Frank Samuel’s first industry gig was as a P.A. at Corman Studios, a famed spawning ground. He later became an assistant art director, working on such features as The Mask starring Jim Carrey, and Steven Soderbergh’s The Underneath.
Samuel’s work on movies led him to opportunities in advertising where he eventually found a directorial niche, turning out spots for such clients as Verizon, M&Ms, IFC Cable, Fox Sports and Visa. His commercials garnered a number of awards, including a Gold Lion at Cannes.
Last year, Samuel launched the creative/production hybrid studio Committee LA with director Jeff Reed and executive producer Lauren Bayer. The company specializes in conceptualizing, developing and producing content for clients, the most notable being the Wix.com commercial which ran during this year’s Super Bowl telecast. Committee LA also created and produced other Wix.com campaign elements spanning different online and social media platforms.
The Big Game commercial, titled “It’s That Easy,” takes a tongue-in-cheek look at former star NFL players who after retirement are creating new professions and businesses for themselves. Pittsburgh Steelers' running back Franco Harris, for example, has formed the company “Immaculate Reception,” named after his famous playoff game catch–except now Franco’s “Immaculate Reception” plans elegant weddings and offers bouquet-catching services. Former San Francisco 49ers' wide receiver Terrell Owens meanwhile tones down his arrogance to eat some humble pie–and bake it for his pastry shop. And retired Green Bay Packers' superstar quarterback Brett Favre is now operating Favre and Carve, a charcuterie company. Instead of slicing up NFL secondaries, he’s slicing up prepared meats. And all these businesses have been launched via websites which the NFL players built on Wix.com.
SHOOT: Explain why the Committee LA business model is advantageous in the context of a real-world project such as the Super Bowl spot you turned out for Wix.com.
Samuel: Committee LA was not formed as traditional production company, where we focus on signing directors, bidding and producing work. It’s almost the opposite of that model. After years of directing commercials, I often found myself on the phone with friends at agencies and brands asking me to look at their creative ideas for a new campaign. Did I like the concept? How would I shoot it technically? Does the budget or schedule make sense?
It was then that I realized a small company that could offer both highly-creative services along with efficient production could be quite powerful combination given all the changes in advertising/media landscape in the last few years. We started Committee LA with director Jeff Reed and executive producer Lauren Bayer, and also formed a strategic alliance with award-winning creative director Jeff Huggins (formerly with Deutsch, Goodby, JWT, and others), with the goal of working closer with clients, building trust and getting at the core of doing what we all got us into the business for in the first place–building brands through creative storytelling.
SHOOT: Provide some backstory as to how the Super Bowl spot came together and how you became involved in it.
Samuel: Wix.com is great example of how the Committee LA approach can be so effective for some brands. We had been working with Wix for three years, starting with small projects at first and growing the relationship over time. With each success they would challenge us with something bigger the next time, culminating with the Super Bowl ad. What Wix did was more than just a Super Bowl ad, there were teaser spots before the game, six-second Vine videos, regional ads, even a six-minute viral cooking segment featuring Terrell Owens and celebrity chef Matty Matheson, all produced by Committee LA.
Also, the release of all this content was well coordinated with their internal social media and PR teams. It was exciting to be a part of this well-oiled machine–they even flew us all to Israel to watch the Super Bowl at their corporate headquarters, which was the weird because local time was 1:30am when the game started.
SHOOT: What’s next for Committee LA in terms of business development? Director signings, etc.?
Samuel: We’re currently working on a new round of spots with Wix, which is exciting because they are taking bold steps to support it. We’ve been approached by some directors, which we’re open to, but it really has to be the right fit for us. I’m also bidding as a Director for hire through a few agencies right now, and will continue too. It’s really a pure creative play for me – creating, writing & pitching along with Directing. Its a duel play sometimes.
We have only a few guiding principles: we work with clients that want to work with us, and our creative/direct to production model. For me, it’s all about writing and directing and being creative. The new media world offers a lot of opportunity for talented creative thinkers, but you can’t work from a place of the past, you have move forward and with an understanding of who and what your voice is.
What I love about build Committee LA is that we are purely a creative group of people who want the same thing–to work with clients that want to do something special with a group of talented people who know how to keep production efficient and streamlined. Oh yeah, did I mention we’re actually having a lot of fun too?
