Company Was Drawn To His Work On Unilever's Sponsorship of "Mad Men"
Tim Matheson–whose directorial career spans varied TV series (Burn Notice, Criminal Minds, the recent pilots for USA’s Covert Affairs and Fox’s The Good Guys) and an ongoing Unilever campaign tailor-made for airing during Mad Men as part of a season-long sponsorship–has joined the roster of Santa Monica-based Aero Film for exclusive representation in commercials.
The Unilever work sprung out of that advertiser’s self-described “reverse upfronts” approach in which brand managers work with media companies to develop ideas on how to best showcase brands across platforms–all well ahead of the annual upfront ad sales market. Unilever, media agency Mindshare and creative/production shop Generate came up with a campaign that weaves six leading Unilever brands–Dove, Breyers, Hellmann’s, Klondike, Suave, and Vaseline–into a storyline centered on fictional circa 1960s’ ad agency Smith Winter Mitchell and its founding creative partners, copywriter Phil Smith and art director Tad Winter. Messrs. Winter and Smith are tasked with developing ad campaigns for each of these brands. We see them in various states of brainstorming, inspired and not-so-inspired creative moments, even in the throes of what turns out to be a mock creative pitch.
The latter was for Klondike in which Smith and Winter look into the camera and take us via storyboard frames through their idea for an engaging, somewhat grandiose commercial. They’re delivering their presentation to a client who is yet unseen. Eventually the camera reveals the “client” to be an office janitor who is seated before them at a conference table and chomping on a Klondike ice cream bar. The janitor says he’d do just about anything for a Klondike and then leaves to continue his cleaning.
The 1960s’ ad mavens at Smith Winter Mitchell are cut from Mad Men entrepreneurial and stylistic cloth, dovetailing nicely with the hit AMC series and thus making the messages a bit more TiVo- and zap-proof. The Unilever spots are not only running during the current fourth season of Mad Men but also online, including on a dedicated YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/smithwinter). Mindshare gravitated towards Matheson to direct the campaign which takes us into the inner workings of this agency from the so-called Golden Age of Advertising era. “We created a period ad agency, but with contemporary Unilever products,” related Matheson.
Lance O’Connor, executive producer at Aero, saw the initial Unilever vignettes on Mad Men and was impressed enough to seek out who directed them. “I saw great direction, location, period, character and dialogue,” assessed O’Connor. His search led to Matheson who turned out to be a long-time friend of fellow Aero partner/exec producer Skip Short. Matheson in turn found Aero and for that matter commercialmaking appealing. The director had contemplated directing spots several times but his acting, producing and directing endeavors for TV had detoured him from exploring ad prospects. Since he found the Unilever experience creatively gratifying and enjoyable, Matheson decided to more proactively go after select commercial work by signing with Aero.
Matheson’s career spans not only directing but also producing and acting. Among Matheson’s other TV show credits as a director are the primetime shows Psych, White Collar, Cold Case, Without A Trace, even an episode of West Wing, a series for which he received two Emmy nominations as an actor. His TV directorial debut was an episode of the acclaimed ensemble drama series St. Elsewhere, which then led to him helming the telefilms Breach of Contract (starring Peter Coyote and Courtney Thome-Smith), and Buried Alive II (in which Matheson starred). Matheson’s exec produced Breach of Contract and served as a producer on multiple episodes of the TV series Cold Case.
Matheson made his first industry splash as an actor, perhaps initially best known for his portrayal of the smooth talking Eric “Otter” Stratton in the box office comedy hit Animal House. His other feature film roles included playing one of the three vigilante cops in Magnum Force, which starred Clint Eastwood as San Francisco police detective Harry Callahan, a.k.a. “Dirty Harry.”
At Aero, Matheson comes aboard a directors’ roster that also includes Klaus Obermeyer, Ken Arlidge, James Mangold, Jason Farrand, Sam O’Hare and Gary McKendry.
“Overnight Success” Has Been More Than A Decade In The Making For Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson
Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson, two of the stars of Netflix's whodunit "The Perfect Couple," have news for you if you want to call them breakouts: They've been working in this business for more than a decade.
Fahy made her TV debut in 2009 in an episode of "Gossip Girl." Hewson's first big film role was in 2011's "This Must Be the Place." They do concede, however, that it's recent TV roles — "The White Lotus" for Fahy and "Bad Sisters" for Hewson — that have led to new frontiers of opportunity.
Susanne Bier, who directed "The Perfect Couple," says both Fahy and Hewson are "going to be big stars."
"They certainly have proper, profound star quality, Both of them in very different ways," Bier says. "Both are incredibly creative, incredibly smart, and also have a impressive insight as to who they are. You can be a great actor or actress and not necessarily really know who you are yourself. And they do."
Hewson, 33, whose dad is U2 front man Bono, may have grown up in a famous family but she's now in demand in her own right. She will next be seen in a second season of "Bad Sisters, " out in November. She's in Noah Baumbach's next film, alongside Adam Sandler, George Clooney and Riley Keough. She's also been cast in Steven Spielberg's next production and is set to star opposite Murray Bartlett in a racing series for Hulu.
Fahy, 34, is in production on a limited series with Julianne Moore and Milly Alcock called "Sirens," written by Molly Smith Metzler ("Maid") for Netflix. She also has two films in the can with Josh O'Connor ("The Crown," "Challengers") and Brandon Sklenar ("It Ends With Us").
The two actors spoke candidly about this phase of their careers. This interview has been condensed for clarity and... Read More