Answer to a rhetorical question
By Robert Goldrich
“How many female directors are there who are known for their comedy work?”
That rhetorical question was posed by Gary Rose, partner/executive producer at GO Film, in reference to director Dennie Gordon. Rose noted that in an industry known for pigeonholing and specialization, Gordon embodies an atypical niche that the advertising community can tap into for expansive creative and comedic sensibilities.
Gordon is perhaps best known for her TV sitcom work spanning 30 Rock and The Office. She won a Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award in 2000 for an episode of Tracey Takes On…, which stars comedian Tracey Ullman.
Gordon’s credits also include the comedy shows Samantha Who?, Sports Night, and Everybody Hates Chris.
GO Film signed Gordon for spot representation earlier this year. She immediately wrapped a GO-produced Mercedes-Benz job out of New York agency Merkley+Partners.
Since then, though, Gordon has been immersed in series work, including two episodes of Burn Notice, and one apiece of Good Guys, Royal Pains, The Glades, Hell Cats, and The Cape.
Rose noted that her episodic schedule is slated to ease shortly, and thus her availability for commercialmaking assignments will open up. She did manage to recently helm promos for 30 Rock and the new FOX romantic comedy series Running Wilde.
Gordon is no stranger to the advertising arena as her experience over the past few years includes spots and branded entertainment.
The latter came in the form of spot tie-ins to 30 Rock, including a humorous Dr Pepper campaign featuring the series character “Dr.” Leo Spaceman portrayed by Chris Parnell.
Earlier Gordon directed tie-ins to 30 Rock for the Honda Fit automobile starring Jordan Friedlander in character as 30 Rock’s TGS series writer Frank Rossitano. He is willingly “kidnapped” by a couple of lovely lasses who bill themselves as network executives and ask him to plug the Fit during episodes of 30 Rock. This branded content came out of NBC Universal’s Creative Partnerships and Innovation department.
In terms of more traditional format ad fare, Gordon has directed a series of Midol commercials starring female stand-up comedians, and a pair of spots for Time Warner promoting its DVR service.
The Midol and Time Warner assignments were produced via Pony Show Entertainment, with which Gordon had a working relationship prior to joining GO.
Dramatic beginning
Gordon cut her directorial teeth on television series created and produced by the prolific David E. Kelley, including Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, Ally McBeal and The Practice, showcasing her directorial talent in drama as well as shows that meshed elements of comedy and the dramatic.
Gordon is particularly gratified that she helmed episodic work that also earned Emmy Awards for such actors as Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal), Dylan McDermott (The Practice), James Whitmore (with a guest role in The Practice), and Ray Walston (Picket Fences).
Gordon made the Kelley connection via her short film A Hard Rain, which won dramatic awards at the British Short Film Festival and the Hamptons Film Fest.
A Hard Rain caught the eye of Kelley, leading to Gordon getting what turned out to be her first primetime television directing opportunity–an episode of Picket Fences.
Gordon is also experienced in theatrical feature films, having directed the teenager cult motion picture Joe Dirt starring David Spade and Christopher Walken, and the comedy What A Girl Wants which starred Colin Firth, Amanda Bynes, Jonathan Pryce and Dame Eileen Atkins.
Gordon’s television and feature exploits over the years have seen her film in the United States as well as in Japan, China, Thailand, Croatia, Bosnia, Germany, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Guatemala, French Polynesia, Spain, Turkey, Morocco, Italy, France, Switzerland, Greece and throughout the United Kingdom.
As for what her longer-form experience enables her to bring to commercialmaking, Gordon related, “Television series make you quick on your feet, dealing with the sheer velocity with which the work must be done. You need to complete the job in a timely manner for shrinking dollars. It’s very much like commercials in that you need to bring a really clear sense of how you’re going to accomplish what you set out to do. The care for look, story, character, laughs is similar in both disciplines.
“But within a thirty-second format,” she continued, “you have to do it better, even faster and with the most inventive images imaginable. Working under a tight budget with a demanding time table is something I’ve honed over the years in television and which has helped me considerably in taking on commercials.”
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