Director Marcus McCollum has joined the roster of Mrs. Bond for exclusive U.S. spot representation. McCollum first made a splash in the spot world with ESPN’s “Doggie Dad,” which collected One Show, Belding, Clio and AICP Show honors, and helped to establish his comedy reputation. His Americans for the Arts’ “Raisin Brahms” spoof (Leo Burnett), and Toyota work with Eli Manning and others (Saatchi) have likewise garnered acclaim.
Among McCollum’s recent work is the latest installment of his recurring Toyota “Jan” campaign via Saatchi NY. The director’s long form fare includes Best Driver In The County, a charming short that has garnered multiple awards on the festival circuit and next screens at the Malibu Film Festival December 3-7 in Malibu and Santa Monica. Prior to joining Mrs. Bond, McCollum was represented by Crossroads Films, Hello & Co. and Concrete and Clay.
“Marcus gets a real kick out of awkward situations and he has this knack for making us burst out in laughter at the weirdness of human existence,” said Mrs. Bond EP/partner Jeff Rohrer, who presides over the company alongside founder Stephen Dickstein. “He always finds the funny.”
McCollum has always looked for simple stories that inspire him or make him laugh. Fired from his first job as an assistant editor at Ground Zero for spending “Too much time editing his own s*%t,” he was promptly demoted to director, helming the “Doggie Dad” ESPN campaign that led to work with Activision, Ad Council, Honda, JCPenney, McDonald’s, Nestle, NFL, Sonic, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, X Games, and more.
Speaking to the many platforms currently available to filmmakers inside and outside the world of advertising, McCollum said that, for him, the most important element is creating a robust storytelling environment. “I love creating characters and giving them and their narratives room to breathe. That can happen in a :30 or in long form,” he affirmed. On the longer form front, McCollum has another short in the can. Of the move to Mrs Bond, he said the timing could not better. “As a working director, there’s this pressure to reinvent yourself, because you’re scared, and I did a little bit of that,” said the Washington-based father of three girls. “Once you move into happiness mode, though, you relax, and that’s where I’m at. I’m excited about our future as an industry.”
McCollum joins a Mrs. Bond roster comprised of commercial veterans, acclaimed TV/film directors, and social media phenoms, including directors Neil Tardio Jr., Him & Her, Cynthia Wade, Devin Supertramp, David Parker, Ross Cooper, Julian Farino, Nick Jones, Phil Abraham, Mark Polish, Arie Posin, Scott Zabielski, Jones, Snorri, and director/cameraman Mitch Amundsen.
Mrs. Bond also represents non-union digital content company Rodeo Show.