, Texas, Shania Twain, Metallica, Gypsy Kings, Julia Fordham, Slaver and Richard Marx, among others. In ’97, Blunder transitioned into commercialmaking; his roosts included Stiefel & Company (since acquired by bicoastal/international @radical.media) and the now defunct U Ground.
Commercial credits for Blunder span such clients as Nintendo, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Bank of China, Ford, Mazda, Mountain Dew, Lexus, Samsung, Max Factor, American Expreess, Nivea, Honda and Audi.
Maule’s roots are in ad agency soil, serving in creative capacities at such shops as Leo Burnett, London and Sydney. He made the transition to director and established himself as a visual storyteller. He had earlier been repped via This Is TV, New York. He has helmed spots for Volkswagen, Crown Entertainment, Qantas, Mitsubishi, Schweppes and Honda, among others.
Leih’s initial major ad industry exposure as a director came on the strength of his viral spot for marcandtom.com, a comedic pitch to gain employment for a couple of out-of-work agency creatives. The piece helped him earn inclusion in SHOOT‘s New Directors Showcase last year, went on to win a Bronze Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival, and was shortlisted at the ’05 One Show. Prior to this tongue-in-cheek “PSA,” Leih made his directorial debut with the short film Dead Battery, which hit the festival circuit and was acquired and broadcast by the Sci-Fi Channel, Canal+ (France) and TV Tokyo, among other outlets.
The No Smoke lineup of spot helmers complements the offerings of CFM, which built its reputation on representing feature and TV talent for commercials. CFM’s directorial roster includes such notables as Jason Alexander, Andrew McCarthy, Chazz Palminteri, Jamie Johnson, Matthew Penn, Nick Cassavetes, Kaos, Sidney Lumet and John Leguizamo.
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
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